Are you being served?

I’ve become a woman of letters in my time on TI.  In other words, a pain in the arse who writes letters of complaint to the council, IBIS, the school, to mention just a few recipients.  I do this when I believe my rights and those those of other community members, have been denied.  I get quite stressed when I think about exerting these rights because they are rights that we are entitled to as members of the Australian community.

     It always helps me to do a little meditation before writing these letters – ohm, ohm, ohm – so I can write without emotion and offer achievable solutions.

Ohm, ohm, ohm.

     I always start my complaints about IBIS on TI with recognition of the great specials the supermarket offers each week.  Those specials have enabled me to feed a large family, including anyone who drops in around meal times, at reasonable prices. Many of the specials match Cairns prices.  I am genuinely thankful for that opportunity.

     However, check this out sale tag displayed on 16 June:

… but scanned at $4.30 per kilo for 2.765 kgs.

    Quite the profit for IBIS.

     Here’s a bit about the governance of IBIS which is the trading name for IIB.

The Island Industries Board (IIB) is an unfunded not for profit Queensland Government Statutory Board which is registered as a charity by the Australian Taxation Office. 

…IBIS now has sophisticated processes in place that have been designed to operate effectively in remote areas.

     Okay, this is a sale item I bought today, 23 June.  Note the sale period, 17 to 30 June.

     The grannies scanned at $3.99 per kilo for 1.75 kgs.  Fortunately, I was able to let two customers know about the price discrepancy.

     It never ceases to amaze me when shopping at supermarkets down south, no matter how many things I buy, the scanned price always matches the shelf price, even for specials.  Too often, this is not the case at IBIS and the errors are very rarely in favour of the consumer. I wouldn’t complain if it was by a few cents here and there, but the above examples show we're talking dollars.  Of course, it would help to have the memory of an elephant or an IBIS app.  The bottom line is these errors are totally avoidable. 

     But wait!  There’s more.  Recently, I bought the last two small bottles of Kikkoman soy sauce, on special for $3.26.  Or so the shelf sale tag led me to believe.  In another aisle, there were more small bottles of Kikkoman soy sauce for $4.19.  Although I wanted to buy more, I wasn’t game in case the bottles in the second aisle were more costly.  However, when my two bottles were scanned, they were $4.86 each.  Three different prices!

     Here’s a few points from IBIS’s vision statement:

·                  To continue to provide healthy food choices at lowest possible prices

·                  To continue to develop strategic alliances to achieve responsible social and environmental  outcomes, and

·                  To channel the benefits back to the community.

·                  To exceed stakeholder expectations.

... through the values of Honesty, Accountability, Integrity, Dependability, Ethics.

Why is it so? 

Well, I wrote to the IBIS CEO in 2011.  

I was motivated to do something after I found some 1 kg boxes of caterer’s pack Weet-Bix being sold as a special.  I did the basic maths and they were considerably more expensive than the regular boxes of Weet-Bix.  I do recall the fine print on the box, Not for separate sale.  That aside, I felt my wile come up. I suggested, using the magic word several times, the manager remove those boxes immediately because it was clearly a case of misrepresentation.

    In a community where many people have low literacy and numeracy skills, it is easy to pull off misrepresentation of this nature, even if it is unintentional. 

     A bit more about IBIS governance:

The role of IBIS is to provide good quality, nutritious food to the communities of the Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula (Cape York) Regions at the lowest possible prices. 

     Then there are a few lines about IBIS being in ‘financial distress’ and a new board being appointed in 2002.  Then …

To this end the Board appointed a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and instructed him to examine, in detail, the operations of the organisation and to develop best practice systems and processes that would bring IBIS back to profitability. This has been achieved with the added benefit that IBIS now has sophisticated processes in place that have been designed to operate effectively in remote areas.

     What did the CEO say about Weet-Bix and scanning errors in 2011?

     In summary, he advised the check-out prices are set in Cairns so if a staff member on TI fails to change the shelf price … voila!

     He also pointed out that as a business operator, I should know that any business if only as good as its staff. 

     Mmm, the examples of the navel oranges and granny smiths suggest the correct scanning price had not been entered in Cairns.

     My first formal complaint about IBIS’s scanning errors was 30 March, 2009, in a submission to a federal parliamentary inquiry into remote community stores and pricing (can’t recall precise wording). Then to the CEO in 2011 and now … I am having a Gestalt moment, why am I complaining again? 

     It’s like the dog issue (see postings below).  And the state school screening numerous recreational DVDs (complained 2004, 2005 and 2010) that had no bearing on lessons (I am sorry, but I will not accept Kung Fu Panda, Tinkerbell and Around the Twist have any educational value).

     Hang on, there’s a pattern here and patterns are always lessons in camouflage.

     What is the lesson?

     Perhaps, the denial of people’s rights - the right to rely on displays of supermarket pricing (and the vision statement) and the right to be able to walk freely in the community without the threat of dog attacks and the right to expect my children will not be pacified at school by the flat screen nipple – isn’t necessarily a problem for other people.  

     I might be incensed that a people who are affected by disadvantage are further disadvantaged by incompetence and apathy and problems that have simple solutions, but I can't do anything if no one else is prepared to put finger to keyboard. 

     It’s me.  I’m the problem.  I get it now.

     I just need to accept the way things are.

     When in Rome, ohm.

     Ohm, ohm, ohm.

     OHM, OHM, OHM.

    OHM, OHM, OHM.

    OHM, OHM, OHM.

  OHM, OHM, OHM.