Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

A young entrepreneur who recently opened a clothing store in one of Kingston's busy plazas says his big, nerve-wracking business headache usually comes at Customs.

"It is extremely tedious to get your goods," he says. "It is always just drawn out."

And it is not because, as conventional wisdom presumes, anyone demanded a bribe, which he refused to pay.

"You don't have to hand over money to anybody," says our storeowner, who prefers to withhold his name for fear of antagonising Customs officials.

The problem, he explains, rests largely on the bureaucratic manner in which Customs conducts its business.

This storeowner, who specialises in good-quality, fashionable and relatively inexpensive clothes, usually does his shopping in Asia - China, Vietnam, South Korea - where the bargains, even for top-line products, can be good.

Once shipped, it takes about 22 days for a container with his goods to arrive in Jamaica. Then, he would count on five working days to traverse Customs and get his goods.

But don't bet on it.

He has had to wait up to a month once when Customs officials claimed some technical breach in the documentation. It was not his fault.

That added another tens of thousands of dollars to his costs, cutting into already tight margins. Each additional day the container stayed on the wharf cost US$150 in fees.

The Jamaican dollar currently trades at J$85-86 against the US.

"With fashion trends changing swiftly and purchasers wanting to be first in hot gear, each day's delay is also a sales loss that most likely cannot be recouped," he says.

And having to meet a weekly pay bill for the five employees at his store, that is not income to be sneezed at, complains this entrepreneur.

Whether in Vietnam or Hong Kong and elsewhere, our man says that once he completes his shopping, he tries to be close to the persons who actually pack his containers. It is not always possible.

Sometimes, there might be an error in the listing or classification of a good, or some other minor error of detail. But this looms large once the container arrives in Jamaica and local Customs digs in.

"They will say that it is a breach that you did not declare something, while it is not your error," he says.

Correcting niggling omissions, such as a misplaced digit on a receipt, takes time. The suppliers are on the other side of the world in different time zones, and so on.

By the time contact is made, another day - and US$150 - has passed.

Jamaican Customs officers often also have concerns over valuation, believing that prices listed on invoices are too low.

"It is so ridiculously cheap when can go there (Asia) and speak the language," the storeowner says.

But Customs tends to do its own assessment and adjusts values to the purchaser's disadvantage.

Then there is the tedious process of counting items individually.

melville.cooke@gleanerjm.com