Man in the Middle
In residential areas in the PI, there are lots of smaller Convi's (Convenience Stores) called "Sari-sari stores". These SS stores sell their products at a considerably higher mark-up than the same product you buy at a Convi. Let's take a bottle of soda for example. What would cost 10 bucks at the SS Store would only cost 9 at the Convi, and 8 at your local supermarket.Think that's small? Multiply it by 24 (number of bottles in a case) then by 10 (the approximated maximum stackable height).Wait, i'm not quite finished. Multiply it by X where "X" is 30. This is approximately the smallest number of stacks you can hold in a truck. Doing the math, it's 7,200 bucks at 1 peso mark-up. Now.. if you are the person in-charge of supplying SS's with drinks, you'll probably make at least 3 bucks mark-up and still be able to sell. (that was years ago, im not sure how much it is now), but if you'll see it, you'll be making around 20k per delivery. That's a lot.That's just per delivery. Do you want to want to know how many deliveries do you actually make in a month? Yes that's right.. if your areas covered are heavy soda drinkers, you'll be raking at least 60k in gross profit. And that's PER truck. Imaging having a fleet of them...Now can you see the big money??All this is possible because of this business -- that is: one of being the MIDDLE MAN.He is the guy who manages the supply and delivery from the soda plant to the sari sari store.Depending on your connections, you can be direct to your SS store customer or have another contact to supply the trucking/shipping schedules. Looks like a really good business model right? I should know, I know people in this business, and it's the only thing they've been doing for years, and they've gone quite the distance. Although this is really hard work.. miss out on a shipment or a supply and some other middle man will take your SS store customer away from you. Quite the cut-throat competition is it not? But hey this is how the business world works. If you won't make your customer happy, some other supplier will.. but the rewards of this business are just about worth the pains getting this business started. Truly this is one nature of business where having the skills won't spell the difference between success and failure. It's "who you know".Imagine making that -- around 20k per delivery per truck. Where can you find 20k on the street?
Good business model right? Well it is..
Manong James
I remember one of our batchmates back in highschool. We used to talk a lot about games, guns, and girls that we dreamed to put up a brothel when we became of age. Luckily reality is sometimes the saving bite rather than the rude sickle making its way into your veins everyday. We would have probably been the ones who would put up PDP if we took a turn for the worse.Instead of being the devil's advocate, we were conquered with a different type of overwhelming lust when we got out of college. His was the lust for money while mine was the lust for uh.. peanut-designing??Now don't get me wrong - you read it right. He is a cab driver and has an apetite for making a lot of money. Combine the low-cost, maximum benefit model with Filipino ingenuity, and what do you have? A simple rich guy. Really, he is. He rents a big flat with his wife and is rearing a kid. I can't picture other cab drivers in Manila like that. A really good number are rude to manilenos, swindling to foreigners, and don't deserve a professional driver's license.I feel real bad for those cab drivers like my friend, because he is among the minority of those 'samaritan' drivers. I'm sure of it, matter how rowdy and horny the stories we shared back in college were, no matter how evil and corrupted our values have become now..At the same time I admire his courage at taking the road less travelled. I'm sure many of our old friends have taken the "usual" path to living. We are definitely among the two-sides of the rare coin.Which is why we own the world, Manong James. Really, we do..Here's to the KABF dream one day!!
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The following post is a work of fiction. All names of people, places, events connected to real life are purely coincidental.Time: Some random weekday 7:30 pm at a cafe in Podium.Danilo Manalo, a manager in a prominent services company in ortigas, recalls his experience at having overheard at a conversation between two officeworkers. Apparently, they were part of the HR in-charge of hiring for the incumbent fiscal year.========================================"So pare who should we hire among the two?""Who are we talking about again? That chinita girl noh with the dimples and the other one with the legs that won't quit right?""Two?? Ok, so we're narrowing it down to two already so soon?""Ah yeah, I didn't like the picture of the other candidates. If we're going to shortlist, I'd put the cute ones together so it wouldn't be difficult to choose.""Hehe I agree dude. Can't we just hire them all? They're all fresh grads so they're probably single *snicker snicker*."Well if I was HR manager, no questions asked. I would write off all their skill inadequacies and have trainings held.""Hehe _____ you're really something pare. Anything just to hire them.""But of course, I wouldn't want to be blamed for 'misrepresenting' our company by hiring people who don't look good"========================================Danny to self: I've heard enough. I'll definitely tell my daugther never to put her picture in her resume when she's applying for a job. She might not get hired if she does even if she is qualified for the position. Just what kind of company requires applicants to submit a picture?!
