Tourism – Opportunity For Traders To Engage With Industry

Destination Melbourne is conducting two April tourism workshops that could be of interest to traders looking to maximise their involvement with this important customer group. QVM have expressed an interest in attending with a group of traders. More information can be obtained from the links below or you may wish to contact marketing staff.

Tourism Explained Briefing

Date & Time:	28 Apr 2016 3:00pm - 6:00pm
Venue:	Citadines on Bourke Melbourne 131-135 Bourke Street Melbourne  VIC

Tourism Explained with Ray Schleibs & special guests

This Tourism Explained briefing is for anyone wanting to learn more about the structure of the tourism industry, the demographics and motivations of visitors to Melbourne and the opportunities to engage and network within the industry. It’s also a valuable session for businesses that may not traditionally see themselves as part of tourism but can foresee tourism as a growth opportunity for their business. Learn how to stay informed about visitors to Melbourne and ensure you capitalise on opportunities for increased visitation.

Cost: $30pp including GST.

More details are available here - http://www.destinationmelbourne.com.au/events/22141124700-tourism-explained-briefing/ 

Designing Visitor Experiences that Delight

Date & Time:	29 Apr 2016 9:00am - 4:30pm
Venue:	Citadines on Bourke Melbourne 131-135 Bourke Street Melbourne  VIC

When designing visitor experiences that delight, you first need to foster a deep understanding of your visitor and then apply the latest thinking, concepts and tools. This will help you to redesign your product offering and keep it aligned with visitor trends and needs.  With a competitive and forever changing tourism landscape, it’s increasingly important to create impactful visitor centric experiences that will delight the visitor, drive positive sharing and comments via social media and ensure business sustainability.

Cost: $200pp including GST.

More details are available here - http://www.destinationmelbourne.com.au/events/22245901089-designing-visitor-experiences-that-delight/ 

Editorial Control On Victraders.com

Apparently there was some ill-informed criticism of Victraders.com during a trader meeting this week and perhaps it would be a good time to identify the rules that govern posting on the trader’s website.

The criticism suggested that input from traders was edited before posting. Every public website has rules about posting that may involve some editing of input. Rules protect operators of websites and their readers from unsavoury action and the complete list of rules can be exhaustive but there are some common themes. It should be said up front that there is very little need for moderation on Victraders.com. Most input is of a civil and constructive nature and over 5 years of operation there would only be a handful of posts that have not been published. Some no-no’s for our website are -

Defamation – obviously defaming another person is unacceptable and, yes, there have been instances at Victraders.com.

Discrimination and Harassment – it is inappropriate to vilify any other person, including based on their race, ethnicity, religion or sexual preference. 

Bad Language – obviously unacceptable.

Trolling – the term used to describe attempts to inflame issues usually through personal attacks that incite an emotional response.

Shouting – writing in capital letters is described as shouting and, just as shouting is unacceptable in physical meetings, it is also unacceptable online.

False Identity – Victraders.com does not require signatures to posts. You may post anonymously and that does leave us open to false posts but we choose to make the process of feedback as open and easy as possible.

False or Misleading Statements – many websites ban input that has the potential to be false or misleading and this is a very grey area. Obviously we need to allow expressions of opinion but every contributor is expected to have performed due diligence on the information contained in their posts.
Personalising Issues - this is covered in a couple of the circumstances above but bears repeating. Attacking the person rather than the issue is unnacceptable. Any view has merit and deserves to stand alone from the person expressing the view. 

All these circumstances are rigorously controlled on forums and websites across the globe. Victraders.com is in fact a little softer than most. As an example we allow posts from Vince, David, and Michael who are in reality the same person.  Obviously this person understands that an anonymous post has less impact than a signed post so they choose to use fictitious names. On most websites and forums that would be unacceptable behaviour. Maybe it should be here as well.

It is suspected that this week’s criticism comes from one of the many conspiracy theories that unfortunately abound at QVM. Hopefully this explanation will allay any fears you may have about contributing to Victraders.com. This website has a very useful role to perform in informing traders and giving them an opportunity to express their views. If you have any comments to make we would love to hear from you. And your post will be published unedited, as long as you don’t defame, troll, shout etc.

Have Your Say - click here.

