They wonder why you buy offshore.

Comments

• Jonty

  February 2012

  on 1328783877:

  Last time I checked no one was buying milk offshore of course some of the Aust dairies may well be owned by overseas companies. ;D

  No but we fly it out to China at around $6 per litre......  http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2011/10/06/390461_dairy.html

  Share on Facebook
• UNM

  February 2012

  Why, oh why does it always come back to milk, and the poor dairy farmers... Sooner they ban dairy the better,  then we can all move on. Full disclosure: 1. I have a couple of clients that are farmers and they are multi  millionaires (not that that necessarily makes them rich). Yes, there ARE  farmers out there that can work the system and some Australian farmers own properties larger than small European countries. 2. I have farmers in the family, not in dairy anymore. Might even contribute some more to this thread tomorrow, it is very interesting and thought provoking. Meantime, consider whether we should support retailers at all, or whether retail as a sector is a recent and  temporary aberration.

  Share on Facebook
• Kelsey

  February 2012

  Well sure, I virtually grew up on one of QLD's biggest strawberry farms and I'm still close with the family. If you've eaten strawberries bought in Australia, then you've had their strawberries at some point. And no, they're not hurting - although they've got some horror Wesfarmers stories. But do you think they'd be able to make it to the heights they've reached if they were starting out today with very little, as opposed to two generations ago? I suspect not. Not impossible, but much less likely. My family also owned and ran a farm when I was a young fella. Back when you used to muster cattle on horseback, something I don't really miss doing!

  Share on Facebook
• Brett H

  February 2012

  Excellent thread this!  Great article Dennis and nice post Kelsey.  My situation would possibly be better off if everybody had bought locally, but then again some businesses are destined to fail through poor management.  I suspect my situation is more the latter!

  Share on Facebook
• derrilex

  February 2012

  on 1328787508:

  Why, oh why does it always come back to milk, and the poor dairy farmers... Sooner they ban dairy the better,  then we can all move on. Full disclosure: 1. I have a couple of clients that are farmers and they are multi  millionaires (not that that necessarily makes them rich). Yes, there ARE  farmers out there that can work the system and some Australian farmers own properties larger than small European countries. 2. I have farmers in the family, not in dairy anymore. Might even contribute some more to this thread tomorrow, it is very interesting and thought provoking. Meantime, consider whether we should support retailers at all, or whether retail as a sector is a recent and  temporary aberration.

  I was going to say it earlier but didnt. Ive never met a poor farmer, ever. Serviced all sorts of exotic machinery and cars owned by farmers and in my experience in dealing with them I can honestly say they are a hard bunch. If the farmer next door falls on hard times they will get eaten alive by every surrounding farmer. Truely cut throat.

  Share on Facebook
• Vinitasse

  February 2012

  on 1328766130:

  Have a read of this: http://gsroasting.com/archives/241

  Personally I thought it came across as a rather poorly disguised infomercial for Super Auto sales... and.... I would have to wholeheartedly disagree with his base assumption that... "In the past five years super auto machines have certainly progressed. Science has surpassed human skill." Really? Where and when? I certainly have never had any coffee from a Super Auto worthy of any kind of kudos. We may get there some day but we ain't there yet. Somewhere down the road we may get all our food and bev from a Star Trek type replicator but I for one enjoy the human-human interface and am willing to cough up a bit extra for the privelege. Just can't get excited about ordering from what is essentially a vending machine.

  Share on Facebook
• askthecoffeeguy

  February 2012

  on 1328800988:

  Personally I thought it came across as a rather poorly disguised infomercial for Super Auto sales... and.... I would have to wholeheartedly disagree with his base assumption that... "In the past five years super auto machines have certainly progressed. Science has surpassed human skill." Really? Where and when? I certainly have never had any coffee from a Super Auto worthy of any kind of kudos. We may get there some day but we ain't there yet. Somewhere down the road we may get all our food and bev from a Star Trek type replicator but I for one enjoy the human-human interface and am willing to cough up a bit extra for the privelege. Just can't get excited about ordering from what is essentially a vending machine.

