Yesterday evening I made a post regarding possible shill bidding and whether trade me can help.

I had mixed feedback but most said it's common and it's unlikely they can do much. One person shared their experience in successfully having a partial refund.

I can confirm Trade Me does indeed investigate. I spoke to them at 8am and within 2 hours they were able to confirm it was indeed rigged and refer both members to their Trust and Safety people and I was advised I can skip the trade if I wish, or speak to seller directly for price negotiation.

Thanks to everyone that upvoted that so the right people could reach out to me and those who shared their experiences. Based on my experience I would recommend anyone else in the same position to reach out to Trade Me as they do look into it.

I ordered a few things from the US through YouShop and had used YouShop in the past pre covid and had a good experience. Now I had seen online that people weren’t having as great experiences as what they had in the past but I thought I would give it a shot. The shit show began when my items arrived at their US warehouse at the start of October and my package had been lost. I called and emailed NZ Post a countless amount of times, basically every time I would call it was the same response “I’m really sorry, we will escalate this to our investigations team and they will respond to you by the end of the week” which happened the first time I called them, then the week after that…then the next week after. Eventually they found my items at the start of November, emailed me to confirm they were mine. Then crickets again. All the way up until December 1st until my items were allocated to me, probably would have been much longer if I wasn’t hounding them every single day.

I log in to my YouShop portal to be absolutely shocked that they were charging me $178 for shipping, they split my one package that was under 3kg into two seperate packages for reasons I don’t know why and would not let me combine them to lower the shipping costs, even though I never requested to have them split into 2. Now obviously I had been waiting for months on end to receive my goods due to their fault so they offered me a discount code which resulted in my shipping coming down to $158…I’ve just uploaded return labels to return all of my items because this is literally daylight robbery and ultimately the biggest fuck around lol. This is your sign to never use YouShop, not sure why NZ Post continues with this service with so many problems.

I've been feeling really stressed and exhausted lately, and I think a good massage could help me relax and sleep better. I’ve tried a few therapists but haven’t found what I’m looking for.

I’m especially interested in something like ASMR-style massage therapy that focuses on deep relaxation. Does anyone know of someone or somewhere in Wellington that offers this?

If you have other suggestions for ways to de-stress and recharge, I’d love to hear them. Thanks!

Hi all, posting here as I imagine there’s quite a few tradies floating around. I’m starting my own business next year and the job will involve covering quite a few k’s every now and again. Tossing up between a station wagon or Toyota Hiace. Really keen to here peoples opinion on the Toyota Hiace as its practical for all the tools I have but unsure on its capability of travelling big distances with a full load. Any advice much appreciated.

heading for a last minute road trip soon (don't get me started on booking lodging 2 weeks out!) and am looking for suggestions of local potters/ceramicists to buy plates, bowls, or mugs from during the trip. always find these more unique and memorable than a typical tourist mug. thank you.

Six p.m. closing of pubs was introduced as a temporary wartime measure. It ushered in what became known as the ‘six o’clock swill’, in which patrons drank their fill before closing time. The practice was to last for 50 years.

Since the 1880s a campaign for the prohibition of alcohol had developed into a powerful mass movement. During the First World War its supporters promoted sobriety as a patriotic duty, and in 1915 and 1916 nearly 160,000 New Zealanders signed petitions calling for six o’clock closing. The government agreed to restrict opening hours to increase the efficiency of the workforce. In 1918 six o’clock closing was made permanent.

The liquor trade offered surprisingly little resistance. Its members felt that reducing opening hours had ‘drawn some of the sting out of the wider Prohibition movement’; it was certainly preferable to a total ban. In referenda held in April 1919 and alongside the general election that December, national prohibition was only narrowly defeated. The cause continued to enjoy strong support at the polls during the 1920s.

Six o’clock closing became part of the New Zealand way of life. In the hour or so between the end of the working day and closing time, men crowded together to drink as much beer as they could before the ‘supping-up’ time of 15 minutes was announced. While early closing was promoted as a way to ensure men got home to their families at a respectable hour, critics questioned their condition when they arrived. New Zealand’s binge-drinking culture has been blamed on the fact that six o’clock closing taught generations of men to drink as fast as possible.

Six o’clock closing was decisively endorsed in a referendum in 1949. The first signs of a change in attitude came in the 1960s, when the expanding restaurant industry questioned laws that made it difficult to sell alcohol with meals. People who enjoyed socialising at the local sports club or RSA also sought a change in opening hours. As more tourists came to New Zealand with the advent of jet air travel, early closing was increasingly seen as an outdated concept.

