Small biz in vow to keep prices steady amid ‘ridiculous’ increases

Small businesses have declared they have been trying their best not to pass on surging freight prices to their customers amid consumer outcry against “ridiculous” supermarket prices.

Some small business owners have told Barbados TODAY their costs have gone up due to high shipment fees and other factors they say are out of their control.

Consumers across the nation have taken to radio call-in programmes and social media to complain of headache-inducing price rises at supermarkets.

The President of the Shipping Association of Barbados, Arlin Kellman, warned last week that shipping rates from various destinations have risen partly due to the recent blocking of the Suez Canal by a mega-ship for almost a week, triggering the new surge in container spot freight rates which have been passed on by supermarkets.

Anthony Gittens, owner of Cool Treats which produces non-dairy ice cream said though the prices of raw materials have risen he would attempt to absorb the costs as much as possible. He explained that he had to pay more in customs duties for the last shipment of non-dairy products he brought into the country.

“I would try my best to absorb the additional costs and keep my prices the same,” Gittens said. “I would do that as much as possible and I would try my best to hold tight. I am selling a delicacy rather than a necessity.”

He reported a fall-off in sales as familiar faces have stopped supporting his business because they simply cannot afford to, which he blamed on high unemployment owing to the pandemic.

Despite a rising cost of living, fruit and vegetable vendor Lorna Gilkes declared she won’t engage in price gouging as many Barbadians are struggling to make ends meet.

Consumer Allison Jones described the hike in prices at supermarkets as “ridiculous”, and said that the average Barbadian is already saddled with increasing utility bills which many are forced to pay in instalments.

Jones told Barbados TODAY: “With this pandemic, we going through some people ain’t really working, while some people working one day, some people working three days and still ain’t making any lot of money for that time. So now the prices at the supermarkets going up is kind of ridiculous for my one part.

“There are people out there that got five and six children to deal with and send to school and this is not right. People might [have] to shop in four phases because the prices gone up and work gone down and on Sundays, you can’t get out to do what you have to do because you were at work.”

She also joined the call for supermarkets to be reopened on Sundays to accommodate those shoppers whose weekday work prevents them from making it to the supermarket.

Coconut vendor Rodney Seales eyed increased diesel and gas prices and suggested he will have to transfer the additional expense to his consumers if he is forced to pay more for bottles, straws and other packaging materials.

But Seales declared he would not raise his prices as high as the supermarkets.

The coconut vendor said that while he has been allowed to operate on Sundays he has no issues with supermarkets being open as well.

Alistair Alexander, head of the Barbados Association of Retailers, Vendors and Entrepreneurs (BARVEN), told Barbados TODAY it should be made clear that the prices of fruits and vegetables and other products will be determined by their availability.

But Alexander said the business community should understand the state of the economy and make the best effort to keep prices down.

“I don’t know if a scientific analysis has been carried out,” he said. “You will find price hikes from time to time according to the law of supply and demand.”

The BARVEN president said that while gas stations and supermarkets are calling on the Government to allow them to reopen seven days a week, it is understandable that every sector requires its own opening hours. But he declared that as a leader of a “responsible corporate organization”, he is fully aware that the Ministry of Health must do what is necessary to ensure the population’s safety amid the coronavirus crisis.

“So if this can be done with the understanding from the ministry that everything will be safe I am sure that Government would be about allowing such to happen,” he said.

(anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb)