The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

An auto parts supplier yesterday urged the government to permit its website to facilitate delivery and pick-up purchases as The Bahamas entered it second COVID-19 national lockdown.

Dwayne Higgs, WHIM Automotive’s general manager, told Tribune Business that the company’s online presence had proven itself as minimising interaction between consumers and staff during the first lockdown.

Suggesting there was no reason why WHIM should not be allowed to do similar over the next two weeks, he said: “I went ahead and put my e-mail together the same way I did under the first one, and I’m hoping to hear back from the government.

“They may say this is just two weeks and leave it as it is. But transportation in any other country is an essential industry, so I feel it should be the same, and I made that argument to them the last time. I sent the e-mail out to everybody and hopefully I get a favourable response because we can do the same three days that the hardware stores are doing with only curbside.

“With our website we can do the same three days. We have partnered with Mutru (the Bahamian delivery service) and we have been doing deliveries, so we can do it that way. We can even do it totally cashless. With Mutru, the customer places the order, and then Mutru comes and picks it up the following morning so it is next day delivery.”

Mr Higgs continued: “We should have been able to take advantage of just using our website for deliveries, and just come in with a skeleton crew where we can at least process the online orders. Even if we only do delivery, at least people could still get what they need.

“This is what I wrote for, asking for the same three days on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and even if we only did curbside and online payments via credit cards with no contact, or minimal contact, and the customer just comes and pick it up or we do deliveries with Mutru, then that would be fine. I just sent that letter out yesterday morning, but the last time I only got one response from all of the e-mails I sent out so I don’t know.

“I have the letter authorising me from May that we can do curbside during the first emergency period, but this new emergency order probably negates that first authorisation. But I do have it, just in case I have to pull that out as my trump card.”

Mr Higgs said operating even on a “limited level” would be better for WHIM than being totally shut down. “Some people were saying AID was going to be open because they fall under hardware,” he added. “Some people are just going to take their chances and do it, and then wait for the police to come and shut them down, but we don’t operate like that. I have no time for fines or time in jail.”

Mr Higgs said WHIM will fully pay its staff for the two-week lockdown, with the firm able to take advantage of the previous COVID-19 re-opening to pay off all its suppliers and achieve a better financial position going into the latest shutdown.

With payroll accounting for half the company’s total costs, he added: “We were able to take advantage of the tax credit the government was doing that they were applying to your VAT. We submitted a month’s worth of payroll and they did half of the credit and half is a deferral.

“The lady from the Ministry of Finance we spoke to made it seem that there would be more tax credits coming, and all of that together made me say that if there are more credits coming then those for sure are to be used for your payroll. So, I’m just operating in faith that, yes, more credits are coming and that would offset any payrolls we have with no fails.”

Mr Higgs said WHIM’s drive-through service will be in place within another six weeks, which would further benefit the company if the economy does not fully re-open after emerging from this lockdown.

He added: “We’re not panicking. Unfortunately we are numb and sort of used to this now, but I’m hoping this is only two weeks. If this goes beyond the two weeks then we would have some issues because before the month of May, we had to go on half-pay because we were only open for one day out of the week in April and limited in May as well.

“Hopefully it is just the two weeks and then not back to only being allowed to operate on limited days, because I would prefer to everybody going back to being fully reopened and not restricted because that would be tough for only having one or two days open.”