Dear Jac – Page 92
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: A new slot! In praise of local authorities!
I'm so impressed with this that I am using 'screamers', a journalistic term for exclamation marks which are largely frowned upon in journalism as one takes the view that the story should speak for itself and not need these props - and certainly not three in a row! (One will ...
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Another effect of accepting debit cards
A few months ago a small shop might not have been able to accept credit and debit cards. Now, post-Chip and PIN, many more have been persuaded to do so. But, as Ian Macintyre - who runs a CTN in Tarbert, Argyll - points out, credit card purchasing of mobile ...
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: It shouldn't be daylight robbery at the C&C
I’ve said this before. Never mind, it bears saying again. You don’t go to the cash and carry to get robbed, do you?
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: In a heatwave you need a fridge that works
As sagas go, this one is a roller coaster. Lloyd Bakewell first contacted me on May 10. He had ordered a glass-fronted drinks chiller from Husky for his store, The Village Shop at Thornton, near Leicester. He got the free Carling stock and was happy - but not for long.
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Triton means cheaper top-ups
The word means many things: minor sea god; satellite of Neptune; big mollusc (you can tell I've been at the dictionary) and, yes, cheap top-ups.
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Free Epos? Surely it's too good to be true?
Most people like freebies but equally, most will ask, where's the catch?
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: The retailer, the business transfer agent and the court case
The retailer, the business transfer agent and the court case
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Always room for one more scam
Have I told you that my 'scam' file is now second-biggest in my filing cabinet? Sadly, 'crime/security' is still my biggest file. Put the two together and I would need help in lifting them.
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: This was not exactly a crisp response
Oh Gary, where are you when we need you? Michael Wakeling sent me an email from Nottinghamshire with a frustrated and challenging opener that read: "I doubt if you can help, but here goes..."
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Licensing reminders - are there any local authorities co-ordinating their dates?
I pose the question because Jayanti Shah did. He trades in Enfield in North London and got his reminder on June 21. As he points out, this won't matter in a few year's time when you get the reminder once a year, whenever. But right now, it's still insult added ...
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Want to move a terminal? Check the contract
Time for another reminder here about Bus PASS terminals. Not for the first time a retailer has complained about the price of moving a terminal just a teeny bit to the right or left.
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Hassle from the hoodie hooligans? Blitz 'em
Sprita Patel rang in exasperation over groups of kids hanging around her store, Sprita One Stop in Nottingham.
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: ID - get their number and it will count
A couple of issues back a retailer commented in this column that Trading Standards had pointed out that a refusals register to prove you don't sell booze to the underaged was pointless because you could just make it all up.
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Can you put a price on principles?
I've had an email from Hamdy Shahein. Nothing new in that as we have been in touch from time to time over the past 14 years. Nothing new, either, in his tireless campaign to keep his East London store pornography-free, which is invariably the subject we discuss.
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: A scale of charges for cashback?
Garveen Goram was faced with a dilemma. He was on the verge of signing up with Hanco for an ATM. The deal was no payment for the first 150 transactions and after that the £1.50 transaction cost would give him 90p and Hanco 60p. However, up until now Garveen has ...
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Where can I find suppliers of.......? (fill in blank here)
In retailers' quests to add that je ne sais quoi extra to their business, they sometimes ask me for the more obscure suppliers of products and services. This time it was singing donkeys and those old-fashioned sweetie jars.
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: A lottery win!
I'm pleased to report that Camelot has reinstated Asif Rabbani's terminal in York.
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: You'll be the loser if you don't follow lottery rules
Not a lot of people win the lottery, and not a lot of retailers sell big winning tickets, so therefore not a lot of people know this: you must get Camelot's permission before you tell the press about a winner, even if that person has agreed to publicity.
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: VAT - do we have a ghost of a chance of getting it right?
I should have known better when I said in the last issue that the ghost of VAT on top-ups was laid to rest. It has come back to haunt me, more like.
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Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Still trawling for feedback here
There is only room left here for a reminder about Spar retailer Subhas Patel's request for feedback from any retailer who has dealt with SD Media.