We should not be too surprised at the lower prices for cellular telephones in the unauthorised stores, as reported yesterday. Under the headline 'Phones sell at ghetto prices', THE STAR reported that relatively high-end instruments are being sold at lower than regular prices in certain locations, one dubbed the 'Ghetto Digicel'.

One lesson that is immediately apparent from this is that the authorised dealers can sell their units at lower prices. After all, if these unauthorised stores can afford to offer what seems to be about 33 per cent lower price across the board, then certainly the persons who deal in greater volumes can afford to 'tek off suppen'.

Another lesson is the extent to which people will go to buy an expensive telephone. Although the store THE STAR visited is dubbed the 'Ghetto Digicel', prices of $20,000 for a Sony Ericsson W810i and $13,000 for a Motorola L7-SLVR are not very 'ghetto'. At least, not in the sense of the big jill of oil and quarter bread.

So, it is either a case that the people who go to these stores have more money then their jobs would indicate, or they are choosing to spend their money on things that flash instead of things that last.

Whatever the case, the fact is that these facilities exist, much like the alternate gas 'stations' where petrol is sold illegally. Where there is demand and there can be supply at a lower price an alternate distribution link will arise and that, in the end, is the essence of doing business, big, small or illegal.