Inflation or just plain rip-off?

I was at Woolworths yesterday to buy some odds and ends for lunch.  Have not been there for a while (I do most of my shopping at trusty ol’ Pick n’ Pay) but I have to say I was absolutely gob-smacked at the prices Woolies is charging for basic items.

What really sealed the deal for me was when I picked up a pre-packed 4-pack of cheese rolls (which were not all that fresh) and the price tage read R14,95.  I looked around in vain to see if that was for an 8-pack or something but there it was in black and white on the tag below the cheese rolls: “Cheese Rolls, 4 Pack, R14,95″.

(Ed’s note: I see they are advertising white cheese rolls for R13,95 online here: http://www.woolworths.co.za/caissa.asp?Page=ITB4_RHProduct&Prod=0000020187583)

WHAT?

A quick survey of the products in Woolies helped me conclude that either our inflation rate was higher than I thought (like 35% or something) or that Woolies was just getting ridiculously expensive – more so than usual.

I promptly left my basket of items on the floor in an abandoned aisl, only to make my way to Pick n Pay where I was able to pick up an assortment of 9 FRESH rolls (Cheese, plain & garlick) for Just under R16.  That’s an average of R1,77 per roll as opposed to Woolies’ R3,75 a roll.

Guess Woolies ain’t gonna see me again any time soon.

The soul-destroying act of being a PR writer (take 2)

I posted a Blog entry on Wibble almost a year ago and its still something that rings very loudly in my mind – although my opinions may have changed slightly in lieu of the thicker skin that I have developed.

It’s often made me question if PR writing is the career for me, considering that sometimes critique of your work can make you appear to be a bumbling idiot in front of your superiors.

Some of the comments that I managed to attract on my posting didn’t really drive the message home for me at the time, until I re-visited the post today and re-read some of the comments.

Here are some choice snippets:

“[PR] writing has to be to the whim of the directors of the client, not to the taste of the readers of the targeted publication”

“It can cut deep! Nowadays I look at the degree of criticism and change, and if it’s slight – it’s almost relief!”

“More often than not a poor article is due to poor briefing and preparation. No-one can be expected to turn crap into gold all the time.”  *This has got to be the best comment because it’s so freaking true*

The last comment above really sums it up for me.  Nobody can be expected to pull valuable content out of their backsides and make it perfect for the client.

Trust me, if clients weren’t always in a constant state of chaos, if the people they worked with actually understood the processes around executing a PR campaign and if they actually gave the PR people in their lives the right tools and information, this post and my previous post on Wibble probably would never have seen the light of day.

But the fact is that the corporate world continues to cut costs and resources and to load the remaining few with additional work – making it increasingly difficult to be 100% effective in your job, unless you don’t have a social or home life and you’re sitting at your desk 17 hours a day.

In addition, some people seem to have the constant need to justify their existence by trying to be more strategic and value-added while all the time just over-complicating things to the extent that they often end up getting confused about what they were trying to do in the first place.

And this confusion filters down the hierarchy making the people who do the actual work appear to be the weak links in the process.

From time to time you do get a pat on the head and told that you’re doing a good job, but can you really be sure?  Perhaps, like everything in this world, it happens in peaks and troughs.  I suppose I’d be without a job if it wasn’t the case.

Don’t get me wrong, I really do love writing and my job for the most part is a really great one to have but , as with all jobs in this world, there are challenges and these challenges that I’ve mentioned are big ones to overcome, not only for PR writers like myself, but also the people that the PR industry services.

I may be totally missing the point – but that’s why I have a comments function on this Blog. Use it.

Recon Ops takes 2nd place in Hermanus

I recently joined 16 of my fellow paintball teammates from Recon Ops in Hermanus to take part in the Hunters Extreme Harbour Challenge paintball tournament over the long weekend.

We entered three five-man squads, one of which (my squad – AKA Recon Ops “Hammerdead”), finished 2nd overall and winning a set of new Tippmann A5 markers.

31 five-man teams entered – making this inaugural event one of the biggest of its kind in South Africa.

The event took place in the New Harbour area of Hermanus, which proved to be a grueling round-robin-style event, comprising five stages – each requiring an attacking team to capture a “base” to move on to the next stage.

The event was fast-paced and winning the event came down to the team’s speed and aggression.

The initial round was completed around mid-afternoon, with a “final shoot-out” of the top six finalists scheduled later in the day to determine the overall winners of the event.

The overall winner of the event was a mixed team called “WarDogs” – who took home a cheque for R10,000 and a few extra goodies.

It was a great event and it can just get bigger and better in the coming years.

Pilferage ‘R’ Us

This story appeared today on IOL: Post Office blacklisted

“Rampant theft by Post Office workers has infuriated internet retailing giant Amazon so much that it will no longer send goods to South Africa by post, Business Day has reported.”

As if it wasn’t bad enough that baggage pilferage was rampant in South Africa’s airports – it’s not spilled over into the Postal Services, which, although it has been a problem for some time, is earning SA an even worse reputation than it already has with regard to theft and petty crime.

And this story that appeared adds salt into the wounds because South Africa is the ONLY country in Africa to be blacklisted.

The question that has to be asked is: “When are people going to start taking taking responsibility for the actions of their employees?”

We’ve already had companies like ACSA and the Post Office admitting that there are problems but nobody has been prepared to stick their necks out and do anything about it.  Maybe it’ll be made into a national sport.

