Woollies Dickson - where's the consultation, Gubmint?

abc said :

The new MACS is due to open by July the 11th.. the supermarket by November the 11th.. plans and associated other works were on the ACTPLA site… so try walking a few extra steps you lazy bastard instead of blubbering about taking the closest spots

Well said. They’re a few shipping containers to put shop fittings in as part of the construction and refurbishment of the Woolworths. I’m 100% sure that they will be removed when they have finished, so there’s no use in getting your knickers in a knot when you can park another few metres away and walk.

Clown Killer said :

I gave up on Woolworths around three years ago because of the complete and utter crap service that they offered at Kambah.

Looxury. You clearly haven’t visited Woolworths at Queanbeyan. at 6am or 10pm, it is guaranteed that you will stand in a big, long queue.

And the products are crap.

I think the word donger must be a West Australianism- its what Mr Igglepiggle (who hails from Perth) calls them too..

niftydog said :

You’re not in a unique situation there, Jivrashia. Most ACT residents would only have one large supermarket within 10km of their house.

Within 10 kn of Dickson there would be more than a few large shopping centres.

Clown Killer said :

I gave up on Woolworths around three years ago because of the complete and utter crap service that they offered at Kambah. I haven’t set foot in one since. By any available comparison Supa Barn and Coles will be superior.

+1 and the Kambah shops are a frightfull mess they really look like slums the whole lot should be bulldozed !

Clown Killer said :

I once saw a shipping container that someone had cut a door and a window into and bolted an air-conditioner to the end of on the market in Port Hedland for $90,000.

http://www.royalwolf.com.au/products/accommodation.aspx
http://www.royalwolf.com.au/products/worksite.aspx
The containers in question look to be only for storage,They will always put them as close to the site where there working so the builders dont have to lug heavy building equipment to far!
I guess its better to put a few car drivers out for a few weeks rather than have builders on workers compo with bad backs and hernias.

On this issue, just so people know the public WERE TECHNICALLY CONSULTED. Woolworths Dickson is about to undergo a massive upgrade, and I would assume these containers are being used to temporarily store stock or construction gear. This was announced for public consultation through ACTPLA several months ago, with full details of the the plans. I assume nobody who is complaining here complained to them within the 2 months or so it was available. I have copies of the planned renovations for the supermarket under ACTPLA’s consultative release, which include several self serve checkouts and the removal of the liquor section to a separate store next to the Commonwealth Bank.

Woody Mann-Caruso said :

Franger? Christ, haven’t heard that word since 1982. Seemed to go out with other associated classics like ‘root’ and ‘moot’.

‘moot’ never goes out of style, woody!

I drive to gungahlin rather than go to the Dickson woollies hell-hole.

Gungahlin has free parking, Woolies, Coles and Aldi, and the shops are new with wide aisles and short queues. I’m amazed Woolies is still in business – must be only people who don’t drive who still go there.

And then there’s always Sgt Donger.

c’maaaan? Aliens? Anyone?

sirocco said :

Clown Killer said :

Forget that, there’s no time. I say we nuke them from orbit – it’s the only way to be sure.

Hold on, hold on one second. That carpark has a substantial dollar value attached to it.

They can bill me

sirocco said :

Clown Killer said :

The resources for such a cull will be monumental. We’d need to train the majority of public servants to use grenade launchers. That is of course after we study their breeding habits…

Forget that, there’s no time. I say we nuke them from orbit – it’s the only way to be sure.

Hold on, hold on one second. That carpark has a substantial dollar value attached to it.

We have to destroy the carpark in order to save it.

Clown Killer said :

The resources for such a cull will be monumental. We’d need to train the majority of public servants to use grenade launchers. That is of course after we study their breeding habits…

Forget that, there’s no time. I say we nuke them from orbit – it’s the only way to be sure.

Hold on, hold on one second. That carpark has a substantial dollar value attached to it.

I am delighted said :

The resources for such a cull will be monumental. We’d need to train the majority of public servants to use grenade launchers. That is of course after we study their breeding habits…

On the other hand though as they are obviously not cute or furry we won’t have to waste time and effort on delays due to greenies trying to protect them.

