Human traffic jam in Gama supermarket for pre-SST shopping

GEORGE TOWN: As yesterday marked the final day before the implementation of the Sales and Service Tax ( SST), consumer s were s een leaving a supermarket with items bought in bulk.

A check by Bernama at Penang Gama supermarket found that the premises was already filled with shoppers queueing up to the cashier counters even during the first few hours after opening with most of their shopping carts and trolleys filled with raw and processed food and drinks, toiletries and cleaning products.

A man, who was in a rush outside of the cashier counter, had brought along two aides to help with his shopping – three shopping carts filled with cartons of crackers, instant noodles and soda, which cost him RM829.05.

When approached, he said, he did not normally purchase that quantity of items, but was concerned that the price of the goods would increase with the implementation of SST today.

Gama Marketing Division Senior Mana ger L e ong Hau S o on s aid implementation of SST would unlikely cause a huge rise in the price of goods and that general goods such as sanitary pads, and also daily food items like rice, cooking and bread are exempted from the tax.

On the huge crowd of shoppers buying in bulk in anticipation of an increase in the price of goods today, she said, it was because they (shoppers) did not know the items that would be affected by SST.

“The list of items that will have its price increased will only be released tomorrow ( today) by the authorities.” she said.

She also attributed yesterday’s large crowd to the discounts on certain goods offered by the supermarket yesterday and also because of the three- day National Day promotion sale, as well as yesterday being a public holiday. — Bernama