10/03/2016 15:36:59 Comments from Traders "Put your name to it so  we know who is writing This article" A&J Renwood E Shed
Thanks for your input Alby & Jillian. The article was written by Greg Smith, Editor of Victraders. - Ed 

15/03/2016 20:48:01 Victraders "I for one am proud to sign anything that I post. I welcome any comment or discussion that may come out of a post. Victraders is one of the few vehicles we have to communicate on a broader scale. We are all busy in our own trading and it is difficult to catch up with a few let alone many. In case you may be unaware the ADK on my signature is American Doughnut Kitchen." Karl.    ADK
Thanks Karl. Your input is much appreciated - Ed

A New Measure For An Old Foe Of Market Trading

Back in 1979 a small group of traders discussed the impact of the Iranian revolution, particularly the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini. They talked about the way his rise to power had suddenly sucked the life out of retail trade as the fear of world conflict took hold. That is the first time I can remember thinking about global uncertainty impacting directly on my sales at QVM and now the Reserve Bank of Australia is actually measuring that uncertainty in its economic analysis.

Measures of consumer confidence have been around for years but this uncertainty index tracks the cost of different factors such as international events and government policy decisions on the economy. The RBA’s model found that increases in uncertainty of a fairly modest amount - such as 30 basis points - are associated with a downturn characterised by lower employment growth, weaker retail sales growth, and a fall in consumer confidence.

Past "uncertainty" events include Prime Minister Keatings "recession we had to have" speech, the September 11 terrorist attacks, and Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. It is not yet clear how this knowledge will influence the actions of the Reserve Bank but the direct correlation between fear and economic activity is a clear lesson for those responsible for activating and communication corrective action. It is nice to know that these disruptive events are being measured and strategies formulated to minimise unnecessary impacts. As Franklin D Roosevelt famously said "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself".

Have Your Say - click here.

Latest Retail News – 3/6/2016

Latest Retail News – 3/6/2016
1. Woolworths announces Brad Banducci as new CEO.
2. Wesfarmers completes takeover of UK based home improvement chain, Homebase.
3. Billabong posts first half loss.
4. Hugo Boss CEO takes blame for declining sales in China.
5. Amazon tackles UK super markets on home turf.
6. Grays E-commerce exits fixed price retail strategy.
7. Super Retail Group reports higher profit.
8. Moody’s cuts Woolworths credit rating.
9. Pumpkin Patch expects sharp drop in profit.
10. Australia’s chilled meat exports expected to grow.
11. Wesfarmers unites K-Mart and Target businesses under Guy Rosso.
12. Watchmaker, Omega, to open its flagship store at Sydney’s Martin Place.
13. NZ company buys operator of 42 KFC stores in NSW for $82.4 million.
14. Watchmaker, Seiko, opens first Australian boutique store at Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building.
15. Contactless payment by mobile phones growing fast.

Other News:
Aldi Closes Online Liquor Store – Aldi will be closing its online liquor store 3 years after it was launched as they concentrate on their core supermarket business. Key competitor, Woolworths, has announced that its Dan Murphy’s liquor business has recorded strong double-digit growth in online sales.

Heard Under The Sheds

Should the Worlds Longest Lunch Have Been Held At QVM?

This week's Melbourne Food and Wine Festival includes the famous Worlds Longest Lunch event. A trader asked why this event wasn’t held at QVM and the response from one of our trader representatives was that it probably could have been. Earlier last year, trader representatives were asked about the prospects of conducting the world’s longest lunch in C Shed. Trader Representatives ascertained that 80% of C Shed traders would be happy to move for the event assuming they were given an equivalent alternative location. We are not sure why, but the proposal didn’t go any further.

Guru Pete Receives Job Offers –

With the QVM cleaning tender up for grabs, and Pete’s position a little uncertain, he has

been receiving job offers from traders who are keen not to lose his talents around the market. In true Pete fashion he is keeping the details of the job offers close to his chest.

Sparrows and Health at QVM

A recent newspaper article warned of the health hazards associated with our feathered co-tenants at QVM particularly the risks of infection from bacteria in their droppings. Sparrow numbers seem to be on the rise and we know that measures have been taken in the past to control their numbers. Maybe it is time to address the problem again. As much as we wish no harm to wildlife generally, there is an obligation to provide a healthy, clean environment for customers and ourselves.

Recruiting New Traders

One of our traders has suggested that Trader Representatives should be on the selection panel for new traders. Determining the experience and skill qualities of new applicants would be greatly enhanced by a public market trading expert i.e. an experienced current market trader.

Have Your Say - click here.

COMMENTS:
06/03/2016 17:22:26 E Shed Plasic Chairs "Would it be possible for management to get rid of those filthy plastic white chairs from the the top of E Shed?
Management would like for all stallholders to lift their game is there any chance that management could lead by example?" Thanks for your input - plastic chairs can look pretty tatty -  Ed

How Should We Organise & Source Trader Representatives?

