A scene outside Sunny Foods Supermarket on Sunday. Disaster pass holders and essential workers were allowed to shop directly at supermarkets as of Sunday.
PHILIPSBURG--In an effort to streamline the ordering and delivery of goods from grocery stores and supermarkets to consumers, talks are being held for supermarkets to offer set packages of essential items which consumers can choose from when ordering.
Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs said the country is currently in a time of crisis and shopkeepers were alarmed that more persons were ordering things like alcohol rather than essential items. She said with set packages being offered, the time for workers to fill orders will be reduced and more time can be spent ensuring that the majority of the population gets basic necessities for eating, cleaning and sanitization. She said the idea is for grocery stores to prepare packages to the tune of, for example, US $30, US $50, US $70, US $100 and US $150 that would contain key components and consumers can choose a package of their choice.
Head of the Division of Economy, Transport and Telecommunications (ETT) Valya Pantophlet said based on the hiccups encountered thus far in the order and delivery services, a decision was taken to allow the grocery stores the opportunity to work out these kinks and improve the delivery service this week.
“We are also discussing with ESF-7 (Emergency Support Function 7), the possibility to have the grocery stores offer set packages of essential goods at various prices to cut down on the process of having to pick out specific goods,” Pantophlet said. “The idea is that persons would then be able to choose the package that best represents their needs and budget. We hope to have this option finalised early this week. The need for this became clear after receiving feedback from the grocery store operators that a majority of the orders contain luxury/comfort goods as opposed to necessity/essential goods, meaning people that are not in need are flooding the ordering system. As a result of this feedback, we have also asked the grocery stores to implement a system to ensure that orders of essential goods are given priority (delivered first).”
Pantophlet said this temporary solution should not be in effect for much longer. “By the end of the week the Prime Minister, after having evaluated our COVID-19 situation at the time, will announce the solution that will go into effect next. So, persons who have already placed orders and know that they can wait a week on those items, or those persons that are now able to shop for themselves, meaning (disaster) pass holders, those with waivers and other front-line workers are advised to cancel those orders and allow the grocery stores to be able to focus on getting orders to those most in need.”
Pantophlet noted that when the shutdown went into effect last week, there were only 8 large grocery stores offering the delivery service. “However, throughout the course of the week, permission or waivers have been issued to at least 30 grocery stores and over 200 delivery drivers and we are in discussions with the representative of the Chinese Business Association to bring more grocery stores on board.”
Some improvement in the delivery service is therefore expected this week. Three lists of grocery stores offering delivery service to consumers have been uploaded to government’s website and were being circulated via social media over the last days. One list shows the larger grocery stores, the other shows the neighborhood grocers in the Cole Bay/Simpson Bay/Pelican and Maho areas and the other on the Philipsburg side of the Cole Bay Hill (A.J.C. Brouwer Road).
She said also that confirmation had been received from roughly 13 public transportation operators and drivers located in various neighbourhoods, who have expressed willingness to assist with deliveries within their respective areas. These drivers will be put in contact with their nearest neighbourhood grocer to explore the possibility of facilitating the delivery process, she said.
