Just three days into the new alphabetical shopping system, local supermarket owners are asking for extended opening hours to ensure hundreds of customers in need of food can be served on their allotted days.
At least one veteran retailer also wants permission for staff to work nights to restock shelves and clear a backlog of online and telephone orders placed during the recent shutdown.
While expressing satisfaction with the rationale behind the new framework, president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Trisha Tannis lamented the fact that some shoppers were denied entry after braving the elements in long lines outside.
“Certainly, one of the most fundamental things is that we will need a few more hours in the day to be able to service the crowds and I think that summarises the discussions yesterday. If we could get an hour earlier or a few hours later, that would be good,” Tannis suggested.
“But we are also mindful that if we get a few hours later, that may interfere with the curfew period, so we would have to look at that and the impact of such changes on the transportation system. I think what is clear is that it is difficult to service everyone now and it is very difficult to avoid disappointing people. What remains to be seen is how the system will settle down over the next few days when you start getting a repeat of the type of bunching that we saw,” she added.
The BCCI president was speaking to Barbados TODAY hours after a meeting with representatives from nearly a dozen supermarkets about the new system which allows citizens to purchase items only on specific days determined by the first letter of their last name.
An overwhelming response on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday meant that some Barbadians were turned away while standing in line during their three-hour shopping period.
“Of course, we are servicing most people, but when it comes to access to food, you can’t really express it in percentage or relative terms. Everyone needs access to food, and we are not satisfied with what we know is a highly imperfect system,” Tannis added.
But coming out of the meeting was also an acknowledgment that after two weeks without access to traditional grocery shopping, the demand would be greater than usual. Consequently, the retailers have agreed to give the new system at least another week to work.
“Because of the pent-up demand over the last few days with the bank holidays and so on, the overwhelming response was somewhat anticipated. So, there was a general agreement that we should wait until the second block when each group is exhausted before we actually come to any definite conclusions as to whether there were any issues.
Managing Director of Carlton Supermarkets and Emerald City Andrew Bynoe meanwhile proposed a system that would allow restocking between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. through special concessions from Government.
This, he said would prevent them from having to jostle with customers during the working hours.
“That allows us to put the store back in order for the next day, because when we come in during the day, there is so much work to be done on the shelves that our staff cannot observe the social distancing between ourselves and customers,” he said
Bynoe also added that such a measure would allow staff to clear thousands of telephone and online orders placed during the shutdown period. kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb
