Customs staff to face business community
(CNS): Representatives from the Customs Department will be tackling questions from members of the business community next week at a special face-to-face forum hosted by the Chamber of Commerce. The fourth presentation in the ‘Be Informed’ series, will examine the process of importing goods into the Cayman Islands. Collector of Customs Carlin Powery, DC Operations Collie Powery, Training Manager for Customs Langlie Powery, Accounts Manager Mitzi Jervis, and Systems Administrator Ronnie Miller will be on hand to discuss a range of issues that impact most local businesses, from cargo processing to bringing in goods through the airport.
Langlie Powery will be giving a presentation that includes an overview of the department its aims and objectives, as well as how the department deals with compliance management and how it collects the money, the Chamber said.
Category: Business
People should be less discriminating……. and try to be more proactive in getting their facts straight before printing such nonsense. I would like to enlighten some of you as to the facts of how the Powery’s was first inducted in the Customs Department. Mr. Carlon Powery the current Collector of Customs joined the service in 1972.
The late Mrs. Marcia Bodden was the Collector of Customs from 1977 to 1988. During her tenure as Collector, Mr. Carlon Powery was then a Senior Customs Officer, along with other fellow West Bayers all in a senior capacity at that time. She was so impress with the performance of the West Bayers that she decided to focus more in that direction.
The Powery’s was not the ones that appointed them selves to these positions. The Public Service Commision at that time recognized their honesty, integerity and knowledge as promising leaders of this valuable Department.
Caymanians and people that reside here should stop trying to bring each other down and try to work together during these hard times.
This definitely sounds like a biased opinion of a Customs employee.
Why not take some of the posting comments as constructive criticism and make some positive changes within your department.
The public never hears from your upper management on how they are improving services. Whether private or public sector a business is a business and management should always be looking at improving services offerred to the consumers.
Dealing with businesses is one thing, but dealing with the travelling public is another. We may not have any dealings with Customs for several years (we can pay a broker for that) but we all travel at some point.
My last few experiences with arriving Customs has not been too impressive. If this is all because of some new classes in profiling then they have failed miserably. As a family of professionals travelling with kids they had me load 5 suitcases and bags in their new machine while some visitors in their mid twenties just walked on through. I guess they could not believe or do not understand how much you have to pack when you travel with babies and young children for a week.
A time before that when we got sent straight through but the guy at the door sent us back to the officer to check our bags. When i simply said that the officer had marked our cards green to go through another senior officer dressed in Swat gear looked over like he was going to jump down my throat. Looks like the day is coming when he will have to use his Rambo suit.
The problem is that too many of them are caught up in some drama or are uneducated and then take it out on those who seem to be getting ahead of them.
I see there was yet another armed robbery last night and this time a hotel was the target. Customs what are you doing about all the guns coming to our islands? Its time to get serious and keep the drugs and guns from coming here!
This department needs a good "shake up"!
The best ran department in govt. Maybe more Powerys should be in higher positions in the country. Let’s go bayers! Keep up the good work customs!
If I’m going to have to encounter some of the sour faces I see whenever I arrive at the airport, I won’t bother attending.
Stop talking and show us some action….. We’re tired of the lip service tell us what you are doing about all the guns that are being imported to our shores. We don’t manufacture them here so they’re being IMPORTED what has customs done to deter this?
Are the Customs representatives going to discuss this at the forum? Are they going to give stats on how many increased inspections they’ve conducted since the increase of gun crimes? Do they even use the inspection machine at the airport for contraban because I’ve never seen it used and I’m sure it cost the govt plenty to bring it here.
Lets get serious people we can have all the machines and devices to deter guns & drugs from coming to our shores but if the the CUSTOMS officers don’t get off their rear ends and do their job thoroughly it won’t work and this will sadly result in more crime, drug smuggling, and Cayman becoming a less desirous place for everyone to live in!
Please come to this forum equipped to tell the public what your department is really doing we don’t want to hear about your grand plans or collecting more revunue. We want Facts & Honest Answers is your department doing everything possible to "protect our borders"????
Find out how many sausages they have confiscated also.
My first question would be Is the Customs department a family run business? as the Powery’s are all in the top positions i think that is a conflict of interest and you wonder why when one of there own was in volved in the latest drugs smuggling there was no comment lets see what his name was hmmmmmm yep thats right one guess!
Have you checked all the other departments on the Islands yet? How many Boddens, Ebanks’, Jacksons etc. etc. work for the same companies – until you get your facts sorted out don’t make wrong assumptions. If the person is qualified why not hold the job?? Would you rather see some unfamiliar name there? Then you would complain that some ‘expatriate’ is taking our jobs!! No wonder people say that Caymanians don’t want to see their own ‘Caymanian’ get any further ahead!! Small mind thinking. If the Officers do anything wrong I’m sure they will lose their job as well as anyone else. Why don’t you apply & do some of the hard work that they have to do and stop complaining.
As with virtually every rule here, the people charged with enforcement are incapable or unwilling to do their jobs. Why is it so difficult to do what you are paid to do?
At the airport, we pay upfront our customs duties but how about those big companies, do they pay on time their customs duties? We might need to ask customs officers how much is the uncollected cutoms duties and why it is two sided.
Hopefully the Immigration Department will follow suit and itself hold a forum. Perhaps it will explain its blatant ‘highway robbery’ process known as Repatriation Fee
Very true, I have seen this many times coming through.Its who you know and who knows you!!It has probably chnaged some , but at what expense…too late.
What is there motto again?
I will not be there but I hope that one of the questions to be asked is "How come some people with tons (several suitcases and boxes) of baggage can literally walk through the customs check point at the airport and others have to declare and be asked questions/open suitcases?" My wife once asked a customs officer this question while she was being questioned coming in with two suitcases and a completed declaration form having seen the person in front coming in with the amount of luggage mentioned above and simply waltzing through the checkpoint. The officer questioned was outright agressive for being asked this question and said that it was allowed at the officers discretion. The person in front of her had a pickup truck waiting to take her "luggage" and we later found out that the person operated a small store. That person was clearly well above the allowed limit and, in any event, should have caused the officer to be suspicious. Not so.
Having said so, I must mention here this was some time back and maybe the system has changed.