There is an interesting article here in the dispute over commissions in the Herald about the new Victorian public transport smartcards.
NEWSAGENTS are refusing to sell the new public transport smartcard, saying the commission being offered by the State Government
....
Clayton Newsagency owner Simon Richards, a third-generation newsagent, said he told the TTA he would not be selling the ticket, despite his long history selling Metcard.
"I won't be taking up their offer," Mr Richards said.
"They are just making it economically unviable."
Simon Richards is right. We have been involved in this since Bill Express pulled out. Then we stated the proposed commissions offered were too low. A retailer needs at least 3% commission just to handle money that does not include anything else. So unless you are a tiny agent with the Transport Ticketing Authority doing say $400 a week than with this commission structure you will lose.
It is no wonder so few retailers have joined up. As what the article states are that "more than 100 retailers have already signed up to be agents for myki." When I spoke to them in October the only major retailer that interested was 7-11. 7-11 has about 366 outlets Australia wide. I would estimate that a quarter would be in Victoria. So almost no-one has signed up since I spoke to them. I don’t wonder why!
I think that if this goes ahead with the existing commission the only solution for newsagents who want metcards is to get a myki machine. This box then handles the tickets and the money. In exchange for looking after this box newsagents would get a fee. From my discussions with myki, I suspect on this they would agree.