Trader Representatives at QVM perform important tasks in the operation of the market. They act as a communication channel for information that flows to traders from management and other sources, information that flows from traders to management and other destinations, and of course, information that flows between traders. How can we maximise the impact of Trader Representatives particularly when it comes to communication?

Current Set-up – we currently have 11 trader representatives positions organised as follows –

2  to represent General Merchandise (PE traders)

2  to represent General Merchandise (SL traders)

1  to represent Dairy Produce Section

1 to represent Fruit and Vegetable (PE traders)

1 to represent Fruit and Vegetable (SL traders)

1 to represent Meat, Fish and Rabbit Section

2 to represent Leaseholders (including F Shed and food caravan operators)

1 Trader appointed by the traders association.

Although there are 11 positions, only 8 representatives regularly attend meetings which means that a significant number of traders are unrepresented.

There are probably two key considerations here. Are there enough representatives? Renewal is going to bring with it a huge workload. Casual traders don’t have a specific representative, nor do night market traders. 60 or so leaseholders have 2 representatives while 400 or so specialty merchandise traders in the top end have only 4 representatives. More representatives would help spread the load.

The other key consideration is how we organise representatives. Currently we do it by trader category. Should we perhaps do it by geographical areas? One of the important issues for current trader representatives is how to maximise contact with their constituents, and that is an ongoing battle. In the Dairy Hall and Meat, Fish Hall, category and location are easier to co-ordinate. Representatives are located in clearly defined areas close to their constituents. The Fruit & Vegetable sectors are split so that is not so easy. In the top end, representatives have a much larger area and traders move their locations from day to day so the logistics of being close to your constituents becomes very difficult. Would it be practicable to have two representatives for J,K,L Sheds and SBA, and two for C,D, and E Sheds and perhaps the F Shed shops?

There has been a suggestion to locate a Trader Representatives office in the top end which would give traders a clearly identifiable location for information exchange. The information flow then becomes more reliant on traders going to a representative’s office and less on representatives going out to traders. There has also been consideration of having a paid administrator to handle this process on a fulltime basis.

Obviously there are many options and now we need your help. What do you think of these proposals? What other ideas do you have? What would work best for you as a trader?

Have Your Say – click here.

Why Is This Supermarket So Popular?

Most of our readers will never have heard of Wegmans but they are a supermarket phenomena on the East Coast of the US and they are setting new grounds for customer adoration.

A business journal recently asked its readers if Wegmans deserved all their hype and a staggering 70% said they were. So what is it about  a humble supermarket that earns this following?

By US standards, Wegmans chain of 88 stores makes it pretty small. But they stock nearly

twice the average number of products (up to 70,000) and have a higher level of gluten free and organic content than their competitors. They engage in a lot of theatre with specialty food displays, cooking and preparation demonstrations, and employees in work aprons.

However, Wegmans claim their employees are the secret ingredient and although that sounds like a bit of PR hype, reviews from customers suggest they place the employee presentation and attitude well above normal supermarket standards.

Have Your Say - click here.

Another Trader Ideas Session With 4 Key Themes

The last after-market ideas session on 1^st February produced some great marketing ideas from traders and the follow up takes place next Tuesday 8^th at 3:30 in the Engagement Hub on Queen St (the building with the big green Forever sign).

This time there are going to be four key themes all designed to find ways for management to give better service to traders. Think of QVM as the service provider and you as the customer. Here are the themes –

• Management/trader communications
• Enforcement of rules
• Retail customer experience
• Trader support/development

It is ok to bring other issues to the table if you like. You will find the atmosphere quite relaxed and conducive to open and transparent discussion. The building is air-conditioned if you want to cool off after a hot days trading and refreshments will be provided.

Here are the details –

When: Tuesday 8th March 2016 – from 3:30pm to 5:30pm.
Where: Engagement Hub – 452 Queen Street.
RSVP: by no later than midday on Monday 7th March for catering purposes.
By email: info@qvm.com.au
By phone: (03) 9320 5822
In person: at F1 Information Centre

Have Your Say - click here.

Increase Your Profit and Stop Asking Your Customers What They Want.

We spend a lot of our time and energy as traders trying to find what our customers want but there is a good body of work that suggests we might become more profitable by doing something else.

Henry Ford had a famous saying - “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses". He suggests we shouldn't be asking our customers what they want but rather finding things they hadn't thought of – things that might do a better job of meeting their needs.

