During her routine night walk my Mom bought a bunch of cilantro for one yuan (US$0.14) and half dozen of lettuces for 1.4 yuan (US$0.19) . She bought them from a vegetable street stall at the outskirt area of our community and of which owners is an old couple. The old couple rents one third of a community grocery but to catch more flow of customers and to increase the income, they used to set up the vegetable stall in front of the grocery...
"...staffs quite cheap. " my Mom praised as she arranged the cilantro and lettuces in the kitchen.
That is true. Over the past year of 2024 it seems that things have become even cheaper...
Another thing that impresses me is that the old couple usually keeps the vegetables stall from some 7:00 am in the morning to 11:00 pm in the evening. Under the economic downturn, it seems that they have to prolong their business hours to try to obtain more deals...
Then I thought about my aunt. After leaving the big city, she now live at my hometown, a remote coastal town where she makes her living by doing handicrafts. She also starts working at 7:00 am and will work long hours till some 21:30 pm at a toy workshop... In a place where there is shortage of industries and employment, that seems the best job she could get...
So with economic slump, it seems things are not easy in the recent years... In spite of the difficulties, people manage to cope with these and keep float.