Victor Fong, Author at Goody Feed

It's basically almost impossible for you to not know of the PMD ban by now, especially considering that's basically what we'll be spamming this site with these few days. How many PMD articles can a writer write? How many PMD references are there available? How many PMD jokes can you take? Subscribe to Goody Feed to watch writers lose their sanity over writing PMD over and over. Another article, another PMD. / Image: Giphy In a list of not surprising things to happen from the PMD ban, we have people selling off their PMDs. On 3 November 2019, there were about 9 listings of e-scooters on Carousell. Then as of 7pm on 4 November 2019, after the PMD ban on footpaths was announced, it jumped to at least 40. Expect this to go even higher as more people find ways to get rid of their PMD on Carousell. Image: Carousell On Carousell, you can find listings from S$0 to S$1,500. But obviously S$0 doesn't mean they give you lah. Usually, listings like that are just to attract your attention, to which you ask the price on chat. But what kind of stories are behind the listings? Are these Grab riders who bought the e-scooter for work but realised they are now effectively useless pieces of junk? Are the increase in listings just a coincidence? Here's something about the PMD ban. The Ban Was Too Sudden There was no pre-announcement of an announcement or anything like that. Just suddenly, 4 Nov 2019, PMD ban on footpaths. What this meant was, there were quite a few people who only recently bought their PMDs. By recent, I mean last week. Like Ms Tan Pei Ling, a food delivery rider, who bought her e-scooter one week ago for S$1,400, and is now selling it for S$700. "I followed all the rules, and then out of nowhere, they ban (its use on footpaths)." She's not a one-of-a-kind Grab rider though. Mr Chris Lim, for instance, paid S$949 for an e-scooter one week ago for a part-time Grab rider job. It's not known if his listing is on Carousell. There's also Grab and Deliveroo delivery riders like Mr George Chow, who now cannot a PMD, but is unable to ride a bicycle due to his heart condition and also does not have the time and money to get a motorcycle license. "This is the only job (that is) able to give me the income and time to take care of my parents." "There's no point selling (the e-scooter) now, it's already worthless." For e-scooter users, there's a safety requirement called the UL2272 standard. Those that you see on Carousell are likely to meet this standard. But for those who happen to have one that doesn't, the LTA has an early disposal incentive of S$100 until the end of the year for that. What About The Shops Actually Selling PMDs? After hearing some depressing stories from individuals, how about some more fuel for your tears here from shops? Kernel Scooter, an e-scooter retailer, has a few hundred of PMDs in its inventory which range from S$299 to S$1599. As their store manager Jay Jin says: "(The ban) will definitely cause a dip in sales, but our main concern is our existing customers whose livelihoods depend on the e-scooters to as (they are) delivery riders." Wait a minute. So in the end, it's still the delivery riders who suffer the most. Image: Knowyourmeme At PassionGadgets, where 80% of the store's profit comes from PMD, the manager has this to say: "It's not necessarily a big loss to us because they still can be used. We'll just have to reassure our customers that they can still use (PMDs) at bicycle paths and park connectors." Somehow I think that isn't totally reflective of the truth. But, what do I know? And of course, no one can forget this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?vnNA7EuZpgq4 Yes, you've heard it right: a retailer has $1 million worth of inventory, and a ban means they'll go bankrupt the next day...which is today. It all appears to be mostly a lose-lose situation here. So, once again, for the inconsiderate minority of PMD riders: Image: quickmeme.com

Victor Fong

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