Adventure Ausrama Blog

Even if you shop online you are being watched. Furthermore, new technology is being rolled out in Australian shops to find out your shopping habits. This does not just include purchasing. The way you examine goods will also be recorded and analysed. The other day I was in Coles supermarket. I examined a product and put it back on the shelf. Then I continued into the fresh vegetable section. I was accosted there by a shop assistance who said I must purchase the product because I had lifted the wrapping on the corner. It was captured on camera.  This was a bit of a shock I must say. The key to avoiding being tracked is to leave your mobile phone at home. Phones are being used as tracking sources without your permission. The government is going to allow this. To gain access to wi-fi you will unwittingly give your permission to be tracked. To confuse those collecting data you can lend your mobile to family members, or even wear a dress if you are a man. Westfield sho...

There is clearly something wrong with the Australian economy. We seem to in the same position of Indonesia several decades ago when it had oil and the high price was pushing up the value of the currency. A high currency makes it difficult for those producing "non-boom" products to export. That is why the US is printing more dollars to weaken the currency, improve the economy and create more jobs. Nothing much is happening for it though because the US dollar is the major international currency as gold used to be. Just why Australian shopkeepers are crying fowl is more difficult to understand. A strong currency means imports are cheaper. Australians are very import dependent in their spending habits and buying cheap imports is what they like to do. They buy such imports over more expensive Australian made products, but this shouldn't hurt the bottom line of retailers. They claim Australians are spending less. Though figures show this to be the case, spendin...

For the first time economic theory is being challenged by the Internet. Economics has always put forward the premise that the consumer was all-knowing, in that the "going price" for products was known. Of course, in the past this has been a lie. The demand curve was absolutely false. Buyers did not know where they could get the best price. Now, potential buyers can go to a store, try on a particular brand of clothing to find the correct size, then go and buy it on the Internet. Some shops are charging for such browsing. This will only drive consumers away to another store. There isn't much doubt that there are too many stores in the market selling the same goods. This is a problem caused by local councils allowing shopping center development even when it is contrary to local planning laws. Councils are too easily influenced by cashed-up big business. As chain stores move into populated centers of rural areas the future looks bleak for the corner store. The da...

People want dogs. They really do. Apart from pit bull crosses used for fighting, pedigree and cute dogs are also being taken by "admirers". There was a time when you just tied your dog up outside a shop and when you came back the pet was still there, but not today. Do this and you may never see your beloved friend again. When thieves in the UK break in to steal your car keys they are likely to take the family dog as well. In the US dogs are stolen from parked cars and when they go for a run in the park with their owners. Microchips are no deterrent. The new owners never take dogs to places where chips can be scanned. Unchipped dogs are resold. Some are held for ransom money to be paid. Introducing laws making microchipping compulsory only works when dogs reach a shelter, and this only happens when the new owners have lost interest in them. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/A...

Australian retailers are in a corner with people turning to the Internet to make purchases. With rents near zero for Internet sellers and high rents for retail shops the odds are stacked against local stores. Travel agents are the ones hit the hardest. It is so easy to buy an airline ticket online. Next are bookshops. They cannot compete with Amazon, though some Australian bookshops are selling online as well. Pharmacists are up against large cut-price online sellers in the US. However, chemists can still rely on the highly subsidized cash cow called the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Some Australian businesses are becoming paranoid. A woman was accused by a bookshop proprietor of making a list of books to buy on the Internet. A sports retailer asks for a deposit before customers try things on. Things are changing so fast. Major stores in the US are allowing goods purchased online to be returned at city outlets. Australian businesses must make the move to the Internet now, o...