Coin deposit reduces dumped shopping trolleys – why don’t they all do it?

Thu 19 January 2012 7:25am by Daniel · Filed under: Bentleigh, Consumerism 

Since Woolworths introduced gold coin deposits for trolleys at Bentleigh, you almost never see their trolleys abandoned in the streets. The same can’t be said for Coles Bentleigh, who appear to have some trolleys requiring a coin, and some not — I don’t understand the logic of this. On a walk last night, we passed three (non-deposit) Coles trolleys in quick succession on a single block of Jasper Road.

Abandoned Coles trolleys

It seems pretty clear that (like the drink container deposits used in some states), coin deposits reduce the problem. I wonder why Coles don’t go ahead and implement it fully, especially in suburbs like Bentleigh where their major competitor already uses it.

Abandoned trolleys can be reported online for Wesfarmers/Coles group chains (Officeworks, K-Mart, Bunnings etc) here or for most other chains (Woolworths/Safeway, Target, some IGA) here.

Pondering: Why aren’t MetroTrains promoting the hell out of their ten minute services?

Thu 5 January 2012 12:03pm by Daniel · Filed under: Consumerism, transport 

(I’m at home today awaiting two tradesmen, so I’ve been a little creative.)

Here’s what I can’t figure out: since late-2010, the Frankston line has run every ten minutes between the peaks. In 2011 they tidied this up and made all those trains run direct to Flinders Street, and then through to Newport, with alternating trains going to Williamstown and Werribee.

Seriously, every ten minutes, Frankston, City, Newport, all day. That’s good enough that you can explore, hop on, hop off, and not worry about a timetable, between about 7am and 7pm Monday to Friday. It’s a model for all their lines.

So why aren’t they promoting the hell out of this?

My unofficial 10 minute promo poster

This is my quick mockup. It’s far from perfect. I’m not a graphic designer, nor a copywriter, but you get the idea. They should start with posters on their own stations; that’d be (almost) free.

Trains every 10 minutes is a good product, worth promoting

The Frankston to City to Newport service may not be perfect, and the bus connections to properly connect to it are particularly problematic at some stations, but this is one of those examples where an investment has been made in upgrading the product offering to a level where it’s actually good, and there’s been virtually no promotion of it.

It’s also a prime example of where Metro should be trying to grow patronage — during off-peak periods — because the infrastructure and fleet has been provided to meet peak demand, so any more passengers you get on board during off-peak is a bonus, providing you cheap revenue for little extra cost.

Metro's Mont Albert posterTo be fair, they are promoting off-peak travel a little bit. But they appear to be ignoring which lines have the good service, and instead promoting the destinations — even when the trains run to a mediocre 20 minute frequency.

I suspect a promotion needs a mix of both service and destination to be successful. And oddly, apart from ads in MX, the only place I’ve noticed their “Toorak” posters is at Toorak station… shouldn’t they be placed at least on every station on that line, if not network-wide?

(I’d be interested to know how many people have noticed Metro’s Neighbourhoods promotion.)

Meanwhile, online

Meanwhile, apparently Metro’s publicity department are busy tinkering with Twitter — making the popular (10,000 followers) feed no longer useful by stopping posting service updates to it — though they now seem to be saying they will post major (multi-line) disruptions.

An odd decision. Metro’s Twitter feed was informative (but not chatty). Now it’s getting chatty (but not informative). There’s no reason it can’t be both.

(Picture credits for the mockup: Frankston — avlxyz on Flickr; Yarraville — awmalloy on Flickr; Spotswood — Wikipedia/Mick Stanic)

PS. I’ve remembered that Yarra Trams actually has adverts/signs along some of its tram routes promoting upgraded frequencies. I’ll see if I can find a picture. And to clarify Peta’s comment, yes, I’d say put posters like this on stations from Frankston to Newport; not necessarily other places on the network — not until those also got upgraded frequencies.

Christmas pics

Sat 24 December 2011 9:35pm by Daniel · Filed under: Consumerism 

Here’s a pic of some fools taking a shopping trolley on the escalator at Highpoint, where Marita and I managed to do a surgical strike for last-minute presents, and be back on the tram to her place within 30 minutes, before it got stupidly busy this morning.
IMAG1407a

Here’s some wrapping paper I bought last week…
Wrapping paper

…and here, with the brightness and contrast adjusted, is kinda what the wrapping paper looks like when in a darkened room. Hmmm.
Wrapping paper in the dark

And finally, here’s my experimental office Christmas photography…
Experiments in office Christmas photography

Merry Christmas, everyone.

