We include this topic in the general blog as these costs are among the many that are 'passed' on to growers.
It is often cited that as these costs are common then all buyers bear the same costs, and therefore prices paid at auction will be 'equitable'. However the 'equity' is between buyers, not with growers. It is a cost that growers need not bear.
As previously noted the wool industry has, for decades, been a leader in eCommerce. When the industry used ‘in-house’ IT facilities there were costs then that are not as significant today. Yet costs continue to rise.
When other industries are experiencing dramatic improvements in technology, delivery methods and cost; in Australia we continue to be held back. In New Zealand data is ‘free’, while in Australia it is becoming a more significant cost impost. Even a small buying company can be paying as much as $30k per year to receive data that other industries would expect to get for free. For example the brokers ‘public’ catalogue is the most expensive data. These costs are then 'passed' on to growers.
It must be remembered that the benefits of the EDI data are in the formats, not the delivery method. Yet it is in the delivery that costs are imposed! That is, the EDI formats allows parties to exchange information in a compatible form; whether it is delivered by email, Twitter, or hand delivered by a USB ‘stick’. Even when a buyer’s computer is ‘physically’ connected to a broker’s computer and the data is not via a ‘network’, and the delivery is ‘hard wired’, costs are extreme; considering the broker wants to ‘market’ the catalogue!
There also exists a wide spread of costs for the same data between buyers. Research has indicated that to collect all the seasons Melbourne catalogues (the largest centre); the cost can be as low as $2k per year. Yet some buyers are paying as much as $6k per year for the same data!
Remember that these public EDI fomats allow 'anyone' to contribute to this eCommerce community - even growers. We can only hope that this will soon happen and growers become a more willing partcipant in the marketing of their data/product.