Last minute shopping and its potential disadvantages

Dec 24, 2015 News

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By Suraj Narine

As Christmas is around the bend, most people would usually want to get their shopping out of the way to avoid the last minute rush. But what happens to the bargain hunters who wait until hours before Christmas to do their shopping?

To many, the “last drag” is the best. That is when businessmen would practically “give away” their items to just basically rid themselves of this year’s stock and to move on with their merriments – but not all that glitters is gold.

Kaieteur News caught up with some shoppers, recently. They were willing to comment on their past experiences with faulty, sometimes expired and mostly “no good” items that they would have waited until the last moment to purchase.

Devika Ramsaywack, a housewife, said that it all started out as a tradition for her where her mother would usually “jump” on a bus around 9 in the nights to get to Georgetown. Once there, they would begin their “1000-mile walk” just to get their hands on the heavily discounted items.

This tradition came to an abrupt end two years ago when she purchased a dozen tins of evaporated milk from a street vendor because she remembered her mother saying that “people selling on the pave does sell cheaper” during the Christmas season.

It was not until she was ready to make vermicelli on Christmas morning that she noticed the milk was months past its expiration date.

“Who will you complain to? And when you go back after Christmas, they don’t be there…” she said.

Another shopper, Kishan Persaud, a police officer attached to the West Demerara Division said, “Buying things last moment is like buying pig in a bag”.

He explained that all the good items are usually taken by customers earlier in the shopping season and all that remain are “scraps” for late shoppers.

“The other thing is the exchange… Sometimes you wait till Christmas Eve to buy a present for a person, something like clothes or a ring and you’re not sure if the thing will fit. So when you ask them if you can take it back after Christmas if it don’t fit, and they say yes. But when it don’t fit, and you take it back they say it (time period) too long to exchange,” Persaud said.

He continued that one Christmas Eve he waited until the last minute to buy a pair of shoes from a popular shoe store. After paying for it he collected the box and went home only to find out that he had got two left sides.

Laughing, he said, “So I take it back day after Boxing Day and I ask the girl, wham here? And she say that I shoulda have bring it back the day after I buy it… The day after I buy it was Christmas!”

Persons who have requested anonymity have even recalled instances where vendors would try to sell inferior items cheap. Items like microwaves, decorative lights and even clothes were bought last minute and when Christmas day arrived, it was followed by lament and bitterness.

Indrowtie Sookraj, a single parent, said that she would usually buy vegetables last minute so that it would have some sort of freshness for her Christmas meals but that trend died last year when her lettuce “let loose”.

“Greens people does hustle to sell out them greens cheap when it get late because (if they don’t) they would (have to) keep it till after Christmas and sometimes it does spoil…

“I used to go and buy lettuce and bora and so…When I open the bag when I reach home – because when you getting it cheap you don’t check – the lettuce wasn’t good, it spread open the inside was brown and had thing like fruit worms… I couldn’t go back because it was already late…People does be buying out all the fresh greens too…” she said.

Acting Chief Inspector of the Food and Hygiene Section of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) , Deonarine Arjune, yesterday that they are currently in the process of inspecting however, since their work force is limited he is asking that consumers play their part in ensuring that foods especially meat, display the relevant “stamps”.

“We are asking that when consumers purchase meat, especially beef and pork, to ensure that it has stamps that show “M&CC or TC (Town Clerk) fit…We have also done some inspections (grocery storage) of large businesses where we inspected their bonds, cold storage, expiration dates of items… ” Arjune stated.

While there were some issues relating the stacking of products both dry and cold, Arjune said that the overall preparedness by business owners – that were inspected – was “satisfactory”.

Director of the Guyana Analyst – Food and Drugs Department (GA-FDD) Marlon Cole is advising that consumers be on the lookout for falsified products; to take an extra look at labels and packages before buying.

He also pointed out that consumers should pay extra attention to dairy products such as repackaged milk powder to reduce the risk of possible food poisoning.

While it is difficult to expedite the GA-FDD efforts to ensure that quality products are available for consumption, Cole sated that it difficult and challenging therefore, consumers must take all the necessary precautions to ensure that they get value for their money.

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