In 1966 the Licensing Control Commission stated that uniform hours of sale were ‘neither equitable, enforceable, nor in the public interest’. In another national referendum in September 1967, nearly 64% of voters supported later closing.

https://nzhistory.govt.nz/the-six-oclock-swill-begins

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This poster, which encourages voting for the status quo, plays on domestic concerns. Its message is that early closing means that fathers will be home in time to play with their children, and spend less money at the pub and more on the family.

wanting to study business (admin and tech) level 3 but unsure which provider to go with. my options include: nzma, open polytechnic or manakau institute of technology.

Over the weekend I encounted a few times where I question the direction of NZs retail scene.

Some things that come to mind are:

• Having to fill out surveys before trying pay by card at the counter
• "would you like to donate $X to [insert charity of the month here]
• And asking for a tip for either:
  • A) The service has been completed - like how do I know if it's good or not or
  • B) Where there is no service e.g going up to the counter to pay

I feel sorry for thw workers who are fed this from corporates or owners driving this stuff.

What happened to just being friendly, personable and not salesy money-hungry when it comes to service?

I purchased my first home 2 years ago. I have been slowly renovating. It’s in a rural area but still not too far from a main city. I am (most likely) moving for better job opportunities. But I do not want to sell my house, I don’t want to airbnb it as I’m not sure how booked it would be, and it seems a fair bit more admin to do everything above board. I’ve settled on renting it out. I had been renting for a few years previously and only had good experiences with landlords. I put a post about seeing if there would be any interest and there was a lot more than I expected. It’s only a small house, and to break even with mortgage, insurance, chimney sweeps and septic emptying it would be about 500 a week, people seem prepared to pay this but I feel a bit guilty about it, it’s a small, old house, I’ve redone the kitchen, painted throughout and am putting new inbuilt wardrobes in. What else would someone want when looking for a rental? How can I be not a shit landlord? I don’t want to make profit over it, just to have it ticking over for a few years until I’m either ready to sell it and get something else, or move back in. Also, if I was to leave it “partially furnished” eg. washing machine + dishwasher + fridge, if these items break am I then responsible for fixing them? I’m assuming yes? I have got smoke alarms, and bought spare batteries for whoever the future tenants will be, same with spare lightbulbs. I want it to be as easy as possible for both parties. Also, best way to choose a tenant? Sorry so many questions, I don’t really have anyone to ask regarding all this other that googling.

Can you give me some advice about what Dick Smith or Kogan are like to buy online with please? Any advice much appreciated - TIA.

Hi there,

I need to know if there is a word to describe Maori style cuisine (as served in restaurants) that is consideted culturally acceptable.

Obvs New Zealand cuisine wont work but I also don't want to just put Maori if thats not correct either.

Anyone else unable to connect their everyday rewards and airpoints account this morning? Typed in my airpoints number and it says invalid when it’s definitely the right one

Has anyone tried taking the slinger tennis trainer (it has battery inside) by air international? If yes, can you help me with the experience taking it by flight like cost, packing etc..? Am planning to take it from India since the stay in NZ is going to be close to an year.

I’m planning to land in Queenstown in few days and then rent a car for a couple of weeks and drop off in Christchurch. Require advise on below three items:

1. Request to please advise which are the best car rental companies.

I was browsing the fares on the websites such as discovercars, rentalcars, booking.com etc and realised that there is considerable increase in fare if I drop off the car in Christchurch.

2. Is it advisable to drop off the car in Queenstown itself and then use transfercars website for transfer from Queenstown to Christchurch. I don’t necessarily need the car in Christchurch, need it mainly in Queenstown and travel from Queenstown to Christchurch.

3. Please suggest the recommended insurance plans/add ons for the car rental.

Hiya,

Former Kiwi here, trying to do a solid for my best friend's 40th birthday in a couple of weeks. I'm wanting to arrange a gift basket + flowers but with super specific items in it - sadly I can't find a florist or gift basket company online who will do requests.

Had an idea that maybe a gigwork job might be a good solution (as it is over here in the UK) but can't find a site / provider that does this.

Any suggestions would be massively appreciated!

If you get tickets for intercity under the student fare, do they actually check you for id??

Not sure what else is similar, but will there also be job layoffs for the goverment owned farming enterprise Pamu ?

Or sold off/split up ?

Pamu , which many people may not know about but it used to be called Landcorp. Biggest farming outfit in NZ.