Jacksons Supplies

4 days ago

Take a good look at our wholesale bagged firewood and kindling pages before they disappear forever.

Years of hard work built from nothing. We paid our taxes, paid our creditors and followed all of the rules. All gone because we trusted the wrong people.

In 2018, a Prison Industries manager cold-called us into a bagged kindling program in Murray Bridge, South Australia and proposed it would make our family enough for Dad to retire on. That the program would provide a "nest egg" and it's "the States best kept secret".

How f'kin' stupid are we?

Since then:
- The program has fallen apart a dozen times.
- Over $50,000 worth of product sent off the books, we've only recovered $23,000 which we had to do privately.
- More than $15,000 refunded to our customers after moldy, rain damaged kindling was supplied direct from the Prison to our customers.
- Accounts dont add up because they kept changing the prices and have changed the price retroactively several times.
- Copying and pasting our contract to someone else and hiding it from us for as long as possible, including lying to maintain the deception for several months.
- Tens of thousands of goods overproduced and told we have to take them, and exploited us into taking them.
Over $50,000 worth of bags thrown out by the prison because we refused to take them back.
- Been told that there are "territories" and we have to stay out of certain ones like Murray Bridge, Litthampton & Pooraka as well as the entire fresh produce/super-market & grocery industry.
- Years of being told that we effectively have to do them favors to maintain our business venture and partnership, to "build something together".

On top of that, tens of thousands spent on websites, marketing, and building a network… plus hundreds of thousands in wages over 8+ years.

We built something genuine that we were proud of. The work we put in created and sustained supply chains that stretched across South Australia, from the Northern Suburbs to Kangaroo Island, and into a vast network of rural independent grocers. That included remote country towns, independent service stations, and countless firewood and landscaping yards across multiple regions, most of them small, family-run businesses.

Then watched it get dismantled by selfishness, stupidity, greed, and incompetence.
In Murray Bridge we've learned all sorts of new things about our business that we never knew ourselves!
When we finally spoke up about the misconduct, we were told to wait. New Minister. Then another. Then another.
The worst part is the lack of accountability. "Investigated themselves and found no wrongdoings" is what everyone landed on, despite admitting to oversight issues, contract management issues and governance issues over several years.

We’re a two-person small family business. Scan our barcodes; it goes straight to us.
The new contract holder? 30-40+ staff.
Scan their barcode; it leads to a business worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

They didn’t build anything.
They aren't in the industry.
They ended up with it by being friends with the Prison Industries manager.

Meanwhile, we’re being told everything from we will be “taught a lesson” to being “made an example of” for speaking up. Later brushed off as “just having a laugh.”

Before this “opportunity,” we had a functioning wholesale bagged firewood and kindling business.
That’s now gone because we were blind-sided.

As late as 2024 and DCS are still promoting their program as "the State's best kept secret".
In 2026 they are still using our Brand South Australia brand, something we own and put all our hard work into. To promote their program to stakeholders.

We do not endorse the Department for Correctional Services
We’re relieved to no longer be dealing with them despite being financially harmed to the sum of hundreds of thousands of dollars by doing business with them.
It's incredibly disheartening that this issue required years of people responsible for oversight turning a blind-eye to allow for it to get to this point, and that a lot of them were supposed to be trustworthy uniformed officers and government officials.

Despite wanting nothing to do with them and repeated requests, DCS continue to use our Wood Guy brand to promote their program.
We thought we were "trusted partners" with these people and had the contracts and emails to back it up.
Then one day they decided they like our business venture so much, that we do not need to be a part of it.

A decade of work, reduced to this.
Hundreds of thousands of our dollars wasted, hundreds of thousands or more likely millions of dollars of tax-payer money has been wasted because a department isn't accountable, and "sorry" isn't in their vocabulary; but I've heard "quiet settlement" more than a few times.
I will take all the quiet settlements they can make until they have reached the fair settlement I asked for, I didn't sign to be quiet and the ACCC says another business can't decide what we tell the public about our own business. I believe the ACCC over a group of people who have continuously lied to us and financially exploited us.

We continue to do successful business with various other departments, due to the fact that they did not, and would not rob us. Don't be scum-bags, it's so easy, that most people don't need to be told!

Prison Industries is a literal scam starting from a cold-call. A telemarketing scammer will tell you anything they think they can get away with to get access to your resources. Unlike a telemarketing scammer, these people are backed by our government. I am not anti-government at all, but I am anti-scam.
This was a scam.

Go to their website and read about everything they do for small businesses, and how they are good corporate citizens.

Thanks so much for the Department for Correctional Services for "opening doors for our small family business", so grateful to "have these oppportunities given to us.".

Thank you everyone else for their patience and genuine support. We are no longer selling wholesale bagged firewood and bagged kindling.

Sincerely,
Bill Jackson
Office admin
Jacksons Supplies

#WoodGuy #thisiswoodwork #brandsa #southaustralia #murraybridge #prisonindustries #southaustralia #sacorrectionalservices #workskilaustralia #SAGovernment #smallbusiness #smallbusinesssouthaustralia #littlehampton #pooraka #SALabor

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Jacksons Supplies

5 days ago

Shout out to Jamie from Mt Pleasant Butcher.
Award winning! One of the best.

Free gifts from customers are never expected but always appreciated so much!
And we buy it ourselves, too!

Yum!

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Jacksons Supplies

6 days ago

Good luck everyone!🐱🐱🐱 It’s Giveaway Time 🐱🐱🐱

Who wants to win 2 x 50L bags of Olive’s Natural Cat Litter?
We’re giving one lucky winner the chance to stock up on locally made, eco friendly cat litter - purrrrfect for keeping your furry friend happy.

To enter;

👍 Like this post
🔄 Share this post
💬 Tag a fellow cat lover

That’s it, you’re in the draw!

Prize is 2 x 50L Olive’s Natural Cat litter bags.

Competition will run from now till the end of April.
Winner will be announced on the 30th April.

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