R is for Reborn

The second hand shop at Mitchell Waste Transfer Station reopened this week.

Theiss is now operating the junk shop itself. It is called the R Shop.

The Old Flame and I popped in this morning for a shufty.

Stock is still being built up and it is obvious that they have selected the better offerings for the re-opening. Prices are little high, but that may change. And there are still bargains to be had.

We picked up a Remington Hair Clipper Kit, complete and manufactured in June 2008 for $5. The assistant chucked in the 4 Tupperware picnic plates marked at 50c each for nothing and was happy to chat about the new set up.

We were happy to note that some of the smaller electrical equipment has been safety checked (the hairclippers, for example, only the day before our visit).

All the usual types of stock were represented. Furniture, books, bric-a-brac, sporting and gardening equipment were all there. The Old Flame stalked a hapless customer in the hope of hijacking an enviable camping stove. I'm instructed that it was a Coleman 3-burner petrol camp stove which retails for about $250 marked at $15. TOF was consoled in his loss only by the free Tupperware.

Notably absent were textiles - no clothes, linens, fabrics etc. I saw a solitary pair of women's shoes, but no accessories. There is also no "better bits" section. All stock is priced.

Look forward to your experiences at the new shop.

Why you should think before you press “post”

There is an interesting flame war happening on the Riot-ACT regarding the Salvos Store at Mitchell.

It does raise some interesting points about op-shops running on a commercial basis, and charging a standard price across a region, but hey, they have to pay rent and some staff salaries. Also in a City a mobile as Canberra it is not uncommon for dedicated op-shoppers to visit the op-shops on the other side of town (lord knows, I have done this often enough). If I felt a particular op-shop was cheaper then all the rest, I would make a point of visiting more often.

Anyway for little bit of light reading, check it out

http://the-riotact.com/?p=13462

Aussie Junk - Mugga Closed - Mitchell still open.

I found this press release on the net.

Aussie Junk Mugga will be closing until a new service provider can be found, but Mitchell will still continue to operate. The only question with the Mitchell operation is, will be staffing changes there, and will there be a liquidators auction at Mugga?

CHANGES TO OPERATION OF REUSABLES FACILITIES
The ACT Government advises residents of changes to the operation of the reusables facility at the Mugga Lane Resource Management Centre.
This follows Aussie Junk being placed in liquidation earlier today following a meeting of their creditors. The reusables facility at the Mugga Lane Resource Management Centre will temporarily close from today until further notice. It is anticipated that the facility will open for the acceptance of goods in the near future.
“A public tender process will commence shortly to engage an operator for the Mugga Lane facility. It is anticipated that a new operator to accept and resell goods should be in the facility within three months,” said Chris Ware, Manager of ACT NOWaste.
“People will still be able to deposit reusable items at the Mitchell Resource Management Centre as Thiess Services, which has previously sub-contracted to Aussie Junk, transitions to take over management of this facility.”
Members of the public are encouraged to drop-off their reusables at the Mitchell facility or to one of the charities or businesses that accept second-hand goods for recycling or resale. Details of some of those organisations can be found in the Yellow Pages and on the Department of Territory and Municipal Services’ website www.tams.act.gov.au/live/Recycling_and_Waste/Recycling_Options_in_the_ACT
Aussie Junk voluntarily appointed an Administrator on 26 June 2009, with the appointment ratified by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission on 30 June. Following decisions taken at today’s meeting of creditors Aussie Junk Pty Ltd has been placed in liquidation.

Trouble at t’Tip

From The Canberra Times, 10 June 2009.

Aussie Junk faces charges over underpaying staff
By Grahame Downie.

Aussie Junk, which operates two recycling centres in Canberra, is being prosecuted by the Federal Workplace Ombudsman, which alleges the company underpaid some Canberra staff about $280,000.

The company, which trades as Aussie Junk Recycling, operates the Mitchell resource and recycling depot as a sub-contractor to Thiess Services .

Aussie Junk also has a contract with the Department of Territory and Municipal Services for recycling at the Mugga Lane Resource Management Centre. In June, 2007, the Government controversially refused to renew a contract with community-based business Revolve, which initiated recycling at Mugga Lane in 1988. After an unsuccessful court action by Revolve, Aussie Junk began its operation at Mugga Lane in August, 2007. The Aussie Junk staff allegedly underpaid, some of whom still work for the company, were employed at the Mitchell depot. The Ombudsman is also prosecuting the company's sole director, Dennis Richter, of Lake Albert, Wagga Wagga, alleging he was complicit in the underpayments and unlawfully sacked three of the workers after they complained.

