Animals Australia: the voice for animals

Animals Australia: the voice for animals
Love life? Love all of life
Showing posts with label Alcohol. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alcohol. Show all posts

Saturday, March 02, 2013

What did they do in Paraburdoo (it's in The Pilbara)?


As Cyclone Rusty bore down on Port Hedland and The Pilbara this week, reports came that residents were stocking up on alcohol as well as food.  A bit of a no-no really because if the worst befalls, it could be best to be sober and, besides, alcohol cannot be taken into the cyclone shelters.

I wonder if over there in The West they gave any thought to what they consumed in that boring time waiting for the cyclone to come and to go.

Tucker Lovers will recall that the eastern seaboard of the USA experienced Sandy in late October 2012.  A post-storm phenomenon occurred dubbed by the media as "Sandy Five".  Sandy Five is a reference to the poundage put on by New Yorkers as they chomped their way through the cyclone.

Not only did they chomp, they cooked, and they drank.  Read about that experience here.

...on the day of the storm, I obsessively followed food blogs, Twitter and Facebook where my food loving friends reported how they poured themselves into preparing elaborate meals, from boeuf wellington to home made pasta to Brasilianquindin. Even more interesting was to hear about the indulgence in alcoholic drinks, ranging from the obscure mid-nineteenth century cocktails to cheap wine, a phenomenon that was evidenced in the empty shelves at wine and liquor stores across post-Sandy Brooklyn. As the storm descended upon the city, our kitchen counter too became a non-stop food assembly line, churning out new dishes every hour or so. When the winds calmed down and left behind a devastated landscape, interrupted lives and severed power lines, many shared stories of rushing to the fast food chains to eat “fast” and “bad” foods in search of comfort.

In spite of photographs of empty shelves in Port Hedland, somehow this cookfest does not seem to me to relate as well to The Pilbara as to New York.  However, foodie Pilbarans might let me know if I am wrong and they might like to recount their culinary and alcoholic achievements for The Network.  

And, by the way, Pilbarans, what was your Cyclone Rusty weight gain or loss?

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Woolworths, Grog and Complaints

Well, dear Reader, it took a while. They didn't meet their own standard. Was beginning to think I'd never hear from them. But lo and behold they called. What on earth am I rabbiting on about I hear you ask?
You may recall my post Woolworths, Safeway, Liquor and Fuel - but not food which was posted on Friday, 8 June 2007. Woolworths pride themselves on having a seven-day response in replying to customers. Answering my complaint took them two days short of six weeks. Ah, well, better late than dead on time, eh!
Anyway, the call came from John McInnes who is in charge of buying for the liquor stores. As I expected, John didn't see my point. You might recall the issue was a promotion prior to the Queen's Birthday long week-end where, if you were to buy $60 worth of liquor from their liquor shop, you would get an 8c a litre discount on fuel (twice the usual 4c a litre discount when you produce your cash register docket for purchasing more than $30). My argument was the link between alcohol and driving and putting a value on alcohol which food did not attract.
John tried to claim that they did not target anybody in particular with the promotion. I explained to him that this was not true. He had in fact targetted two groups of people: those who drove and those who drank alcohol. A mum buying food for her family of six and didn't drink had no chance of getting 8c a litre off her fuel.
John didn't seem to be able to see the problem that alcohol was for all of us. He told me that following this nation-wide promotion, out of two and a half million customers he had received only eleven complaints apart from mine and they were all from the Northern Territory. Funny that, Miss E said, I'm an old Territorian. Perhaps we are a bit more conscious of grog issues than other people? I lived in the only town that had the pubs shut by Aboriginal people - Tennant Creek. Read all about in Grog War by Alexis Wright, this year's Miles Franklin Award winner.
Back to explaining community responsibility re alcohol consumption. For instance, we all pay taxes for the hospitals and these have a high rate of alcohol related admissions. In fact, when one considers the links between violence and alcohol and road trauma and alcohol, alcohol is a community problem. So there was more conversation in this regard which didn't bring about one ounce of regret or remorse from John. Youth drinking? Parental problem. Miss E said that when they stabbed someone or killed someone on the road it was a community problem, a problem for all of us.
I explained to him that what I would like from him was for him to say that he would never link alcohol and driving again or give preference to alcohol over food again. He said he couldn't say that. Suprised? Are you kidding? But I did suggest something else to him.
I suggested that he enable food purchasers to have access to an 8c a litre discount on fuel for purchases over $60. I suggested that such a promotion be held the week before the First Sunday of Advent. Brief reference to an election and what's-his-name's threat/promise on food pricing should he become Prime Minister.
Wouldn't that be good? Just when you're buying the fruit for the cake and the pudd and associated Christmas jollies. Just when you're about to set off on hols. with the kids and all the camping gear.
I said if he didn't know when the First Sunday of Advent was he should buy a calendar and learn - and I did a deviation to say that chocolate chips do not belong in Hot Cross Buns and and that Hot Cross Buns should not be on sale before we had even got to Epiphany. Didn't bother to ask if he understood what Epiphany was. All that will have to be the subject of a separate complaint. (Poor pun warning: Should I wait for an epiphany from Woolworths?)
Poor John. He's to do with liquor and not food...but he said he could bring it up because he is on the team that discusses this. Mmm.
Perhaps if I make a complaint about the keeping of Christian festivals now and go over my request for the 8c a litre discount in late November....mmm...letter to the CEO do you think?