Steve Jobs, the inspirational leader of Apple, used to talk about designing products that customers hadn't thought of - "This is what customers pay us for - to sweat all these details so it's easy and pleasant for them to use our computers. We're supposed to be really good at this. That doesn't mean we don't listen to customers, but it's hard for them to tell you what they want when they've never seen anything remotely like it."

If you design or make your own products then this concept has particular relevance but what about the grand body of retailing that is buying and selling other people's goods? Well, you can probably apply the same philosophy to your range of goods and the way you merchandise. Finding new products and new ways of displaying can open up opportunities for your customers that they may never have thought of. And the beauty of operating a small business is that we can experiment to our hearts content without taking huge financial risks.

So rather than asking customers what they want perhaps we should be doing the hard work, thinking outside the square, and finding things that will excite them in a whole lot of new ways.

HaveYour Say - click here.

QVM Does A Pop-Up Market On Banks of Yarra

As part of the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival River Graze QVM will be setting up a number of stalls at the Arts Centre Melbourne forecourt over March 4^th – 6^th.

“ Come and enjoy a glass of Sangria and some mussels or relax with a cheese platter and a cup of Chai. And, of course, it wouldn't be a Queen Victoria Market pop up without the American Doughnut Kitchen and their iconic hot jam doughnuts!”

The following market businesses will be involved –

American Doughnut Kitchen Curds & Whey The Original Chai Co. The Mussel Pot Merlo Coffee

Books for Cooks M&G Caiafa Joe Leuzzi Flowers Simply Spanish Market Juice

There will be live entertainment, free cooking demonstrations and guest appearances. Sounds like it will be worth a visit. 

Dick Smith’s Stores Close and Other News

Dick Smith’s Closes

Receivers announced this week that all 363 Dick Smith’s stores would be closed within 8

weeks. No suitable offer had been received to indicate that the business could survive. Receiver, James Stewart said “The offers were either significantly below liquidation values or highly conditional or both.”

A genuine clear-out sale is expected to start immediately.

Woolworths Reports Staggering $2billion Loss

Yes, you read correctly – a $2.09 billion dollars loss for the first half following the write off of $3.25 billion from its ill-fated Master venture. Without that special  write off Woolworths still would have recorded a reduced profit over last year.

Harvey Norman Profit Jumps

Harvy Norman have reported a 30.7% profit increase on the back of stronger sales in Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. A strong Christmas period and a buoyant housing market have assisted performance.

Google Delivers

You may not know that Google has its own delivery service in the US just like Amazon, and both entities have developed same day deliveries. Google has now added fresh grocery deliveries to its armoury with meat, eggs and other perishables being delivered in areas of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Did somebody say that “convenience” is the new retail buzz word?

Victorian Legislation to Ban Discounted Fuel Price Boards

The Victorian Government has announced that it will be introducing legislation to ban the current practise of adverting fuel prices with a special discount that is only available on presentation of a card or voucher. Service Stations will be forced to show the full price of the fuel with ancillary advertising identifying  their discount offer.

Sportswear Boom

RCG Corporation, the group behind Athletes Foot, Skechers, and Vans, has reported a doubling in profit for the half year to December. They credit the improvement to a boom in “athleisure” with major brands shifting to a “clean sneaker look”. Sounds like a good trend for our various sportswear traders.

Coal (Not Coles) Pulls Back Wesfarmers

The owners of iconic retailers, Coles, Target, K-Mart and Bunnings also owns coal mines and possibly regrets that right at the moment. Strong performances from most of its stable of retailers have been offset by an 87.8% drop in earnings from its industrial division including coal mines. Lower commodity prices are to blame.

Retailers Go On Strike

Pharmacists at National Pharmacies store across SA and Victoria went on strike recently over pay and conditions. They opted to open their stores one hour later than normal as part of their protest. Pay rates are key point of contention with Pharmacists insisting they maintain penalty rates for giving up their social and family lives on weekends.

Other News - 28/2/2016

1. Myer launches new eBay shop.

2. Online homewares retailer, Temple & Webster, slashes sales predictions.

3. Sportswear retailer, Surfstitch, reports double digit growth.

4. Bunnings acknowledge they are looking at Masters sites.

5. Target announce new brand ambassadors to join Jessica Mauboy in Sonia Kruger and Fiona Falkiner.

6. Flight Centre reports improved profits and looks to expand in China and Europe.

7. JB HiFi has announced the end of its music streaming service and intends concentrating on physical format music.

8. Mars recalls millions of chocolate bars and other products across Europe following discovery of a piece of plastic in a Snickers bar in Germany.

