Mr Ponga asked to justify claim on price rises

Taupo Times, Volume 23, Issue 49, 20 June 1974, Page 9

Mr Ponga asked to justify claim on price rises

Sir, On the front page of Tuesday's Taupo Times, Taupo 's health inspector, Mr Robin Ponga, was reported as saying: . . . "and we are at the whim of retailers. Whenever it is holiday time, their prices skyrocket and Taupo people have to pay the same as tourists." This statement is both irresponsible and untrue. I would &sk Mr Ponga to consider the following facts: (1) Competition among retailers is very keen not only in Taupo but throughout New Zealand. For any business to increase its prices without justification is to invite failure, particularly in a small town like Taupo. The survival of any privately owned or major retail business depends on building up goodwill with a reputation for fair and courteous trading. Continued patronage from satisfied customers is the only way a business can survive and prosper. I wonder what the reaction would be if prominent chain stores such as Woolworths, Farmers and Shoprite tried these tactics of "skyrocketing" prices, or even just increasing prices modestly during holiday times. Their managers > would have a lot to answer for to

the branch supervisors and directors. (2) Mr Ponga says that the Taupo people have to pay these supposed high holiday prices along with visitors. He belittles the intelligence of the Taupo buying public. I have been involved in several fields of retailing in New Zealand and overseas for over 20 years, and I have found the Taupo public to be as astute and price-conscious as any other town or city that I have worked in. (3) Has Mr Ponga reflected on the physical impossibility of adjusting prices up and down as holidays come and go, on hundreds of lines, in such stores as chemists shops, supermarkets and a hardware store such as my own where we stock over 10,000 lines. The idea is too ridiculous to contemplate. (4) Finally, Mr Ponga who is in contact with Government departments, must have learnt of legislation governing the retail trade. Any retailer who increases his margin beyond recognised levels is inviting prosecution from the officers of the Department of Industries and Commerce. To the writer's knowledge, no cases have ever been reported from Taupo. Mr Ponga, in the course of his employment, has

demonstrated that he is a just and fair man. Let us be reassured of this, by his substantiating his sweeping accusation with some facts. It behoves him to justify his statement by sta.ting in these columns, just three cases (I won't ask for more, although he is suggesting that the practice is widespread), where it can be established that Taupo retailers have "skyrocketed" or simply increased their prices during any holiday period. Surely a man in his position would not make such a statement without factual proof. However, should he not be able to reassure us that he is being fair and just to Taupo's retail community, then perhaps he could demonstrate to us that he is still an honest man by publically retracting his accusation.

Roger

Greenwell