Good riddance to bad retail
Keith Binns writes: Re. “Allans Billy Hyde tells stores no heating, no air con” (yesterday). A few years ago, about the same time that one of the major music stores went broke, I wandered into the Pitt St Allans store. There was a security guard on the door so you couldn’t nick anything. I was in the shop for 20 minutes (I timed it) and was not approached by a staff member. I left. I have no sympathy for retailers who don’t understand that their main selling point is customer service, something the internet can’t match.
On 457s
John Richardson writes: Re. “Time for another look at 457s” (yesterday). While I agree with David Irving’s analysis of the “flim-flam” 457 visa scheme, I fear he did not cast nearly enough stones. While there’s no denying that employers have rorted the system to their tiny hearts’ content for decades, their shenanigans were routinely & cynically encouraged by both sides of politics.
But if David is seriously interested in exposing parasites within our modern liberal democracy, he should forget about the games going-on around the edges and start to question the nature of a society whose political and business elites long ago accepted that systematically “offshoring” tens of thousands of jobs from both the public and private sectors is a socially acceptable and responsible way to turn a buck.
Keith,
Didn’t you know what you wanted to buy when you wandered into the music store? Or were you just browsing? If you wanted a particular item, you could have just gone up to a staff member and asked if they had it. If you were just browsing, then being harassed by a salesperson wouldn’t have helped. Often in stores I just want to be left alone.
I find there’s plenty of service on the Internet. I recently heard Max Richter’s take on the Four Seasons on ABC Classics, and found and bought the recording online in minutes. And the website suggested other recordings too (which I ignored).
Music stores are going out of business because physical CDs are in decline. I didn’t see it happening in advance. Nowadays I buy many more downloads of music, books and films than I do in their physical versions. Service has nothing to do with it.
The selling point of retailers is their customers being able to physically handle the product. Once it’s a non-physical item, such as music, then they’ve lost their advantage.
The experience at Allans Billy Hyde is reminiscent of my last two purchases at David Jones. No staff visible. I actually held my wallet aloft as I cruised around the counters calling “Is anyone here?” Finally someone came.
Is management unaware they have created expensive showrooms which appear no longer operational.