9. David Jones to sell its Market St store in Sydney to develop nearby Elizabeth St. flagship.

10. A bounce back by Rivers helps Specialty Fashion Group to 5.2% improvement in earnings.

11. Walmart reports decline in 4th quarter profit.

Shortlist For Munro Development

The City of Melbourne is reported to have requested final offers from 2 bidders for the proposed development on the Munro site at QVM.

Cbus Property and PDG Corporation have been asked to submit final offers by April for the mixed-use development set to include residential apartments with affordable housing, retail, community facilities and customer car parking.

Cbus is one of Australia's largest public offer Industry Superannuation funds. Established in 1984 for the construction, building and allied industries; it now has over 720,000 members. Cbus has over 89,000 participating employers and manages $27 billion of members' funds. Cbus invests back into the building and construction industry through its $2.8 billion property development company Cbus Property. The Chairman of Cbus is ex Victorian Premier, Steve Bracks.

PDG Corporation is a privately owned company established by Vince Giuliano as a boutique designer-builder company in the mid 1980’s. It has grown to specialise in high rise residential and commercial developments and has recently completed the construction of over 1,200 luxury apartments in inner-Melbourne with a further 300 currently under construction

An evaluation panel comprising representatives from the City of Melbourne and Queen Victoria Market Pty Ltd management will evaluate the best and final offers. This panel has access to advice from subject matter experts in probity, design, planning, finance, law, sustainability and governance, as well as several other fields.

The City of Melbourne expects to execute a Development Agreement with the successful bidder in mid-2016. 

Have Your Say - click here.

Latest QVMAC Meeting Report - Thursday 25th February

QVMAC Meetings are now conducted monthly and yesterday’s meeting at the Engagement Hub on Queen St. considered the usual large list of issues. Here are our notes from the discussions. Official minutes will be released in due course.

Attendees:

Victor Ailakis – Chair - (VA) QVM Jane Fenton AM (JF) – QVM Board Brendan Devine – (BD) - QVM Mark Smith (MS) - QVM Matt Ryan (MR) - QVM Marina Levitsky (ML) - QVM Spiros Foscolos (SF) - QVM Apologies: Paul Sheahan AM (PS) – QVM Board

Stephen McLennan (SM) QVMAC Greg Smith (GS) – QVMAC Jenny Pyke (JP) - QVMAC Joseph Stolarek (JS) - QVMAC Kha Nguyen (KN) - QVMAC Ivano Guseli (IG) QVMAC George Milonas (GM) QVMAC Cathy Underhill (CU) – QVMAC

1.Welcome

1.2 Previous Minutes – An issue relating to the theft of fish produce over Christmas following a 2 day outage of security cameras has been addressed with a new system of reporting equipment failure for immediate action.

2. Management Updates

2.1 New CEO Update – a preferred candidate has been selected and subject to due diligence we can expect an announcement shortly.

2.2 Chinese New Year Update – a feedback form will be distributed to traders seeking reports on trading during this festival. Anecdotal reports suggested that there was little impact for the specialty merchandise area of the market although crowds were noticeable on the final Saturday of the festival particularly around A Shed.

The festival was reported to have a favourable impact on trade in the meat & fish halls.

Next year the festival is expected to be called a Lunar New Year Festival in consideration of non-Chinese participants.

2.3 Sri Lankan Festival Feedback – The marketing team have received favourable reports from traders on the conduct of this event.

2.4 QVM 2016/17 Tourism Strategy – a brief summary of the tourism strategy was presented to the meeting together with a calendar of events for the second half of the financial year – see below.

2.5 Trader Marketing Session Feedback – see separate article on implementation of trader feedback ideas.

2.6 Public Art Biennial – Biennials are large scale contemporary art exhibitions and QVM will be part of an upcoming Biennial for Melbourne with workshops being set up in the Munro Building around June and an exhibition on display around October 2016. Biennials have the capacity to draw thousands of visitors and it is hoped that this event will produce visitor numbers for QVM.

2.7 QVM Performance Measures – this matter has been held over subject to further input.

2.8 Trading Ideas Workshop – following the success of the last workshop which looked at marketing ideas, the next workshop is to be held on Tuesday 9^th March and it will concentrate on 4 distinct areas

(1) Trader/Management Communication – the best way to give and get information across our market.

(2) Rule Enforcement  - a chance to have your say on this prickly subject.

(3) The Customer Experience at QVM – what do our customers want, and what do they get.

