New Zealand - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

[patches]

Speaking of selling things... that's one of the bads here in NZ...

 

TradeMe success fees! No free rides like Gumtree (Aus and SA).

 

I recently had what I thought was a pretty smart idea. I wanted to expand my AEG powertool collection. The individual costs of the items I was looking at (Circular saw, jigsaw, impact driver, batteries) was huge.

 

So I did the most logical thing... I spent $2000 on a massive 9 piece set, 60% of which I didn't need 

 

But there was a plan. I sold off all the items I didn't need, at 35 - 50% below RRP. Brand new. Unused. Still in plastic. The buyers got a bargain, and whilst I probably could have milked it for more, I managed to sell all except the charger within 1 week.

 

But the aim was never to make a profit. Rather to subsidise the tools I wanted to keep.

 

The downside... TradeMe success (and Ping) fees! they really milk it with their 7.9% fee (on top of any ad fees one may have paid).

 

Anyway, the end result, I paid about $680 for what would cost me over $1700 worth of tools, if I bought them individually. Not too bad for a week's worth of "work"

Edited June 17, 2020 by patches

[intern]

Speaking of selling things... that's one of the bads here in NZ...

 

TradeMe success fees! No free rides like Gumtree (Aus and SA).

 

I recently had what I thought was a pretty smart idea. I wanted to expand my AEG powertool collection. The individual costs of the items I was looking at (Circular saw, jigsaw, impact driver, batteries) was huge.

 

So I did the most logical thing... I spent $2000 on a massive 9 piece set, 60% of which I didn't need 

 

But there was a plan. I sold off all the items I didn't need, at 35 - 50% below RRP. Brand new. Unused. Still in plastic. The buyers got a bargain, and whilst I probably could have milked it for more, I managed to sell all except the charger within 1 week.

 

But the aim was never to make a profit. Rather to subsidise the tools I wanted to keep.

 

The downside... TradeMe success (and Ping) fees! they really milk it with their 7.9% fee (on top of any ad fees one may have paid).

 

Anyway, the end result, I paid about $680 for what would cost me over $1700 worth of tools, if I bought them individually. Not too bad for a week's worth of "work"

Facebook Marketplace brosef...that is all! Also, you shoulda posted the items right here, people like me with AEG power tool collections may well have saved you some dosh...

[intern]

Anyways lads, I've just finished writing a looong boring whitepaper, so I am off to hit the local trails...on my Yamaha. This sort of thing, you can't buy for a dollar.

[patches]

Anyways lads, I've just finished writing a looong boring whitepaper, so I am off to hit the local trails...on my Yamaha. This sort of thing, you can't buy for a dollar.

 

Nice!

 

Glad you're enjoying the WR!

 

I've just put my rego on hold for 3 months to wait out the rainy season. Looks like it's bicycle only for me!

[intern]

Nice!

 

Glad you're enjoying the WR!

 

I've just put my rego on hold for 3 months to wait out the rainy season. Looks like it's bicycle only for me!

 

Not gonna wait out the rainy season, when it rains the sandy/beach trails we have here are even better; though I quite like the sand squidging around under the bike, rain keeps everyone off the beach! We probably going to head down to Santoft Forest early July to watch the second round of the Enduro Nationals - I'm fairly tempted to show up as a complete noob and have a go...

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

I see NZ has new infections now. Allowed 2 people in and allowed them to bypass quarantine rules because they were going to a funeral. Turns out they were infected...

 

Amazing how much religious gatherings and funerals have globally contributed to spreading infections. Talk about irony..

 

This makes me so mad, it is so negligent of the officials.

The government is overriding INZ and issuing them instructions, just look at the Avatar debacle.

 

The problem is that they are talking about ways of managed opening of borders but they are doing it by creating an elitist class. If you earn double the median wage ($106k pa), essential to government projects, etc. Meanwhile they are looking at expanding on quarantine, with a user pay model which all are happy to do. Problem is they say it will cost $6k per person for the 2 week quarantine. Do the math for a family of 4 or 5.........

In the meantime they expidite entry for film crew, yacht crews, etc.

INZ has gone mute, they just either don't answer enquiries from agents or individuals or when they do answer there is just no plan. 100's of visa entry dates have expired. People, like myself, with legimtimate jobs that are still viable, with employers begging them to let us in, and still nothing. My job is in the essential services as we do air cleanliness testing and equipment in hospitals, labs, etc, yet it is not "essential" enough. Exception requests sometimes being declined within 10 mins of submission with a nice letter saying its declined with no recourse for why or escalation.

 

Cases I have seen for example of families split up for over 12 months and they still won't let the spouse enter under humanitarian reasons.

 

A person who has been onshore with a working visa for 5yrs goes abroad for a 2week holiday and gets stuck. Now stuck in Brazil/India/South Africa, still having to pay rent, car payments, etc. in New Zealand and yet gets exception to travel declined. It's like they are trying to force this individual to be made redundant. It really boggles the mind.......

