What gives you the S&#T's!?

[MotorOmnibus8562]

Yeah, NO. TfNSW can absolutely p**s right off with that idea until they agree to get rid of the braindead licence-based speed limits; those ones that are causing Learner and P1 platers to hold maximum 90 on a 110 freeway.

I definitely agree here, In VIC they don't have this issue but it's unclear whether VIC drivers on their Ls and Ps should drive the speed limit in NSW (I'm a border resident here) the best advice I have is just to follow the rules of the state you are in. Though some people have told me the reason drivers on their Ls and Ps in NSW are speed-limited is because it is more difficult to stop a car at High speeds.

On another note, As an Autistic driver on my Ls, Some new national standards came out recently and I might not legally be allowed to drive simply because I'm Autistic (depending on If I have other medical conditions) and will likely have to go through medical tests or something, (It's not clear for me if I will or not have go through some sort of medical test), despite if I were to pass a drive test, I'd easily pass it because I follow all the road rules. I'm fairly healthy and I generally avoid activities that make me medically unhealthy as much as possible.

To be honest, I sometimes struggle to drive at night, it is often quite difficult for me to judge how fast someone is going so I often wait until I can't see any cars, driving also uses up a lot of mental energy for me, headlights on some newer cars are also an issue are ridiculously bright.

More information on these standards can be found here, I can't really be bothered to go through them all right now but the link is here for those who want to read: https://austroads.com.au/drivers-and-ve ... s-to-drive

[ScaniaGrenda]

Taking a break to go on holidays has been a great escape from all the worries, but hearing that my home state is considering changing those point-to-point speed cameras to target all motorists? Are we resorting to scraping the bottom of the barrel once more?

I also agree with another poster in here, get rid of that annoying dangerous speed limit restriction for provisional holders in NSW. We all get the grumps when grandma on the highway is doing 10-20kmph under the speedlimit but I've not once ever seen anyone also go "Now wait a moment, what about provisional license holders?". I remember having to drive for almost an hour and a half to one worksite regularly on my P's and the majority of that time was spent on highways / freeways (no choice, just the way the route is designed and was quickest to take). Imagine being limited to 90 or 100 and having motorists on their full license over take you doing 10 / 20 above. Your the one that's below the actual speed limit (that being 110) therefor you pose the hazard since your going slower.

Then you catch up to the speed limited trucks capped at 99 / 100KMPH, legally as a provisional driver you should not think about going one measly K above the speed limit but after a while I myself got sick of being forced to sit behind them and occasionally overtook them at 105 / 110, once overtaken drop back down to 100.

As for Motoromnibus, and this is no legal advice so take it with a grain of salt but I've always figured you'd follow the rules for the state that your license was issued in, if Victoria doesn't have the provisional speed limits like NSW does, then as a Victorian P license holder, you should be free to do 110KMPH where legally permitted but then I've also heard others say once you cross the border the rules of that state apply to you regardless of where your license was issued from, confusing but I'm sure the proper advice is out there somewhere that will clear this up.

[Swift]

I like drafting behind trucks where practical at about 100 kph as it saves fuel. The higher you go beyond 80 kph the harder it exponentially has to fight to push through air.
Mythbusters proved it saves fuel and the closer you sit, the greater the benefits. One second behind was a lot greater fuel savings than three seconds but three is the safest and still saves fuel.

[eddy]

My five cents is backing off after you pass a truck or sitting alongside the triaxle makes it very hard for truck drivers and I can’t find any evidence for reduced speed for P drivers and I think it causes more danger with people changing lanes.

[ScaniaGrenda]

It's the people who see an overfilling skip bin then because they can't fit their rubbish into it, they dump it alongside the bin, even more frustrating is while your taking photos to report back to your boss that this is a situation that has gotten way out of hand and to organise an external clean up crew since this beyond a one person job., a Karen decides she needed to add more to my plate and dumped her bag of rubbish right in front of me. Told her in no certain terms that because she was able to bring it with her to use the facilities, she was to take it back with her and not add to the case load since the bin was overflowing.

