Saipan’s QL Score

The last showing at Hollywood Theater was a closeout event before they closed down. What this means for Saipan is that we will have to now wait several months to watch newly released movies on DVD. Practically every person in the civilized world has a chance to see these movies right away on the big screen, but not here.

Closing Saipan’s sole movie theater was a watershed for some that tipped the scales in an important evaluation that everyone subconsciously makes. Whenever you consider a purchase, you weigh overall value against the total cost. If the value exceeds the cost, you make the decision to purchase the item. Likewise, the benefits of living in a location contribute to the overall quality of life. If the quality of life score, or QL score, tips to the positive side, then you’ll want to stay. However, if the scale tips toward the negative side, you start considering your options.

To evaluate the QL score for Saipan, you need to list all of the things that add to the score, and assign a weighted value to each, and then subtract the weighted value of all of those things that detract from the quality of life. The difference is either a positive or negative number.

There are a number of positive things that either brought you to the islands or kept you here like the climate, natural beauty, air quality, low traffic, friendly people, cultural diversity, great golf courses and diving sites. As a businessperson, you were probably attracted to Saipan because of the low wages, low taxes, and high tourist numbers. List all of the things that you feel add to your quality of life and then place a weighted score between 1 and 10 by each item, with 10 meaning a very high quality of life for you. Next, add all the numbers.

Now, let’s consider those things that detract from your quality of life on Saipan. Next to each item, give a weighted score between 1 and 10, with 10 being very negative. If you’re like most people, unreliable power tops your list. Not only is it upsetting to not have basic utilities, but the frequent outages have cost individuals thousands of dollars in destroyed air conditioners, computers, televisions and other electronic equipment.

For businesses, it has cost them tens of thousands of dollars in lost sales. And the opportunity cost has been inestimable when it comes to negative word of mouth from tourists having a disappointing experience, or investors backing off because of the lack of basic power. We can’t even compare our situation to a Third World country because that would be an insult to all of the developing countries with reliable power. Plenty of blame can be spread around on things like rising oil prices, the government’s ineptness, faulty generators, or mismanagement. Whatever the cause, the result is still the same—unreliable power and a huge detraction from the QL score.

Other factors that can drop the quality of life are rising fuel prices and the associated price increase of all goods due to higher shipping costs. Other disappointing aspects are red-flagged beaches, and litter strewn along the roads, beaches and other public areas. A government position was once considered the crème de la crème of jobs on island because the pay was much higher than the private sector, the retirement program was unbelievable, and the travel, flexibility, and other perks couldn’t be matched. That situation has changed dramatically in the last few years. The Retirement Fund’s ticking time bomb could implode in less than a decade and the defined contribution plan offers a pittance of what it replaced. Don’t forget looming threats of layoffs, austerity holidays or across the board pay cuts that will shrink a paycheck that has already eroded from the insidious affects of inflation.

Once you’ve made your list, and totaled the amount of each score, take the total positive numbers and subtract the total negative amount. This gives you an overall quality of life score. If it’s positive, congratulate yourself for viewing the many positive aspects of life in paradise as greater than the negative factors. Obviously, the higher your score, the better your quality of life.

However, if your score is negative, you’re quality of life could range from uncomfortable to miserable. On the low negative side, you are dissatisfied and may be considering your options. If your QL score is a moderate to high negative number, you’ve mentally packed and have updated your resume, or you’ve already booked your flights and are just waiting for the kids to finish school before you go to the land of milk and honey with 24/7 electric power.

We suspect that the balance has tipped for many somewhere on the negative scale, which is extremely sad, considering all the opportunities and assets our “leaders” have been unable to capitalize on to make this the ideal tourists destination it should become. Unless something is done soon to reverse the trend, the “doom and gloom” outlook that seems to permeate the news and daily discussions will cause Saipan’s best and brightest to weigh their options and leave; allowing the status quo politicos to continue unimpeded on a course that will auger us in.