Documents filed in the Federal Magistrates Court in Canberra allege that Aussie Junk underpaid 10 Canberra employees their entitlements, including the minimum hourly rate, overtime, casual loadings, various allowances and payment on termination of employment between 2004 and 2008. The prosecution papers say Mr Richter terminated the employment of three of the allegedly underpaid workers in July last year as a result of their complaints to the Workplace Ombudsman and the Transport Workers Union. The Ombudsman also alleges Aussie Junk failed to maintain records containing sufficient details of matters such as hours worked and leave taken by employees.

Workplace Ombudsman executive director Michael Campbell said yesterday it would be alleged in court that Aussie Junk had underpaid 10 employees a total of $280,000. The biggest alleged underpayment of an individual was $83,000.

Mr Campbell said it would be alleged some employees had been paid as little as $50 cash- in-hand for nine-hour Sunday shifts at the Mitchell site.

"Our decision to prosecute Aussie Junk and Richter follows their refusals to fully rectify the alleged underpayments or cooperate with workplace inspectors," Mr Campbell said.
The Ombudsman is seeking a court order for all money owed to be repaid and for penalties against the company and Mr Richter. The maximum penalty for each breach of the Act is $33,000 for Aussie Junk and $6600 for Mr Richter.
__

TOF just pointed me to the disucssion of the issue on the Riot Act there, including information from one commenter

"... if you search ASIC you will find that an application was made for winding up the company Aussie Junk Pty Ltd on the 19th May - only a few days after receiving court papers from the Workplace Ombudsmen (just a coincidence I’m sure).And another business has been registered as Aussie Junk Recyclers with his son named as Sole Proprietor."

Hello, I'm new here! *waves to the old hands*

Hello, I'm Zoe, a long-time op shopper, somewhat less long-time Canberra blogger (here on food and here infrequently these days) and very new member of the I op therefore I am team of Frugalistas.

Our car is in for repairs this week, so I made the most of clearish day last week to traipse around with traps with my 2 yo for assistance entertainment.

We went to the Salvos and Aussie Junk in Mitchell, to the YMCA in Kingston and the Salvos in Fyshwick. I had an appointment in Belconnen in the afternoon, so we finished up with a lightning raid on Salvos at Jamison, which confirmed its reputation (in my house at least) as the most "dreamin'" overpriced op shop in Canberra. I ended up with a most satisfactory haul that I think's a pretty good reflection of my particular op shopping fetishes - cookbooks (especially the Time Life Good Cook and Foods of the World series, some vintage and modern Australian cheffy type ones - here a TL Foods of the World folder with the Middle East volume), weird stuff about cats, cast iron cooking pots and pans, ($13 for saucepan, frypan and lid that fits both) vintage melamine (50 c), mystery kitchen appliances, some kids' videos (50 c each) and the occasional clothing item (a very nearly new pair of size 10 1/2 shiny patent boots for $25 from Salvos Mitchell).

Score of the day was the mystery appliance, which was $5 at the Fyshwick Salvos upstairs. It turns out to be the Benriner Cooks' Helper, $79 new at the Asian supermarket at Belconnen Mall. Even better, the manual's on the web, so my older son's been having "vegetable spaghetti" in his lunchbox. I love the internet ; )

Train spotting

Late yesterday afternoon, right on closing time to be exact, Aussie Junk at Mitchell received 3 packing cartons full of modelling stuff, most of it still in boxes - model car kits, railway model paraphenalia, toy soldiers and the like.

It might be worth asking if you're in the market for model kits etc.

For your info...

1. The Salvos card has returned for 2009, with one change which probably won't affect any of us: when the card is full it can only be used on items of clothing worth $30 or less.

I found myself with a full card yesterday at Salvos Belconnen and, in my excitement, almost used it on a $3.50 top until Chris behind the counter talked me out of it. He's right. It really wasn't worth it to save a whopping $1.75. But it's so rare that I actually get to use my full cards: I usually give them away to either op shopping buddies who are buying clothes or to random strangers behind me in the line at the till...

The top in question?Black and white striped (of course) but originally with hideous large white buttons. Which were quickly replaced from daisy buttons from my stash.Much better!

2. I spent some time this morning updating both the op shop map and the spreadsheet. Still not finished but definitely getting there.

Question for the morning: should I include Aussie Junk and Revolve in the listings? Not really op shops but...

3. Vinnies Belconnen has all women's tops at $3 at the moment. This includes singlets and T shirts but not collared shirts.

4. A friend pointed me towards another SMH article about Vinnies which is interesting reading...

Post-Christmas Op Shops

What a disappointing morning. There were only 3 garage sales advertised in the Canberra Times, and nothing listed on All Classifieds.

We went to the Mugga Lane Aussie Junk - and there was nothing there. They are arranging their stuff in cabinets, and I couldn't find the clothes and linen section anywhere. Narhhh - not worth going.

