CWB like a SCHOOL House HALLWAY BULLY!

[TOM4CWB]

Dear Charlie,

I find the Oct deadline offensive on the (PPO) 'Pool Payment rip Off' programs!

What is this...if the CWB OWES ME... may hundreds of thoousands of dollars... that threaten they will withdraw further services for PPO's... to punish my family for their choices of poor management?

HOW OBSCINE!

WHAT would a commercial solution be?

CHARGE me a fair rate of interest 90days after the bill is due at the end of July.... so IF I don't pay by the end of October... the CWB could be a bully and charge me interest...

IF THEY (the CWB) owe my family MORE than we owe them... then NO INTEREST should be charged.

ALL this letter proves... is the CWB is like the shool house hallway bully... with a taser gun.

NOW the CWB threatens to use that taser gun... on us... for using the hallway at school... when the law says we must attend school in the first place.

Someone needs to talk to the parents of the CWB hallway bully... and get them to hang a good spanking on this school house bully... and take the taser gun away!!!

Remember CWB Chairman Ritters words?

"You can get alot done with a smile... but you can get much more done with a gun and a smile!"

[TOM4CWB]

Perhaps... it is time... to turn the BULLY into a STEER!

[charliep]

It comes down to what the contract says and what is being asked in the letter. From fransico posting (COMMENTS IN CAPITALS).

Your options for repayment are as follows:

1. Ask your local elevator agent to take a deduction from payments for any future deliveries, including non-board grains, for repayment. Not all grain companies have agreed to make this voluntary repayment deduction. Please check with your agent. NOT EVERY GRAIN COMPANY OFFERING/WON'T USE THIS ROUTE.

2. Send a cheque payable to the CWB. Write your Producer ID number and PPO contract number on the cheque and include a note indicating you would like to apply the amount against your overpayment. WOULD CONSIDER AFTER AUGUST 1 AND MAYBE EVEN LEAVE TO OCTOBER 31.

3. Pay with you credit card. Call a CWB representative at 1-800-275-4292. SAME AS ABOVE.

4. Have these amounts deducted from all future CWB payments beginning immediately. THIS WOULD BE MY CHOSEN ROUTE AND THE ALTERNATIVE INDICATED IN THE CWB WEB DOCUMENTS.

If your overpayment is not retired by October 31,2008, you will not be eligible to sign up for future PPO's until the balance of the overpayment is repaid. NOT MUCH OF A THREAT UNLESS YOU SIGN 2009/10 BPC CONTRACTS IN THE FALL OF 2008. ALL 2008/09 CONTRACTING IS OVER BY THIS TIME (ASSUMING THAT THE NEW DPC IS A PRODUCTION CONTRACT THAT NEEDS TO HAVE VOLUME SIGNED BEFORE AUGUST 1). I THINK A PERSON COULD EASILY INSTRUCT TO HAVE REMOVED FROM THE FINAL PAYMENTS.

PPO contracts require deliveries to be applied against the contract at time of settlement. The CWB will allow application of pool deliveries to PPO contracts until June 13, 2008. THIS HAS TO BE BASED ON THE ASSUMPTION YOU HAVE ALL YOU PPO CONTRACTS COVERED VOLUME WISE ON THE "A" AND "B" CONTRACTS WHICH YOU NEED TO DO ANYWAY AND THAT THE COMBINATION OF CWB CONTRACT CALLS/AVAILABLE LOCAL ELEVATOR SPACE MEANS YOU PHYSICALLY CAN HAVE GRAIN IN PLACE BY JUNE 13. JUNE 13 IS A FRIDAY. DON'T KNOW WHO THIS WILL BE UNLUCKIER FOR - CWB OR CONTRACTING FARMERS.

[charliep]

In case people don't read the other thread, here are the CWB description of options for overpayment on an FPC/DPC.

FPC (page 16 of 17) - http://www.cwb.ca/public/en/farmers/producer/fixed/pdf/07-08/guide/0708fpcbpc_part3.pdf

DPC (page 5 of 5) - http://www.cwb.ca/public/en/farmers/producer/daily/pdf/07-08/guide/0708dpc_part6.pdf

[charliep]

I know beating a dead horse but interesting a farmer with a BPC has until June 27 to lock in the futures portion. A lot of what is being asked for doesn't seem to line up with the information explaining the overpayment return request (i.e. deadline of June 13).

