Punishing

Glorious spring-like conditions yesterday stayed right through the evening, yet the regular Saturday night crowd barely materialised. Up until 11 pm most drivers were lamenting their disastrous takings, unable to account for the quiet night.

Finally one driver I spoke with on a City rank had no doubt about the problem. "It’s because of the interest rate rise this week," he claimed. But he was particularly sensitive to a rate rise. In order to pay a $1300 weekly cab lease he was working 16 hours per day, the only way he could support his young family and pay a mortgage. Punishing.

In other news last night the cab radio broadcast this message,

TAXI FARE RISE 6% EFFECTIVE 27 AUGUST. (more here)

Comments

[steve at the pub]

I think it isn't the interest rate rise just yet.

I can just about correlate on a graph interest rate rises with front bar takings. That $20 or so each week often means the sacrifice of an extra squash or two each night after work.

But it never hits until after the first payment is due to the bank at the higher rate. This time lag can be up to a month.

Forward thinking, (in this case budgeting now for extra interest required at the end of the month/fortnight) doesn't seem to be a strong point.

[danny]

He may pay $1400 after.

[Kevin]

I think everyone was having an early night prior to Sunday morning's City to Surf fun run - 64,000 registered. Interest rate rises take 1-2 months to flow through to peoples' mortgage payments so unlikely to be quiet due to the rate rise (at least not yet).

[mike]

I for one take this intrest rate hysteria with a grain of salt.I'm a farmer and 41 yrs old.We were paying up to 22% intrest on our loans back in the early 90's,my father then commented he'd be surprised if they ever got back down below 10% in his working life.
Well he is still on the land and you all know what happened to intrest rates.We are in trouble again but this time drought is the culprit,does not matter what the rates are if out of the last seven years the annual farm budget has passed red twice.This is no ant farm either,an average year gives a return of around 1.5m on a capital base of about 5m.
So my point to all this is if anybody is going to go under with a rate rise of .25% than the business plan was crap and the lender should be kicked in the arse as well for either bad advice or not making the situation clear,but at the end the onus is on the guy/girl who had no comfort margins that signed on the dotted line.

[enkew]

But Mike, if everyone took responsibility for their own actions, where would it all end? If we all acted responsibly then who the hell could we blame? All together now, in a loud clear voice...."it's not my fault!"

[tom]

I appreciate what the cabbie was saying about his long working hours, but please lets get serious for once and admit what we really earn...I did a rough calculation he other day and I earn more than 80% of the people I drive home.
get your ass off the ranks and LOOK for the work.
Ive been driving for 5 yrs...and im not any better than any other cabbie.
Im just tired of hearing these silly stories about $8 a hour..get real.

[adrian]

Tom, the fact one would stop on a rank during a Saturday evening is highly unusual and a measure of how quiet it was last weekend. You can only drive around in circles with a City full of Vacant cabs for so long and need to take a break occasionally. Yet Sunday night was a boomer, go figure.

We all know that cab driving is hot and cold and obviously $8ph is the bottom end of the scale. If there's one thing for which cabbies can be relied upon, it's for quoting extreme figures concerning earnings.