Marketed largely through WhatsApp.
Melitta Ngalonkulu / 13 May 2020 00:01
The South African economy is going up in smoke. Image: Reuters/Rogan Ward
There’s almost no point calling it the black market because it’s pretty visible to just about anyone who cares to look.
On a Friday afternoon, two suburbans leave the leafy streets of Bryanston and make their way to Soweto to buy alcohol.
Ask why, and they openly tell you that that’s where their latest ‘plug’ (connection) is.
The journey to quench the ‘thirst’ for alcohol starts with a WhatsApp text that includes the latest pricelist of the types of alcohol available. The selection changes every week, as suppliers sell whatever they have been able to get their hands on.
If you take too long to decide whether you want to make a purchase, say a few hours, you might just find it out of stock — that’s how fast merchandise moves in the underground economy during the coronavirus lockdown.
You might think there would be a stock clearance sale, but there isn’t. Prices are inflated by 100% or more compared with the usual retail price, and consumers are willing to empty their pockets to get their ‘fix’.
And in truth, it’s really not that much of a hassle for the consumers.
“The experience was easier than we anticipated,” said one of the buyers I spoke to. “The supplier got alcohol from another supplier, and they do drop-offs to clients.
The buyer believes the supplier is clearly making a lot of money from this trade and that there’s a demand, adding that it’s inundated with clients wanting drop-offs.
This ‘willing buyer’ did not mind travelling to Soweto to buy an unknown brand of gin for R300 and three litres of Fourth Street wine for R200 because in the suburbs “it costs R450”.
A typical black market pricelist in the time of Covid-19. Note, the above prices of ready-to-drink beverages are per bottle. Image: Supplied
In the black market, whether you are a supplier, the go-between or a consumer, it’s not that easy to get stock due to the lockdown regulations and the fact that police are roaming the streets looking for those who dare to defy the new law that prohibits the selling and buying of alcohol and tobacco. But where there is a will, there is a way.…
Word-of-mouth approach (not always successful) Image: Supplied
Black market liquor and tobacco entrepreneur Rakhir Patel [not his real name] is running a successful business from his apartment thanks to the lockdown regulations.
Aware that the regulations would prevent him from continuing with his usual job in sales, and anticipating that people would run of their ‘poison of choice’ prior to the lockdown being lifted, he stocked up on alcohol and cigarettes before lockdown came into effect on March 27. But his stock soon ran out, and he had to look for suppliers.
“Depending on the supplier, like when the ban first started, it was easy to find stock because most people had and were willing to sell their stock,” he told Moneyweb.
“As the lockdown continued and the supply ran low it started getting much harder, and now we try to find a new supplier every day because if you do find one, that supplier will only be able to supply you once-off due to no more stock availability.
“Sometimes we go for weeks without new suppliers who will give you a reasonable price,” he said.
“Most of the suppliers want to sell [cigarettes] to you for R1 200 per carton, which is madness.”
Willing buyer, willing seller …. Some black market customers don’t even try to negotiate. Image: Supplied
Read the original full article on Moneyweb
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