Friday, June 08, 2007

Woolworths, Safeway, Liquor and Fuel - but not food

Miss Eagle has sent the following email to Liz in Victorian Regional Office of Safeway (the name used by Woolworths in Victoria). It is self-explanatory. If you, dear Reader, agree with Miss E, please feel free to write to Woolworths in your state. If you are writing in Victoria, please send to ejamieson@woolworths.com.au.

This afternoon, I was in the Safeway store at Burwood Highway, Ferntree Gully (not the Mountain Gate store). I was stunned to see an advertisement stating, that if customers purchased $60 of goods from Safeway Liquor, they would receive a 20c a litre discount on fuel.
I am amazed at the ethics of such a campaign. I have been told by Kerry in the Area 5 office that this was part of a national campaign organised by the Marketing Division of Woolworths. M
The campaign has certainly not been well thought through. It sends very mixed messages to the community:

  1. Alcohol is more valuable than food because it attracts a larger discount on fuel at the bowser.
  2. $60 worth of alcohol far outweighs in value at the bowser any amount large or small spent on food.
  3. The campaign links alcohol to driving in an encouraging way - in more or less the same way that large car parks at suburban hotels encourage a drink and drive mentality.
  4. Woolworths, whose income is derived - in the main - from families, encourages a significant slice of the family budget to be devoted to alcohol.
  5. The campaign seeks to encourage a significant amount of spending on alcohol which is the root cause of violence and road deaths in our society and ties the name of Woolworths/Safeway to it.

I would ask you to immediately withdraw this marketing campaign from all Woolworths and Safeway stores and to refrain from any similar type of marketing in the future.
I also wish to complain about the way complaints are handled within Woolworths and Safeway.
I am told that the Woolworths system means that someone in the local regional office will email someone in Sydney but that the system does not allow for me to be cc'd. So I have no way of knowing the accuracy of material forwarded to the responsible person regarding my complaint. I have rung the corporate office in Sydney who referred me back to the local regional office. Sydney refused to give me the name of the person with responsibility for the campaign. I then asked for the title, the phone number and the email of the person responsible for the marketing campaign. This too was refused. There is clearly no way for the customer to be in direct contact with the person with corporate responsibility. I am told that the matter will take two business days and I am familiar with the time limit that Woolworths sets itself to respond.
I fear that the manner in which Woolworths deals with complaints means that the complaint will not be acted upon in a positive manner leading to the withdrawal of the campaign and that Woolworths will go on its merry way regardless.
Yours sincerely,

[Name supplied]

[address supplied] Email: [supplied] Phone: [supplied] Blogs: Oz Tucker at http://oztucker.blogspot.com/ The Trad Pad at http://tradpad.blogspot.com/ The Eagle's Nest at http://eaglesplace.blogspot.com
We'll wait to see what - if anything - happens.

ShareThis