Vendors make most of Independence Day
JAKARTA (JP): For casual traders, the upcoming national Independence Day is a good opportunity to make a tidy buck.
Some seasonal businesses emerge at this time of the year as many avail of the chance to sell national flags, flag poles and other related paraphernalia, including poles obtained from areca palm stems.
Hopeful vendors have been displaying their wares on sidewalks across Jakarta since the beginning of the month.
At the busy Arteri Pondok Indah road in South Jakarta on Friday, Mamat, an areca pole vendor, sat at a cigarette stall chatting with his friends.
"I haven't sold anything today, but since I started on Aug. 1, I've already had 20 buyers who paid me down payments for the poles," he said.
Mamat said that his buyers would pay the rest on the day of delivery.
The price of an areca pole, which is between four meters and five meters long, ranges from Rp 150,000 to Rp 200,000, including delivery costs.
"The taller and straighter the pole, the more expensive it is," Mamat told The Jakarta Post.
The poles are not for flying the national flag. Instead, they play an important role in a traditional event held in celebration of the Aug. 17 Independence Day. The event is known as panjat pinang (which can be loosely translated as "climbing the pole", during which the participants have to climb to the top of the pole, which is covered in grease, in order to snatch the various prizes that are tied to the top.
Mamat, who has no permanent employment, has been availing of the seasonal business for the past five years.
On other days, he usually looks for laboring jobs on building sites.
"I use the profits I make from doing this to cover for the days when I don't have a job," he said.
By the end of the season, Mamat said he could make a net profit of Rp 1.5 million.
As for starting capital, Mamat claimed to have borrowed it from friends and relatives.
"The areca poles are not difficult to sell as many will come around looking for them so that they can hold the event in their areas," Mamat said.
He buys the areca poles in Parung, West Java for about Rp 30,000 each, and then transports them to Jakarta. He cuts and pares them himself.
Not far from Mamat's location, three other areca pole vendors were waiting for buyers.
Yayan, a resident of Bekasi, has rarely gone home since Aug. 5, the day he started this year's pole selling.
At the end of the day, he sleeps in a makeshift food stall not far from where his poles are stacked.
Yayan, too, has been in the business for the past five years.
This year, however, good luck has been in somewhat short supply.
"By this time last year, I would have probably sold around 15 to 20 poles but, thus far, I have had only six people who have handed over down payments," Yayan told the Post.
"Last year, I was able to sell up to 40 poles by the end of the season," he said, adding that his net profit last year had been Rp 2 million.
"I'm not sure what's causing business to be so slow this year, but I'm optimistic that I will at least be able to break even by the end of the season," he said.
Just like Mamat, Yayan does not have any permanent employment, either. On normal days he will take any job that comes his way, mostly as a construction worker.
When asked whether he would get involved in the same business next year, Yayan nodded enthusiastically.
"This is a good business. Unfortunately, I can only do this once a year," he said.
He hoped that this weekend more people would come and buy the poles as the number of buyers usually increased after Aug. 10.
"Actually this morning, I had one buyer. I'm going to deliver one pole to Puncak in West Java tomorrow," he said, adding that he would have his relative watch his business while he was away.(06)