She was gobsmacked I tell you that someone (me) told her she was not leaving her rubbish, take it with you. I am really firm towards these people as one it makes my job difficult, stressful and more time consuming (I have other sites I need to attend to on my runs, I can't get to those if I am kept behind because of peoples laziness.) two these people need to directly told their crap won't be tolerated otherwise if the matter isn't properly policed they consider it free game, no dramas what so ever to continue. I don't feel bad or guilt for telling them off, those that believe otherwise have never had to deal with these issues on a daily basis that I came across in my role and would expect me to smile and deal with it, sorry but no, a line needs to be drawn and these Muppets cross that line, don't litter and for goodness sake, use your common sense, something I am finding a lot of people don't have.

In retrospect on the other hand, I should have just kept quite and photographed her license plate for illegal dumping, a nice fine would be a rude awakening from the EPA.

[Swift]

Nah, she and her ilk need rudeness therapy in spades.
Being a white Australian female does not mean you're an aristocrat. You're common as the muck you're illegally dumping.

[ScaniaGrenda]

Australian Supermarkets are becoming worse & worse, Coles in particular

So I had a return and earn docket which is one that can be redeemed at any Coles, I decided I'd put a proportion towards it for some work supplies while I await to get restocked, head on up to the nearby coles, get what I needed, go to self service since I only have two items, scan my two items at self service and then the return & earn voucher. An error flashes up on the screen "Item not found". The self service operator then informs me that they don't accept the return and earn vouchers at Self Service and directs me to the cigarette counter right next to the self service.

Walk up to that counter & I am waiting to get serviced, the coles employee manning that counter is more interested in chit chat at the other end of the counter with another customer, I stand there patiently hoping the employee goes "I just have to attend to this customer quickly but I'll be back" Nothing the employee wouldn't acknowledge me. So I walk off and go to another manned checked, this one has someone lined up at it making an almost $200 grocery purchase, the operator gets stuck on calculating some payment for vegetables for almost a solid 4 minutes (eventually figures it out). I finally get serviced, redeem the voucher and go on my way.

Never again with Coles, that's twice I've had issues with the return & earn vouchers, the other time I had a coles R&E Voucher is when I used it at their hot food deli in Wynyard Sydney, same issue at the payment screen "Item not found" but that time the employees didn't tell me I had to attend to a manned checkout to use it and made me pay out of my own pocket. It really should have Terms & Conditions printed on the recepit or on the self service register saying Return & Earn vouchers not accepted here, please attend staffed checkout instead of wasting my time.

Woolworths is somewhat better on this regard, their return and earn vouchers CAN BE redeemed at self service checkouts, no problems will arise as long as it's not the card only one. I'm finding somewhat Coles is ramping up on treating their customers like criminals from the very moment they enter their store and let's not get started with that silly nonsense of those self service gates I'm hearing about.

[Merc1107]

Walk up to that counter & I am waiting to get serviced, the coles employee manning that counter is more interested in chit chat at the other end of the counter with another customer, I stand there patiently hoping the employee goes "I just have to attend to this customer quickly but I'll be back" Nothing the employee wouldn't acknowledge me.

The owner of the supermarket I once worked at had a habit of watching the CCTV in their spare time, or walking in the front door while running errands and assessing how things were running. Idle chit-chat was NOT tolerated (nor were mobile phones), especially when customers were waiting or other tasks had to be done. More than two people deep in line to check out meant we opened another register, until all four(!) were in use. Once things quietened down, and registers closed again, the expectation was front end staff would assist restocking the nearby drinks and confectionary shelves, or go around rotating and pulling stock forward if those were already completed. That, or cleaning the counters, collecting trolleys, even cleaning the doors!

That's called a few things - first, good customer service, and second, being productively employed.

It disappoints me to no end to see supermarkets all over Australia where none of this applies, and little pride is taken in the work done. No wonder grocery prices are going through the roof when at the local Colesworths, one can find a small army of staff loitering with a stupid look on their faces.

[Swift]

At least in Woy Woy I find Coles staff more serious about their role than at Woolworths where they view the customer as beneath them, especially young girls/women.

[Randomness]

Speaking of the supermarkets, it only used to be the Wesfarmers (Coles/Kmart) stores that had the weight sensing self checkouts, “unexpected item in the bagging area”. Woolworths recently got the same type disappointingly. They even show your face being recorded as if you’d try to beat the machine in front of the person manning the checkout. I’ve also read that someone’s wheelchair got caught in the Coles checkout gates which could be grounds for a lawsuit for discrimination.

[Swift]

One supermarket in England is doing away with SSC due to customer dissatisfaction but do you think any Australian one will? You can bet never as they don't listen to what the customer wants here. They tell us what we'll have like good little tyrants. Businesses thinking they are the government.

