ULSU to Cease Being A Retail Operator on Campus

wnolan1992

Latest on Derek's blog:

http://ulsupresident.blogspot.com/2012/04/focus-on-representation.html

Meetings of the Board of ULSU Services Ltd and of ULSU Executive took place and it was agreed that ULSU will cease to be a retail operator at the earliest opportunity. This decision was agreed on the basis that ULSU is not a retail expert at the level required to operate convenience retail services at the capacity to which it has expanded, much larger than the initial shop which was located in the archway between the Student Centre and the Main Building.

The shop in the Student Centre will be run by ULSU until a new tenant has been found. The tenancy with Plassey Campus Centre (University subsidiary with responsibility for retail) has expired and it is not the intention of ULSU to seek to renew it, but rather to focus its efforts on representation and ordinary students' union activities.

Unsure what to think about this at the moment. From a business point of view it might make sense, but from a services point of view I'm not so sure.

EDIT: The An Focal Article -> http://www.anfocal.ie/news/3223/ulsu-spar-shop-to-cease-trading-under-ulsu-services

Jester252

Not a big surprise here. Hope the shop will stay more or less the same and the people working there will keep their jobs

Ginge Young

As far as I'm concerned that's the agreement with C&S for financial assistance void until we see figures and new terms are agreed.

Edit: I will add, nothing has been made clear on whether the agreement with C&S is even needed anymore. It would have been nice to know that from the blog.

roro1neil0

are you saying ginge that nobody in c&s had any idea that the SU were negotiating to get rid of their role in the shop

Ginge Young

It's possible, and I will be trying to find that out. It wouldn't be the first time the SU made a decision like that though........

roro1neil0

David Hartery has written an excellent article on this http://www.thomondstudenttimes.com/index.php/opinion/185-shoppriv

It's a pity the likes of himself and Eamonn Horgan didn't do a lot of stuff like that before the elections, if I knew they were such good men I would have given them much more support.

wnolan1992

Some fallout from the decision from Ruán on Facebook, followed by responses from the current sabbat team.

Both sides make pretty valid points. Privatising the shop seems odd in that it will lose a major revenue stream from the Union, but then again it's hard to know from the outside just how bad things are.

Ginge Young

Meeting with people tomorrow to get the full story. Been told it's not as bad as people are making it out to be. I'll see what happens tomorrow.

reunion

Ginge Young wrote: »

Meeting with people tomorrow to get the full story. Been told it's not as bad as people are making it out to be. I'll see what happens tomorrow.

Can you pm me the details about the meeting? Would I be able to attend too?

Would love to know how much income the SU would lose with this privatisation. I'm also thinking back at how many times Philip Mudge has said the shop is profitable and if it wasn't profitable than no shop could be. The route of privatisation is either confirming the shop is unprofitable or else it is reducing the income from the shop. Figures would be great here... Would this move open the previously closed shops? Does this matter not need to be voted on via a referendum or general meeting? At least they gave notice this time instead of after the shop was privatised...

Adam_M

I've been asked by quite a few people what my thoughts are on this move but I haven't commented yet. Fortunately enough, I sat in on a Board of Trustees meeting last week where this was discussed. I'm not going to go into specifics on what was said at the meeting or the terms of the potential deal that is going out for tender, but from both a financial and practical side of things, it makes a lot of sense for the course of action to have been taken. What has been offered to the SU is an extremely strong financial package, should the tender process go as PCC thinks it will.

All will be revealed in due course, but what we can say is somewhat hindered due to the tender process. Derek might be able to give more information, however, I will refrain for obvious reasons.

roro1neil0

So we see SU politics closely mirrors government politics.

We have a source of high profit (student shop/off-shore oil) but the people in charge don't have the competence to do it profitably so they sell it off to the highest bidder at a tiny percentage of it's total profitability.

It's refreshing to hear that the SU admit they are too incompetent to run a spar shop profitably but for the general manager and accountant to admit as well it is also far beyond their remit despite every other university in ireland being able to do it is a bit saddening

Tea_Bag

for anyone interested, this is the full thread on his FB.

ninty9er

roro1neil0 wrote: »

So we see SU politics closely mirrors government politics.

We have a source of high profit (student shop/off-shore oil) but the people in charge don't have the competence to do it profitably so they sell it off to the highest bidder at a tiny percentage of it's total profitability.