CWB website - PROVISIONS SPECIFIC to the Basis Payment Contract


Producers can lock in a July 2008 Futures Price.
The Futures Price must be locked in on or before the Basis Contract Month Expiry Date.

Futures Month Basis Contract Month Expiry Date
July 2008 9:00 pm June 27, 2008

http://www.cwb.ca/db/contracts/ppo/ppo_prices.nsf/fixed_price/fbpc-wheat-2007-mhrs-20080508.html

If you take option number 4, not sure if repayment will be treated like a cash advance or if the CWB only alternative is to deduct from adjustment, interim and final payments. Right now, the PPO overage is interest free money (will be paid back) with limited tools on the CWB's part to collect money early assuming the information on their web site is accurate and there aren't other clauses built into their contract.

And the cost of fixing this issue is ____?

[TOM4CWB]

Dear Charlie,

The terms of the contracts have been clear... and have been dealt with FOR YEARS... if folks didn't fix an outstanding account... the CWB deducts outstanding amounts from future sales. If someone won't pay up... they can do exactly like any other COMMERCIAL business... and get their money.


It is the very fact... that the CWB is not acting in any way like a 'commercial' grain company... that gets me!

If not for the 'monopoly' many of us wouldn't touch the PPO's with a 1000 mile pole!

[Hopperbin]

And I just wished that if the contract that wasn't delivered upon worked in the farmers favor then the CWB should pay out the farmer. But it does not work that way. One would think that this so called farmer organization should respect farmers and pay the cost of the buyout if it works in the farmers favor. We must remember that the CWB does not work for us. We are sheep in a pen, We are idiots, We are stupid, we are expendable, we are not important, we must obey, we must not question. We have much above average skills these days to do our jobs, what's with us group of farmers anyway.

[FarmRanger]

Well Tom, in a free country, after being unhappy with what a business has to offer us (PPOs), we just take our business to a competitor. I suggest selling your wheat to someone other than the CWB this fall………

Oops, sorry forgot. Its back in the pool for you, with the rest of the Prairie rabble!

[TOM4CWB]

Charlie,

'...with limited tools on the CWB's part to collect money early...'

So why should the CWB collect my money "early" when they wrote the contract and made the rules in the first place?

HOPPER is EXACTLY right... the CWB keeps hedge 'profits' without compensation to growers... they are a bunch of spoiled brats... that need to have that 'taser' gun jerked out of their hands... and pointed back at them!

FarmRanger... we need to do a much better job of getting our (MARKET CHOICE) side out to the general public... rent a few bill boards [should be electronic to change the message quickly]... in some very public places... like as close to 423 Main as possible... so when they walk out the door... they can't miss the embarrassment of the dumb things they waste our money on!

[charliep]

Tom4cwb

No arguement from me.

To your sentence, the CWB lost $40 mln on their hedging activities around PPOs - all in wheat ex durum (page 58 of the annual report). This year I suspect they will loose more. The cost side of the PPOs needs to be examined as well as how risk is managed.

[charliep]

Will note the following quotes from this week's Western Producer (Page 6 May 8). Quote:

"No organization watn to be in the position of having to claw back money from it customers.."

Serious consideration was given to revising the payment terms so this won't happen again, but the board decided to stick with the current contracts because the circumstances that lead to the payment were so unusual.

We (NOT SURE OPERATIONS SIDE OR THE CWB BOARD OF DIRECTORS - MAYBE THEY ARE THE SAME TONGUE IN CHEEK) just don't think the cost-benefit is there to go through designing and implementing a whole new payment system for something that may never happpen again". End quote.

Interesting comment on how the CWB (perhaps both Board of Directors and Opeerations) view operational risk around the programs and their ability to modify behavior/contract terms to satisfy the needs of changing circumstances. How many grain companies would have a contract problem like this and not modify their behavior/processes to rectify the problem.

Changes need to be made to the FPC on whole bunch of levels but there seems to be no willingness to do it.

[disker]

Hi,
Just got a letter from the Cwb telling me that they deducted some of the FPC money that they claim I owe off of an EPO on some barley that I delivered. I have a disagreement with them on the FPC money owing because I believe the grain was delivered before the initial price increase and therefore before the inital exceeded my FPC but I am having trouble getting clarification of this. In the meantime they deducted money from my EOP on feed barley to offset FPC on wheat. This is going to be an accounting and record keeping nightmare because if there are any diputes who do you call and get an answer or action from?
Curt