Small businesses are suffering too
Mary writes: Tourism workers are receiving $1,000 per month to assist with personal living cost. Small retail businesses only received $1,000 per month to assist paying their business cost (store rent, CUC, water, healthcare for staff, etc). Store owners did not receive anything for personal living cost (i.e. personal rent, personal CUC, food, etc ).
With no income for the last while and significantly reduced sales now that I reopened, I cannot afford to pay personal living cost (food, CUC, etc). I employed three Caymanians and one expat. I have since laid off everybody so I could eat.
The store is reopened with sales at 10%. I am working 10am to 6pm, Mon to Sat. I cannot afford to pay store bills and eat. Unless I can get some financial help I will be closing and looking for handouts. The fairness how people were/are treated is a huge question during this shutdown.
The government has to be fair to people. If necessary have the civil service take a 10% to 25% pay cut for rest of the year and help people who are desperate. It would be nice if we were in this together.
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Category: Business, Letter to Editor, Small Business, Viewpoint
Like almost everyone – when my income reduces by a significant percentage, I look to make a similar reduction in my spending and costs.
If I am then expecting further long term cuts in my income, I would look to make greater savings just in case…. and also begin to think about how I can protect and improve my income stream.
I am sure most businesses do the same or they go would become bankrupt.
Given that Government is now seeing its income significantly reduced and a dire forecast for the next two years (due to how the method of handling shelter in place and the closing down our economy and others) I hope that Government will look to make appropriate cost reductions to meet the reduced income and projections.
I also hope that the rapidly reducing surplus is recognized as belonging to the country as whole and is not to be used to just prop up government administration and selective industries.
Most 100% Caymanian owned small businesses simply can’t come up with the 125% collateral required, simple as that
Quit complaining and eat your bully beef like the man told you.
Hopefully their is an alternative to the current government. By all accounts I can say the last four years has been a failure.
1. Covid Economic Response
2. Dump, fires and all
3. Port
4. Finance put on Black List
Just to name a few. Please expound on the list.
No mandate to rule.
Only if there was a real alternative to vote for.
I am a Civil Servant … who at 12:33 am AM STILL WORKING … I live alone and by CUC has moved from 220 in March to 400+ in both April and May .. I am sure the one for June will also be 400+ … my Water has also increased exponentially.. the saving on gas is eroded by additional cooking and the ordering meals …
I don’t have the luxury of being able to pop by the supermarket when it is empty during the day as work during normal working hours and I have to work at night, just to keep on top of the added volume of work generated by Corona virus as my regular work still has to be done … I get emails all hours of the day and night because we still have to work …So do not just jump to say cut our salaries …
I agree that every industry who has been prevented from working ought to be helped but taking our salary away is not a viable solution.
You misunderstood the issue being discussed here.
The issue is not misunderstood. The article is talking about fairness in the handouts small business owners only 1k for business expenses (not personal) vs tourism workers 1k for personal expenses.
I think where the above person and myself take an issue is where the writer suggest across the board a cut in pay to civil servants. Without considering if you are being fair to civil servants who are working. Working differently but at times more than before with new technological challenges of remote working, a nation in crisis, home schooling, increased utilities Bill’s and the like.
You cant be working at CIMA or the ROC – i think they are all napping all day long.
Just give it up… Alden came out guns blazing like 3 months ago and basically told yall you ain’t getting nothing. We aren’t the UK or US. Speech. So, I just drop it from then… Don’t waste the effort try to get a job with them building roads. Its hot and they will be skimming off the top and you sifting under asphalt but come election time screen your candidates.
“Small retail businesses only received $1,000 per month to assist paying their business cost (store rent, CUC, water, healthcare for staff, etc).”
What an ungrateful person you are.
Be careful when you go to the polls…please make sound judgement of your choice….Mr. Marco Archer and Mr. Wayne Panton will be there.
With the government mandates surrounding COVID-19, many businesses are completely shut down and are legally unable to open their doors to the public. Are those businesses — movie theaters, gyms, retail stores, etc. — entitled to compensation for a regulatory taking? Should governments worry about liability when issuing orders requiring the closure of businesses?
Don’t reference Ilya Somin’, a law professor at George Mason University arguments that the takings clause does not apply to coronavirus shutdowns, because there is a handy and well-known precedent that supports lockdown compensation under the takings clause.
helping one but excluding another MUST HAVE legal basis when money belong to BOTH
As long as Alden is receiving his full salary and benefits, you have nothing to worry about.
Phew, I was worried there for a minute.
If I had to pick between getting sick and not going on NAU welfare I would take my chances of getting sick. That is how bad it is at NAU. They treat applicants like garbage.
Very rude staff with elderly people left to stand from 9 am for hours without a seat just for a $150 food voucher.
