WHILE OIL PRICES rise, some cooking gas dealers have to be paying a tax unique to their field.
According to IGL Limited Sales Representative for St. Catherine and Clarendon, Ralston Small, some dealers have to give a cylinder of gas before they are granted access to some volatile communities where they are trying to make deliveries.
In addition to paying this 'gas tax' for access, the dealers are being plagued by a series of robberies since last year.
According to Small, the dealers and delivery men have been robbed several times in the past few months with the thieves making off with money. Some dealers and deliverymen also complain that thieves sometimes take other valuables like jewellery.
One dealer who has three outlets in the Corporate Area says the delivery men have been robbed a number of times, including once since the start of the year. The manager who wanted to remain anonymous said the company has been forced to implement security measures. The company has installed security cameras, panic buttons and have retained the services of a security company.
In the meantime, Small believes that with a 25 pound cylinder costing on average $1,000 and a 100 pound cylinder reaching $3,300, robbers see dealers as wealthy.
"I think that the robbers target these small business people because they are more susceptible. The transactions are mostly in cash. It can be perceived that they are easy pickings," he said.
Andrew Harris, owner of Rich and Famous Petroleum in Kingston, told THE STAR he was robbed three times last year. In the first robbery in September, money and a gold chain were taken from him after he was leaving the community. On the second occasion in November he was making a delivery to a home when two men from the said house robbed him.
In December, robbers came to his storage facility while he was receiving delivery and robbed him and the delivery men at gun point.
Since the robberies, Harris says he has retained the services of Hawkeye Electronic Security Limited for his business place and home. He has also hired a guard for his storage facility.
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