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Non Footy Chat Thread II

Bandwagon

Moderator
Staff member
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41,993
Wages are already going up along with a skills shortage in the construction Industry. We are paying 10-15% more now for a qualified electrician full time.

Anyone owning a construction company who was landing contracts with bigger margins thinking it was all sunshines and rainbow - wait till you start trying to recruit workers and meet their salary/wage demands.

It is a jungle out there currently.

Yeah, wages in skills like trades are already moving, but it's worth noting there were shortages prior to covid for those, and they were creeping up at any rate, the jumps are bigger now because the shortages are greater due to higher demand.

I've been advertising for a mechanic now since late June with no success, despite offering wages up to well above market. Again it's been tight for a while, but it's f**king ridiculous here ATM, though part of that is a loss of workers due to the flood and merkins having nowhere to live.
 

Eelementary

Post Whore
Messages
56,225
Cost of living.......how is everyone doing? I get paid monthly and now after a week it's as if I have nothing left and live off rice and beans til next pay day. Ok maybe not that bad but its certainly kicking my arse.

Not well, tbh.

I would say my salary is pretty good - but everything has gone up... Groceries, mortgage, electricity, water, council, petrol...

I'm actively losing money every pay cycle...

I'm good at my job, and will likely be in line for a pay rise - but that won't be until the new financial year...

This is absolute bedlam.
 

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
85,094
I have a theory that the rising cost of living inflationary sprialing environment that we are currently experiencing is fuelled by selfish small and large scale corporate greed. Yes, post pandemic hangovers in supply chains and energy prices due to the Ukraine invasion have put pressure on profits which triggers price rises, but my theory is that merkins are putting prices up because they can and suffer little blow back.

Coles, Woolies et al will record record profits.

The cost of construction materials have doubled in some areas, yet this is not a true reflection on the pressures on manufacturing and merkins put the prices up because they can.

Santos etc who extract and supply natural gas are literally printing cash and selling gas to the highest bidder.

Don’t get me wrong, not all industries are price gouging and often builders etc who are at the end of the supply chain find themselves struggling to make their traditional margins and are expected to absorb these costs.

I’m sure that it is far more complex than my amateur navel gazing cynicism, but as a small business owner myself I look at the rising prices around me and can’t help but think that they are far inexcess of the actual cost of doing business and that merkins are just being merkins cos everyone else is.
Ultimately if they’re charging too much merkins will stop buying.
 

Incorrect

Coach
Messages
11,828
Not well, tbh.

I would say my salary is pretty good - but everything has gone up... Groceries, mortgage, electricity, water, council, petrol...

I'm actively losing money every pay cycle...

I'm good at my job, and will likely be in line for a pay rise - but that won't be until the new financial year...

This is absolute bedlam.
Are you still taking ownership of that Genesis you ordered a while back?? Or deferring until things settle down??
 

Gary Gutful

Post Whore
Messages
51,920
Yeah, wages in skills like trades are already moving, but it's worth noting there were shortages prior to covid for those, and they were creeping up at any rate, the jumps are bigger now because the shortages are greater due to higher demand.

I've been advertising for a mechanic now since late June with no success, despite offering wages up to well above market. Again it's been tight for a while, but it's f**king ridiculous here ATM, though part of that is a loss of workers due to the flood and merkins having nowhere to live.
I’ll take it. I know f**k all about mechanicary stuff but I look pretty good in overalls.

When do you need me to start? I assume I can work remotely?
 

IFR33K

Coach
Messages
17,043
Wages are already going up along with a skills shortage in the construction Industry. We are paying 10-15% more now for a qualified electrician full time.

Anyone owning a construction company who was landing contracts with bigger margins thinking it was all sunshines and rainbow - wait till you start trying to recruit workers and meet their salary/wage demands.

It is a jungle out there currently.


hit @hindy111 up. He’s an electrician
 

Bandwagon

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
41,993
I’ll take it. I know f**k all about mechanicary stuff but I look pretty good in overalls.

When do you need me to start? I assume I can work remotely?

Nobody does overalls anymore mate.

Crawling around in dirt and grease and shit is for 1st years, not tradesman.
 

Bandwagon

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
41,993
A true tradie will do whatever it takes to get the job done!

Which means telling the first year to do the shit work.

Seriously though, professional workshops are clean, you don't work in shit if you can avoid it, and you don't spread greasy shit everywhere, and if you spill shit, you clean it up straight away.

Mechanics are "technicians", not grease monkeys nowadays. You could literally near eat off my workshop floor.
 

Eelogical

Referee
Messages
22,557
Which means telling the first year to do the shit work.

Seriously though, professional workshops are clean, you don't work in shit if you can avoid it, and you don't spread greasy shit everywhere, and if you spill shit, you clean it up straight away.

Mechanics are "technicians", not grease monkeys nowadays. You could literally near eat off my workshop floor.
A smart operator like yourself could use the lunch room for better purposes then implement some new eating habits for the employees. Maybe even use it as a promo for your recruiting drive.
 

Bandwagon

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
41,993
A smart operator like yourself could use the lunch room for better purposes then implement some new eating habits for the employees. Maybe even use it as a promo for your recruiting drive.

Unfortunately you just can't learn apprentices like you used to
 

Eelogical

Referee
Messages
22,557
Living has become extra expensive. On our recent road trip to SA I'd say that petrol was around $1.90 a litre on average. I saw a 30 pack of Coke cans 'on sale' at Woolies in Mt Barker for $42.00. Most pubs are selling chicken schnitty meals for around $25 and more these days. One particular fish and chip shop on the Eyre Peninsula charges $4.50 extra to pan fry fish over having it crumbed or battered. I get back home to Brissy and 91 petrol is $2.09 a litre. It all adds up and one has to be far more discerning these days. We've already started to revisit Aldi's for basic supermarket options.
 

Eelogical

Referee
Messages
22,557
On another note, any of you merkins spent time in the Killarney region on the QLD/NSW border? I'd appreciate any first hand info on the area. We'll be around that way in early January and hope to spend some time in the region.
 
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