I just finished reading "What's Eating Winn-Dixie?" in Florida Trend's March issue. I'm amazed that everyone seems to have missed the point. As a consumer with a Winn-Dixie and a Publix at each end of my subdivision (a total of four stores), I regularly bypass both Winn-Dixies and head for Publix. While I appreciate the lower prices at Winn-Dixie and the quality of its meat, I do not like anything else about the stores. The quality of the deli, bakery and prepared food areas is awful compared to Publix, and check-out is slow, with never enough employees to bag groceries. Publix on the other hand has good quality all around, a pleasant atmosphere and good service. I know I am paying a bit more, but it is worth it. Winn-Dixie's strategy shouldn't be the new "Marketplace" prototype, it should focus on quality.
D. Rodriguez
Orlando
As a consultant and a grocery shopper, I can recognize that Winn-Dixie has two basic systemic problems that drive under-performance: Its stores are dirty and not well-maintained, and its front-line employees who interact with customers have not been trained to embrace customers with high-quality service. Publix does a much better job than Winn-Dixie for both cleanliness/maintenance and customer service.
Mary J. Bunk
Apopka
I was a loyal Winn-Dixie customer for the first 30 years I lived in Jacksonville. About three years ago, I switched to Publix. I had had enough of Winn-Dixie's "go away and leave me alone" attitude. I pass three Winn-Dixies to get to a Publix, and it is well worth the trip. All the people I talk to feel the same way. One woman told me she had sold her Winn-Dixie stock when she realized she hadn't been there in more than a year. Their employees are killing them. It's that simple.
The cashiers are so lazy it's difficult to tell whether they are real people or cardboard cutouts. There are never enough lines open. I told one manager several times that his frozen food was thawed and he always gave me a "So what?" answer, so I called the health department. None of this could happen without the acquiescence of everybody from the chairman on down. Winn-Dixie has no respect for its customers, and its customers are returning the favor.
Joyce Bates
Jacksonville
Florida Farmers
In Trend's January article "The Gloomy Green Giant," writer John M. Dunn does a fine job of illuminating Florida's second-largest industry, which is all too often given scant attention by business publications. With cash receipts of more than $6 billion a year, agribusiness trails only tourism. Add forestry's $7 billion, and the Green Giant is even more muscular. State and local governments -- and the public -- are beneficiaries of the taxes from these operations, which cover nearly 68% of Florida.
Developers continue to eye farm and ranch lands. The best way to keep land in agricultural production is to assure its profitability. This can be accomplished if people understand producers should not be overburdened with unnecessary regulation. That is not to say agriculturists oppose all protective social measures, but those measures are one reason Florida growers cannot produce as cheaply as foreign competitors. Our growers understand the need to protect workers, neighbors and the environment, but many competitors do not. Trade agreements like NAFTA need to recognize that.
Our farmers, ranchers and foresters are resilient. I have no doubt they will adjust to the current problems, although there may be some changes. Some farms and ranches may consolidate to take advantage of economies of scale; other operations may grow smaller to serve niche markets. Agriculture in the Sunshine State will change, but rest assured there will be a place for it.
Carl B. Loop, Jr.
President, Florida Farm Bureau Federation Gainesville
Dirty Business
It was with a great deal of interest that I read Florida Trend's February cover story "Dirty Business," about illegal aliens cleaning grocery stores and hotels throughout Florida. It has been my observation that, as a group, most of the illegal workers from Eastern Europe work harder and longer than most Americans hired for the same positions. Since 1993 I have been a seasonal worker (not in housekeeping) in two different national hotel chains here in Panama City Beach. When I began work with my current employer in 1996, my starting pay was $6.00 an hour (following a 30-day trial period). Last year, at the beginning of my third season with this employer, my hourly pay was raised to $6.25. How can employees live -- not just exist -- on this kind of pay? Good luck, Florida, hiring and keeping good American employees!
Johanna Jenkins
Panama City Beach
Preserving Paradise?
The March article on the Keys' transient rental law needs some clarification. The outlawing of transient rentals is nothing new in Monroe County. It always has been illegal. In fact, the opening sentence of the new ordinance states that it "modifies the existing prohibition on tourist housing." This is something Mr. Vowels (president of Latitude 24 Realty) usually forgets to mention. Additionally, his private study that the Keys will lose $300 million annually is rubbish. The truth is, revenue in the Keys is up, along with home prices, ever since this law hit the books. But even that is not the point. Realtors making money does not justify breaking the law. Even if his ridiculously exaggerated number were true, the privacy, peace and quiet of our neighborhoods are not for sale, even for $300 zillion.
Jerry T. Polverino
Cudjoe Key
Water Woes
In the March issue, "Water Wars" by contributor Matt Moore missed several key facts and issues, and that resulted in an anti-Destin Water Users/South Walton Utility (DWU/SWU) bias.
- The proposed water production area is a 4,900-acre parcel owned by DWU/SWU. The city of Freeport does not own the water and does not have authority to issue water permits.
- Requested pumping amounts start at
- million gallons a day and gradually increase to 4.84 MGD over 20 years; projected water level declines of up to seven feet are for 2018.
- The water legislation exempted not just Destin but also parts of 18 counties in south and central Florida as well as Pasco, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.
- The North West Florida Water Management District found DWU/SWU's proposal to be reasonable, beneficial, in the public interest and not interfering with legal uses of water.
- DWU/SWU investigated all other water supply alternatives for cost-effectiveness and engineering feasibility before opting to obtain long-term water supplies from the proposed well-field.
- Some 45% of taxes in Walton County come from the SWU service area, yet the county commission is spending hundreds of thousands of our members' tax dollars to prevent water from going to this area and supporting their needs.
Bill Brown
President, Board of Directors
South Walton Utility Co.
Destin