The resources for such a cull will be monumental. We’d need to train the majority of public servants to use grenade launchers. That is of course after we study their breeding habits…

Forget that, there’s no time. I say we nuke them from orbit – it’s the only way to be sure.

sirocco said :

I am delighted said :

Ahhh interesting, I think someone needs to alert the proper authorities before these “dongers” start multiplying and taking up more car spaces. Or maybe we should lobby to close the entire car park to study these “dongers” and document their breeding habits…

If donger breeding gets out of hand the gov might need to instigate a donger-cull 😛

The resources for such a cull will be monumental. We’d need to train the majority of public servants to use grenade launchers. That is of course after we study their breeding habits…

I refuse to go to this Woolworths until these offending Dongers are removed.

Franger? Christ, haven’t heard that word since 1982. Seemed to go out with other associated classics like ‘root’ and ‘moot’.

I used to live in a donger. Many school buildings (demountables) could be labelled dongers.

Not to be confused with a dinger (i.e. franger).

I am delighted said :

Ahhh interesting, I think someone needs to alert the proper authorities before these “dongers” start multiplying and taking up more car spaces. Or maybe we should lobby to close the entire car park to study these “dongers” and document their breeding habits…

If donger breeding gets out of hand the gov might need to instigate a donger-cull 😛

Now that there’s a picture up it seems that they are simply shipping containers. Dongers are a completely diferent beast altogether. Think site office rather than metal box.

That said, I once saw a shipping container that someone had cut a door and a window into and bolted an air-conditioner to the end of on the market in Port Hedland for $90,000.

I imagine they do go “dong” when struck though.

Aren’t they part of KRudds plan to accommodate the homeless.

Ahhh interesting, I think someone needs to alert the proper authorities before these “dongers” start multiplying and taking up more car spaces. Or maybe we should lobby to close the entire car park to study these “dongers” and document their breeding habits…

ahhhh! shipping containers!

gotcha.

I think I prefer “donger” though, will definitely keep using that one

big deal, they are hardly permanent.

IGAs are only pricey cos they are independent and can’t order the same kinds of volumes of stock that the national chains get. Support yer local!

A few contaners in a carpark don’t merit consultation. A sign might have been helpful, though.

plans have been approved and contracts awarded for the refurbishment of much of woollies, I would hazard a guess that these containers relate to that. The contractors wearing high viz in the picture would indicate that this is probably the case (they don’t look like they’re doing the trolley run).
Fences on kings ave at the edmund barton shouldn’t be there long either as the hand over for the fit out is due about first week of august. However those fences are there for good reason as commercial construction sites are dangerous enough without workers having to worry about the driving ability of the highly skilled, educated and well developed egos of much of those that work in surrounding offices.

Oh, and I thought this post was going to be an interesting one, who wouldn’t be interested in big green dongers going at Woolies!!!

I wonder which aisle…………

thank god the photo was added – i have been wasting valuable brain synapses this afternoon wondering what on earth a donger could be.

dickson woollies is sh*thouse. even though i live inner north i drive all the way over to coles manuka (also even though i was recently told it is one of the most $$$ supermarkets in australia) so i don’t have to step foot inside dickson woollies.

So are they for construction or storage? if it’s for construction then the premise of the original story is completely wrong?

I gave up on Woolworths around three years ago because of the complete and utter crap service that they offered at Kambah. I haven’t set foot in one since. By any available comparison Supa Barn and Coles will be superior.

Jivrashia said :

For me this is the last straw that will tip the scale in favour of abandoning this supermarket all together.

lol absolute bs. You’ll be back before the week is out.

You’re not in a unique situation there, Jivrashia. Most ACT residents would only have one large supermarket within 10km of their house.

And I find it hard to have sympathy for anyone for whom Dickson is there local shopping centre. Try living in Giralang, mate, you might gain some perspective and stop worrying about such trivial inconveniences.

The new MACS is due to open by July the 11th.. the supermarket by November the 11th.. plans and associated other works were on the ACTPLA site… so try walking a few extra steps you lazy bastard instead of blubbering about taking the closest spots

niftydog said :

Jebus, some people just really don’t want to walk those four extra steps do they?!?!

