Coin deposit reduces dumped shopping trolleys – why don’t they all do it?
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.
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.
Tags: Coles, supermarkets, Woolworths
15 comments
Pondering: Why aren’t MetroTrains promoting the hell out of their ten minute services?
(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?
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.
To 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
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.
Here’s some wrapping paper I bought last week…
…and here, with the brightness and contrast adjusted, is kinda what the wrapping paper looks like when in a darkened room. Hmmm.
And finally, here’s my experimental office Christmas photography…
Merry Christmas, everyone.
Tags: Christmas, Highpoint
3 comments
If Myer went totally online, would the Christmas Windows turn into a web site?
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.
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.
Tags: Christmas, Myer, shopping
7 comments
Symmetry and recursion, all thanks to advertising
Thanks to the miracle of advertising, we have a bank on a tram…
…a tram on a bank…
…and a bus stop on a bus stop.
If you’re curious, the bus stop picture is portraying the 811/812 route on “Main Street”.
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
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):
…and, who would like a Doctor Who Myki holder?
(Sanctuary Base 6, for those who don’t remember it, was the base from the David Tennant story The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit.)
Tags: Doctor Who, Lego, Minotaur Books, Myki
2 comments
Coke ads on the sides of trains
It was bound to happen once they started putting advertising on the sides of trains: Coke ads.
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:
And another recent addition is this trial video screen at 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.
Sunday Age “outperforms the rest”
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.
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.
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.
Tags: Herald Sun, newspapers, The Age
3 comments
