HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1993-06-16, Page 4InIalitosikeellgete, xJUne 16,13
' Mor: jIrrtiftekett
' r:lan Nano
1.1001 ,11041911108111 Don Smith
:Deb Lord
.) willerened
0411110**1111.111111106•4111011611114111110.00,fts$2.10 G.S.T.
Niri�Eirrn.f or any tetter eaglet address
430.00 vies11110.01141stat80.00► +4.20G.S.T.
:88.00
"Men are 'never so likely
to settle a question rightly
as when they discuss it
freely."
... Thomas Mscauley
Published E•eh'WednesOey [464 n $t.,
Exeter, Oetarlo, NOM tS6 y J.W. Ltd.
Velinlhone 1-61 I 4 1
•.s.T. amosneess
If yiui canl3v,atxhem...iwy them
n the good old -days, courier
.companies were mostly unnecessary
nbecause the postal service could get
°your letter :anywhere just about over -
:might orat leastin a couple of days.
Nowadays, with a letter to Toronto
laking three or four :days to arrive, the
necessity exists of using a more expen-
sive courier. system to :deliver the stuff
that justthas to get there :on time.
Despite the factuhat Canada Post -con-
tinues :totboast about' first class mail;ar-
• riving within two :days 96 percent of
:the time (what :happens to The other
lour letters out of the :hundred?) :they
-.responded withrtheir own Priority Post
•dam.
New :they're tgoneiand bought a :con -
ng interest inn Purolator Canada,
:>lltte nation's largest..ccourier company.
'The ideal _still :has 1vrgo through etgula-
-wry :approval, ,but :one must -Amender
}.why a Crowntlarporationisamintense-
iyinterestedinspending$55Million on
burrowing further into the private sector.
Critics have charged that Canada Post
does not properly account for its policy
of keeping regulated (mail) and non-
regulated (courier) services .apart - and
that the monopoly on mailadelivery is
used to unfairly subsidize itsh �lldtler divi-
sions.
We've certainly seen Canada Post con-
flict with other private enterprises, nota-
bly to newspaper and publishing indus-
try, by competing heavily for ad -mail
contracts to keep employees busy.
So what now? Why does the Crown
Corporation want to buytatto a courier
company that posted a $9:4znillion loss
in 1992?
And what's next for Canada Post?
Will 'they be travelling to ..Japan next
month to,see if they can buy,a ffax ma-
chine manufacturer?
Whatever happened to just zleiivering
'the mail?
A.D.H.
Bigges1 winner in histo,y
I've had a chance to _get :wort Jelesdlsappoinuneat:*.inemmed
-million dollars, and I've drubber -ens. I :began .to read.; Trough the
nallirthrown it away. seven documents that mere -mat
Sk'stnot that I bate money. Be- closed in this piece of junkman.
hieve:it:or.not. I'm actually,tond Even though -Fred assured:tme
of it. Or:at-oast of the:thi it. ,
can provide:rBut ldidn'tiliketathe
way this:#tttinular fortutne,svas
offered to rme..Let .me tell you
about it.
Of course you've all heard of
Fred C. Mortimer. What? You
haven't? Well. neither had I un-
til the other day. When he sent
me via Canada Post a "Notifica-
tion of Intent" to award me tan
million dollars- -- to be trans- , that I sluts "designated as a Po -
Peter's
Point
•
- Peter Helsel
fend to the bank account of my tential�-tm
eipient .of .tenillion
choice in two months. • I dollars riin ;I earnntoed Immual
I didn't have .to .do anything Payments of $333.333.00" and
for it. not even to answer a skill- that "financial guarantees have
testing. question. Just to sign my been provided" by his firms for
ware on she .cued line. Be- the full payment of this "histo -
cause as -Filed C. hMortimer, ' rymaking award", I learned to
my annoyance that I would
!have to send in an order for at
least two magazines to "qualify"
for the "Sweepstakes".
I would have thrown the
whole package out at that point
if 1 hadn't noticed the names of
some of the most prestigious
magazines on one of the glizy
inserts.
