Things that p*** you off/bug you/annoy you

[Dayvo]

I see no fault with that but when a sparky refuses to actually fix and electrical problem it's going a bit far, a faulty electrical motor is an electrical problem that a sparky should fix.

My son is a maintenance sparky who travels to quite a number of their customers in the printing business that they supply and service their machines. They have been told numerous times to make sure that the sparky has access to the machines , motors and switchboards.
Unless they want to pay $120 an hour for him to clean up so he has access to the machines.

 

[Immortality]

Looks like grocery prices are going up again in NZ,

Final Countdown: Supermarket giant rebranding back to Woolworths

The transformation will cost $400 million.

www.nzherald.co.nz

My son is a maintenance sparky who travels to quite a number of their customers in the printing business that they supply and service their machines. They have been told numerous times to make sure that the sparky has access to the machines , motors and switchboards.
Unless they want to pay $120 an hour for him to clean up so he has access to the machines.

The same said sparky reported me once because we had a machine go down when they overloaded it, I sent one guy to go get the sparky whilst we cleaned up all the cardboard and tape that was attached to the compactor unit including the electrical control panel. When I cut the tape off the panel door opened as it seems the door latch mechanism was broken. One of the guys asked me what was wrong so I pointed out the tripped breaker but explained that I could not reset it, the sparky arrived about the same time and started blowing steam about going into said panel. that's what you get for doing the right thing so it was the last time I ever lifted a finger to help him.

 

[Dayvo]

I see no fault with that but when a sparky refuses to actually fix and electrical problem it's going a bit far, a faulty electrical motor is an electrical problem that a sparky should fix.

My son is a maintenance sparky who travels to quite a number of their customers in the printing business that they supply and service their machines. They have been told numerous times to make sure that the sparky has access to the machines , motors and switchboards.
Unless they want to pay $120 an hour for him to

 

[Skylarking]

AdBlue that went from $1 a litre and spiked to $2 a litre because there was a shortage at the start of last year but never came down again...

Sad that we can’t even make adblue pee down under and then sell it at a reasonable price. This encapsulates all that is wrong in this country

I won’t go through every point in replay as such discussions are better in person over a beer than typing away in a tit for tat manner.

But I’ll say that the tax system is broken regardless of the fact governments are wasteful in managing our money and the tax system needs a big shakeup and simplification. That’s my view and you may think differently…

And as a customer, what matters is price and quality of work, not what cars are in the tradies or surgeons garage and how they benefit from the tax system. But for them to use the cost of running the car as justification for a higher rate isn’t a fair justification in my book if a cheaper mode of transporting the tradie and his tools exists. Businesses should always be looking at costs and what ways can be used to reduce them… Again that’s just my view…

Being that much of what is done by prescribed trades in residential jobs isn’t rocket science or brain surgery, their knowledge isn’t worth what they think it’s worth other than because of the protections of it being a prescribed trade.

And as many trades are a closed shop sort of gig, and competition seems to wane as all tradies in my area seem to read from the same hymn book, finding someone singing a different tune is near impossible and frustrating as I’m capable of doing the work (and doing it as well if not better than the tradies cause no time pressure to get to the next job) So in that situation, much of what they ask seems like an organised extortion racket which peeves me off

Guess we’ll have to agree to disagree

 

[wetwork65]

Looks like grocery prices are going up again in NZ,

http://[URL]https://www.nzherald.co...ack-to-woolworths/5PTXXFE5YBBFHCBNTQE7QPNLJI/

[/URL]

Not a surprise, given their current profits. Got to spend it on something to reduce tax.

 

[Sabbath']

Sad that we can’t even make adblue pee down under and then sell it at a reasonable price. This encapsulates all that is wrong in this country

Agreed.

I won’t go through every point in replay as such discussions are better in person over a beer than typing away in a tit for tat manner

Agreed again.

.

