For how many years that we are into ukay-ukay business, it’s only now that I am feeling there is really money in it. I never entertained the idea of selling the goods to a wholesaler. In this kind of business, the first customer who buys in bulk is called “selector”. They have a quota, usually half the amount of the bale. Sometimes the owner of the bale has three or more selectors who dig in the bale. This set up is not very good since they tend to grab at something that catches their attention resulting to damage of the item. For me, I wanted to open the bale….sort each piece according to price and label them all. The last bale I opened has 1,050 pieces of children’s clothing. This has been my style since we started this business when Ella was still a baby. This way we can monitor if we already have regained the capital. We sell the good ones at a good price but I realized the return of investment takes a very long time. Around 30 days.
What changed my mind is when Mr. Derf Maiz, the host of local news Una ka Bai and Testigo, plead to buy in bulk from us that he can sell at the bazaar. I was honestly hesitant at first but after much thought, I gave in. We drove to their apartment to bring the ukay-ukay. I asked for a quota of P8,000 and he had in mind to get goods worth P10,000 the most. After calculating his picks, he reached P18,280 worth of ukay-ukay and that made me think of doing it again. The bale is worth P16,500 so we already made money in that single transaction. The rest of the bale was brought to Digos City this afternoon.
Our cousin Shila is heading there for a job assignment and is bringing Puto and Maya’s puppy to Uncle Santie, his father (not to mention we also have an important transaction with Uncle), we offered to give her a ride. It was only one puppy which was planned to give but I told my sister Crislyn to give two puppies so it won’t feel so lonely and homesick. We just brought the ukay-ukay in case we can find a place where to set up the folding bed and lay the goods. Uncle was very helpful in finding a place. We spotted a place beside the city park and not long after we have laden the goods, people started coming. We made a good sales from the 1 hour stay at the park. Shila enjoyed it very much. Ella who has no class helped with handing me plastic bags and Eman? Oh he had the time of his life riding Uncle’s motorcycle around the park with Donald. We plan to come back tomorrow to bring more ukay-ukay. Now we found out how to make more money from this kind of business. I hope things will work out for us. 
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