As far as Christmas in 2023 is concerned, we will enlist every possible means to deliver gifts and packages without depending or assuming that Grab and Lalamove will be there all the time. Based on our experience last week, we discovered that it would have been better to just hire one rider and pay him a lump sum just to take out the guessing, waiting and trickery that was involved in finding delivery services on the week before Christmas.
Like many Metro Manila residents, we discovered that during Christmas week, anyone in need of a delivery service will be at the mercy of riders. It was a mistake to assume that the systems used by Grab and Lalamove are so professional and free of manipulation. To the contrary, getting delivery drivers was a constant struggle and eventually turned into a bidding war or the highest bidder gets the ping! We also discovered that by Tuesday of Christmas week, finding a Grab rider was next to impossible.
At the beginning of the week, a tip of P200 was enough incentive to get drivers to confirm a booking. By midweek the bookings became more and more difficult and took longer than usual, so we sweetened the pot and went to P300 tips. That was still acceptable because you couldn’t pay me enough to brave the traffic on EDSA. The job required skilled drivers on motorcycles in order to meet the need with speed and certainty.
By Friday morning, getting a rider or driver was like joining a public bidding. We ended up having to split some deliveries while raising the tip to P500 for the last few items that must be delivered.
The last driver who rolled in even had the temerity to ask what happened to the original third item to be delivered. The slob actually saw and knew that we originally had three items for three destinations but did not respond until we spilt the deliveries to two. In hindsight, my wife mentioned that they were all probably making tambay under some mango tree in the general area waiting for the shortest trip with the best tip!
When the dust settled, we discovered that we spent P2,000 to P3,000 just on tips for a whole week in order to get things delivered. At the end of the day, the expense was not much since we got all the items to the intended recipients, we did not have to face the traffic and we achieved the goal of sending out everything on time. Besides, it was Christmas and each tip we gave must have helped add to the potluck at every driver’s Noche Buena. I just wonder what the experience of others were. Did their wallets get grabbed or run over by someone making the “Lalamoves” on them? Just teasing!
In all seriousness, this recent misadventure or hurdle taught us the lesson of preparing for Christmas as early as January. I also now understand why many people decide to skip town from Dec. 20 to 30. They have the perfect excuse: We were out of town.
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During the Christmas week, we received some feedback from returning residents and expats who were sharing experiences of coming into the country at NAIA. One common suggestion from a number of them was that the telcos and the NAIA management should put up large posters, give out leaflets or flyers informing arriving passengers and tourists what they needed to do in order to connect with local telco service providers and how to connect to the NAIA WiFi system.
It seems that a number of people were in a panic as they arrived at the airport from abroad and could not connect or use their phones to make local calls so they could be picked up at the airport. Not everybody is a techie and the leaflet or at least strategically located notices, especially in the toilets, might ease the stress of people coming in from long flights. It would also help if tourists could get to a SIM seller before they exit and join the maddening crowd outside.
The same goes for information concerning public transportation. Many young foreign travelers have shared how behind or user unfriendly our transport system is, especially at the airport. There are too many signages but not clear enough. Getting on a bus is not as easy as local officials think and compared to countries such as Vietnam, we are simply left behind in terms of visibility, availability and being on time and on predictable schedules. Not everybody wants to spend so much riding taxis if buses are available.
Contrary to what some people in Malacañang think, no, we are not the center of the universe or the hub or spoke of tourism in ASEAN. As a former resort developer, I have heard enough from foreigners saying it takes extra time and money to fly to the Philippines and jump to their next destination in Asia. Many of them don’t want to land in Manila but instead fly directly to their destination if possible. Friends in Europe have gone all over Asia except the Philippines because of the added cost and the fact that only the locals can figure out how to get around on public transport which, by the way, eats up so much time just getting from point A to point B.
Perhaps Secretary Jimmy Bautista can take time to figure out how to locate buses at the NAIA terminals more prominently. Tourists as well as Filipinos should not have to be dependent on taxis just to get out of the NAIA. At the very least, hand out leaflets to arriving guests on their options for mobility and not feed them to the wolves or give them a horrible first impression upon arrival.