By Zoey Saffron

With the raging COVID-19 pandemic forcing many persons to stay mostly within the confines of their homes, door-to-door delivery services have been making a steady rise in communities across the island.

One such company, the Montego Bay-based RajCam Delivery Service, has seen such an exponential rise in demand for its service that it has gone beyond the boundaries of St. James to making door-to-door deliveries in Portland, St. Ann, Trelawny, Hanover, Westmoreland and St. Elizabeth.

Garwin Davis, CEO of RajCam, said the idea for the company was born watching the rapid rise of DoorDash, Uber and Grubhub in the United States, adding that COVID-19 and the fear of interacting with potential “virus-spreaders”, have made the delivery business very attractive and a “win-win for all”.

“The novel coronavirus has wreaked havoc and despair in communities across the world,” Davis pointed out. “Here in Jamaica, it’s the same story where almost every single entity has been affected. What it has also done, however, is to create an opening for enterprising entrepreneurs who have come to realise that there is no better sell today in Jamaica than to bring goods and services to the doorstep of customers…where they don’t have to leave their homes unless they really have to.”

Davis said the Christmas holiday leading into New Year’s Day “was rather brisk” and RajCam had to work overtime to meet the demands of customers.

He said that the company has now added an overseas component where customers from anywhere in the Diaspora can now call and place their orders for deliveries to their loved ones in Jamaica.

“This was a big deal leading up to Christmas where persons living overseas would just call and have us deliver hams (cooked and uncooked), seafood, groceries and Christmas cake to their loved ones. You should see the look on some of these faces… priceless looks. Some of these people have been moved to tears… surprised that the gifts were coming from loved ones overseas.”

Davis further noted that with a lot of persons having been laid off from jobs as a result of the pandemic, RajCam has also been creating employment for persons in the form of dispatchers and drivers in many communities on the island’s northern coast, adding that “of course we are not the end all… but we have been bringing a lot of smiles to a number of homes.”

The ultimate goal is to take the service across the entire island, noting that “we all have to start from somewhere and RajCam is poised to go on to bigger things…even when there is no COVID around. You can find us on Facebook and Instagram.”

“We are now also into clearing barrels from the wharves and also doing package pickups and going to the bank and tax office for our clients,” Davis added.

“We now consider ourselves a multi-purpose delivery company that caters to the needs of our clients in a climate of goodwill, transparency and high quality. We are also very fast and efficient and building a track record of success.”