RETURN YOUR SHOPPING TROLLEYS AFTER USE

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I have been seeing some old folks and some house helps pushing these trolleys along the road - definitely already out of the supermarket's allowed usage vicinity... and I was thinking, what on earth? Perhaps a lax policy on misuse, or simply an inconsideration on the perpetrators' part? Are they even aware of it?

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Sheer laziness and inconvenience. A survey by supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice found these were the two reasons why customers do not return shopping trolleys after using them. The result: Some 200 trolleys go missing each month, with 2,403 lost last year.

This has led to a needless $150,000 bill in replacement and repair costs for FairPrice each year - not to mention the more-than-10 retail assistants deployed each day just to collect trolleys dumped by inconsiderate shoppers.

FairPrice is now working with the Singapore Kindness Movement to educate shoppers to reverse this trend. EVELYN CHOO
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From TODAY, Thursday, 11-Feb-2010

Household electricity tariff to go up from July 1

By Lee Siew Hoon, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 26 June 2009 1604 hrs

SINGAPORE: After two quarters of downward adjustment, household electricity tariff will go up by 6.93 per cent or 1.25 cents per kilo watt hour (kWh) from July 1 to September 30.

Electricity supplier SP Services said the increase is due largely to higher average fuel oil prices from April to June which hit S$76.24 per barrel.

This is a 26 per cent increase from the S$60.47 per barrel used in setting the previous quarter's tariff.

The tariff is calculated based on a new formula which kicks in next month.

Under the revised formula, the electricity tariff for the next quarter will be based on the average fuel oil prices in the preceding three months instead of the fuel oil price in the first month of the previous quarter.

SP Services said the tariff revision is mitigated by a reduction in the cost recovery fee which it collects to cover the costs of billing and meter reading.

The fee which forms part of the overall tariff will go down from 0.28 cents per kWh to 0.22 cents.

SP services said this reduction is due to its productivity improvements and cost reductions. - CNA/vm

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

Office Stress 1

Ever been stressed in the office? See this video...

Whither the personal touch?

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EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES

Now would be a good time to raise levels of professionalism

Letter from Gilbert Goh

I HAVE sought out the services of employment agencies before, but have been disappointed, to say the least. I have since given up relying on employment agencies for a job. Many ask you to lower your salary range to ridiculous levels or ask whether you are willing to do something totally different from your area of expertise. Most offer part-time clerical work at around $5 an hour.

I have found, in general, their service to be terrible. Many simply do not respond to you at all after asking you to send a resume. Even if you attend their interviews, many do not get back to you thereafter.

To me, employment agencies here lack professionalism and the personal touch. They are merely interested in clinching sales, oblivious to the feelings of the jobseeker.

Due to the agencies’ focus on meeting sales targets, many of their staff move on when they are unable to meet sales targets so there is no continuity of service. A client could well be served by a few different consultants over a short period, say three to four months.

The consultants here are mostly in their 20s and can hardly be expected to be able to empathise with a middle-aged jobless person. They do not understand the struggles a middle-aged worker has and can be insensitive when trying to coerce someone to enter a totally new field of work.

Maybe there are too many jobseekers then and too few jobs available for matching; still, it would be nice to be treated as a person, not a statistic or sales target.

Now would be a good time for employment agencies raise their level of professionalism. For starters, a templated response should be provided to every email and enquiry over any job opening. This is simple professional courtesy.

There was one positive experience I had with a woman from a small recruitment company. Not only did she exhibit understanding and provide encouragement, she also took time to go through my resume and suggested some changes so it would appear more professional. Though she did not manage to get me a job, I still remember her many years on as one of the rare few to stand out.

I am not here to run down all employment agencies. I am sure some are well run, professional outfits. Nonetheless, I urge all jobseekers to try all avenues and spread your resources around, so that you can benefit from several job search vehicles.

From TODAY, Voices – Friday, 12-Jun-2009

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