The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I have concluded, perhaps disgruntedly, that there is something broken in the Customs process at LPIA. The lines in the Customs Hall are outrageous, which has been an ongoing issue even before the busy summer travel season started. I travel two to three times per month, and get caught up in the long lines on almost every occasion. Does the issue relate to the new Exempt app? Indirectly, yes; meaning that the app works fine and generally returning residents can complete their declaration forms and pay online, but the process around how Customs processes clients through the line is broken.

First, there is no real line for people with “nothing to declare” or an express line for people with just a few items to declare. Sure, Customs has a sign near one of the lines that reads “nothing to declare” but other customers also use that line. This means that someone with nothing to declare or with just a few items to declare who have already paid online can spend one or two hours in line waiting to see a Customs agent for what amounts to a 40-second interaction with that agent. There ought to be a true Express Lane for people with nothing to declare or those with fewer than, perhaps, five items to declare who have already paid online.

Second, Customs has two lines leading to the agents with two monitors, but the call sequence from the agents is inconsistent. It seems, from my dozens of interactions with this process, that the “west line” is generally called by Agents three-eight and the “east line” is called by Agent nine (and sometimes Agent 10). I suspect that this is because the “east line” was intended for people with nothing to declare, but the lines are not used that way. If Customs were to establish a true Express Lane, this line management process would work fine. Under the current process, it’s bedlam.

Third, Customs Agents continue to assist customs too much at their windows. I could be wrong, but I think I have been using the Exempt app since early in the year, and Customs’ move to fully eliminate paper-based declaration forms was not an ad hoc one. The app works, if you use it, but customers wait until they get to an agent to announce that they haven’t done anything - not even downloaded the app. If Customs can establish one or two lines for people who need help setting up the app and completing their declarations, this would help the process tremendously.

In summary, the Exempt app works, the online payment process works, and the Customs agents seem comfortable with the systems. Small tweaks to the process would have tremendous efficiency improvements, in my view. The simple recommendation is: three lines for returning residents. One line would be an Express Lane for people with nothing to declare or people with fewer than five items to declare, one line for people who need help, and one line for everyone else.

DORIAN D ROLLE

Nassau,

July 25, 2023.