Mike Hosking talks to MBIE Deputy Chief Executive Paul Stocks to clarify the list of essential businesses that can remain open.
Some dairy owners are calling for more government guidance on how to operate during the Covid-19 level 4 lockdown - and they're coming up with innovative solutions themselves.
While there are guidelines published on the Government's covid19.govt.nz website for essential businesses, many small businesses say they have received no officialinformation or help to deal with issues, including enforcing social distancing instore.
Some businesses have voluntarily had perspex screens installed at the counters in their shops to minimise risk of contagion, others have come up with makeshift ways to continue to serve customers from a distance.
Parul Patel, owner of North Shore dairy Sherwood Superette, says she and her husband Bharat, who operate the small corner shop, have had no advice from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and the measures the business has implemented to stop the spread of Covid-19 are based on information she has read and heard via media reports.
Like most dairy owners, the Patels have implemented a one-in-one-out strategy to ensure adequate distancing between customers and staff. They have also turned on contactless payment functions on their Eftpos terminal and are stocking shelves at the end of the day.
For their own personal safety, the couple are wearing face masks and gloves at all times and limiting the exchange of money.
Parul and Bharat Patel, owners of Sherwood Superette. Photo / NZME
Patel said she had expected to receive some form of communication from MBIE advising how her business should operate during the lockdown, similar to how the supermarkets and petrol stations had.
"As a business, we are paying taxes, so they should send some sort of information. The other day I was at the petrol station and I saw an official leaflet stuck on their glass saying this is how you should follow the rules and regulations - we never received anything like that," Patel said.
"Nobody contacts the small businesses."
Patel said the public were respectful of the changes it had made to access to the shop, which had made the process easier to manage. "People wait outside and only enter when we tell them to enter the shop, they are reading the sign and co-operating well."
Trade in the shop had been "okay" so far during the lockdown, and staff wore gloves to minimise the added risks of handling cash, she said.
NeedToKnow3
Patel said she was buying the gloves and masks from bulk goods supermarket Gilmours and pharmacies, but she thought these would have been supplied free of charge for essential businesses.
Another dairy operator the Herald spoke to, who wished to remain anonymous, also said he had not received any official information on how to operate during the lockdown. He was not aware of the some of the guidance MBIE had published on its website.
MBIE says it is the duty of the business to stop the spread of Covid-19.
"The onus is on the business to minimise the risk of Covid-19 transmission. However, everyone needs to play their part to reduce the transmission of Covid-19," a MBIE spokesperson told the Herald.
"If your business is considered essential, you must operate in a way that minimises the risk of Covid-19 transmission."
MBIE says essential businesses should:
• minimise or eliminate, if possible, physical interactions among staff and with and between customers
• ensure appropriate health, hygiene and safety measures are in place
• restrict activity to only what is essential during the alert level 4 period
This included enabling online or phone orders, contactless delivery and managed entry while also avoiding crowding outside a premise.
Dairies, supermarkets and unmanned laundromats remain open during the lockdown. Photo / Dean Purcell
Kirk Hope, chief executive of BusinessNZ, said MBIE had been in direct contact with businesses, advising the best approach on how to operate during the lockdown.
"They have been contacting businesses who have been in contact with them," Hope told the Herald.
"They are processing thousands of individual communications from businesses about their status, they haven't just published guidance. They have been working with businesses through the process."
Hope said businesses within the BusinessNZ network had received communication from MBIE.
"Industry organisations have been working with MBIE on this as well so [this shows] it is important to be part of a business network to ensure that particularly at times like this you can get information as quickly as possible that you can work with."
Business Mentors chief executive Craig Garner agreed with Hope - he said it was times like this that membership to industry bodies were crucial.
"I suspect that a lot of dairies don't have that level of support. On that basis, the onus is on them to be proactive," Garner said.
"The difficulties for these small businesses is resourcing ... at our local dairy they have put a trestle in front of their counter so it gives a degree of distance, and they've got their Eftpos machine out on the trestle so you don't have to approach the counter as close."
Garner advises businesses feeling isolated or unsure of how to go about business to reach out to others in the community to share advice.
"We complain about Government being too hands-on with us when times are good and then all of a sudden we're complaining that they are not there when [things] get a bit harder."
Garner said he believed there should be a resource specific to dairies that should be available.