(4) Trader Development & Support Programs – what areas of learning would traders consider most valuable e.g. websites, social media, technology etc.

More details will be available in next week’s Trader Bulletin.

2.9 Plan for Project Updates to QVMAC – QVMAC meetings are now held monthly as we lead into the renewal phase. The first discussion on renewal implementation could start as early as March and management are formulating ways of speedy and efficient updates to roll out to QVMAC Trader representatives as we progress. More details will be presented at the March QVMAC meeting.

3. Trader Matters

3.1 Trader Association Update -  Jenny Pyke and Greg Smith gave a brief rundown on progress in the development of a traders association. The first stage has been the compilation of a set of Purposes & Values statements that would guide the association.  A draft document has been prepared and is expected to be finalised next week before being presented to traders for comment.

3.2 Meat & Fish Hall Leases Update – a number of leases are due for renewal but remain “in limbo” while renewal issues create uncertainty over the future of leases. All traders are still covered by a lease however there are business difficulties associated with unspecified lease terms. It is difficult to obtain business finance or to sell a business without lease term guarantees. Marina Levitsky has offered assistance to any trader facing difficulties and to explore what assurances can be offered to lenders or buyers in individual circumstances.

3.3 Extended Leave Letter – this matter relates to traders returning from extended leave and receiving a standard letter which may cast doubts on their tenancy at the market. The standard letter has been reviewed and a revised version will be emailed to Trader Representatives shortly.

4. Discussion Items

4.1 Trader Assessment Criteria – this criteria relates to assessment of traders seeking permanency, renewing a license or lease, seeking a new location, or applying to join our market. A proposal put by Trader Representatives for a comprehensive assessment form which included weighting factors has been adopted by management and incorporated in their assessment program. We can expect full documentation shortly including provision for Trader Representatives to be included in the process if requested by a trader.

4.2 Stall Spreading – this issue relates to the uncertainty of stall spreading procedures in the top end. It has been generally agreed by traders and management that firmer and clearer guidelines are required and some initial discussion has already taken place with the Operations Team. We expect to invite traders to discussion workshops towards the end of March to establish new arrangements.

4.3 Extreme Heat Policy - Trader representatives have submitted a proposal for traders, 65 years of age and over, to receive automatic approval for leave of absence on days of 36 degrees C or more. Discussion on the proposal took place and management are currently considering their response.

5. Other Business

5.1 Other Items – QVM have announced that they are putting the market’s cleaning contract out to tender. It is expected that the current contractor, Citywide, will formulate a bid.

5.2 Next Meeting – Thursday 31^st March 2016.

Have Your Say - click here.

Our Trader Representatives Are Revolting

Let’s follow up our classic double meaning heading with the statement that a number of our QVMAC Trader representatives are concerned at the increased workloads placed on their unpaid (note to editor – please put “unpaid” in bold) roles at QVM and want something done about it.

And let’s get one important thing out of the way first - no sympathy for the plight of Trader Representatives is expected from traders who have an absolute entitlement to professional representation, particularly given the turmoil ahead of our market. But, there is simply too much going on in management/trader and trader/trader communications for 8 dedicated representatives to handle professionally.

Three QVMAC Trader Representatives got together yesterday and discovered that each of them had spent most of their Friday attending to a multitude of trader matters. There was the follow-up to matters raised at the previous days QVMAC meeting. There was the sequence of emails concerning a trader’s complaint of conflict of interest within the QVMAC. In the end the trader received a satisfactory response but these are serious issues and handling them speedily and correctly is important and time-consuming. Then there was the trader who had been fined for leaving their storage box on an adjoining stall while a neighbour who did the same thing, didn’t get fined. Then there was the trader who had watched their competitor slowly introduce new lines onto their stall with no apparent control from management, and the trader who had been photographed by security for late packing up but had a good excuse.

One of our QVMAC Trader Representatives who keeps records on these things, recently dealt with over 40 trader issues in one week and brought each one to a conclusion. Some things are easily answered like rule interpretation, while others, like the recently concluded box storage arrangement for casuals, takes weeks of work.

But, enough of the complaints. What do we do about this? One proposition involves the employment of a paid person, permanently located within the market, preferably with an office, who could address trader issues, direct traders in the right course of action, liaise with management, co-ordinate Trader Representative activities and generally add some professionalism to this important task. There is a lot to consider here. There are many alternatives, and they all require resourcing. How we move forward is not yet clear but we do need to move forward before our Trader Representatives become more revolting.

Have Your Say – click here.