It's refreshing to hear that the SU admit they are too incompetent to run a spar shop profitably but for the general manager and accountant to admit as well it is also far beyond their remit despite every other university in ireland being able to do it is a bit saddening

Do you know something I don't?

roro1neil0

derek i know a great many things you'll never know

ninty9er

roro1neil0 wrote: »

derek i know a great many things you'll never know

And vice versa. I thought you might like to back up your assertion, but I suppose I've had to spell it out for you now.

Intuition isn't one of the great many things you know:rolleyes:

roro1neil0

ninty9er wrote: »

And vice versa. I thought you might like to back up your assertion, but I suppose I've had to spell it out for you now.

about what? accounting? How to run an su into the ground?

Intuition isn't one of the great many things you know:rolleyes:

TCD/DCU/UCD all run SU shops.

Fishooks12

Maybe if Daly got off boards and stopped trying to inflate his ego with petty personal dealings with anonymous posters/radio DJ's this and all the other **** storms that have emerged this year may not have happened

Nockz

Lol, people would complain if he never posted. You can't have it both ways.

OhMSGlive

Nockz wrote: »

Lol, people would complain if he never posted. You can't have it both ways.

This.

On the topic at hand, I can understand why they decided to get rid of the shop from a business point of view. From a C&S point of view, however, it leaves me slightly worried, as it means we have to re-negotiate the terms of the agreement.

ninty9er

roro1neil0 wrote: »

about what? accounting? How to run an su into the ground?



TCD/DCU/UCD all run SU shops.

UCDSU is close to €2 million in debt because of it (I gather that this is the Union itself as they don't have a trading company)

TCDSU runs a shop on the level which was manageable for ULSU. Were that still the case I imagine there would be reserves to cover the change in trading conditions with ULSU services, instead a decision was taken to
a) Open a second unit in Dromroe
b) Move the main operation to a unit 4 times the size of the original
c) Open a third unit in Cappavilla
d) Open a fourth unit for ancillary service at the previous site

If it had stopped at (a) then we'd likely be in the same position as TCDSU, having an operation that doesn't need a huge level of management and time.

The Spar on campus at DCU is hugely profitable, but is nothing to do with DCUSU. There are also no competing units within walking distance.

Ginge Young

reunion wrote: »

Can you pm me the details about the meeting? Would I be able to attend too?

I'm just meeting with people in the SU myself today. Nothing to do with a group, just had a chat with some people, and others approached me to come in, so that's what I'm doing, find out things for myself.

highlydebased

Meanwhile, at the ULSU Spar, Ireland's most boring sandwich.... http://www.broadsheet.ie/2012/04/18/irelands-most-boring-sandwich/

roro1neil0

ninty9er wrote: »

UCDSU is close to €2 million in debt because of it (I gather that this is the Union itself as they don't have a trading company)

due to mismanagement even you could only aspire to. UCD is a much bigger campus then ul and probably the difficult of running a business was scaled up

TCDSU runs a shop on the level which was manageable for ULSU.

TCDSU runs at least 3 shops - House 5, Goldsmith and JCR

The Spar on campus at DCU is hugely profitable, but is nothing to do with DCUSU. There are also no competing units within walking distance.

Wrong. There is a spar beside matt weldons, the exact same distance from the the stables to the spar beside the hotel.

Fishooks12

Nockz wrote: »

Lol, people would complain if he never posted. You can't have it both ways.

The SU president posting as himself and mostly bickering on boards isn't something I would complain about if it were not happening

reunion

Ginge Young wrote: »

I'm just meeting with people in the SU myself today. Nothing to do with a group, just had a chat with some people, and others approached me to come in, so that's what I'm doing, find out things for myself.

Why did people approach you personally? surely cs exec would need to be briefed on the matter (if not all clubs and socs due to the agreement made at cs council)? It would make sense to brief both CS exec and the former working group (which has disbanded) at the same time and not over multiple times which is highly wasteful.

ninty9er wrote: »

UCDSU is close to €2 million in debt because of it (I gather that this is the Union itself as they don't have a trading company)

Derek, this is due to mismanagement not because the shop is unviable. Wasn't this the purpose of hiring a general manager and a shop manager? Philip Mudge has defended and argued the shop is viable, this seems like a massive U-turn, particularly after the hiring of a shop manager to maximise profit for the students union.