Honestly, people try so hard to be positive about SA but when stories such as this one continue to make appearances you have every right to wonder when the madness will end and is anyone really is making a difference.

Vehicle sales slump…is there more to the story?

Yesterday it was reported that new vehicle sales slumped lower than the same period last year – indicating that high interest rates, increasing vehicle prices, astronomical fuel prices the National Credit Act are all making it very difficult to afford a new car.

The report on News24 said that new vehicle sales dropped from 51,628 units to 39,533 units – representing a 23.4% decrease in new vehicle sales.

What is astonishing, though, is that close to 40,000 new vehicles are STILL being sold every month, which is a lot of vehicles, despite a looming crisis in the industry.

But the problem could be much worse than it really is.  South Africans are notoriously bad drivers – rated amongst the worst in the world.  As a result, thousands of accidents happen on a monthly basis in this country and as a result thousands of cars are written off and replaced as insurance claims. This also goes for vehicle thefts.

It would be interesting to see what percentage of new vehicle sales are actually as a result of insurance claims and then deduct that percentage from the total number sold per month.

It’s almost guaranteed that it will paint an even bleaker picture of the local new vehicle market because it will show that people are not buying as many new cars – either as a replacement for an older car or as a first vehicle – and that factors other than consumer demand are keeping certain industries afloat.

I may be totally off the mark here but perhaps the question has to be asked.

Could land development threaten paintball?

The rush on major economic centres in South Africa and the subsequent development of many pieces of vacant or privately-owned bushland could potentially threaten the recreational sport of bush paintball.

As an avid player of the sport, it’s an issue that’s quite close to my heart and the stark reality of the effects that land development is having on the sport that I love so much is hitting home in a big way.

There have been rumours over the last couple of months that a number of prominent paintball ranges (both official and unofficial) are in the process of either moving to inferior grounds or closing altogether as a result of ongoing land development in and around Jo’burg.

To avoid being lambasted by the pro-property development community, I’m not trying to rant about something that is inevitable in today’s society, but at the rate that paintball ranges are moving or closing down as a result of land development, the face of the sport may change dramatically in time to come.

There has already been a raging debate on the Paintball Africa forum (PBA) about one of the most well-known and popular “rogue” fields in Johannesburg (The old Cinderella Prison in Boksburg) – how it has been bought up by a developer and is scheduled for demolition and re-development in January 2009 – something that a lot of fiercely loyal paintballers have quite openly said that they will not take sitting down.

The simple fact is that we’re running out of places to play. In fact, the number of fields where paintballers from around Jo’burg can play at has diminished drastically and it’s only going to heighten if land development carries on the way it is.

The question is, how is paintball going to adapt to this challenge? God’s not making any more land and the demand for land for development purposes has never been as high as it currently is. The solution seems to be lost.

Perhaps paintballers will have to be prepared to travel to further outlying areas to play or maybe it needs some investment in suitable land from people who are not interested in making money out of property development and want to ensure that paintballers always have somewhere to play.

Goodness knows, paintball is one of the world’s fastest-growing sports and, particularly in Johannesburg, the bush-ball and military simulation scene has exploded with interest. There’s money to be made in renting land out to paintballers, particularly if it’s a large piece of land covered in thick bush, trees and a few broken-down or abandoned buildings. A paintballer’s paradise!

Scenario and milsim paintballers are not the only guys who are going to miss out. Social ‘ballers will probably be hurt the most because they would typically go to an established official field and rent paintball markers for birthday parties, bachelors parties and the likes.

And for all the paintball ranges that are rumoured to be closing down in the near future, there aren’t an equal number of new ranges that are opening up again – spelling a real blow to paintball as a whole.

You could argue that the airball (or speedball) style of paintball could take the place of social paintball because the bunkers are inflatable and easily stored away but there are people who like playing in between trees, bunkers made from old crate and oil drums and, qite frankly, don’t like airball and speedball.

I think an interesting time lays ahead for paintball in Johannesburg. Whether or not people have the money and/or the initiative to secure land for the sport is another story. Us ‘ballers can only hope that when all is said and done we still have somewhere decent to earn our welts and hand them out.

Mugabe, you’ve been a bad boy…

So “Uncle Bob” from up North is making his way to the UN Summit on Food Security in Rome, despite a number of objections to his presence there.

You can’t blame countries for making a racket about his trip to the summit because he seems to be oblivious to the fact that his very own people are dying of starvation in a country that is falling apart at the seams. It’s alsmot hypocritical.

But what is amazing is the fact that the best any major superpower can do to try and pressurise him into trying to repair his dying country is threatening to evoke his honourary knighthood.

*Erm* what? He’s an honourary KNIGHT? I nearly drove my car into a pole this morning when I heard Adam Gilchrist on Radio 702 this morning talking about how the UK has threatened to take his knighthood away becuase he’s been a very naughty boy.

“I suppose he’ll return to Zimbabwe a changed man, with all good intetions to right the wrongs and create a better life for all”.

Quite honestly, I think he probably would have handed it back wrapped in a poo sandwich sooner or later anyway.

Hello world! Yes, I moved to WordPress

Okay, so I took the plunge and migrated my Blogger blog to WordPress. Just from a looks perspective more than anything else. But editing this post I’ve already found some cool features that I simply did not have in Blogger.

Lemme know what you think.. I’ll be playing around a little with the settings but I hope to settle here pretty soon