2tapry

I think Two-Factor Authentication is already part of the solution i.e. there are some transactions I do now that require a code sent by text as part of the transaction, but it can't be the full solution yet. Why, because there are still plenty of people who don't have mobile phones (many in other parts of the world). In its current form it's certainly not convenient for day to day purchases etc.

Skinny is good value, not considering leaving them, but the expiry thing is crap. I've not experienced it with anyone else (oh, their online chat system sucks too, especially if you get kicked off and have to start the process all over again).

I was with Robobank a while back and they had a little dongle (Digipass) that generated access/security codes, i.e. 2FA, on all transactions. It was f'ing awful to use and was the reason I left.

This is the recent meeting I was referring to - not an annual meeting...:

Great South Joint Shareholders Committee Agenda

Great South have there fingers in a lot of pies which in theory should pay off for Southland, but Great South is relatively 'new' in its current form and much of what they 'sell', never seems to come to fruition. There is a fair amount of history in this organisation as it was previously known as "Venture Southland" with the "Southland Regional Development Strategy" (SoRDS).

They started of fairly small but seem to have grown exponentially with quite a large number of staff popping up on there website now. There are quite a few in the community who question if this organisation provides value for money? I'm still on the fence, but changes like the one outlined above with little detail and little to no input from the community who pays for the 'service' just feels wrong to me.

Yeah, my bad wording. Invercargill CC are 48.7% shareholders, Southland District Council are the same 48.7%, Gore District Council and Environment Southland (Regional Council) have less than 2% and a couple of Trusts with less than 1%.

Mayors of ICC and SDC have made noises of support of the move but haven't justified it or made meaningfully comment.

Ratepayers, who provide significant funding to Great South each year have been left in the dark.

The recent Great South annual meeting, which the two major mayors were part of made no mention of Oats or Oat milk, at least on record.

As a ratepayer I'd at least expect to know the reason behind the move.

One step more complicated than that. The 4 southland councils (District and Regional) are 48% shareholders of Great South. Great South is 49% shareholder in New Zealand Functional Foods (NZFF) who are proposing to build the Oat Milk factory in Canterbury instead of north of Invercargill.

To make it even worse one of the Great South board members (the Chair) is also on the NZFF board and is not a Southland resident.

It appears to be a complete shit show, and no clear detail of why the decision to move the factory has yet been given.

Sounds like we need an "nz-joke" Community - clearly that's what this is!

Could have been worse if they asked for "mashed"!

Still no answers from Great South and some starting to question why?

Invercargill Councillor calls for 'please explain' from Great South

A couple of comments at the end of the article provide some idea of the feeling of locals about the ratepayer investments and potential conflict of interest surrounding the decisions being made.

Dip in the temperature in the South of the South Island today, down to 2C overnight with frost this morning.

There are those who are not happy with the decision

Great South, the Southland Regional Development Agency, is funded by the four district/regional councils, i.e. ratepayers, so there is good reason for not being happy about the support they are giving for the relocation. Great South appear to be very quiet around providing meaningful details for the support and the reasons for the move.

You ain't never tried my mum's cheese scones 😜

Finding amazon.com.au to be offering some of the best prices for many things at the moment, with free international shipping on spends over $50. I'm finding I can often purchase the same product for 1/2 or less than I can purchase locally. Happy to support local, but not when I'm being fleeced!?

As an example; I'm planning to make some cabinets and bookshelves and need hinges, wood glue etc.. A large bottle of wood glue, purchased locally and delivered, will set me back $141 - on amazon.com.au I can get it delivered for ~$76. Even better for hinges, that I either had to buy in multiple small lots or huge lots (which I didn't want) locally. Even the huge lots were more expensive!

Anyway, worth a look if you're spending $ in these 'tight' times.

Great South 'supports' decision to shift planned factory out of Southland

A follow-up story today, which doesn't really offer much more than the following:

For the success of this greater vision, it is vital that our planned manufacturing base is in the location that allows easy connection and collaboration with industry and infrastructure.

I'm guessing things like packaging, flavouring etc., might be the "connection and collaboration" bits?