COVID-19 Scare: Deadly But Profitable For Mexican Street Vendors

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For many people, COVID-19 pandemic is a foe but for street vendors in Mexico, it is a profitable ally.

Countries around the world are declaring lockdowns due to COVID-19, and as pharmacy and supermarket shelves have gone empty of alcohol and other sanitary products, some Mexicans are raking in the profits for selling hand sanitizers three to four times their regular market price, according to a recent article.

"Even by the 20-liter jug," said one police officer designated in Avenida Juárez post, alongside the city's famous Alameda Park.

Across downtown Mexico City, vendors have posted signs advertising hand gels mostly sold in unlabeled containers.

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According to the local press, vendors are selling 525-milliliter bottles bearing the labels of the Blumen brand for 100 pesos (US4.30), contrary to its supermarket price of around 30-40 pesos.

They also had unlabeled 280-milliliter bottles that can be bought for 50 pesos and even smaller ones for 15 pesos.

Profeco, Mexico's federal consumer protection agency announced on March 21 that the average price for hand sanitizer in the black-market was 13.83 pesos per 60 milliliters. At that price, a liter costs 230 pesos. Meanwhile, in supermarkets, a 1-liter bottle of Blumen hand sanitizer costs around 55 pesos.

Last week, Profeco agents seized 1,435 unlicensed, unlabeled bottles of hand sanitizer and face masks.

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In a press release, the agency warned of the danger of such products, stressing that the hand gel "might not disinfect, or could even contain a prohibited ingredient."

But street vendors have fed on the fear of the public which bolstered demand for products to protect themselves against the unseen enemy.

"I see them get it from that booth there," a shoe shiner pointed on a corner of the popular pedestrian street Calle Madero.

Down the street, 60-milliliter bottles of hand sanitizer are being sold for as low as 10 pesos to as high as 50 pesos.

Bootleg antibacterial gel vendors are finding they can't even meet the demand. When a group of vendors with bags full of unlabeled 5 and 10-liter plastic bottles was asked if they were going to sell them, one of them replied:

"Yes, but not until tomorrow, because we ran out of alcohol."

While their alco-gels were going out of stocks, the vendor said she does not believe that all the hand sanitizer would even do any good.

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Despite benefiting from the fear caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the vendor claimed she does not believe the news of the virus and said that people were wasting their money on hand sanitizer.

"It's a rumor. The whole world's getting sick, but this is utter nonsense from the federal and world governments," she said. "You go and find out who caused this disorder."

As of Friday, March 27, the ministry of health reported 717 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Mexico, with 12 deaths, according to an article by Latin Post.