Thursday May 17th

Origin Fever Hits Melbourne

One of Australia's great sporting rivalries takes centre stage at Melbourne's Etihad Stadium next week as Queensland and New South Wales renew hostilities in game one of the 2012 State of Origin series.

The series provides plenty of opportunity for banter between our NSW and QLD members. New South Welshmen haven't had too much to crow about since 2006 mind you!

Having the game in Melbourne is another small win for the Maroons!

With the likes of Melbourne Storm stars Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk, skipper Cameron Smith and other stars including Greg Ingliss and Jonathon Thurstan in fine form, I just can't see how the Blues can put an end to the Cane Toads winning streak. 

Here's an interesting stat: of the 17 players that will run onto Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night for New South Wales, there is just a combined 20 Origin wins between them. Queensland veteran Petero Civoniceva has 17 wins on his own!

Looking forward to seeing you in Melbourne for Game 1.

Budget News

The Australian Government announced its 2012-13 Budget on Tuesday, 8 May 2012.

The 2012-13 Federal Budget includes funding for new and existing programs and services to assist businesses.

Some of the initiatives that effect and may assist small businesses (fewer than 15 employees by simple head count) include:

From the 2012-13 income year, small businesses can:

• immediately write-off assets valued at less than $6,500 (up from $1,000 presently), such as photocopiers, laptops, fridges and desks
  
  
• immediately write-off up to $5,000 for motor vehicles acquired after July 1, 2012, with the remainder to be written-off at a rate of 15% in the first year and 30% in following years
  
  
• write-off other assets in a single depreciation pool at a rate of 30% (15% in the first year).

Currently, a small business can write-off depreciating assets, including motor vehicles, costing less than $1,000 in the income year in which they start to use the motor vehicle and can depreciate assets costing $1,000 or more through the general small business pool at a rate of 15% in the year of allocation and 30% in later years.

As of July 1st, small businesses write-off $5,000 of a motor vehicle costing $6,500 or more in the income year in which they start to use the motor vehicle.

The remaining value is depreciated through the general small business pool at a rate of 15% in the first year and 30% in later years.

The increase to the instant asset write-off threshold from $1,000 to $6,500 will allow small businesses to claim an immediate deduction rather than having to depreciate over time.

The simplified depreciation pooling arrangements will also allow for some assets to depreciate more quickly (at a rate of 30% instead of 5%).

Small business owners should consider these changes when considering the timing of purchasing decisions.

This information has been re-printed from www.budget.gov.au. If you require further information on Budgetary changes and how it may affect your business, please consult your financial advisor or accountant.

If you would like basic information about your tax obligations and entitlements, please download the ATO’s Tax Basics for Small Business.

 Tax Basics for Small Business (PDF - 361KB)

Award Winners

The MLAA congratulates Joel Bayliss from ADC Locksmiths as the 2012 Alan Axford Memorial Award as the Sydney Institute of Tafe Locksmith Apprentice of the Year.

Joel was presented with a certificate and $300 voucher to be spent on locksmithing tools at LSC or Lock & Key by NSW Director Peter Lloyd and President Norm Axford.

In Victoria, Wynn’s Locksmiths employee Kevin Brock received the ‘Best International Student’ at NMIT 2012.

Kevin Brock is 28 Years old and from a small village in Oxfordshire in the UK. Kevin has completed a National Diploma in Engineering in the UK and is now looking forward to using his skills in pursuing a career in Locksmithing.

Kevin has made a life changing decision to come to Australia to study Locksmithing and invest considerably in to his future career.Kevin is a second year International student at NMIT and currently works 20 hours a week at Wynns Locksmiths where he has fitted in well to the organization.

Kevin’s past experience has been working for BMW in Oxford manufacturing the Mini Cooper, Maintaining Printing Plant & Equipment, whilst working as a Printer in his Parents Business in the UK and is well travelled throughout Asia and Australia.

Quotes, Bids and Estimates

By Gale Johnson, Editor-in-Chief, LocksmithLedger.com

People who talk about the 'good old days' always remember an earlier time when things were better.

It appears that we have been in a good old days lull for the last decade and people will have to look far back into the twentieth century to find memories of good economic times.One example of the economic slide has been the change in business dealings.

Twenty years ago, business was often transacted with a handshake. I remember one of our commercial customers who simply requested that a locksmith must be at his building within one hour after he called. Cost was not an object.

This company expected good service at any price.Today every customer, whether commercial or residential, is shopping for a price. Small job or large, they all want to know a cost before proceeding. At one time a ballpark estimate over the phone was acceptable.

Now many customers are asking for a written quote.Another change in locksmithing is the kind of jobs we do.

Twenty years ago, most standard locksmith invoices were under $100. Deadbolt installations, lockouts, car key fitting and combination changes all usually fit into this pricing area.

Today with security products such as transponder car keys and access control systems more in demand, $100 jobs have become extinct because of the higher cost products now available. As cost of jobs increase, it is understandable that customers will begin to shop for the best price.

Personal relationships disappear between locksmith and former customers when the customer asks for a price first. All that matters is what you can do for them now. Unless some variables are written in, a quote is the defined price you agree to charge the customer for a given job. When someone asks for a written quote, you can almost be sure that some other companies are also bidding on the same job.

Experience is the best teacher when it comes to writing the perfect quote, which provides a margin of profit while still being less costly than the competitors. You should not expect to win more than 10 to 20 percent of your quotes.

There are always other companies that -- for one reason or another -- will underbid a job just to get the work. For the forseeable future, writing quotes will continue to be a daily habit for most locksmiths.

Branch Events

The next SA Branch meeting / Trade Night will be held on Tuesday 22nd of May at the Tennyson Conference Centre, 520 South Road, Kurralta Park. This industry wide meeting will kick-off between 6:00 pm - 6:30 pm with drinks, nibbles and BBQ starting at 7:15 pm following the meeting and demonstration.

The next Victorian MLAA meeting / Trade Night will be on Tuesday June 19 at LSC's new Distribution & Training Centre in Brooklyn (8 - 10 Export Drive Brooklyn). LSC is calling it a 'hands on Volkswagen training extravaganza'. Further details to follow.

New Zealand members are encouraged to attend the 2012 Trade & Training weekend at the Novotel Rotorua from Friday May 25th to Sunday May 27th.  The Trade Show is on the Saturday and entry is FREE.  If you would like further information on the event or the training sessions scheduled, please email national@masterlocksmiths.com.au

New Zealand Members - Keep on top of important compliance dates with B-CAL

Managing key business dates just got easier thanks to a new calendar from Business.govt.nz, called B-CAL.

The easy-to-use calendar pulls important business dates from a wide range of government agencies to ensure you don’t miss any important dates.

The information includes compliance obligations, training sessions to help businesses figure out those obligations, important information releases, and government tender opportunities.

“With B-CAL at their fingertips, business owners can spend less time trawling across government agencies for events relating to them, and spend more time on what they really want to do – growing their business,” says Business.govt.nz manager Katie Wellington.

“This new interactive calendar makes it easier for businesses to keep on top of, and understand, some of their key compliance obligations.

“You can export dates to popular calendar apps and set up automatic reminders, and when something is due, the calendar will take you to the right place to manage your compliance online,” says Ms Wellington.

B-CAL can be sorted by event type and region, so businesses will see only information relevant to them.

Visit the B-CAL now.