Press Releases
MESSAGE FROM OUR CEO JEFF ROGUT
Good afternoon, Firstly thank you again to our thousands of store operators and their staff for continuing to keep their stores trading and in many cases being an important support for their communities. Thank you also to our suppliers for continuing to ensure that our stores receive the stock they require to satisfy their customer needs, albeit often under difficult circumstances. When this crisis passes, as it will, we will look back and mostly remember the little acts of kindness and respectful attitudes of our fellow Australians and how we treated one another and not the rudeness of some. It will again be the ordinary Australians that will save the day, whether working in retail, in our emergency services or just as good citizens adhering to the medical advice on social distancing etc. There have been a number of government announcements this past week and even today on support available…
Read MoreAACS CALLS OUT POLICE INACTION AS CRIME WAVE SPIRALS
Frightening evidence has emerged of a service station owner’s pleas for help from local police being summarily and mockingly dismissed, even as their store is repeatedly targeted by criminals. The Australasian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) has labelled the police’s treatment of the small business owner as “unnecessarily disrespectful and disgracefully lazy.” The AACS has also called it disappointing that calls to responsible state ministers to discuss these issues, for a true understanding of the extent and expectations of business owners, are ignored. AACS has seen correspondence from a service station operator in Victoria, detailed overleaf with names and locations removed to protect the small business’s privacy, which presents a distressing but all too familiar picture of the current state of crime against convenience stores. It highlights the blasé approach of some police in responding to crime, says AACS CEO Jeff Rogut. “AACS has represented the convenience industry for 30…
Read MoreAACS BACKS CALL FOR MANDATED LEAST-COST ROUTING
The Australasian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) has lent its support to calls for the Reserve Bank to mandate least-cost routing for all merchants so businesses including convenience calls can direct tap-and-go payments to the domestic Eftpos system, instead of the more expensive international credit card networks. In its submission to the Reserve Bank’s Review of Retail Payments Regulation, the AACS highlights the potential for convenience stores to save thousands each year by having the ability to route all tap-and-go transactions through low cost domestic networks. “More profitable stores mean greater employment opportunities, especially at the local community level,” said AACS CEO Jeff Rogut. “In this challenging time for retail and small business generally, it’s critical for small business to minimise their costs of doing business and this includes minimising what they’re charged by their banks for providing tap-and-go payment options for their customers. “Convenience stores, above all else, are…
Read MoreANOTHER VIOLENT ROBBERY REINFORCES NEED FOR REAL RESPONSE
On Friday it happened in Glen Waverley, Melbourne. Details of weekend incidents will soon emerge and this week it will be somewhere else. Violent robberies of convenience stores occur with frightening regularity, traumatising victims and hurting small businesses, and the Australasian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) has strongly urged Governments to act. AACS CEO Jeff Rogut said the industry has had enough and that the time for zero-tolerance has well and truly arrived. “Our Association has represented the interests of convenience stores for the past 30 years and while the level of engagement we have with politicians and law enforcement has never been stronger, there are issues on which we must continue to maintain pressure,” Mr Rogut said. “Crime is a major one as incidents like armed robbery, petrol theft and the spread of illegal cigarettes are unacceptable. To date, our representations to ministers on the issue of crime has…
Read MoreILLICIT TOBACCO STILL IGNORED AT STREET LEVEL
The Australasian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) has welcomed the Health Minister’s commitment to a national tobacco public education campaign but has slammed the Government’s continued refusal to properly address the scourge of illegal tobacco at street level around Australia. The AACS has consistently identified public education as Government’s best weapon in reducing the incidence of smoking, as opposed to straw man measures like excise increases and plain packaging – measures which have had the sole effect of driving consumers to the black market. “Despite the proclamations of the well-funded health lobby, the current response to tobacco reduction, which has been lazily focused on taxation, has not worked. Tobacco consumption has not deviated from long term trends, but the sources from which consumers are buying tobacco have shifted significantly,” Mr Rogut says. “Australia is internationally recognised as one of the world’s most lucrative markets for illegal tobacco smugglers. Consistent seizures…
Read MoreANOTHER TOBACCO TAX GRAB FOR NO HEALTH GAIN
With the Government sneaking through another legal tobacco tax hike on Sunday, the outlook for illegal tobacco smugglers just got a whole lot brighter. Meanwhile, consumers and retailers bear the brunt, says the Australasian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS). The 12.5% tax increase is the seventh consecutive annual tax hike and reinforces Australia’s position as one of the world’s most expensive markets to but legal tobacco. It’s no surprise, then, that Australia is also one of the world’s most lucrative markets for tobacco smugglers, says AACS CEO Jeff Rogut. “This is a case of Government greed unaccompanied by any real effort to crack down on smoking rates,” Mr Rogut said. “All these endless tax increases do is raise the cost of living, particularly for people in low socio-economic demographics, and expand the illicit tobacco market for criminals to fill. “From a total tobacco consumption perspective, nothing changes. This is simply…
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