We know you’re waiting with bated breath for those Pick n Pay results, you naughty scamps.  A few more sleeps, we promise. Although a little bird did mention to us that turnover grew 8.2%, almost 2% higher than expected, which is nice. But while we wait for the full report, some news from the forecourts, where the 24-hour Pick n Pay Express stores at BP’s all over the Beloved Country have installed Pricer Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL’s). The system means there’s no downtime when they need to update the prices on their NikNaks for the post-disco rush, and to more easily tailor the range in each store to local tastes. Apparently the franchisees who own most of the Express stores are absolutely mustard for the system, which costs them R3,000-R4,000 monthly.

Comment: We remember when ESL was just a twinkly slide in our annual trends presentation. It came directly after the one depicting merchandisers on hover boards if our memory serves us correctly.

We reported recently on a Shoprite strike at the Centurion DC, mounted by 1,000 casual employees under the #outsourcingmustfall banner, which dips cannily (and of course angrily) into a basket of related social movements. That strike ended last week, but the anger remains, with 500 workers marching on the DC to present a petition to management. At issue is the fact that 90% of the facility’s staff are employed on behalf of Shoprite by labour brokers, who pay lower wages – as low as R23 per hour for DC staff, allegedly, and as little as R13 for outsourced cleaners. Shoprite is of course not alone in getting staff off the payment payroll – by 2012, 16,400 of Woolies store staff were flexi-time and only 590 full-time.

Comment: It’s tricky equation for workers – the dignity and security of full time employment versus any job at all.

Last week, we failed to report on the fact that Imperial Logistics CEO Mark Lamberti is building a secret drone air force aimed at the total domination of the logistics sector, so we feel it’s our duty to inform you now that the business, under its Cold Logistics division, is also investing in a new state of the art cold storage facility which is aimed at improving service levels and turnaround times. Situated in Linbro Park in Gauteng, the warehouse covers 25,550m² of space, houses 37,000 pallets in both mobile and static stacking systems, and offers flexible chambers for chilled, frozen and super frozen products. And that drone airforce? Totally true, according to a cryptic reference in this Moneyweb article.

Comment: We are also told that if you know where to look in the new facility, you may find the eerily frozen Captain Solo, his hand reaching out in mute appeal from a block of solid carbon.

Six years ago, Coca Cola launched its bold and indeed beautiful 5by20 initiative, aimed at empowering 5million woman entrepreneurs across its value chain by the pleasingly symmetrical year of 2020. They’ve made some solid progress against this goal, helping 1.2million women to date to find a niche for themselves, from cultivation through to retail and recycling. The programme addresses the most common problems faced by women entrepreneurs, by giving them access to business skills training courses, financial services and connections with peers or mentors. In South Africa, the women participating in the programme saw the sales in their businesses increase an average of 44% and their personal income increase 23%.

Comment: And in other Coke news, they are thankfully dropping their hideous “Open Happiness” slogan for the less chi-chi and more “Taste the Feeling”, which actually means something.

This is one our friends at Unilever will be glad to put behind them. Back in 2014 the Competition Commission conducted a rather dramatic search and seizure upon the offices of the Big Blue and apparent rival, Boksburg edible fats and oils outfit Sime Darby Hudson Knight (SDH&K). The Commission established that the two had colluded after the sale of a refinery in Boksburg by the former to the latter, dividing markets by allocating markets and products. Specifically, they agreed that SDH&K would not sell to retailers, and would supply only bulk. SDH&K have been hit with an R35million administrative penalty, and have also agreed to invest R135million in a new packaging and warehousing facility as part of the settlement. The Unilever portion of the case remains to be heard.

Comment: Fine line between a good deal and a sketchy one. It seems that almost every major supplier ends up learning this the hard way.

The numbers on SA’s unemployment crisis have been stubbornly, horribly dismal for decades, and show no signs of improvement. While the number of actual jobs has increased over the past 20 years, the unemployment rate is currently 25.4%, up from 17.6% in 1995. According to a new study, a coupe of trends are driving this. One is that kids with matric are finding it more difficult to find work – and that in parallel, the demand among businesses and government is for older, more experienced and better educated workers. One of the reasons for this is that the economy has changed structurally, with demand for unskilled labour in sectors like mining and agriculture on the decline. Job growth in small and medium enterprises is stagnant, and permanent employment is in a state of rapid decline. As a famous man once asked (OK, it was Lenin) “What is to be done?”. A dramatic overhaul and dramatic improvement in the education system is one way to go apparently.

Comment: The study, by Derek Yu, Atoko Kasongo and Mariana Moses is entitled “South African labour force 1995-2015”, is a vital and important document, and should be required reading for everyone in government, industry and indeed education.

Here’s the deal, as thrashed out by AB InBev and the South African Government, vis-a-vis the acquisition of SABMiller: “AB InBev has undertaken to ensure that at no point in the future will there be involuntary job losses in South Africa as a result of the transaction. In addition, the company has committed to maintain its total permanent employment levels in South Africa as at the date of closing, for a period of five years. The company also agreed to invest R1billion to support small-holder farmers as well as to promote enterprise development; local manufacturing, exports and jobs; the reduction of the harmful use of alcohol (including making available locally produced low and no-alcohol choices for consumers) and green and water-saving technologies.” A good deal for us, it would seem.

Worth reminding our readers, we thought, that when it comes to the disposal of your AAA batteries, tired old HP printers and Nokia 6310’s, Makro’s your place. 8 years on, their e-waste recycling service is still going strong, and more popular than ever before, with 140tonnes of the stuff disposed of annually. Nice one.