Newspapers and post a day late to raise more money
Friday 18th February 2011, 2:30PM GMT.
NEWSPAPER and post deliveries could be delayed a day because of money raising proposals announced by the Public Services Department.
It is under a States instruction to raise an extra £1.8m. a year from the harbour and airport, but believes the impact of going that far could be too great.
Instead it has come up with proposals to raise £1m. through mooring fees, airport parking, and freight charges.
‘Feedback from Guernsey Post and the carriers responsible for importing newspapers to the island suggest that there would be a significant risk that both post and papers would arrive on island by boat, meaning that newspapers would not be available until the day after publication and post would take one day longer than in the UK to reach their destination,’ said Public Services minister Bernard Flouquet (pictured).
The department sets out options including air and boat passenger fee charge increases that could raise the extra money if deputies decide to amend its proposals.
‘We have fully investigated the scope for costs savings and the potential for increasing revenue, including consultation with airport and harbour users.
‘The board is concerned about the economic impact of raising an additional £1.8 million annual revenue, and it is proposing States members reconsider the previous direction, and revise the amount the ports should raise.’
The package of proposals in the Billet include a 15% rise in mooring fees, and increases of up to £2 a day for airport parking. Each is expected to raise around £300,000 a year.
The Department also proposes increasing crane charges at St Sampson’s Harbour, which will mostly apply to aggregates, concrete and other heavy materials or bulk cargo, and a new air freight charge of 3.4 pence a kilo.
These are each expected to raise around £170,000 a year.
One option for States members to consider if they did want the full amount raised is an import tax on liquid fuels.
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Why not reduce the amount of civil servants and deputies? This would soon raise £1.6 million.
There is one easy way to get around the airport carpark, you simply pretend you’re a car, walk up to the machine to get a ticket and you can use that new ticket to get out.
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There is only one idealistic way of raising this extra £1.8m per year and that would not be to add
these extra proposed charges and that would be to cut down the salaries of a lot of the people in the Public Services Department who in my mind get too high a salary in the first place.
Once again it the general public that will suffer the most.
Who on earth wants to read Newspapers one day later and have more delays in their Postal deliveries.
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When will our politicians realise that an airport and a harbour are absolutely crucial to an island like Guernsey? We cannot function without them.
They should be viewed as strategic lifeline assets, not as commercial revenue-earning facilities. It shouldn’t matter if they don’t “wash their face” – they should simply be managed to control the level of any operating losses, but it should be accepted that they will make a loss.
Its very little different from Aurigny. As a taxpayer it doesn’t bother me that Aurigny loses circa £1m a year. I’d be worried if it was losing £5m a year. But £1m is a reasonable price to pay to maintain air links. Similarly, if the airport and harbour cannot operate at break-even then so what?
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Although some will continue to buy national newspapers, if they arrive a day late I can see a lot of people ditching them and going online for their news.
With 24/7 TV news and online reporting what will be the point in reading a newspaper that will effectively be 2 days out of date in comparison?
Not a problem for me personally as I already get my news from electronic sources but I imagine quite a few people will be a little annoyed.
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How exactly will having things a day late save money? We’re still having the stuff delivered, just later.
That’s going to be particularly annoying for students waiting for exam results and important documents from institutions based in the UK such as banks.
Fire the deputies and have one person running the island, elected every 2 years.
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These ‘revenue producing’ plans get more ludicrous by the day. Has no serious consideration been given to the long-term effects of such proposals?
Obviously not.
The island government should be concentrating on reducing inflation, not creating it, but sadly few of our politicians, and even fewer civil servants have the will to grasp the nettle.
The labour force of Guernsey has been squeezed by successive governments who have squandered the money we’ve earned, and now want more to pay for their mistakes.
The time is long overdue for a cap to be put on inflation in both the public and private sectors…but unfortunately there is nobody with any strength of character to tackle this.
Sadly, I agree with the person who was reported as saying that although Guernsey is a wonderful island, the pro’s of living here will soon be outnumbered by the con’s.
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Does anyone know what this £1.8m is for? As a private boat owner, I’ve no objection to paying an extra 15% if that means improved facilities, like better security and whatnot, but if my 15% extra mooring fees are going to contribute to the general PSD budget because our spineless States haven’t got the bottle to implement paid parking then I think this is clearly entirely unfair.
