Ten Victorians Tell
The Sunday Age
Sunday July 2, 2000
NAME: Trevor Keogh
OCCUPATION: Newsagent
`Every transaction would involve some comment on the GST. Every transaction took a bit longer. We had to switch on the GST facility on the computer software. It all went smoothly there, but you can never be properly prepared for the odds and sods the next day. When we switched over, magazine prices, which we had been used to rounding off into the nearest five cents, came up with odd cents like .01 and .04. We also had to go around and use a highlighter to mark hundreds of labels for which GST would be added at the counter. The highlight of our morning was that we had no altercations or angry customers. They've all appreciated the pressure we're under.' -- PAUL HEINRICHS
NAME: Frank Neuschafer
OCCUPATION: Bottle shop owner
`The day went well, everything's under control now. Earlier in the week we were a bit worried. But we worked hard to make sure our prices didn't jump too much - we've got all the prices sorted out all right now. We've managed to discount, so not many things have gone up in price. Only light beers and coolers have risen ... Our accountants did most of the work for us, so other than a few long nights changing the price tags, we did all right - some days earlier in the week we worked until about midnight. We've been going here for 80 years, so we expect to handle this change. We bought a cash register and everything goes through that. I still add everything up by hand, but I also bought a calculator to make sure. ' -- PADRAIC MURPHY
NAME: Sally Heeps
OCCUPATION: Victoria Market trader
`No one has asked about the GST yet. I think people aren't nearly as worried as the media. So far, business may even be fractionally better than normal. But I am surprised no one has asked me how much my items were before GST. Some of my products have gone up slightly, some have gone down slightly and some have stayed the same. But if something goes up 50 cents, it makes you look a bit stupid if you delay buying it - for that sort of amount. The only thing I found quite difficult was updating my computer software. Once I did that, I realised I had to update my computer hardware as well. When I first heard about the GST, I thought in the end it would be a good thing. I still have the same view.' -- ERICA LEVY
NAME: Matt Gilmour
OCCUPATION: Construction industry manager
`The everyday running of the site remained the same, there is no real change for us in a dramatic sense. It is a bit of an anticlimax. In some respects it's a bit like the changeover to Y2K, where everyone had preconceptions that it was going to be a total disaster and lights were going to go out. In the industry there are doomsayers who have said there is going to be a lull in construction, but at the end of the day the business will cope. In three months' time we'll say, `the GST thing, that wasn't much of an issue, was it?' and everyone will get used to it. It has been difficult to get subcontractors because they are trying to get stuff done, so they don't have to pay GST on things.' -- SALLY FINLAY
NAME: Saul Craven
OCCUPATION: Pharmacy owner
`It has been very smooth for us and a bit of a fizzer really. We have a point-of-sale system that had to be reconfigured and all the changes went through perfectly for us. We worked until two in the morning to change the prices and then did a bit more today and by tomorrow we will be all on track. People without a computer are the ones that will have a problem because it becomes very labor-intensive then. A lot of customers, particularly pensioners, don't know there is no GST on prescriptions and we have spent time explaining that. It has been fairly well received but because it is only half our business, many health items don't have a GST, we aren't as affected. Nobody was angry or negative.' -- SALLY FINLAY
NAME: Geoff and Lucy Theile
OCCUPATION: Milkbar owners
`We had to close earlier at about 10pm and our customers are used to us being open later. It was 2.30am before we had it finished but there are some items we didn't put out because we didn't have the GST for them. We had to re-price ice-creams and cigarettes but papers are only 10 cents up and bread and milk have no GST so that was easy. But it was a lot of hard work. We have a software program, which should make life a little bit easier. It is time-consuming more than anything. No one is surprised to pay more for things because I think they have all read about it. People came in and wanted to talk about what went up or what went down. ' -- SALLY FINLAY
NAME: Jason Blake
OCCUPATION: Supermarket manager
`I finished at 11.30 and started at 6.30 in the morning all last week - and I had it easy. Others worked through the night. Last night we had to change all the price tags, which went relatively smoothly, but I know other stores had trouble. They were supplied with all wrong prices by the wholesaler. We've had to put on extra staff for the last month and concentrated on putting the prices of products that dropped up first so the customers would be happy. There's an incredible cost involved in all of this, and the effort has been just huge. We are very lucky to have the staff's support. We haven't had a lot of back-up support from our suppliers or the government, so we've been feeling our way a bit.' -- PADRAIC MURPHY
NAME: Brijender Bhatnagar
OCCUPATION: Taxi driver
`It's just another day for me, that's for sure. I'm not worried. A lot of people they ask me how are you going, how the GST works ... All of the cab drivers were supposed to get their meters converted by yesterday and most of them have done it. Some of them haven't got it and they have got a sticker that shows that they haven't got the meter converted but they have got a conversion table. So they say, for example, that the fare comes out at $20, all they do is use the table to show that the fare is $22. Simple as that. They have to keep a record of how much GST they have collected, that's if the GST is not converted. Initially you might find some problems (with record keeping).' -- LYALL JOHNSON
NAME: Theo Mavromatis
OCCUPATION: Service station owner/mechanic
`The first day of the GST, it looks the same, nothing different, still busy as usual. I am from Greece and when I was living there they had the same tax for 20-30 years or something, but it's nothing, it's still the same. I am adding the GST on invoices, which is 10 per cent on top of the total amount and we have to every three months go to our accountants and pay the money to the government. No one has come along and said they are scared the prices are going to increase. And sometimes I believe parts are even going to be cheaper than what they were before. I have gone to a Honda dealership to get some parts today and it was cheaper.' -- LYALL JOHNSON
NAME: Tony Morgan
OCCUPATION: Car dealer
`It started off a little bit quiet this morning. Traditionally on a Saturday morning we get a crowd of people in here by 10.30 or 11am but it just wasn't there this morning. Come about 1.30 to 2pm it started to pick up. At the moment we have sold quite a few new cars and a couple of used. I'm reasonably content, but I expected that this morning we would have been flat-out, run off our feet. On the new car side of things, prices have come down. If you are buying a $20,000 car you are saving about $1200 and if you are buying something worth about $40,000 to $50,000 you're probably saving about $3000. It is going to take a little while for the market to to stabilise, but GST doesn't seem to have scared people off.' -- LYALL JOHNSON
© 2000 The Sunday Age
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