THEIR costs go up? And so...?

We just received an email from our mail house. "postage prices will increase by around 4% as of 3 July 2017" Ah, thanks again Aussie Post. 4% is a huge increase, when the other numbers from the government show price increases only of 2-3%. Even so, prices have to go up, they say.

Who decides this anyway? It's as if each sector of the economy or the government is quoting one or another. For instance, the tolls on the motorways are set to increase on 1 July. And the prices of bread and petrol, of clothing and insurance-- all will rise, because, well, you know, they will hem, haw and say, "Prices are going up. We have to keep up to match them." And no one will stop the madness.

I'm of the opinion that someone has to prevent prices from ascending, in their own way. I'm planning to keep our prices down, in fact, lower than ever. Our cheapest Hanukkah candles remain at $5, our CDs are now almost all $22 rather than the market-bearing $29. We will continue to help everyone find affordability in our on-line catalog. That way, our products will continue to help the ordinary Christian to understand Jewish people, and they will help the ordinary Jewish person to sort out the issue of Yeshua-- who is he? If you can find our products on your bookcases or in your car glove box, then that will only help. See what I mean?

I pondered this some years ago, when the state government acknowledged that they were losing money on the Cross City Tunnel. So what's a government to do? Obviously raise the rates, they thought. BUT all they did was punish the users of the tunnel. What they should have done was to LOWER the costs, and thereby procure more funds from more users of the tunnel. Volume is the answer; not sticking it to the customers. You see what I mean?

But they didn't listen to me then; they won't listen to me now. And I can live with that. Even so, I'm not going to raise the rates. Let's live sensibly, help each other, donate when we can. And make a difference in our world, one government agency or customer at a time. See you at our book shop!