Shoppers face long drought until pay day
Last week at this time the traffic in downtown Belize City looked like Los Angeles at rush hour… while shoppers on foot crowded into each and every shop in search of a Christmas bargain. Today, however, downtown looked more like a ghosttown. Those brave souls who did venture out to Albert Street were a mixed group of those who saved and those who spent.
Q: “Did you do a lot of shopping this Christmas?”
Consumer #1
“Well not too much, I just got the bare necessities — things that I really needed and nothing much because money this Christmas was not much “hep” like other Christmases gone by.”
Q: “So how things look for the New Year? You will have some money for the New Year?”
Consumer #1
“Well, I will have a little as usual but you just have to watch how you spend your money, no.”
Consumer #2
“Well right now I would say I am broke, hoping that something will start up right in the New Year. But for right now I am just trying to move along and what I am doing right now is to get some material. I am going to Bennys to secure some material to start to continue a project which I, what I was doing just before Christmas.”
Consumer #3
“No, I no broke. I just gone to Western Union and collect some money.”
Q: “So you are set for the New Year?”
Consumer #3
“I set. I no left broke or nothing. For New Years and when Christmas was coming, I buy my things so when Christmas come I no really feel it.”
Q: “Did you do a lot of Christmas shopping?”
Consumer #4
“No, not really, I just take Christmas as it comes. Mom is not here so I just let the kids have a little Christmas so that they don’t feel sad or anything.”
Q: “So how do you plan on bringing in the New Year?”
Consumer #4
“Well the New Year is mine. Honestly it will be, new millenium oh yes.”
Q: “So all that money you saved during the Christmas, you will use it for the New Year?”
Consumer #4
“For the New Year; yes, for the New Year.”
With most workers being paid before Christmas that next paycheck on January fifteenth may seem like a millennium away. To get a handle on how Belizeans are coping with the lack of cash flow I spoke to a couple of people in the money business.
Daisy Dawson, Manager, St. John’s Credit Union
“Definitely, so there is a lot coming in because usually you find around this time a lot of people want to get new household items, that new refrigerator, that new sofa set and that kind of thing. So you do find an increase this time.”
Q: “What advice do you have for those consumers who owe a lot of money, who have already received their pay and will be faced with this dilemma in the New Year – what advice you have for them?”
Daisy Dawson
“Okay what I would normally advise people is that you would have their salaries coming in a bulk for the month and I would advise them, rather than taking out all that money leave some for the fifteenth. Because you won’t be getting pay until the fifteenth of January and if you take out all, you definitely will run into problems because that is like a month you would have to wait for another salary. So I would advise them leave something so for the New Year you would have something to come back to.”
Salvador Awe, Manager, Quick Cash Card Company
“Generally Christmas is our biggest season. It is only comparable to the August, September — beginning of school period in terms of the amount of business we do.”
Q: “Do you all normally encourage people to borrow around this time of the year?”
Salvador Awe
“People borrow on their own. I think the season encourages spending by itself. In our particular case lending is based on need and people generally pay their bills on time, so we don’t have a problem in that sense.”
Of course this advice may come a bit late for your present financial crisis but one good New Year’s resolution is to establish a sound relationship with the financial institution of your choice so in times of need you won’t be left out in the cold.
