Can someone tell me why???

For an individual to save jobs by buying locally would be like trying to stem the tide. This sort of thing requires political action by governments. At the moment we are on the free trade bandwagon.

If you think a little bit more globally than just your own country you would see that the people overseas are happy to have a job even if they are paid very little. It is better than going hungry. Big organisations will always be able to relocate to get the cheapest labour. Eventually the pendulum swings. Japan made a lot of stuff and exported it, they still do. But the vehicle industry at least is moving around and many Japanese "company men for life" workers have lost their jobs.

You can try and stem the tide or make the most of it before the pendulum swings against you or your kids. Make hay while the sun shines.

Just ordered a new exmoor canopy from craddocks $529.43 delivered thats less than half what I was quoted by the aust importer(you know who) they can buy in bulk and get container loads set at a time to lower delivery costs so mark up must be good:(

My wife has become the queen of online shopping, taken to it like a duck to water. She recently bought me some really nice wool jumpers made from Australian wool, manufactured in China and sitting in the UK. So the wool left a sheep here for China, then went to UK and then back here with postage cheaper than if it never left the country. A lot cheaper, the same jumpers in Myers would have been 3 times dearer in her experienced opinion.
This situation is not always the case. Quite often the apparent online seller is just an English speaking front for direct selling from China or similar. So your money does a circuit not the actual goods.
The only thing that will save us is that Australia got paid for the wool. As long as we have the raw materials then we at least have a bargaining chip ( think oil and middle east). If the dollar stays high then our raw materials are less attractive.

A further point about the arb fridge. The import/manufacture process cycle seems to take about 6 months in my experience. My wholesaler friend has to pay around 6 months before he gets the goods. He has been hit hard by currency fluctuations in the past and insurance for that is not cheap. If the fridge wholesale was $200aus then the US company would have paid about $120us for it a while back due to the exchange rate. Bulk discounts would probably cover the freight. Therefore it will retail for around $200us in the us. Meanwhile our dollar soars so that we can buy it back for $200aus because the dollars are more or less equal. The same thing has happened with the pound. Last time I was in the UK it was 33cents now we are better than even last time I looked.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CraigE

I think maybe you should actually ask a Bunnings worker what they get and see their pay slip. My brother works for Bunnings and has done for some time now and I can quite honestly tell you it is crap money and even crappier hours with no additional pay for working weekends and public holidays due to the way they arrange your shifts. He is one of the working poor.

---

Go Australian Workplace Agreements - great aren't they! And the business council etc are pushing for no loadings for after hours, weekends and public holidays work (because the workers want more flexibility and want to work at those times - have you ever heard such rubbish).

We shouldn't worry about the Bunnings worker - Wesfarmers is the important one to worry about, so long as Wesfarmers costs are low and profits are high the CEO, board and major shareholders will make a motza!

People the solution is simple....

Move :D

Don't like the situation? Leave!

Go live in the good ol' USA...
You should be able to get a cheap house at the moment too!!!!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tombie2

People the solution is simple....

Move :D

Don't like the situation? Leave!

Go live in the good ol' USA...
You should be able to get a cheap house at the moment too!!!!!

---

I agree with Tombie if you think the grass is greener on the other side and we you can't stand being ripped off by crook greedy Australian businessses then jump the bloody fence and move somewhere else.

Then in twelve months when your brought your cheap fridge and lockers at the local shop report back and tell us how good things are over there and if your right then we will all move to.

Simple really isn't it...

cheers,
Terry

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TerryO

No offence meant but when would you recommend that the potential mass exporting of Australian jobs should end?

cheers,
Terry

---

No offence taken but I believe it should never have started.
The flood gates have opened and it's hard to stop the flow.
In the industry I am in we are truly global players. The Chileans got the project in Australia, so the Australians got the job in Indonesia and so it goes on around the world.

If you want to stop the mass exporting of Australian jobs, insist on buying Australian. Go in to any supermarket and ask the manager why you can't get any of that nice tinned Australian tuna. It's all product of Thailand now. This in because the Australian product is being shipped overseas. The crappy overseas stuff is being imported and put on our shelves. The distributors are manipulating the market by limiting our choice to the inferior product and in doing so thay are forcing people to look overseas for the Australian product (as mentioned many times in this thread they are buying Australian product overseas).
A friend of mine recently holidayed in Asia. He bought at a street stall the best oranges he had tasted. So sweet and juicy. They were product of Australia. Why aren't they sold here? All I can find is those cheap, dry, tasteless Californian imports.

Yes Terry. I hear where you're coming from. I would love to live in that world too but I think it is too late.

PS If anyone knows where to get that really nice tinned Australian tuna, please let me know. Even if it is in Namibia.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mick_Marsh

If you want to stop the mass exporting of Australian jobs, insist on buying Australian. Go in to any supermarket and ask the manager why you can't get any of that nice tinned Australian tuna. It's all product of Thailand now. This in because the Australian product is being shipped overseas. The crappy overseas stuff is being imported and put on our shelves. The distributors are manipulating the market by limiting our choice to the inferior product and in doing so thay are forcing people to look overseas for the Australian product (as mentioned many times in this thread they are buying Australian product overseas).

---

Mick the reason why you can only buy Thai tuna and crappy US oranges, as you put it, is not because some exec at Coles or Woolies decides who eats what from where it is because we as a nation in general are to stingy to pay the top dollar for good food.
We want to buy cheap and pay as little as possible so the shops sell cheap product. If enough people wanted the good stuff and were prepared to pay for it then it would be on the shelves, its called supply and demand.

While it is not the only reason basically it is quite simple, not enough demand for the good stuff that costs a high price then there is no reason for a shop to buy then supply the good stuff so they buy the product that the majoirty of the market over time has shown it is prepared to pay for.

cheers,
Terry

I'm a cyclist and do all of my own bike mechanics. Within my family I currently do the mechanics for 12 bikes. Apart from the bikes themselves and some clothing accessories I buy all of the parts online from overseas. Last year I wanted some wheels built. The rims I wanted were from a Queensland company but as they were for a touring bike they needed to be built to specific tolerances to ensure they could carry the weight without breaking spokes. None of the local bike shops (LBS) had the expertise (in fact it's very hard to find a LBS that has any knowledge of touring cycling) so I had the rims built in the US and shipped to me.

All of my other bike parts are generally bought from the UK at less than half the cost of Oz and shipped with free postage. The reason I started doing my own bike mechanics was because I couldn't find a decent bike mechanic who could service my bikes and actually listen to me when I told them what the problems were. All they were interested in was doing a standard service and moving onto the next customer.

In terms of the products I buy none of them are manufactured in Oz or are Australian-owned companies so the only industry I am cutting out is the retail distribution and supply chain. We now live in a global economy and the Australian retail and supply industry needs to recognise this and evolve and grow if it hopes to compete.

BTW have a look at any cycling forum and you will find that anyone who does there own bike mechanics buys parts online.