[Randomness]

My local Aldi didn’t have self serve checkouts until last year. Their cashiers were stupendously quick so no clue why they thought they needed the change.

[Transport Buff]

to add to the Woolies discussion., another pet-peeve with the self checkouts...when they would say 'unexpected item in bagging area'....um yeah its a shopping bag for crying out loud, how unexpected could that be grrr

Self-checkouts can fairly easily (touch-wood) detect if ive purchased tomatoes or bananas, but can't tell that i'm using a shopping bag....go figure

[MotorOmnibus8562]

I find the self-serve checkouts very annoying to deal with at times. Occasionally, they require assistance. However, I certainly don't think they will go away in the future if we still insist on getting rid of all the boring jobs and focus on more creative work. I generally prefer a manned checkout over the self-serve because you're interacting with an actual human being, but I do find the self-serve convenient in concept.

Don't get me started on how Coles and Woolworths design their supermarkets, Things are often difficult to find, The overall design of their supermarkets is just terrible in my opinion. I believe The two supermarkets do this deliberately because they want the customer to stay in there as much as possible so they end up staying in there more than they intend to. I can never find what I want quickly without assistance in their supermarkets. If I struggle to find a certain product, I often ask the staff for help finding the product I want to get because the design of the supermarkets is so bad in my opinion. Individual designs of the stores are often inconsistent and difficult to navigate, even wayfinding can be confusing.

I find that Aldi at least put some thought into the design of their stores, they're almost always consistent and the design makes customers grab as they go and If something is missed you can go right back to it. Things are far easier to find in Aldi's stores than those in coles ane Woolworths.

[ScaniaGrenda]

I’ve also read that someone’s wheelchair got caught in the Coles checkout gates which could be grounds for a lawsuit for discrimination.

Same type of gates I was mentioning about in my original post, I don't believe my locals have them fitted just yet (at least the few coles I bother to venture into) But I've also read somewhere their starting the rollout of them in low social economical areas or where theft at particular Coles stores is rampant before rolling it out to others. Exactly what I mentioned about being treated as a criminal from the very start (or in other words guilty & judged until proven innocent).

I do the majority of my shopping at Aldi, they carry 98% of what I need, they've also had their own controversies but not down to the level of treating every customer as a criminal. The only thing I dislike about Aldi is when you get your shopping and it is time to pay but they've only got one or two checkouts open and there's 5 people already lined up at both with also their weekly shopping so takes a lot of time to clear the backlog. My local went through a major rebuild 2 years ago and sadly didn't put in self service but the older pre-existing Aldi store at the end of the region got it retofitted.

Going back to my OP, what would have Coles done for me if there was no manned checkouts open, self service only and I still wanted to redeem my R&E voucher?

[Swift]

Aldi have a terridly horrid track record of being out of stock of the products your come to expect regularly.
Even worse discontinuing lines you have come to like and replacing with an alternative you don't take to or simply becomes absent. Too many to list.
Sometimes they even replace a good value (and better) in house brand with a brand name alternative.

[Merc1107]

In spite of their size, Coles and Woolies never seem to carry anything slightly off the beaten track you might need for baking or cooking something a bit more exotic than steak and salad. A few times over the years have been blessed with a local IGA that while incredibly cozy inside, is absolute chockas with everything you could possibly imagine, and at a reasonable price to boot. You bet I was loyal to those particular stores - the staff were friendlier too (and at one, the person who was obviously the Manager was there all hours doing everything from office work, to checkout or stock).

[Randomness]

Don't get me started on how Coles and Woolworths design their supermarkets, Things are often difficult to find, The overall design of their supermarkets is just terrible in my opinion. I believe The two supermarkets do this deliberately because they want the customer to stay in there as much as possible so they end up staying in there more than they intend to. I can never find what I want quickly without assistance in their supermarkets. If I struggle to find a certain product, I often ask the staff for help finding the product I want to get because the design of the supermarkets is so bad in my opinion. Individual designs of the stores are often inconsistent and difficult to navigate, even wayfinding can be confusing.

It’s amazing that Bunnings (owned by Wesfarmers, same owners as Coles) are able to provide the Aisle, Bay AND a map of a store to help with finding products, while Coles doesn’t. Even IKEA with their maze of a store has a similar, great system of finding a product.