Give me a MASK, I’ll take my chances. Sorry everyone the low health risk in Cayman isn’t worth losing everything for. I would rather risk dying than wait for government to help me.
Open back the economy fully or give EVERYONE a proper package to survive another month.
#ThisismadnessCayman
WOW! Unbelievable. Cayman Kind🤯.
There must be legal basis for assisting one group of people, but refusing another. Money belong to all people.
In the US, every person including retired and disabled, got a stimulus check.
Why Cayman Premier arbitrarily decides who gets it as if it is his own money???
You’r either part of the Tribe or your not. The money is for them. Not just anyone can be in the tribe. You have to be invited from within.
Welcome to Cayman
This hand-out mentality has to stop. Government didn’t cause COVID-19. Government is not responsible for it.
Government is doing its best to keep us healthy which is no small feat considering all we ever do is bitch and complain about every action they take. Then we sit flat of our dumb ends and wait for hand-outs. Now we complain about who’s getting and who’s not getting.
Work is out there for those who will work. For those who won’t the hand-outs should stop. There are far too many individuals on the public dole as it is. They sit on the beaches, get free meals delivered to them every day and draw a stipend on a monthly basis. They do nothing in return, not even to clean up where they sit!
This.
There are many, many lazy and worthless people here who sponge from the government. I don’t blame the NAU staff if they’re hostile. I imagine I’d soon be losing the milk of human kindness if I had to deal with depressingly familiar situations of teenage mothers with deadbeat baby fathers, as well as your garden variety of alcoholics and drug addicts.
As a result, NAU has a bad reputation. This is a shame, as they’re now needed to help out many folk who have worked hard but find themselves in dire straits.
The problem is complex, but helping the ones who need it, whilst turning away idlers is what needs to be done.
Government ordered businesses to close. Their actions caused thousands of people to loose their jobs without good consideration that without economy there is no society, no money to treat other illnesses. We could have protected the most vulnerable when everyone else would have been allowed to go to work.
“lose”. FFS.
Those who loose their jobs are likely to have been slacking off
Hand-out mentality? Aren’t you the smartest boy in the room? Or you forgot that it is 2020 and there is no slavery anymore to beg a Master for hand-outs.
In 2020 Employees and Business owners have legal rights protected by Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Ever heard of the Takings Clause? A taking occurs when the government seizes private property.
It might go under a different name in Cayman, nevertheless it exists somewhere in the Governing documents. And it means: the government must compensate property owners and individuals impacted by the coronavirus lockdown orders for violating their rights for the public’s benefit.
The sole rationale of lockdown order is to promote public health. Accordingly, if “public use” under the takings clause means any legitimate public purpose, then what greater “public purpose” is there than public health?
An indeterminate three-part test that courts must follow to determine whether a challenged government action constitutes a “taking” under the Constitution.
Broadly speaking, a government action is a taking if (1) the economic impact of the action is sufficiently severe; (2) the owner suffers a great loss of “investment-backed expectations” when the government acts; and (3) the “character” of the government action physically occupies or damages the property.
A reasonable judge could apply the test to coronavirus shutdowns and find they indeed constitute a taking. The economic impact of a shelter-in-place order is, by definition, extremely severe if you happen to be a “nonessential” business and must close your doors in order to comply with the order. Furthermore, given their sudden and unprecedented nature, one could also argue that such suppression orders defeat (to the say the least) the investment expectations of most nonessential firms subject to the order. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the “character” of these lockdown orders implicates the use of physical force and coercion, since these orders are enforced by the police, who may physically prevent nonessential firms from exercising their property rights and depriving them of their liberty interests as well.
Don’t you dare lay quilt on the victims of economic crisis caused by Premier’s irrational and disproportional orders.
Don’t you dare portray them as beggars.
Don’t you dare take advantage of them not being versed in their legal rights and shame them for voicing their concerns.
Money in Government coffers belong to all citizens. It is citizens, through their representatives decide about emergency assistance programs and distributions.
Does Cayman have Emergency Assistance Act? If not, on what basis and by whom discriminatory assistance is being approved?
Imagine D.Trump focuses on pharmaceutical industry support and B.Johnson on banking industry support? Impossible!
11:17am, you look like a stooge paid by someone in authority to do an unpleasant or secret job for them which is belittle, manipulate and shame regular folks who through no fault of their own lost their livelihood.
Clearly you work for CIG and are sitting comfortably in your little ivory tower with your full pay, health benefits and non contributory pension intact. Have some compassion moron for those that are not in the same position.
The handouts have to stop post haste!
I don’t think the Government is taking a good look this situation. I don’t believe civil servants salary should be cut but announcing a cost of living increase when according to the Premier their are over 3000 alone in the Tourism sector that are unemployed. this is a political ploy to show up the government as election is only a year out and they cannot afford to lose that large voting block.