But I’ll say that the tax system is broken regardless of the fact governments are wasteful in managing our money and the tax system needs a big shakeup and simplification. That’s my view and you may think differently…

Again, no disagreement

And as a customer, what matters is price and quality of work, not what cars are in the tradies or surgeons garage and how they benefit from the tax system. But for them to use the cost of running the car as justification for a higher rate isn’t a fair justification in my book if a cheaper mode of transporting the tradie and his tools exists. Businesses should always be looking at costs and what ways can be used to reduce them… Again that’s just my view…

Just on this one point, I don't think or know of anybody who is able to use their choice of vehicle to vary or inflate their hourly rate. Builders for one won't cop to that.

Good example. We run a UD Tipper. Brand new in 2022 it cost $220,000 on road. If you wanted to get a Volvo/Scania it would be $280,000 and for a Kenworth it was about $320,000

Nobody pays a higher rate for the truck just because it has a 4 inch drop visor and 8 inch stacks on it. The market pays what the market pays. The rate is the rate. You either bank more money or more cool points.

Being that much of what is done by prescribed trades in residential jobs isn’t rocket science or brain surgery, their knowledge isn’t worth what they think it’s worth other than because of the protections of it being a prescribed trade.

There was talk of motor mechanic work becoming a prescribed trade but they couldn't agree on a union or organise a root in a brothel so luckily that would never happen. Paying near on the same rates though.



Maybe I look at it differently from the inside dealing with plumbers/electricians/builders on a daily basis. Running a business costs money and it's not all sunshine and ski boats

 

[Derekthetree]

Sitting at 2.4km/litre currently

I'm sorry what? I'd misread that the first time. I apologise for not knowing your job, didn't realise it was towing 747s.

That's 41 l/100km.
6.8 MPG in proper units.

I mean why optimise your setup if you can get the client to pay right....

Just a little thought experiment.
At that consumption, you are outputting about a kg of CO2 per km.
That's the same burn rate as 10 passengers on the aforementioned 747... (LINK)

Penguins be damned I guess.

 

[Sabbath']

I'm sorry what? I'd misread that the first time. I apologise for not knowing your job, didn't realise it was towing 747s.

That's 41 l/100km.
6.8 MPG in proper units.

I mean why optimise your setup if you can get the client to pay right....

Just a little thought experiment.
At that consumption, you are outputting about a kg of CO2 per km.
That's the same burn rate as 10 passengers on the aforementioned 747... (LINK)

Penguins be damned I guess.

Not quite 747's and not sure what isn't optimised about the setup of a modern truck?

So let's break it down since it's not 'optimized' and just a money grab.

Current tandem hire rate is $100/hr
Let's say you do an 8 hour day and in that 8 hour day you do 300km.
At my current average of 2.4l/km and at $1.77/l that's $220 on fuel.

$580 isn't a bad day.

But let's pay the driver for the day. Be generous and give them $30/hr. (Forgetting it doesn't actually cost me $30/h to employ them once I've done super and taken time to actually sort out them getting paid. But anyway.

$340. Take out $40 for insurances and registration costs.

And that $220,000 truck makes, for an owner *about* $38/hour. And that's before I've given the bank their repayment. Oh. And the thing goes in for its scheduled service tomorrow at a cost of $4,000.

Unless my maths is wrong?

 

[MuckUte]

I'm sorry what? I'd misread that the first time. I apologise for not knowing your job, didn't realise it was towing 747s.

That's 41 l/100km.
6.8 MPG in proper units.

I mean why optimise your setup if you can get the client to pay right....

Just a little thought experiment.
At that consumption, you are outputting about a kg of CO2 per km.
That's the same burn rate as 10 passengers on the aforementioned 747... (LINK)

Penguins be damned I guess.

My little truck (300 series Hino) runs about 5.5Ks/l hate to think what the tandem truck and trailer we have uses when full.

But all tradies are out to rip everyone off

 

[Baldoldfart]

But all tradies are out to rip everyone off

That's how the system works, free enterprise, you charge what the market will take. If you're not willing to pay what they ask then do it yourself.

The big costs of trade work can be traced back to not enough tradesmen and the shutting down of the Tech training system under John Howard. They said the private/commercial people can train cheaper and better than a gov paid for trade training with tech colleges. 900 million from memory was taken from the system.
Sow what ye reap.