Long lines are back – for paying bills

As month-end approaches, scenes of long queues and hours of waiting have shifted from supermarkets and post offices to SurePay bill payment kiosks, where scores started gathering from early Wednesday to make utility and other payments.

With most businesses closed, Barbadians have started turning their attention to the SurePay outlets in supermarkets, even though the Government has indicated that Post Offices will take payments for the major utility companies.

Customers hamstrung to only leave home on their designated shopping and banking days set by Government to correspond with their surnames during the 24-hour curfew, has added to the frustration.

The switch from grocery shopping to bill payment was evident Wednesday at Emerald City, St Philip, where there was no line for in-store shopping but to pay utility and other bills, the line snaked into a loop formation to avoid persons having to stand in the sun.

With just a single cashier attending the SurePay booth, those in the long line expressed worry that they would be turned away as the four-hour time limit for persons with the surnames E, F, G, H ran out.  But unlike last week, the supermarket chain did not close its doors at 11 a.m. but allowed those standing in the line for as long as two and a half to three hours, an opportunity to pay their bills.

Just 24 hours earlier, Minister of Water Resources Wilfred Abrahams pleaded with Barbadians to pay their water bills. He said there was a noticeable decline in people making water and sewerage payments. This, he said, was hurting the state-owned entity’s cash flow and its ability to carry out its mandate to supply water to the population.