Besides which, I thought the moorings were managed by a separate entity and were nothing to do with the PSD….??
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Papers a day late what a stupid & pathetic idea from the muppets in charge with ideas like that its no wonder people have no faith
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Come on then Concerned Local. Rather than make those kind of silly statements, tell us who makes too much money in Public Services Department? Bearing in mind the *rude word* they have to put up with from you lot! What do you think the head guy should be paid? £100k? £50k? Less? Have you even any idea what that buys you in the job market? Pay peanuts, get monkeys – ever thought that if they really are so bad, it might be that the jobs pay too little?
You can’t have it both ways, but then again, you’re a “local” – that seems to be what people who always whine on about being “Guerns” or “us locals” always want. The highest calibre civil servants and deputies for a fiver an hour.
Frankly pathetic.
Sorry, but if you read some of my other posts – yes, I support the runway and did support the incinerator, but equally I think the waste strategy is a bit of a hash, and a lot of roads suck, so I’m not a staunch PSDer. But I do get fed up of “Guerns”. It reminds me of a Chris Rock stand up routine…..
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Give the States money in taxes….they waste it (incinerator et al comes to mind!!!!) no worries…they will just squeeze us more so they can make up the shortfall they caused. Round and round we go!
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Hotel Industry destroyed itself
Now we got SOG destroying the little guys too
When (not if) Finance fizzles out, what will SOG do next?
Old papers, old post is Not Good! For the guys giving us a really good service at mo
Get real Treasury for once in a while
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The crazy thing is that up until recently both airport and harbours were in a healthy financial position with revenue surplus either reinvested or saved.
Now that the States in their infinite wisdom has decided that surplus revenue is given to the general States coffers neither the airport or harbour has the surplus to reinvest or maintain their own facilities, the States won’t give them the money they require so the simplistic answer they came up with was that airport and harbours would need to generate more income, hence this crackpot plan to do just that. Trouble is it’ll add considerable cost to the ports users and also cost everyone in the island a lot more than the extra air passenger duty/port landing fees. This move will add cost to so many things that inflation will increase without a doubt.
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How is it when ever there is a need to raise money the only solution our noble government can come up with is “LETS PUT UP PRICES”. Obviously no one in authority there has ever had to run a private (profitable ) business venture..
..Have they ever thought that by LOWERING prices, it might give extra incentives to use the services, thereby increasing demand for them, leading to a consequent increase in turnover?
…….obviously not!
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I suspect Mr Flouqet is playing political games.
He is told to generate more income and comes up with ideas that will cause outrage – as per the posts above – and are clearly bad for the island.
So the States will not vote for them. But I tried, says BF. Course you did.
Or am I too cynical?
When will someone get hold of Guernsey and make it realise it’s full potential. The way it keeps going around in circles – runway, population, voting, zero-10, this nonsense, etc – gives it little credibility as a Financial centre.
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Billythefish
What a fool you are. You have even stated the obvious for us as well, such as pay peanuts get monkeys. unfortunatey for us we pay over the top and still get monkeys. Even more so we have more monkeys like yourself that support them.
So in a nutshell if your that fed up with us locals or guerns then why not up leave which will in turn assist us with managing the over population situation we have. After all were all a bit fed up of non-locals sticking their two pence worth in to the detriment of the island! I think the saying goes along these lines “when in Rome”.
A La Perchoine
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Local or Guern
Tell you what, I’ll ignore your insults, rather than stoop to your level.
Anyway, I’m not fed up with local people, it’s the “us Guerns” I don’t like. And as a Guernsey-born person from a long line of Guernsey-born people, I dispair of “us Guerns”. It’s always the “us Guerns” who trot out the tired “if you don’t like it leave” nonsense.
It’s the “us Guerns” who whine on about any new developments because it’s not what “us Guerns” and it’s not the Guernsey way – but fail to see the hypocricy of not complaining about virtually every single house in town of Victorian or Georgian construction.
Guernsey has been influenced by non-locals since the dawn of transport. Why all of a sudden do we have “us Guerns”, who give the rest of Guernsey-born people a bad name.
Tell you what – why don’t YOU go and find somewhere more to your tastes – I suggest 1746 is a good place.