Then to Vinnies in Woden - not open, and ducked up to the Salvos, This was better - I unearthed 5 books for a dollar.

I committed evironmental Hari Kari and went to Sam's Warehouse... found packets of 18 Christmas Cards for 50 cents. OK - and will make a great base for card making next year.

There was nothing much to be found at Salvo's Jamison either... Well they do have a major sale on till early January, but nothing there rocked my boat.

I definately prefer garage sales and auctions to the op shops these days... there is still the rummage factor there, and a chance to bargain a real bargain in the process.

Things that should NOT be bought second hand, ever

While we are all into buying second hand material and giving it a second life, there are times when you are out shopping for second hand material and you come across stuff that you know you should never, ever, buy second hand. When Taph and I have been on our foraging trips we have sometimes come across some things that are like this, and sometimes, we just put them back, but other times, we have remembered to take photos of them so we could post them here.
This is just so wrong and Aussie junk should never have put them on display. I mean who would even consider buying such a thing from Aussie Junk.
Spotted this in the Canberra Times ad-hoc section (On Tuesday 16 December). I do not know if the person is serious or having a joke on Canberra, but I was not going to ring them to find out.
Really would anyone buy this second hand. Guys, a word of advise here, if you are going to buy something like this for your Significant other, THEN BUY IT NEW.

The good old personal massager, never buy one used as you never know where it has been massaging.

Oh, one other thing, remember to take baby wipes with you, because after handling this lot, we needed to wash our hands.

Let us know about your finds at ops shops, or at least the stuff you find that should not be there.

It all started because J wanted a CD rack...

(Reprinted from The Shopping Sherpa)

...and I had magazines to drop off at Lifeline in Mitchell.

First stop, Salvos Mitchell where J donated a new in plastic roll of engagement wrapping paper and, in return, The Frugalling Fairy smiled upon us.

I know it's almost too late, but if you need Christmas cards, tasteless decorations or gift cards, head ye to Salvos Mitchell and check out the very large carton of vintage goodies. At one stage I pulled out a set of gift cards with Strawberry Shortcake on one side and, on the other, a cartoon character which looked vaguely familiar. It took about 20 minutes until I exclaimed, as we drove away: "Ziggy"!

See this pile of loveliness?
$1 for the lot. I have evil plans for next year.

But first I may pull out and keep the grey and black cards for myself....J had no luck with CD racks that she'd actually want in her home so we headed up to Aussie Junk. Where we found a suitable CD rack, visited the Yarn Barns and then wandered into the Better Bits corner where I spotted these:which are identical to the lights J has in her kitchen. One of which has a shade which has gone a bit dodgy to which the seller of the original set declared there was no such thing as a spare part and she'd have to buy a whole new set of lights (around $100) to replace one dodgy shade.

Or, as became obvious today, spend $15 for both sets (brand new with tags attached) and the wooden CD rack and have spare shades and bulbs to last a lifetime. Thank you, Frugalling Fairy!

At Vinnies Gungahlin (which we had to visit to check the opening hours for the Google Doc spreadsheet) I rounded my spend for the day to $10 with the purchase of this for $9:Hopefully for a blog reader who wanted to buy my Little Singer for her daughter for Christmas. So really, my spend was $1.

Taph FAFing About - Time for a Cuppa

DATE: 19 November 2009
SOURCE: Aussie Junk, Mitchell
OBJECT: 5 x Wedgewood cups and saucer
INVESTMENT: $5
NOTES: For friends who have been collecting this set since their wedding 40 years ago.

Bargain at Aussie Junk - Mitchell

DH called into Aussie Junk this afternoon for a wander, and wanted to spend a little bit of money on his EFTPOS card - but we needed to make it up to $10. There was an unusual tin on the counter, and upon inspection, inside was 80+ Hobbytex paint tubes. Bargain for $13 wasn't it. Funny thing is that I have had 2 conversations recently with people saying they would love to find some HobbyTex... Now I have some (again - yes I used to do HobbyTex). some of them even work without having to replace the tip...

YMCA Garage Sale

Well - we went to the YMCA Garage Sale yesterday... and came back with

Two shopping bags stuffed full of vintage embroidery - pillowcases, supper cloths, napkins, place mats etc. ($8)

One huge bag full of craft "stuff" - lots of wool left overs, a couple of finished tapestries, bits and pieces of ribbons and lace, and so on ($5)

One box of books - nutrition books, recipe books, some wonderful pictorial of Australia books ($15)

Then Bob went to Aussie Junk - Mitchell - and found a shredder for $10. Been taking notice of the warnings about identity theft, and I have a pile of paperwork I want to get rid of. Shredding party this afternoon.

Sorry about no pictures - camera pooped