‘Foot on Neck’, Shipping fees stifling youth

by: JADA CHAMBERS

OWNER OF PEAK Auto Care, Stephen Ferdinand, strongly believes that shipping agencies across St.Vincent and the Grenadines have placed their feet on the necks of young entrepreneurs by imposing inconsistent and unfair charges on imported goods.

His concerns stem from his experience operating a business locally, which he detailed while reflecting on how he first entered the automotive industry.

Ferdinand said his career began while volunteering at a young age at Lewis Auto World where he acquired many skills, and his passion for the automotive industry began to grow.

“When I finished college, I started mixing paint and that sort of thing at Lewis Auto, and then I further went along and worked with a few other business places, and decided it was time for me to leave and start my own business.”

Ferdinand complains that he has been facing a lot of challenges with the prices shipping agencies have been imposing.

“I honestly feel like over a period of time the prices gradually went up” he says and to test his theory he conducted research whereby he began purchasing items using other people’s names.

He then discovered that the prices were lowered as opposed to when he purchased items through his name.

“…It’s like as young people we feel targeted. Instead of us getting help, where they realize, okay, we’re doing something, we’re trying, we’re employing people, we’re paying National Insurance Services (NIS) and these sorts of things…”

He advocates that young businesses receive an “ease up” and be given incentives to pushing forward and breaking the barriers society has placed on them.

But instead of being helped, Ferdinand claims, he believes that youth are being pushed down and their growth is being stifled.

“And these are the kind of things that we need to address if we are looking to develop young people and entrepreneurs in the country.”

Chief among these issues, he said, is how unpredictable pricing acts as a direct detriment to entrepreneurs, making it impossible to give customers an accurate quote before an item arrives.

“…They don’t know if it’s going to be dealt with fairly. You don’t know if it’s going to get overcharged, and it’s hard because sometimes somebody asks you for a quotation, and you do it by the agency’s calculator, knowing this is the figure that you should end up with, and then it’s way off.”

This creates an awkward tension between the entrepreneur he claims and the customer when an explanation has to be given for a $300–$400 increase after a price has already been quoted.

“…The scale is always tipping up and down.”

However, Ferdinand emphasizes that business revolves around customer service, as a business without good service is “spinning top in mud.”

He continued that business owners end up taking the brunt of the licks because they stand by their principles, integrity and honesty.

“…As a business owner, you want to make sure that your customer feels satisfied and they’re happy with the service that you provide to them.”

As a result, entrepreneurs lose money just to make their customers happy because they do not want to go back on the word that they have given to them.

“So, me personally, I think this is something that needs to be looked into, because as I said, there are a lot of other young business owners who have the business registered and they doing things by the book, and it’s a really big turn-off when these sort of things happen.”

Ferdinand implored that young people who own registered businesses be placed in a system where the percentage normally charged would be decreased to allow their businesses to grow.

“That is how I honestly feel at this point in time, and it really needs to be reviewed.”

He recounted what happened after he posted a video to social media where he addressed the matters.

“…Since I did my video, it took off a lot bigger than I expected. A lot of young entrepreneurs reach out to me.”

In fact, non-business owners reached out to Ferdinand as well, outlining their own challenges with shipping agencies.

“A lot of people spoke about overpricing and about giving shipping agencies hard copies and soft copies of the originals from the sites and the suppliers they ordered items from.”

However, he claimed that shipping agencies have refused to take these copies, instead charging an arbitrary price and leaving entrepreneurs without a choice to query it.

“…And it’s really sad to see that you know we’re in a place where we ask for growth, we speak about growth, but the society or the people controlling these things kind of put a foot on your neck, when you’re trying to break out of the box…”