Like I said, have a look at the Chris Rock take on a similar issue.
Rant over – back to topic – I note that, like Concerned Local, you just bang on about the monkeys you say we have, and that they are paid too much, yet you can’t tell me who gets too much, and how much you think their position should command. Funny that.
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Rees Bryant – you have it spot on. Excellent post.
BTF – so you think its ok play political games – which is a total waste of money?
Do you also think its ok to raise mooring fees 18.5%? Plus the rest of it.
And you have the affrontory to shout down those who doubt the motives and objectives of PSD when this farce is being played out.
Surely even you would have to admit this is abismal goverment.
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Papers and Post a day later is hardly a crisis – newspapers are out of date the moment they are printed, when you read them it’s already old news. For those who want to know what is going on in the world there is radio, TV or the internet. With items such as sport, gossip or features it doesn’t matter when you read them. The post is hit and miss as it is so an extra day won’t make any real difference, especially if GP go down the line of reduced delivery days. Anything really urgent goes by e-mail or courier these days. It’s another emotional storm in a teacup. The boat is much more reliable thatn the mail/paper planes and if it later deliveries led to no increase in passenger charges at the harbour or the airport that’s got to be good for locals and visitors alike.
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billythefish
Now i see why your billythefish with a bite like that! Maybe you should be billythewhale! I think the insults were from you initially and other than fool the rest was mearly my opinion which i am sure you will agree i am entitled to!
Any how I will continue to read the important and valued opinions from the remainder of the above with genuine relevant points that are being made. I need not sink to your depths.
A La Perchoine
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How come every “cost savings” exercise put forward by the States is actually nothing of the sort but is in fact a “revenue increasing” tactic?
Rather than actually saving money they pay dispensable upper and middle management staff more money to think up more ways of raising more money to waste on wasters. And by wasters I don’t just mean the pram pushing tattooed pierced serial loafers who could actually earn their handouts by tidying up the Island etc, but also the aforementioned inventors of these perverse “initiatives”.
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Surely the crazy thing about it is the fact that approximately 10 years ago 2 people actually lost their lives flying the papers across when they didn’t need to or has the States decided to forget about the plane crash along Forest Road ?
As I dont buy national papers because I have no interest in the plastic witches( Ms Price ) latest divorce that wont affect me and I am old enough to remember the “mailboat” surely the best bet would be to return the post back to sea travel and leave the newspapers come by air, most newsagents don’t deliver delayed papers when fog affects deliveries and they are sent back to the UK for destruction. Very little mail is so important that a slight delay would affect anything and that is where courier companies come in.
Of course that would depend on a decent boat service but that is a different issue
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Will this also affect comics such as the Beano,Dandy and The Sun?
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So the UK mail will be 2 days late now.
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I have a killer of an idea.
yes lets delay the papers and mail for a day but lets put the clocks back 23 hours on the island so no one will know.
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Beano & Dandy are weekly I think
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The States intend to spend millions on a runway which no airline will be able to afford to use the way it is going!! For God’s sake, alot of livelihoods are at risk here and like tourism and horticulture the states intend to destroy another bit of local life in Guernsey with tax rises.
Moonpig rely on airfreight and I hear Funky Pigeon intend to set up here too. There are many mail order companies in Guernsey that rely on airfreight too. HMV is another. What about the finance industry, they do not all use DHL?
So States of Guernsey, you really think it wise to jeopardize their businesses, the Post Office + the newsagents of the Island to raise a few pounds for you to waste on rubbish like you always do?? How many more lives do you want to destroy? How many more are you willing to see knocking on the door at social security claiming dole? How many more do you want putting their names down for social housing because families lost their houses due to no work? Clueless, really clueless. Really have not thought it through have you, some hair brained scheme as usual and we all have to suffer. Another waste of money debating something that is needless, but then again, that is what your are best at, wasting out hard earned cash on stupid debates.
Get a grip States of Guernsey. 1.8 million is a drop in the ocean compared to what you will be forking out if people start losing jobs as companies leave and shops close.
Why not use your loaf and tighten the belt on stuff you don’t need to spend money on, like your wages because you don’t deserve the money you take home pretending to know how to run Guernsey! Idiots!
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