In the cold early morning, Matra smokes a cigarette and drink a cup of coffee before starting his ordinary days, as a vegetable hawker. In ten minutes he has been ready to paddle his cart. He goes to the big traditional market in Pulo Gadung area, East Jakarta every three AM! Jacket, cap, cart are the only things accompany him to face his live. His wife and his children support him by blessing him from village, out of Jakarta. He lives in his modest boarding home.
As usual, he meets the retailers of vegetables, fruits, fish, meat, and chicken. Joke, chat, and bargaining are part of the conversation. Having spent for two hours there, he then moves to certain housing blocks within Kelapa Gading sub district. He screams loudly; “sayur sayur… (vegetables vegetables..)”, to attract the customer to stop him. Sometimes he meets the new comers buying his goods but most of his customers are regular customer, the people who always buy vegetables, fruits, meet, and fish from him. Interesting chat among them!
Sometimes, his regular customers owe Matra, but sometimes, Matra owes to the customers. There has been a trust in between. Matra knows he has to manage it and that is his opportunity to tie the customers.
At twelve o’clock when hungry attacks his stomach, he stops at the stall called ‘warteg’ and have his lunch. He offers the stall owner as well, of the goods he has. Sometimes bargains happen and deal is met. Rice, tofu, and vegetables are his ordinary lunch. After taking a rest for an hour, he moves again to do the same activity as before until it reaches three pm.
That is ordinary day for Matra from two am until three pm. At three pm or before three he comes back again to his modest boarding home. He then cleans the cart from leftover goods and keeps the rest of the vegetables in the refrigerator which is provided by the host. He then takes a bath and chats with his other friends. The small conversation continues in the dining room when they have dinner. Around eight o’clock, he dreams to gain his wish. And in the cold early morning, he starts again, the ordinary lives as a hawker within informal sector.
That is a brief chronicle of mobile vegetable vendor within urbanized area. Most of vendors are low educated people and have been part of the community that needs to improve life. Most of them came from outside Jakarta eg. West Java (Bekasi, Kerawang) and Central Java (Pati, Blora, etc) and some are weekly commuters. Since they do not have affordability to buy land in Jakarta, they rent a house, for those who already married, or some are share rent room, for those who have not married yet. Of course they are looking for the cheapest one to rent the house or room.
Some findings show that some of them are actually labors and not truly entrepreneurs. They work for their boss. They are given certain amount of money as the capital and there is no time limit when they have to pay back to the boss. According to their ‘convention law’, most of them pay back within a week and the other thing, daily interest of 2%, should be paid as well. Based on observation and interviewed, they reach net profit at range of Rp150,000.00 to Rp400,000.00. The uncertainty is mostly caused by holidays in which in holidays most customers take a rest at home and not going out of town so that they will cook much in holidays. The other thing, the hawkers rent cart to the boss as well. It is preferable for vendor to do that because they are weekly commuters. Who will care with cart if they go home town? That is the reason why they prefer to rent then own their selves. It means they have to pay interest rate and cart per day to the boss as well as the loan at the end of the week. If they could not pay it, they should pay in the following week. For those who can pay back, they can borrow money again to the boss. It is like a circle, every week they borrow and every end of the week they pay back the loan, and Matra one of them and it has been going for ten years.
It seems that he and his friends have no other choices. There is no job for low educated people like him and he also does not have rice field in his village. Fortunately, his neighbor in his village offers him a job to be a hawker. His neighbor, as his boss now, has found his prosperity in Jakarta.
According to Matra, he wants his children have good education, reach higher education level, and have a good job. His willingness to face burning hot day or even hard rain encourages his vision. He is ready to work hard because the condition forces him to survive! But please be noted that they can reach at least Rp600,000.00 per month and they deliver it to their family in village. It is quite big amount of money in the village.
How about the other hawkers, who live with family in Jakarta? That is not enough for them. Fortunately, they have their own strategy. Some of their wife opens stall or little shop and some works as servant, house keeper, etc.
There are lessons learned from this observation. I believe there are many others “Matra” in the big cities like Jakarta. This activity actually absorbs the unemployment and it is now government action to take part in creating enabling environment for them. Do they know the micro finance credit for small entrepreneur? If so, why do they not use micro finance credit provided by government? Why do they prefer to loan money from the boss? Those are questions to answer how government can take part of this situation. Otherwise, if less attention to be paid, it is just a survival strategy to life.