If Myer went totally online, would the Christmas Windows turn into a web site?

Fri 23 December 2011 7:52am by Daniel · Filed under: Consumerism 

Myer will close stores in Victoria and New South Wales and shrink surviving stores in response to the two-speed economy and online shopping.

Myer to close or shrink stores as retail malaise bites

Remembering that Myer Melbourne has already shrunk in size by about half, this isn’t a huge surprise. Sounds like some of the smaller stores will be closed.

Myer Christmas windows

I can’t see it happening, but I suppose if Myer went totally online, the Christmas Windows would be transitioned into a web site. Some kind of Flash animation, a Youtube clip or a Flickr slideshow?

I like shopping in person, seeing things up close, and the instant gratification of avoiding delivery times. But I also like online shopping — the flexibility of hours, the wide variety of products, and the generally better prices. This year my Christmas shopping has been a mix of both.

The Bourke Street Mall has been packed this week, especially from lunchtime onwards. It’ll be interesting to see how the retailers have gone this Christmas.

Symmetry and recursion, all thanks to advertising

Wed 14 December 2011 7:15am by Daniel · Filed under: Consumerism, PTUA 

Thanks to the miracle of advertising, we have a bank on a tram…
Tram with a bank on it

…a tram on a bank…
Tram on a bank

…and a bus stop on a bus stop.
Bus stop on a bus stop

If you’re curious, the bus stop picture is portraying the 811/812 route on “Main Street”.
Bus stop on a bus stop (close-up)

Unfortunately the bus stop in the picture doesn’t appear to have another advert with a bus stop on it. Which means it’s not really recursive.

Happily the bus stop sign is nowhere near as faded as some of them are.

Spotted at Minotaur

Mon 12 December 2011 7:37am by Daniel · Filed under: Consumerism, Doctor Who 

I’ve shopped at Minotaur Books for decades. I first found it in the early 80s when it was at the top end of Swanston Street. Then it moved to a multi-level shop in Bourke Street. Then to its current home in Elizabeth Street.

It’s always had way more cool stuff than I could afford to buy, though for some time in the mid-80s I was buying Doctor Who Monthly regularly.

Nowadays my kids love going there. Spotted last week…

Doctor Who “Lego” (compatible bricks):
Doctor Who Lego compatible kits

…and, who would like a Doctor Who Myki holder?
Doctor Who travel pass holders

(Sanctuary Base 6, for those who don’t remember it, was the base from the David Tennant story The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit.)

Coke ads on the sides of trains

Fri 25 November 2011 7:23am by Daniel · Filed under: Consumerism, transport 

It was bound to happen once they started putting advertising on the sides of trains: Coke ads.

Coke advert on a Siemens train

Given trains are seen not just by passengers but also by motorists and pedestrians at level crossings, it could be quite lucrative for Metro. One can only hope the money goes into better services.

My guess is we won’t see these on Comeng trains, due to the fluted sides. Too hard to stick ads onto.

But they are putting ads inside the Comeng trains:

Advert inside a Comeng train

And another recent addition is this trial video screen at Melbourne Central Station:

Video screen, Melbourne Central Station

As with (apparently) the ones at stations in Sydney and elsewhere, it goes blank when a train approaches, so as not to be a distraction.

Maybe all this advertising is paying for the shiny new flat-screens popping on the concourse and platforms at the underground stations.

New screens at Melbourne Central

Sunday Age “outperforms the rest”

Sun 13 November 2011 5:03pm by Daniel · Filed under: Consumerism, Culture 

I’m always amused when one of the newspapers crows about the latest circulation figures.

THE Sunday Age continues to be the best-performing metropolitan newspaper in Australia, according to the latest circulation figures.

The newspaper recorded the best year-on-year growth to September 2011 of any daily, Saturday or Sunday newspaper in the country.

Sunday Age: Sunday Age outperforms the rest

It takes a particularly selective use of the figures to come up with the headline “outperforms the rest”. In the article they quote the Sunday Age’s circulation of 228,826, but fail to mention the circulation of their competitors.

Age vs Herald Sun circulation

The figures were all published last week. The Age is outstripped by their main competitor in Melbourne, the Herald Sun, every day of the week.

While it’s true that the Sunday Age is growing in circulation (by 2126 in a year apparently), I think it’s rather optimistic to claim it “outperforms the rest” when it’s only selling 41% of the competition, and at this rate of growth (and the current rate of loss for the Sunday Herald Sun), it’ll take another ten years to get equal.

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