 

I personally have a 2yr old and 3yr old, everytime we put a jacket on them to go walk around they block, they jump up and down because we are going to New Zealand. Our 8yr old just mopes around, all exacerbated by the fact that they can't really do anything as we are on lockdown. No school, no friends, cooped up in a 1st floor apartment because our house is already sold. Living out of hand luggage because all our possessions, toys and bicycles included, are sitting in a warehouse to be sent across for us. Even this is on hold as we have no forwarding address as yet.......

 

Yes, this is a very personal post but it is very frustrating, and I do understand having to tighten the border, but New Zealand has always toted themselves as a compassionate state, where is the compassion.

[davetapson]

Speaking of selling things... that's one of the bads here in NZ...

 

TradeMe success fees! No free rides like Gumtree (Aus and SA).

 

I recently had what I thought was a pretty smart idea. I wanted to expand my AEG powertool collection. The individual costs of the items I was looking at (Circular saw, jigsaw, impact driver, batteries) was huge.

 

So I did the most logical thing... I spent $2000 on a massive 9 piece set, 60% of which I didn't need [emoji38]

 

But there was a plan. I sold off all the items I didn't need, at 35 - 50% below RRP. Brand new. Unused. Still in plastic. The buyers got a bargain, and whilst I probably could have milked it for more, I managed to sell all except the charger within 1 week.

 

But the aim was never to make a profit. Rather to subsidise the tools I wanted to keep.

 

The downside... TradeMe success (and Ping) fees! they really milk it with their 7.9% fee (on top of any ad fees one may have paid).

 

Anyway, the end result, I paid about $680 for what would cost me over $1700 worth of tools, if I bought them individually. Not too bad for a week's worth of "work" [emoji38]

Damn, that's smart.

[davetapson]

This makes me so mad, it is so negligent of the officials.

The government is overriding INZ and issuing them instructions, just look at the Avatar debacle.

 

The problem is that they are talking about ways of managed opening of borders but they are doing it by creating an elitist class. If you earn double the median wage ($106k pa), essential to government projects, etc. Meanwhile they are looking at expanding on quarantine, with a user pay model which all are happy to do. Problem is they say it will cost $6k per person for the 2 week quarantine. Do the math for a family of 4 or 5.........

In the meantime they expidite entry for film crew, yacht crews, etc.

INZ has gone mute, they just either don't answer enquiries from agents or individuals or when they do answer there is just no plan. 100's of visa entry dates have expired. People, like myself, with legimtimate jobs that are still viable, with employers begging them to let us in, and still nothing. My job is in the essential services as we do air cleanliness testing and equipment in hospitals, labs, etc, yet it is not "essential" enough. Exception requests sometimes being declined within 10 mins of submission with a nice letter saying its declined with no recourse for why or escalation.

 

Cases I have seen for example of families split up for over 12 months and they still won't let the spouse enter under humanitarian reasons.

 

A person who has been onshore with a working visa for 5yrs goes abroad for a 2week holiday and gets stuck. Now stuck in Brazil/India/South Africa, still having to pay rent, car payments, etc. in New Zealand and yet gets exception to travel declined. It's like they are trying to force this individual to be made redundant. It really boggles the mind.......

 

I personally have a 2yr old and 3yr old, everytime we put a jacket on them to go walk around they block, they jump up and down because we are going to New Zealand. Our 8yr old just mopes around, all exacerbated by the fact that they can't really do anything as we are on lockdown. No school, no friends, cooped up in a 1st floor apartment because our house is already sold. Living out of hand luggage because all our possessions, toys and bicycles included, are sitting in a warehouse to be sent across for us. Even this is on hold as we have no forwarding address as yet.......

 

Yes, this is a very personal post but it is very frustrating, and I do understand having to tighten the border, but New Zealand has always toted themselves as a compassionate state, where is the compassion.

When it comes to foreigners, INZ ain't compassionate.

[patham]

This makes me so mad, it is so negligent of the officials.

The government is overriding INZ and issuing them instructions, just look at the Avatar debacle.

 

The problem is that they are talking about ways of managed opening of borders but they are doing it by creating an elitist class. If you earn double the median wage ($106k pa), essential to government projects, etc. Meanwhile they are looking at expanding on quarantine, with a user pay model which all are happy to do. Problem is they say it will cost $6k per person for the 2 week quarantine. Do the math for a family of 4 or 5.........

In the meantime they expidite entry for film crew, yacht crews, etc.

INZ has gone mute, they just either don't answer enquiries from agents or individuals or when they do answer there is just no plan. 100's of visa entry dates have expired. People, like myself, with legimtimate jobs that are still viable, with employers begging them to let us in, and still nothing. My job is in the essential services as we do air cleanliness testing and equipment in hospitals, labs, etc, yet it is not "essential" enough. Exception requests sometimes being declined within 10 mins of submission with a nice letter saying its declined with no recourse for why or escalation.