  Have to agree with you there and as to pour-overs and the like being obsolete - has anyone been to Proud Mary, Auction Rooms, Seven Seeds, or St Ali any day of the week - all do a roaring trade and all are innovating in these areas I would also argue that if you want to differentiate yourself in a crowded marketplace, it is necessary to innovate in terms of what you do, in order to provide the consumer not only with choice, but also with the quality and consistency of product that other operators in the area are not operating And as for world champion baristas not influencing innovation in espresso machine design - I would argue that the opposite is true - I would say that leading manufactures are partnering with leading baristi to innovate and introduce new technology to the marketplace which is even trickling down to the domestic market and that innovations such as the plethora of dual boiler machines, and pressure profiling, are having a massive impact upon how we view and craft our product If anything I would suggest here in Melbourne every man and his dog seem to be offering pourover, syphhon, and cold filter and the like - but given the number of variables involved and the margin for human error - very few (as many as I can count on one hand) are making a decent fist of it in terms of roasting specifically for these profiles, and then experimenting with all the different variables to produce a superior product And palate development is a vital and  important aspect of the market place for roasters, baristi, and consumers alike which is often over-looked (if it gets a look in at all) - and is probably IMHO the single most important aspect of product development which either, a) remains secondary to driving profit margins, and or b) many operators in the industry don't have much of a clue about it I'm not trying to set myself up as some sort of expert in the area here - but I did have ten years in the wine industry (as a sommelier / beverage manager and hands-on during vintage) before I got into coffee, and I am constantly refining and developing my palate - but I don't see many operators driven by the type and quality of product that they wish to develop as a desired end result - so much as byproduct of what they produce p 

  Share on Facebook
• UNM

  February 2012

  I do buy offshore myself and see nothing wrong in it under the right circumstances. I'm hardly going to order fresh produce from other countries, but for products made offshore and where local support is not a strong requirement, I am not guided by Adam Smiths 'invisible hand' to support domestic industry over foreign. We live in interesting and rapidly changing times and retail as we know it may well not survive. Bearing in mind the quotes from Adam smith earlier, I am struck by the fact that when he was alive, retail as we know it did not exist. It is a pretty recent phenomenon in the form of a business purchasing finished goods, displaying them and selling them to the public from a fixed address. In Adam Smiths day, and for quite some time afterwards, most trade consisted of purchasing items, adding value in some way, and then selling a different product - farriers, butchers, bakers, milliners, tailors, coffee houses... Our desire to own vast numbers of complex products we don't really need has fed the retail sector for quite some time and it is no surprise that people moved into it to make money - some very successfully. In the last few years, we have seen the birth of the internet - a truly disruptive  change to our society that I believe will be even more far reaching than the invention of steam power and the industrial revolution. One outcome is disintermediation - like many, I use the internet to research potential purchases and am happy to cut out middle men that I do not see as adding value (maybe they do, but if I can't see that value, I act accordingly). It is ridiculously easy to practice direct trade compared to just a few years ago. In some cases it is lauded as a good thing (e.g. purchasing from coffee farmers), then in others we are led to believe we should 'support our local retailers' (e.g. don't import espresso machines from Italy direct). Regardless of what you may feel about the good and bad of it, the trend is obvious and will continue. On the flip side, there is hyper-intermediation - many times you will be initiating a myriad of micro transactions while researching what products to buy from whom. Tiny 'pay per click' charges happen as you click through various sites. You might not be paying anything directly, but plenty of businesses are happy to pay small amounts for an increased chance of winning your business, or keeping their website high enough up rankings to attract advertisers of their own. This is where the new intermediaries are setting themselves up as the major traders of the future. It might be nice to think that some  specialists will remain in business - those who provide value  by identifying clients needs and selling the right product and also offer post sales services. I really doubt this will be the case as human nature is such that many will take that pre-sales advice and then purchase elsewhere, potentially along with an  'extended warranty' (which is actually just an insurance policy) to ensure after sales service. Anyway, thats just a few random thoughts of the day.

  Share on Facebook