LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

A tale of caution about online trade

Kijiji is a popular website used to buy and sell different items, such as furniture, electronics and cars. I have used Kijiji on a handful of occasions to purchase and sell, and have always had a positive experience.

I recently posted an ad on the website to sell an item and was contacted by a potential buyer. He expressed a lot of interest in the item but failed to arrange to pick up the item on a number of occasions.

After a week of waiting around, I let him know that unless he picked up the item by the evening I would have to sell the item to someone else. The man instantly flew into a fit of rage, sending text message after text message of hate-fuelled name-calling.

I read through 25 text messages, with at least eight of them filled with derogatory comments directed toward women. Many of those names I have never been called in my entire life, let alone by a complete stranger. The messages only stopped once I blocked his number. Thankfully for me, I never disclosed my complete address. The moral of the story: use caution when selling to and buying from people you do not know.

Justine Haskett, Windsor

Minimum wage should be fair to all

Some have estimated that the increase in Ontario’s minimum wage to $14 on Jan. 1 and the special wage category (for those such as liquor servers) to $12.20 from $10.10 per hour could lead to the loss of 60,000 jobs by 2019 — when the minimum wage goes up to $15.

Many in the food industry surveyed indicated they are considering cutting staff and hours, installing more automation or just closing their doors.

Many food services have indicated that price increases will occur and tips based on a percentage for servers will be adjusted.

Let’s break down the cost related to the increase in pay for a server and how it will affect a franchised food location.

Let’s lowball by saying a server during dinner hours might be responsible for five tables with 15 customers in a two-hour time frame. The food industry’s increased wage cost for a server in a franchise restaurant for two hours is $4.80. Divided by 15 that is 32 cents per served customer.

I understand there are also increased wages for cooks, greeters, bartenders and cleaners. Considering a franchise restaurant’s normal volume of customers for lunch and dinner, the increased cost per customer served during a working day, should be around a $1. This scenario, of course, would be different for a retailer, convenience store or small manufacturer.

We’ve seen a popular coffee shop’s owners make threats to change employee benefits, while another restaurant has decided it will end the inclusion of a salad in the price of a meal. I’d rather they raise their prices than cut service, quality or portions. But that’s just me.

I believe most people are in support of a living wage and also expect businesses should make a profit, but I hope that there will be fairness to both employees and customers.

Peter J. Middlemore Sr., Windsor

Temp agencies help keep wages low

People are quick to blame it on the minimum wage when they can’t afford a decent standard of living. Yet there are more than 90 temp agencies in Windsor which gladly accept $20 an hour from an employer to pay a worker, who receives just $17 of that wage. How is this even legal? They find you a job. They tell you the company will hire you if you are good.

Then they drop you when you are close to working 1,000 hours. There may be temp agency workers who reply to this saying they do hire workers. Which, maybe two out of every 100 get hired full time? The rest get put back into a pool of unfortunate people who have no other way to get a job but through the temp agency.

These companies will actually let you go on the Friday and call you back to report for work Monday, but you have to start over at zero.

Temp agencies are stopping people from getting good-paying jobs. They are in cahoots with the companies, so the companies don’t have to pay your benefits or anything else.

You go there, you don’t miss a day, you show up on time and there is no chance they will hire you. But they won’t tell you that.

Harry Hubert, Windsor

27 Minutes series was outstanding

Re: 27 Minutes series, by Jane Sims, NP in the Windsor Star, Jan. 2-6. I really enjoyed reading the five-part series by (London Free Press reporter) Jane Sims in the Windsor Star. After each story I could hardly wait for the next edition.

The title 27 Minutes was very inspiring. The harrowing tale of the winter night 28-year-old Ashlyn Krell drowned in a freak car crash lays out how the police officers, firefighters, paramedics, medical staff and others gave her back life. The Jan. 6 paper had the final section: The Recovery.

It was great to see the picture of all the heroes. Thank you again for providing excellent stories in the Star.

Shirley Flood, Windsor

Who to sue when a driverless car errs?

I have studied the so-called scientific evidence assigned to the development of automobiles that drive themselves that should arrive on our streets in the near future. I have a simple question that should be addressed before anyone takes these instruments to heart and employs them on our highways.

The question is: who will assume liability if there is a collision with one of these cars that may malfunction? You should not be able to sue the driver, since that person is not in charge of the vehicle. Do you sue the manufacturer of the vehicle for damages that might occur because you, the car purchaser, placed your faith in an operation that said it allowed one to remove their hands from the steering wheel?

I really want the insurance companies to come up with a policy of how the driver and any liability will be covered. I do not trust these people to say, “Trust me on this.”

Charles Church, LaSalle

Bower part of great hockey generation

Deservedly, media extensively covered the death of Toronto Maple Leafs legend Johnny Bower.

But all reports I saw missed a key point, at least to us old time hockey fans who were young kids following the game in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

In those times there were only six teams and only six goalies: Jacques Plante, Johnny Bower, Terry Sawchuk, Glenn Hall, Gump Worsley ... and, sorry, the Bruins had several goalies I cannot name. It was easy to know who to root for.

None of these guys got rich. They probably made a bit more than the average Windsor business executive of that time.

To show everyone how much the lives of hockey stars have changed, dig this little story:

In the spring of 1965 I was coming home on the Canadian National train with my Kennedy Collegiate teammates from the Ontario track championship meet in Toronto. We got word that in the car ahead of us were the Montreal Canadiens, en route to play the Detroit Red Wings.

So we all took our school work books and got autographs from Jean Beliveau, Henri Richard, Toe Blake, Yvon Cournier, Dick Duff et al.

They were all friendly and gracious to us kids and let us come into their train car. There were no security guards.

I expect there would be different circumstances for anyone encountering today’s multi-million-dollar players.

R.I.P. Johnny Bower.

Hugh Leal, Windsor