In my opinion, there should be some means of registering unemployment/employment so that the government has a means to know the full on situation. In doing this, the can have a good idea on who needs help. Many of the unemployed are hard working Caymanians that have not known what it is to go to NAU to beg for money. They have never done that in their life and many of them just too embarrassed to do this. These people need help and just shouting at them and telling them to go to NAU, is just not fair. I seriously doubt any of the Premiers family will be in the line up at NAU. Most of these people can’t even afford the corned beef he told them they should eat.
The government should use this pandemic as a sounding board to review and fix a lot of the bureaucratic policies they have in place.To me, it looks they are fumbling around and making up numbers and he who screams the loudest or has the connections gets what he needs.
I believe politicians pay should be drastically cut. They earn substantially more than they should and that’s the real attraction of political office here, not looking after the interests of Cayman and it’s people as it should be.
Do you believe you should be getting free handouts from government? Do you wish to live in a “Nanny State”? Everyone should prepare for trouble times and take care of their own. If you solely rely on government to look after you when things get bad you are truly a loser and deserve nothing.
But its the “nanny state” who said they had to close. You can’t have it both ways.
Yes you can. Don’t close. I refused, was given a $500 fine and when I went to pay it, I was told to keep my money and go back to work. It is all a governmental overreach fraud.
Have you ever considered what kind of place Cayman would be if we all chose to do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. Government says close, you say defy and say no way. Gov’t says I need a T&B, I say no way. My neighbour doesn’t like paying into pension for his employees, he says no way. My other neighbour doesn’t believe in speed limits- he ignores speed signs and the RCIP when they try pull him over. Get the picture?When do the individual rights of one person trump those of the broader community, and vice versa?
You have just accurately described how things run in Cayman
My wall… As high as I can pay to pour it…..
That is the first wall the bastards will scale.
This example is set by the politicians. People follow leaders. In this case, in the wrong direction.
Says the guy who has no idea what it i to lose everything…He who feels it knows it and unfortunately it doesn’t appear like you have…
Like the Premier, you bleed as well, but with a full paycheck..
Grow Up and learn to take care of yourself you parasite.
Why do we pay taxes?
That’s right.
If you would like to reduce the size of government and reduce government waste I am will you. If you are going to bully people then you are just an Ahole.
You don’t pay taxes.
Wherever you came from you paid taxes. But you’re living here so you have an exclusion of the first $105,000 per spouse per year it goes up by $2000. That helps with your cost of living. Cayman cost of living keeps going up because of these same people individuals. A communist country to the north electricity bill is $2-12 per month. Central America and all over the Caribbean is under US$100 per month. Water is free, groceries is a whole lot cheaper and fresher. Internet, gas, gasoline, diesel, etc. is cheaper. Than $1000 per month will be enough per month.
How about free medical,dental and eyecare like it was when I was a child? Dentist here are making $50,000 per month and and are trying to make more. You all can be much more educated, but at the end of the day if the toilet don’t flush, You need a plumber. The elect lights blow out throughout the house the dentist needs an electrician. Car don’t work the garage wants over $50-$150 per hour the mechanic gets $12-15 per hour. The lawyer, Accountant, make $50,000 per year the company makes $500 per hour and needs a computer or laptop, pen and a writing pad. So whatever you think or more then the next guy remember we work 8-12 hours a day. We all NEED the same things, nothing different. If you want to b#$%^ than get the cost of living down. Make it easier for old people to live. Because whatever they were doing when they were young is pretty much over. I’m talking about people who are over 65 years old.
I know that when Gov’t offered $10 per hour to clean up the beach over 400 people lined up to try to get that job. They were people here willing to work in this hot sun for 8 hours a day. If you think that’s not hard work try it for a week?
Yes we do. We all pay hefty duties and fees forwhat we consume on-Islaand. They are effectively consumer taxes. Many expats also pay taxes on income, that’s what tax information exchange agreements and all the other regulations are for.
Cutting civil servants salary cannot be the answer. Since the lock down my work load has increased 10 folds. I’m currently filling a position I am not getting paid for and I dont mind as I made the decision to step up in a time when I had to. Many other civil servants are in a similar situation.
I understand your current struggle but their are some civil servants who are paid less then $3000 a month and were already struggling to make ends meet before the lock down. Imagine how a pay cut would affect them now and all the other civil servants who have taken on additional duties without pay.
The solution must come from else where.
Yes, there are civil servants in some sectors who sit and do ntn and sadly they are the ones with years and years of experience in the organization. But most of us are working, hard.
The civil servants who you acknowledge are not doing their part are the ones that should (and must) be cut if we are all going to get through this.
Definitely but we both know that that wont happen. Workplace politics and corruption keeps them safe.
Working from home as well and having a hard time paying our electric bills. My light bill is three times the cost. My pay check is done and I’m not sure how I’m going to afford to license my car this month or put money on my light when it runs out.
