The beech traders seem less persistent this year.
I haven’t worked out why because there are as many plying their trade as ever.
But usually they don’t take no for an answer. Having approached they ignore the first two polite refusals, stand and repeat their sales pitch and only after the third rejection do they move off.
But not so here on the Adriatic coast.
In many cases they do not even make much of a forceful first approach.
Now that is odd as anyone who has sat on an Italian beach will know.
And not for the first time I have wondered about the economics of it all. The merchandise is much the same and I doubt these traders have a lot of capital to layout on a large collection of the material they sell.
So does this imply a “Mr/Ms Big” who controls the stock and either sells it on or offers some deal based on sale and return? If so then these dealers I guess have a pre agreed meeting point from which the traders collect their produce and then fan out across the beaches, criss-crossing at regular intervals and times.
We have tried quizzing the odd trader who for obvious reasons seems vague about how the whole thing works and his place in the system.
That said just occasionally while on the road we have come across the beaten up truck of someone who could be the supplier.
The trucks are always loaded high with big black plastic bags full of stuff.
And as if to underline the cheapness of what is traded on occasion we came across a whole pile of discarded bag which had clearly fallen from a vehicle and not left behind.
That raises that bigger question of who these traders are, where they have come from and what their individual stories are.
Of course I doubt that I will ever know. They are unlikely to tell me and I am certainly not going to ask.
And in the same way many more established traders will congregate in the fixed markets which seem to take over side roads and whatever bit of spare land there is.
They operate from stalls, with large impressive vans behind them and you are drawn in by the large numbers of powerful electric lights hanging from cables all across the market site.
Some of these will have never seen a beech, or done that walk in the sweltering heat, but others like the woman offering to “do your hair” may well double up and take her turn on the sand.
What are missing are the traders plying the streets in the evening from make shift pitches. Usually on other resorts they will be the same beech traders who in the day wander between the sun beds and deckchairs and then at might come out selling the same produce to the unwary or those with too much money to give away.
All of which leaves me with more questions and thoughts about the economy of beech trading.
Location; Italy
Pictures; selling and buying in Adriatica, 2016 from the collection of Andrew Simpson
But usually they don’t take no for an answer. Having approached they ignore the first two polite refusals, stand and repeat their sales pitch and only after the third rejection do they move off.
But not so here on the Adriatic coast.
In many cases they do not even make much of a forceful first approach.
Now that is odd as anyone who has sat on an Italian beach will know.
And not for the first time I have wondered about the economics of it all. The merchandise is much the same and I doubt these traders have a lot of capital to layout on a large collection of the material they sell.
So does this imply a “Mr/Ms Big” who controls the stock and either sells it on or offers some deal based on sale and return? If so then these dealers I guess have a pre agreed meeting point from which the traders collect their produce and then fan out across the beaches, criss-crossing at regular intervals and times.
That said just occasionally while on the road we have come across the beaten up truck of someone who could be the supplier.
The trucks are always loaded high with big black plastic bags full of stuff.
And as if to underline the cheapness of what is traded on occasion we came across a whole pile of discarded bag which had clearly fallen from a vehicle and not left behind.
That raises that bigger question of who these traders are, where they have come from and what their individual stories are.
Of course I doubt that I will ever know. They are unlikely to tell me and I am certainly not going to ask.
And in the same way many more established traders will congregate in the fixed markets which seem to take over side roads and whatever bit of spare land there is.
They operate from stalls, with large impressive vans behind them and you are drawn in by the large numbers of powerful electric lights hanging from cables all across the market site.
What are missing are the traders plying the streets in the evening from make shift pitches. Usually on other resorts they will be the same beech traders who in the day wander between the sun beds and deckchairs and then at might come out selling the same produce to the unwary or those with too much money to give away.
All of which leaves me with more questions and thoughts about the economy of beech trading.
Location; Italy
Pictures; selling and buying in Adriatica, 2016 from the collection of Andrew Simpson
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