The_King Posted November 23, 2019 Share Posted November 23, 2019 SINGAPORE - Retailers fear a combined stock of 11,000 e-scooters worth millions of dollars may go largely unsold, as several met the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Wednesday (Nov 20) to voice their concerns of plummeting demand now that the devices have been banned on footpaths. Following that meeting, e-scooter-related businesses also met on Friday for more than two hours to discuss the further steps they could take in the light of the ban. The prospect of forming an association to represent some 30 affected businesses was also discussed. A document leaked to the media on Friday evening by an e-mail account named Safety First showed that the businesses have reported a combined inventory of more than 11,000 e-scooters worth over $6.53 million. The document was confirmed to have been prepared by the retailers, although one told The Straits Times the numbers were just estimates. Retailers say sales have been significantly slower since the ban on e-scooters from footpaths kicked in on Nov 5. In response to queries from ST, LTA confirmed it met with several retailers earlier this week to hear their current concerns and clarify why e-scooters needed to be kept off footpaths for the safety of pedestrians. "Several retailers shared with us that they were keen to sell power-assisted bicycles," LTA added. "We agreed to help familiarise them with the requirements and approval processes for the sale of PABs." At the meeting on Friday in an office in Clarke Quay, ST observed about a dozen representatives from e-scooter businesses such as Eko Life and Minimotors to be present. Retailers approached afterwards declined to comment. According to the leaked document, the firm hardest hit was Mobot, which had previously told ST it had 3,000 scooters, worth $1.5 million in its inventory. Other major retailers, such as IPassion Group, Falcon PEV, Minimotors and Electrowolf, also reported inventories of e-scooters worth six-figure sums, according to the document. Meanwhile, there were also many businesses that had pre-ordered units before the ban, according to the document. The pre-orders amounted to $1.29 million. Asked about the document, a retailer involved in the group of businesses told ST the inventories and orders revealed in the document were not affirmative but estimates to gauge the impact suffered by retailers. He also said the numbers could be outdated as they were from at least a week ago, adding: "As things are rather fluid, stock comes in and out daily. The (actual) numbers will very likely be different." https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/pmd-retailers-meet-with-lta-to-air-concern-over-e-scooters-worth-millions-in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chamfer Posted November 23, 2019 Share Posted November 23, 2019 The govt should have banned PMD in the first place. They only caused problem. Making people lazy to walk to reduce weight. I nearly got banged by 2 PMD users one after another on the footpath just now. Guess what?it's grabfood delivery guys.... 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beautifuldays Posted November 23, 2019 Share Posted November 23, 2019 38 minutes ago, chamfer said: The govt should have banned PMD in the first place. They only caused problem. Making people lazy to walk to reduce weight. I nearly got banged by 2 PMD users one after another on the footpath just now. Guess what?it's grabfood delivery guys.... That is terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XianGe Posted November 24, 2019 Share Posted November 24, 2019 Actually the writings were on the wall yet they still went ahead with the orders... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaur4man Posted November 24, 2019 Share Posted November 24, 2019 SG is too small a consumer market to hold such big inventory 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators invis Posted November 24, 2019 Moderators Share Posted November 24, 2019 Gov already collected GST from importers. They wun care about them. 1 1 https://t.me/Invisssss https://discord.gg/PvPTrye https://www.instagram.com/invisman_/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homelander Posted November 24, 2019 Share Posted November 24, 2019 Like ofo, obike, mobike...another fad bites the dust 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meng.huat Posted November 24, 2019 Share Posted November 24, 2019 (edited) knn... lose money ask govt... earn money all diam diam... go KTV yolo?? who ask them so greedy go spam millions of PMD?? i dont believe the PMD worth millions, at most a few hundred k... IRAS better step in to check GST payment and also income declaration of these dealers... Edited November 24, 2019 by meng.huat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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