 

Cases I have seen for example of families split up for over 12 months and they still won't let the spouse enter under humanitarian reasons.

 

A person who has been onshore with a working visa for 5yrs goes abroad for a 2week holiday and gets stuck. Now stuck in Brazil/India/South Africa, still having to pay rent, car payments, etc. in New Zealand and yet gets exception to travel declined. It's like they are trying to force this individual to be made redundant. It really boggles the mind.......

 

I personally have a 2yr old and 3yr old, everytime we put a jacket on them to go walk around they block, they jump up and down because we are going to New Zealand. Our 8yr old just mopes around, all exacerbated by the fact that they can't really do anything as we are on lockdown. No school, no friends, cooped up in a 1st floor apartment because our house is already sold. Living out of hand luggage because all our possessions, toys and bicycles included, are sitting in a warehouse to be sent across for us. Even this is on hold as we have no forwarding address as yet.......

 

Yes, this is a very personal post but it is very frustrating, and I do understand having to tighten the border, but New Zealand has always toted themselves as a compassionate state, where is the compassion.

 

I really feel for you. I remember our own transition time of living out of luggage for a month or two in a 2 bed flat in S.A. whilst our stuff was shipped ahead. That was bad, can't imagine how that must feel when your life and future gets put on indefinite hold, and all you get is government bureaucracy.   

[davetapson]

Facebook Marketplace brosef...that is all! Also, you shoulda posted the items right here, people like me with AEG power tool collections may well have saved you some dosh...

Speaking of which, I bought my first Festool couple of weeks ago. Random Orbital Sander.

 

Everyone I spoke to said although it costs the same as a whole collection of tools by everyone else, I'd not regret it. And to my surprise, I haven't. It's already saved me much pain.

 

The problem now is to wonder what I'm missing by not having other Festools...

[patches]

Speaking of which, I bought my first Festool couple of weeks ago. Random Orbital Sander.

 

Everyone I spoke to said although it costs the same as a whole collection of tools by everyone else, I'd not regret it. And to my surprise, I haven't. It's already saved me much pain.

 

The problem now is to wonder what I'm missing by not having other Festools...

 

Festool... damn! You're playing in the big leagues 

 

I was watching a Festool "table saw" on TradeMe. Was super tempted.

 

Especially because said "table saw" was actually a Festool TS55 track saw, mounted to the Festool CMS unit, with a sliding table and mitre gauge. The guy wanted $1800

 

Something like this:

 

 

Sadly he withdrew the listing before I could talk myself into it.

 

EDIT: probably a good thing it was withdrawn because I was already pricing up the CMS router table insert and Festool routers  . Such a great system though!

Edited June 17, 2020 by patches

[intern]

Speaking of which, I bought my first Festool couple of weeks ago. Random Orbital Sander.

 

Everyone I spoke to said although it costs the same as a whole collection of tools by everyone else, I'd not regret it. And to my surprise, I haven't. It's already saved me much pain.

 

The problem now is to wonder what I'm missing by not having other Festools...

 

Looks like we got ourselves a badass here...

[intern]

Nobody ever regretted buying a quality tool - every single time you use it, it is super satisfying...

[Skylark]

Festool is next level expensive, they have some innovative products/systems but the actual quality of their tools is no better than say Makita.

 

They are renowned for their random orbital sanders, very good vacuum systems but you probably need the insanely pricey Festool vacuum system for it to work as specified.

[davetapson]

Festool is next level expensive, they have some innovative products/systems but the actual quality of their tools is no better than say Makita.

 

They are renowned for their random orbital sanders, very good vacuum systems but you probably need the insanely pricey Festool vacuum system for it to work as specified.

 $100 Ozito vacuum cleaner with fancy power take-off (you plug the sander into the vacuum and it turns on when you turn the sander on and vice versa) plus some duct tape - works like a frkn charm.

 

Dustless sanding?  It's a thing.  Esp. good when you are sanding in your garage and especially so when it's epoxy.

 

Sander can switch between RA and Eccentric.  Eccentric eats up the crap like you can't believe. Flatten epoxy on 4 x 8 sheets of marine ply?  It's worth every considerable cent.  Use that with Mirka net sanding disks and the whole thing becomes completely next level.

 

I can't see (apart from the saw systems) that the other tools are quite as next level, but then, I've not tried them.  The saws... 

Edited June 18, 2020 by davetapson

[davetapson]

Festool... damn! You're playing in the big leagues 

 

I was watching a Festool "table saw" on TradeMe. Was super tempted.

 

Especially because said "table saw" was actually a Festool TS55 track saw, mounted to the Festool CMS unit, with a sliding table and mitre gauge. The guy wanted $1800

 

Something like this:

 

 

Sadly he withdrew the listing before I could talk myself into it.

 

EDIT: probably a good thing it was withdrawn because I was already pricing up the CMS router table insert and Festool routers  . Such a great system though!

Dang.

 

We should have gone into co-ownership and I'd save you the bother of storing it by keeping it at my place...