This is one heck of a method
to sell subscriptions. Who is this
Fred C. Mortimer who keeps his
desk in a post office box at Sta-
tion A, -Toronto? Is he made of
flesh and blood, or is he as false
as the garbage he publishes?
And what else does Fred pro-
duce besides misleading adver-
tising that tells me I will be a
"super -rich multi -millionaire"?
(Of course, my absolutely fa-
Prosidntrof Canadian .Specialty
Financial Services Inc. pointed
out, I mould ttsthe guaranteed
winner of 10 million dollars,
"the biggest winner in history"
But there was a tiny little string
attached.
When the envelope arrived,
what was staring me in he facc
in gold letters half an inch high
was the announcement: "Peter
Helsel SHALL be paid ten mil-
lion dollars." Only when I react
the small print, did I discover
these two tiny little words which
1 teamed to distrust back in my
childhood: the word "would"
and the word "if'.
Now suddenly I was confront-
ed not with a gift or an award or
an assignment, but with a histo-
ry•
,. •' 1 : • ii�� tv
Fed up with hoer
Dear Editor:
Picture this: a party scene, lava
lamps aglow. peals of laughter and
music blaring. Seated on a couch
in the centre of the room; fou gor-
geous women, finely weed bodies,
large firm breasts and long flow-
ing hair. Their attention turned to
one man; the popular guy. the one
they all want...the guy chugging
beer.
This epitomizes every beer com-
mercial I've ever seen. I can't stand
it anymore, this is why I'm writ-
ing.
Why do women have to look
like ditty sex obiects,and men al-
vouritemnitimrollionaires:are She
upeeeich ones!)
Iiireftlikeenittlj there oi-
-lemma like the one'tistftediand
..his accomplices have tin: store for
me* "If he .fails :to reply. -Per
Hamel will be the first:to forfeit
Seremillion.dollars .to,an_ alternate
winner!" -Fred _goes on: "Will it
be you who claims this historic
grand prize - .or some .unknown
person picked.at random? Please
don't risk putting ten million dol-
lars into She hands of some
stranger!"
1 don't like taking that kind of
risk, and maybe the easiest way
to deal with the problem would
have been to order a couple of
magazines and be done with it.
Maybe by now I would have had
my cheque and "soy! could I do
things with that kind of money.
I hazard a guess that the pack-
age I received cost a bundle to
produce. A bundle of whose
money, I wor..ier? And in the.un-
likely event that anyone out
there should really win ten mil-
lion dollars, ?where would Art
money come from? •From Fred
C, Mortimer?
I stuffed all the papers back
into the envelope, together with
a note: "Take me off your list,
Fred!" Then I stapled and taped
the little package and wrote on
it: 'Return to sender at his ex-
pense..,
Maybe I've ,trade a colossal
mistake. Maybe it's all perfectly
legitimate. Maybe Fred is a gen-
uine benefactor who really had
picked my name, and I blew it.
But I'll never know.
ways with "the headnodding on the
make" look? Every beer commer-
cial I've aver seen rc
minds' me of n
tedious night at
a disco meat
market bar.
Also what docs
beer have to do
with finely toned
bodic8 and popularity anyway?
Nothing! If you drink a lot of
beer, say goodbye to )bat finely
weed body, ,and more "vigilantly
arc you only popular if you drink'?
These are the wrong messages to be
seeding out to young minds.
This is the reality of a beer drink-
ing party. picture this: the guy
passed out on the stairs, stupid
fishing stories, men in ,the garage,
women in the kitchen, maybe a
fight will break out. People of all
shapes, sues, colours, creeds, and
most of them will have big hango-
ver heads in the morning.
cornraercials.are degrading
'i women and men. as well as
an insult to our intelligence.
Sincerely.
Christine Promhouse,
Mensal I
/114**,
�73
I'd rather go to the dentist
t161aenfhto•a fair numberupf-
eetiitgs on environmental is -
Agues in the past few years. One
%common theme is that our con-
sumer society just plain throws
away too. much stuff. Not only
do we chuck out the tonnes of
packaging material that houses
our .cookies :and frozen pizzas,
but-we.also tend to tum out too
many.consumer goods that need
only minor repairs to keep them
gunning.