At least you have some income. Many of us have been unable to operate or earn income from our own businesses for months, and we too have those same bills to pay.
Well said 9:25. I too am a civil servant and I have been working throughout the pandemic. How does making other peoples lives harder (ie cutting CS paycheques which often arent large to start with) fix the problem? People are very quick to bash the civil service but do any of you actually know anyone who works for government?
6.02pm A lot of you are sitting at home right now doing very little. A temporary10 per cent cut (after your 5% increase in January) on the ginormous Civil Service salary bill would certainly help the problem. Your life might be a little harder but nothing compared to the thousands who have suffered a 100% cut and still have to pay all their medical bills as well as everything else.Nobody in the private sector has a job (and all perks) guaranteed for life.
Hahahahahahahahahaha
Guess they should have joined the Civil Service.
I dream of earning $3,000 per month!
Stop dreaming and make it a reality. It’s possible.
9.25am If your workload had increased ten fold it must have been pretty small pre Covid.
It doesn’t even makes sense to explain the increase volume to you as I’d have to give away personal identifying information
11.49am You have lost me. What has “personal identifying information” got to do with someone who can suddenly work 10 times harder than he did before?.
Try stay off your social media. Cuts out several hours each day. 👌
Very true, didn’t the minister say all 100% Caymanian owned small and micro businesses will get fast, unbureaucratic help 6 weeks ago? I was told that you have to come up with a collateral higher than the loan amount. What do those guys think? First force you to close down and then sell you to the banks? There should be a system in place similar what Switzerland offered their citizens. Companies are suffering now and need cash immediately, not in 5 month time having your apartment as collateral at stake
Only businesses that have bee operating for at least 12 months can apply for grant or loans, so, their logic is that newer businesses do not have needs as the rest …
Not very “logical”
Agree with you on that. Set up beginning of this year and shut down just as we opened. Spent and lost our life savings, and no help to be had.
Local small businesses are your own worse enemy. You all refused to use technology to build platforms for customers to purchase your products and goods online as if customers should guess what you have to offer.
Customers have no idea about products or prices from your businesses And many are still not comfortable with in person shopping.
You all had years to develop online retail options and three months to work on it during the lockdown. You have products to sell for the post COVID19 local economy then do your customers and your business a favor and convert to online retail.
This is true, But many can not afford the cost to build that type of website. There are many free options that I see being used very effectively it just takes work and some fight and refuse to change, which means they will fold up and close.
Kaymazon.com
How exactly would a beauty salon build an online platform? Or a SCUBA diving business?
Ask the salons and dive shops who have websites already.
Not everyone has the means to convert to online shopping. If you think it’s that easy then you do so but that is a huge undertaking that not everyone is able to do.
It’s a huge but necessary undertaking if you want to survive.
Thank you for your sage advice. You clearly know far more than I. We are now delivering manicures and pedicures. Please be sure to choose your polish before heading to the payment screen.
My business has online platform for 5 years. Now suddenly most businesses are online and I am down to 30% what we used to make. Same rent and labor cost. And we were not doing great before this crisis neither. Less mouth to feed now, more online competitors.
Why are you paying the same rent? Commercial rents are down at least 20%.
Not if you are locked into a 2 year lease. We’ve been looking to move since it’s last expiry but very hard to find a decent building with parking & back up generator (for all of the down CUC time). Please send me details of where office space is actually be advertised 20% less than last year.
You clearly have never run a tourism, jewellery, nor service business. You probably work in a salaried position, live with your parents, have never had to be responsible for people’s futures, and may or may not wet the bed. Guessing may.
What an entitled idiot. Are you for real? Have you ever run a business? Do you not think we have thought of this! Your idiocy is annoying, and your comments insulting, Just leave this to the adults.
Adults who will soon be out of business because they won’t accept the new normal and modernize their business platform.
Wow! Use the Internet! I never thought of that? Thank you for solving all of my problems! Now I will succeed! Surely I didn’t do that already. Because I am a stupid Caymanian. So glad I have you to help me!
We have multiple online presences, but we are not able to offer our normal EMS shipping, nor our parcel Post with tracking option. All we are left with is courier shipping, which is very pricey. I think if you know nothing about running a small business in Cayman you should not run your mouth, because you are clearly clueless as to the issues actually facing small businesses.
Emend if you offer in store pickup which many retailers do you could still sell your products online.
You refuse to accept that this is the new normal so if your business closes it is on you.
This is very true, particularly of government and supermarkets. But it’s not a one size fits all approach. Not all services can be provided online, just as not every business can have employees working from home.
Products can be offered online. Some services can be preselected and paid for online. Pricing for services can be posted online.
Could it be that we don’t have the voting block at election time like the Civil Servants or Taxi / Tour businesses? So we don’t count.