Will any staff jobs be in jeopary due to this change over? Can information be given to the students? unaudited accounts (or audited ones), information about what the deal with PCC would be and so on.

ninty9er wrote: »

TCDSU runs a shop on the level which was manageable for ULSU. Were that still the case I imagine there would be reserves to cover the change in trading conditions with ULSU services, instead a decision was taken to
a) Open a second unit in Dromroe
b) Move the main operation to a unit 4 times the size of the original
c) Open a third unit in Cappavilla
d) Open a fourth unit for ancillary service at the previous site

If it had stopped at (a) then we'd likely be in the same position as TCDSU, having an operation that doesn't need a huge level of management and time.

Have lessons not been learnt from these mistakes and put into handover documents? Or has the SU thrown away past experiences and learnt from previous mistakes and success?

reunion

actually how will this decision affect the entertainment officer?

He is currently paid via ULSU services and not via the union.

wnolan1992

I'd also like to know what will now happen with the fittings in Dromroe and Cappa. Phil said at the UGM (think it was the one at The Stables) that the cost of the fittings in Dromroe had been covered, so will these now be sold off for profit? Or will they be part of the handover deal?

Jester252

What the deal with the new private owner of the shop having to pay some of hie/her profits to the SU? What will he be getting from the deal
What is Daly saying about the size been wrong? everyday the shop is packed and hard to move around I would hate to seen it a a quarter of the size

wnolan1992

Jester252 wrote: »

What the deal with the new private owner of the shop having to pay some of hie/her profits to the SU? What will he be getting from the deal
What is Daly saying about the size been wrong? everyday the shop is packed and hard to move around I would hate to seen it a a quarter of the size

I don't think the size of the main shop alone is the problem, I believe it's that they overstretched the company by opening 3 other outlets on campus, in particular the money black hole that was Cappa. (Open to correction on this)

As for the new owner having to pay profits the SU, I highly doubt this is the case. I thought the SU were simply renting out the unit from PCC, so any new owner would be doing the same. Hopefully they'll keep the current staff.

Jester252

If you look at the Ruans Facebook status one of the first KOB comments says something along those lines. About the shop size from Dalys post here he list it as one of the reasons that the ULSU could not keep look after the Shop like TCDSU

freyners

tbh I wish I could be surprised these days at the latest crap-storm emitting from ul

very thankful im not around these days

Funkstard

Jester252 wrote: »

What the deal with the new private owner of the shop having to pay some of hie/her profits to the SU? What will he be getting from the deal
What is Daly saying about the size been wrong? everyday the shop is packed and hard to move around I would hate to seen it a a quarter of the size

I had a semester and a bit of the old shop (along with one proper christmas daze back when exams were after christmas so everyone could go nuts at it) and it was tiny, queues out the door and snaking around the aisles. One little capsule coffee machine, forget what the deli was like but it was tiny too. The main courtyard didn't have much going on back then (no shop or javas), all the action was between the shop and the stables courtyard.

Sigh. Back in yonder times when there was a bus service for Thomond & Cappavilla residents to bring us into college.

lkionm

How can a shop such as that spar not be profitable?

UL has 10000 ish students and it is the only shop on campus, probably most people will buy a roll for 4 and a coke so the average spend would be around 3 to 5 euro per customer.

Lets say they get 1000 transaction a day that is a minimum of 3000, so about 2700 net sales after tax.

obviously they make nothing on the weekend so for 5 days they can make about 12 000 euro varying from 10 to 14 depending.

If you go in and wait in the queue just look at the ladies behind the counter more interested in talking to each other than serving customers, they are confused about who is next and are all walking around like headless chickens.
They should have a style similiar to subway since they are so busy.

It is probably a good thing it is going private as they can get in a proper manager who wont be afraid to give the staff a kick up the arse and can increase the profits and decrease the waiting time.

also why do people only queue up in one row when there is 2 tils operating.

Popoutman

lkionm wrote: »

also why do people only queue up in one row when there is 2 tils operating.

Because that has been shown to have the highest throughput of customers. Ever wonder why the likes of TkMaxx do things this way?

If there's a delay at one till, instead of that queue unmoving behind it, the people that would have been delayed get to go ahead.

By queueing in one line for more than one till, the average person gets away faster than they would have otherwise.


(also in the SU shop, it has to do with when a second till opens, that it is very difficult to move to the parallel queueing area)

lkionm

I always feel bad about being that guy that starts the second queue.
it just feels nicer to be in a queue of 4 rather than a queue of 8.

Its not important, it just annoyed me and everyone would stand and look at it and be pure awkward.

Polar Ice

lkionm wrote: »

I always feel bad about being that guy that starts the second queue.
it just annoyed me and everyone would stand and look at it and be pure awkward.

That's because you're skipping the queue