Alright, let's consider that for a
moment. Instead of getting our
old toasters or irons fixed, we
drop them in the bin and buy
new ones in the latest colours
.and styles with the newest giz-
mos. This is apparently wrong.
We should instead visit a repair
shop and get them renewed for
:years of future service.
I'm not sure whether I'm alone
.in this, but I'm• almost at the
;[point where I'd rather visit the
:dentist than have to get some-
sthing repaired. Most stores'
these days still operate on the
old maxim that the customer is
always right. Most repair and
warranty service places seem to
assume the customer is always a
moron.
Am 1 being too harsh, or is
there a genuine problem with
getting consumer goods fixed in
this country? I've had sonic
pretty grim experiences in past
years, no doubt you've had a few
of your own. My VCR blew a
circuit last year. No one could
find the fault, so the only solu-
tios was to replace all the circuit
boards - they wanted over $250
for that.
My parents had a microwave
-*hat blew its fuse. The repair
guy put a new fuse in, checked it
and sent it back. It promptly
blew up, so it went back again.
•The first thing it did was blow
A
Hold that
thought...
By.
Adrian Harte
the! last modet*SattnttilU f a
camera now Sint siTiircidaitiol.
When I looked at it in the store,
I discovered the aperture mecha-
nism wasn't working properly -
-no problem, just a minor adjust-
ment will fix it I was told. I
Awaited over a month for it to
.acome back. Foolishly, I bought
citard brought it home only to
„find the aperture drive was still
Sticking when it was first turned
-on, but worked fine afterwards.
Back it went. A month later, it
returns with a• repair slip pro-
nouncing it healthy. 1 lift it out
of the box and wrapper, switch
it on...and still it malfunctions.
the fuse again. My mother per-
sonally delivered the thing to the
repair centre for the third time
and watched the guy put a new
.fuse in, start it up to show it
worked,. and opened the door to
shut it off. 11Aom pointed out
'that if he hadlet it run the full
cycle, .kaboom ! By the time -the
rimicrowavc came back with a
,;,new timer mechanism, my par-
ents had given up and bought a
new one. I think they sold the
old one in a garage sale.
A friend of mine had to take
her camera in for the same re-
pair three times. No amount of
explanation could convince the
repair experts .there was any-
thing wrong with it. Twice they
dusted it out and sent it back
with a caution about using new
batteries. Finally, she drove to
the Mississauga head office,
walked through the front door
aux! was able to conclusively
prove to the unbelievers -that the
light meter didn't always work.
I had the same experience this
past week, with another camera
company. I had planned to buy
Evidently. no amount of expla-
natior, or pleading was going to
convince the techno-boffins
there was anything wrong with
,this marvel of modem engineer-
ing. Without further ado, I re-
turned the camera and accesso-
ries and the store lost a four
figure sale - through no fault of
their own.
Is this the way it's meant to
be? Arc we expected to just
drop a thousand dollar camera
into the garbage pail. or set a
five -hundred dollar microwave
out at the curb at tlx: first sign of
trouble, then gleefully head to
the store to buy a new one?
I'd like to think there isn't
some dark plot to keep us con-
suming - .that companies really
do back up We products they sell
with a rpasonabie expectation of
keeping it turning for a reason-
able service life. Maybe it's just
.me, but 1 SCOW to have a hard
,time:fuidiug ,prcnof of that these
days.
�(jrypn
ult ra/ Society
sMlitte►nns closing pf college
Dear Editor:
.We, tl>e Kirkton Agricultural So-
ciety are very disappointed with
Atte recent decision to close Cen-
tralia College of Agricultural
Technology and the Veterinary Di-
agnostic Laboratory.
We realize a reduction in the
provincial deficit is necessary but
why must our yuung people sacri-
fice their education in order to
achieve this goal?
Living in a
fanning coaimu-
nity the -Vet Lab
is very important
to our .livelihood
and a valuable ser-
vice in maintaining health and ani
nhal disease diagnosis and preven-
tion.
Yours truly,
Helen I-lardeman,
Secretary,
444001-40501 t tl'Secacty