Published by the Jakarta Post
As usual, he meets the retailers of vegetables, fruits, fish, meat, and chicken. Joke, chat, and bargaining are part of the conversation. Having spent for two hours there, he then moves to certain housing blocks within Kelapa Gading sub district. He screams loudly; “sayur sayur… (vegetables vegetables..)”, to attract the customer to stop him. Sometimes he meets the new comers buying his goods but most of his customers are regular customer, the people who always buy vegetables, fruits, meet, and fish from him. Interesting chat among them!
Sometimes, his regular customers owe Matra, but sometimes, Matra owes to the customers. There has been a trust in between. Matra knows he has to manage it and that is his opportunity to tie the customers.
At twelve o’clock when hungry attacks his stomach, he stops at the stall called ‘warteg’ and have his lunch. He offers the stall owner as well, of the goods he has. Sometimes bargains happen and deal is met. Rice, tofu, and vegetables are his ordinary lunch. After taking a rest for an hour, he moves again to do the same activity as before until it reaches three pm.
That is ordinary day for Matra from two am until three pm. At three pm or before three he comes back again to his modest boarding home. He then cleans the cart from leftover goods and keeps the rest of the vegetables in the refrigerator which is provided by the host. He then takes a bath and chats with his other friends. The small conversation continues in the dining room when they have dinner. Around eight o’clock, he dreams to gain his wish. And in the cold early morning, he starts again, the ordinary lives as a hawker within informal sector.
That is a brief chronicle of mobile vegetable vendor within urbanized area. Most of vendors are low educated people and have been part of the community that needs to improve life. Most of them came from outside Jakarta eg. West Java (Bekasi, Kerawang) and Central Java (Pati, Blora, etc) and some are weekly commuters. Since they do not have affordability to buy land in Jakarta, they rent a house, for those who already married, or some are share rent room, for those who have not married yet. Of course they are looking for the cheapest one to rent the house or room.
Some findings show that some of them are actually labors and not truly entrepreneurs. They work for their boss. They are given certain amount of money as the capital and there is no time limit when they have to pay back to the boss. According to their ‘convention law’, most of them pay back within a week and the other thing, daily interest of 2%, should be paid as well. Based on observation and interviewed, they reach net profit at range of Rp150,000.00 to Rp400,000.00. The uncertainty is mostly caused by holidays in which in holidays most customers take a rest at home and not going out of town so that they will cook much in holidays. The other thing, the hawkers rent cart to the boss as well. It is preferable for vendor to do that because they are weekly commuters. Who will care with cart if they go home town? That is the reason why they prefer to rent then own their selves. It means they have to pay interest rate and cart per day to the boss as well as the loan at the end of the week. If they could not pay it, they should pay in the following week. For those who can pay back, they can borrow money again to the boss. It is like a circle, every week they borrow and every end of the week they pay back the loan, and Matra one of them and it has been going for ten years.
It seems that he and his friends have no other choices. There is no job for low educated people like him and he also does not have rice field in his village. Fortunately, his neighbor in his village offers him a job to be a hawker. His neighbor, as his boss now, has found his prosperity in Jakarta.
According to Matra, he wants his children have good education, reach higher education level, and have a good job. His willingness to face burning hot day or even hard rain encourages his vision. He is ready to work hard because the condition forces him to survive! But please be noted that they can reach at least Rp600,000.00 per month and they deliver it to their family in village. It is quite big amount of money in the village.
How about the other hawkers, who live with family in Jakarta? That is not enough for them. Fortunately, they have their own strategy. Some of their wife opens stall or little shop and some works as servant, house keeper, etc.
There are lessons learned from this observation. I believe there are many others “Matra” in the big cities like Jakarta. This activity actually absorbs the unemployment and it is now government action to take part in creating enabling environment for them. Do they know the micro finance credit for small entrepreneur? If so, why do they not use micro finance credit provided by government? Why do they prefer to loan money from the boss? Those are questions to answer how government can take part of this situation. Otherwise, if less attention to be paid, it is just a survival strategy to life.
Published by the Jakarta Post
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