Niftydog. I think you’re not familiar with the long running relationship between the local shoppers and Woollies Dickson. Their service of recent leaves a great deal to be desired. But what grieves us most is that there are no serious competitor in the vicinity (IGA is small and pricy).
I think most shoppers hate shopping at this supermarket, but they’re at the mercy of time and petrol, and lack of an alternative.

For me this is the last straw that will tip the scale in favour of abandoning this supermarket all together.

There was a hilarious piece in the CT yesterday about a construction fence in yarralumla. It was blocking the footpath for months on end, so some of the infirm oldies asked for it to be moved to the property boundary so they could get to the bus stop.

ACT govt action was to require the construction complany to instead build a temporary footpath, in front of the real footpath that was behind the fence.

Only problem was…..that temporary footpath would require planning application and could take months… It seems the company saw sense and moved their construction fence.

Only in Canberra hey.

I wasn’t consulted before you wrote this post. Thinking I was entitled to such consultation is about as ridiculous as you thinking TEH GOVINMINT needs to have a warm and fuzzy roundtable with TEH PUBLIX everytime a public servant takes a breath.

IFiled said: “Woollies Dickson has put a couple of big green dongers exactly where the 16 or so most convenient car parking spaces are (were) – right out the front – and appear to be using them as additional storage.”

Land grab! You see it around quite a lot. The most blatant was the airport taking public land for their next carpark, but at least they put that one under the government’s nose before doing it.

You see construction doing it too, taking over the footpath, then the nature strip, and finally half the road (Kings Ave in front of the Edmund Barton being a current case in point), often seemingly so the workers have somewhere to park!

If Woolies are paying for it, it’d be interesting to see what the going rate for a parking spot at Dickson is.

Clown Killer said :

What the hell is a donger?

It’s a portable building – the most common place you’ll see them around Canberra is in the construction industry where they’re used for site offices, store rooms, lunch rooms etc.

My first thought was that it was not unlike a franger, only bigger…

I-filed, you are a very angry person – or is that the governments fault too.

IIRC correctly I saw a sign saying they were going to be renovating. If you were renovating would you place the containers near where you need them, or further away ?

Jebus, some people just really don’t want to walk those four extra steps do they?!?!

johnboy – I think we need a new award to go alongside “flame of the week” and “nutter of the month” – “Storm in a teacup of the year.”

Long time reader frist time writer…..

Here is a thought….Maybe wollies are looking use this as a measure control the queues in the shop. Less people parking means less people inside.

Thanks for the heads up I-filed.

I was still two minds as to which supermarket to shop at this evening.
One more reason to avoid Woollies Dickson like the plague.

lol yet more public consultation bollocks.

Just because we didn’t all receive signed and perfumed letters of invitation from the Chief Minister doesn’t mean that we weren’t able to put forward comments on the development.

Seriously guys, if you are concerned with the developments in your areas, have your say through ACTPLA!!!! ACTPLA links for public commentary

And stop these stupid threads that suggest we should all be involved in every decision. We elected the government to make these calls for us!!

What the hell is a donger?

It’s a portable building – the most common place you’ll see them around Canberra is in the construction industry where they’re used for site offices, store rooms, lunch rooms etc.

Duke said :

What the hell is a donger?

HAHAHAHA! Excellent point! (I did wonder but I figured it must be big enough to stop a car!)

What the hell is a donger?

So either Woolies is officially paying rent (was there consultation? do we even need consultation? who cares?) or they are not paying rent and are illegally squatting (gov not taking action? should we boycott woolies? who cares?).

Or Woolies owns the carpark and can do what they like (unlikely, but possible)

I think the point is that the car park doesn’t belong to Woolies – it belongs to ACT Government?? ie the Governement can not collect parking on those spaces, so is woolies paying rent instead.
I may still be reading this wrong, so feel free to correct me.

Surely it is more of an inconvenience to their own business rather than to an individual shopper?

Each unavailable car space represents a loss of income for Woolies (money lost = the amount of money woolies makes per day / total car spaces x unavailable car spaces)

They’re only shooting themselves in the foot…

So around twenty car parking spaces are lost. Big deal. Consultation? For what purpose? It’s not like it’s an issue.