Shopping in the office. - RUDOLPH BROWN
THEY ARE A familiar sight at many companies and very welcome ones at that, for those who need that little 'catch me up' in the middle of the work day.
The business run from a desk drawer is, quite often, a snack based enterprise, but can range anywhere from movies to clothing, from perfume to telephone cards.
And while it may be, in the strict sense of the company's policy, illegal, many times a 'blind eye' is turned towards these businesses in the workplace, as long as they are kept circumspect and do not disturb the work flow.
'BACK-UP' SALARY
Fiona, who works with a distribution company, has the 'back-up' to her salary in the middle drawer of her desk. "I started about a year ago," she said. "At first I was hesitant, because I thought I might get into trouble with the people at work, plus sometimes people look down on those who sell things. But for one, the salary alone just cannot make it and then I saw people in a higher position than me doing their thing too, so I just went ahead."
She works in a company which does not have its own canteen and snacks are not readily available, so Fiona provides items such as peanuts, banana chips and sweets at what she calls "a low enough price." "I don't have like a 100 per cent profit which, when you buy in bulk as I do, you realise that that is what the people who are into business make," she said.
BULK PRICES
While she had been familiar with shopping in the wholesale district in downtown, Kingston, it had been only for regular household supplies, so the bulk prices for snacks and sweets came as a surprise. Although her monthly sales are no replacement for her salary, Fiona has come to rely on it to meet the rising cost of living, as well as put some savings away.
As a primary school teacher, Althea knows that she should not be selling items such as pencils and sharpeners to her students, but reasons that not only is she offering the supplies at a good price, but also she is preventing the children from going elsewhere to buy them. "I don't make much money, but at the same time I don't want the children running all over the place to get these things. It is the most frustrating thing, in the middle of class somebody wants to go out for a pencil. All of a sudden everybody wants to go for something," Althea said.
Phone cards is the business of choice for 22 year-old Marvin, who happily says "people chat nuff y'see...I wish I could a get one a dem cyard machine set up." It is a carry-over business of sorts, as the young accounting clerk has been selling phone cards from in his late teens, "after Digicel bus."
SMALL PROFIT, HIGH SALES
"Small profit, high sales," he described his pricing strategy. "When people a put on a extra $10, me just stay with the same GCT price that people in store sell for. And I always make sure that I have $100 card, because most time that is what people can go up to," he said.
One thing that they all agree on is that discretion is the key. "You can't have a lot of people gathered up around your desk like is a shop out on the road. And people have to understand that," Fiona said.
Then there is the matter of collecting. "Come pay day you have to be sharp, before the money goes," Fiona laughed.
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