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MANGAWHAI'S NO.1 NEWSPAPER
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Ed Said - Should we shop local? It’s not enough simply to live in a small community. It’s important to become integrated whatever ones age or family status. Grey power, bowls, golf, pre-schools,schools and sports bring most people together but then there are the businesses who rely largely on local support. Those, like Mangawhai which gets gets a modicum of passing trade but relies on the goodwill and regular custom of locals then weekend stayers, semi- permanents and major summer holidaymakers for their survival. An old adage reminds us ‘there is no sentiment in business.’ If we are not diligent to some degree we make no profit and business fails. In small towns businesses like coffee and grocery stores tend to know, quite closely, a number of their customerst but close friendships mustn’t override the need to stay in business.It’s not wrong to ask for a discount for cash, though cash is something of a ‘foreign currency’ being usurped by the ‘painless extraction’ of the plastic card though the pain of paying comes later- with high interest if you’re not vigilant. Though some retailers can be hard-nosed and occasionally we come across people in retail who simply don’t have the nous to deal with the public but generally, trade and commerce is a give and take relationship. I’m not sure I hold entirely with the ‘customer is always right’ edict but one can certainly make or break their business in the way they or their staff address and treat customers. The good book says it’s better to give than to receive. I recall a teacher many years ago quoting this very verse but in a cryptic way he said ‘you have given me grief so in return I shall proceed to give you six strokes of the cane.’ Not the trade-off I was looking for but I got the message nonetheless. Let’s face it, whatever you can buy in Mangawhai – or Whangarei, or Taupo or Wellington – you can probably get cheaper somewhere else but this too, comes at a cost in both time and travel and generally if one buys regularly from the same outlet it enables them to buy in more product at a better rate with savings for all. Thanks to the internet there are now millions of dollars spent ‘importing’ , direct from the maker,almost everything and at a much better price than available locally. Upon leaving school I worked in grocery where my job was delivering orders to customers in a green Thames van. Self service came in and that service went out. Now that same service is returning as several local households get their goods delivered from an establishment in Warkworth. It carries a cost of course but is also a great time-saver for the working woman. Being in business, any business, is not easy. To work for ones self carries a number of fish hooks few have to think about when putting their hand out for their weekly pay. However, and not just because it’s nearing Christmas, spare a thought for your local store, clothing shop, garden centre or $2 shop. They are all there giving a service. At some time or other we, or our friends or visitors, need them all and we would certainly miss them if they were gone and, depending on the type of business, could have a negative impact on the whole community. We like Mangawhai the way it is so lets shop and support our local economy for the betterment of all. |
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