I know Woolworths has laminated sheets at the end of aisles that detail where certain classes of products are, but these are often wrong and don’t tell you much anyways. I think the store layout is fairly consistent based in my experience but it gets confusing if the store is flipped - say with the entrance on the left instead of on the right.

[Swift]

Aldi are ripoff merchants these days. Their model was originally to pass on prices based off lower overheads from a utilitarian style but have gradually raised prices of everyday items to almost match the duopoly and making their stores look swankier to justify it.
They must have figured Aussies are more attracted to pomp over savings.

[Merc1107]

I go to a local fruit and veg place that can somehow justify being open 24/7. Even better, they often have great reductions on ageing stock. Most things are cheap enough that it's worth the extra stop during the shopping trip - mushrooms, for instance, are at least $3kg cheaper than "the usual suspects". Other essentials like potatoes, carrots, tomatoes all in a similar league.

[Swift]

More ads portraying majority coloured faces. The idea of inclusion is not to make a false representation of the make up of society. It's also patronising telling them we need to go the other way around to make you look equal.
It's bullshitt.

[Swift]

People here refuse to discuss what I'm talking about but I'll continue bringing this up on the regular and will never stop while it goes on. We're being brainwashed by this PC rubbish. It will never work on me.

[Heihachi_73]

Australian Supermarkets are becoming worse & worse, Coles in particular

So I had a return and earn docket which is one that can be redeemed at any Coles, I decided I'd put a proportion towards it for some work supplies while I await to get restocked, head on up to the nearby coles, get what I needed, go to self service since I only have two items, scan my two items at self service and then the return & earn voucher. An error flashes up on the screen "Item not found". The self service operator then informs me that they don't accept the return and earn vouchers at Self Service and directs me to the cigarette counter right next to the self service.

Walk up to that counter & I am waiting to get serviced, the coles employee manning that counter is more interested in chit chat at the other end of the counter with another customer, I stand there patiently hoping the employee goes "I just have to attend to this customer quickly but I'll be back" Nothing the employee wouldn't acknowledge me. So I walk off and go to another manned checked, this one has someone lined up at it making an almost $200 grocery purchase, the operator gets stuck on calculating some payment for vegetables for almost a solid 4 minutes (eventually figures it out). I finally get serviced, redeem the voucher and go on my way.

Never again with Coles, that's twice I've had issues with the return & earn vouchers, the other time I had a coles R&E Voucher is when I used it at their hot food deli in Wynyard Sydney, same issue at the payment screen "Item not found" but that time the employees didn't tell me I had to attend to a manned checkout to use it and made me pay out of my own pocket. It really should have Terms & Conditions printed on the recepit or on the self service register saying Return & Earn vouchers not accepted here, please attend staffed checkout instead of wasting my time.

Woolworths is somewhat better on this regard, their return and earn vouchers CAN BE redeemed at self service checkouts, no problems will arise as long as it's not the card only one. I'm finding somewhat Coles is ramping up on treating their customers like criminals from the very moment they enter their store and let's not get started with that silly nonsense of those self service gates I'm hearing about.

Container Deposit Schamme working as intended, Big Beverage wants you to eat the 10% (not 10c) price hike like a good boy by making it as difficult as possible to redeem anything, or even access a container deposit site without a $30 taxi fare or taking a train, two buses and two hours.

My trip to the "local" container deposit location consists of a 2.2 km walk (uphill both ways and in the snow in the middle of a 30°C January day) to a place which shuts at 4:30PM (at least it's open 7 days, shock horror), which has an over-the-counter setup rather than a reverse vending machine, which means the place can only accept a limited amount e.g. a four-wheeled wheelie bin for each type of container e.g. cans, plastic, glass and milk cartons, and most likely only emptied once per day (hopefully not once per week).

Last time I gave up after taking 300 cans and filling the bin completely (and cramming in the last twenty and shaking the bin just so the lid would shut so I could at least get $15 - apparently the cans can't be crushed so of course the bin is 95% full of air) as there were already hundreds of cans in there. The plastic bottle bin was already full, luckily I didn't bother taking any otherwise I would have taken 3/4 of a Costco trolley load of containers back home instead of "just" 150 cans.

[Merc1107]

The logical thing would be to have it at the Supermarket like they do in Scandinavia (and perhaps much of Europe?).

[Swift]

The muggy weather. Sweat like a pig as soon as you get up and do anything.