Vendors note slow sales of candles, flowers

CEBU, Philippines - Just before the commemoration of All Saints and All Souls Days starts, candle and flower vendors complain of the lesser demand and lower sales of their products this year.

Serving 20 years of her life as a candle vendor, Flor Marie Baring of Florita’s Flower Shop at the Freedom Park prefers the year 2011 over this year in terms of sales in their family business.  She said that they earned only P12,000 to  P15,000 from selling 100 to 150 bundles of flowers from October 26 to 30 this year, compared to the 200 to 3000 bundles sold last year.

As a result, her family has to cut the prices of the flowers in half due to the low demand for All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. She cited that a bundle of Malaysian mumps are now sold at P75 to P120 from the regular price of P150, asther flowers from P60 last year to P35 this year, anthurium decreased to P50 from P75 and yellow chrysanthemum are already sold at P30 per dozen.

“Mas kusog pa ang last year bisag nihit ang supply. Though mahal ang buwak pero paliton man pud sa mga tawo. Karong tuiga, barato na lage pero mingaw na man hinuon,” she said in an interview.  (Last year there were less supply but the demand was high. Now the prices are cheap but very few are buying.)

Baring, however, noted that there is a tendency for prices of flowers to double from the original amount in the next two days with the remaining supply left for the business.

Teresita Padernal, a 54-year-old candle vendor of Nene’s Flower Shop, also agreed with Baring about the slow of sales for flowers even with the special occasion. She added that the crisis at present and the typhoons entering the country led to the low demand and less supply of flowers this year.

Investing the same amount of capital at P2,000 for 2011 and 2012, she said that she generated more income at P5,000 to P6,000 for the six-day sale last year than the P3500 collected from October 27 to 31 of 2012. She said she is still eager to achieve an acceptable amount of sales this year even with the decrease of prices to attract more buyers.

Meanwhile, candle vendor Jeralden Bacus expressed sentiments with the  decline of candles sales this year compared in 2011. She said that on October 30 of last year, all the supplies of candles were sold out in their store and even prompted them to order more to accommodate the high demand.

In 2011, they already earned P10,000 for a five-day selling period with their P15,000 capital. Contrary to last year, she noted that they had only generated about P5000 from October 27 to 30 of this year. Bacus spent P10,000 as capital for this year’s occasion with a 10 percent decrease of supply of candles compared to 2011.

Looking forward to still generate income until November 1, she said that they had to lower their prices for candles by 20 percent.

Cherrie Adam Caramelo, a 25-year-old candle vendor, did not anticipate the low demand for candles this year.  “Mingaw gyud karong tuiga, pwerteng mingawa. Dapat gani dagsa na ang mga tawo ron,” she told The FREEMAN.  (There’s way too few people this year.)

She cited that last year’s demand generated an income of P16,000 with October 30 and 31 as peak days. However, the two-day sale for this year made Caramelo earn P2,000 thus forcing her to decrease her supply of candles by half compared to 2011. She still remains optimistic though that by the first day of November, an upsurge of sales and demand for candles may possibly turn out. 

Meanwhile, residents who will be visiting their loved ones at Cebu City’s public cemeteries should be wary against indiscriminately throwing their garbage as the city’s barangay environmental officers (BEO) will be deployed.

Grace Luardo, head of Cebu City Environmental Sanitation Enforcement Team (CESET), said 20 BEOs will be posted in the public cemeteries in Carreta, Calamba, Luz and Talamban. Luardo said they are ordered to make sure that garbage are properly disposed of, cigarette butts included. As early as last Sunday, CESET people and violators of environmental laws have been cleaning public cemeteries, and Luardo said receptacle bins are already posted there. The city has almost 400 BEOs.

“Dili sila modakop as per request ni Mayor Mike. Hatagan lang sa og warning, pero og naay arogante gyud, pwede hatagan nato og citation ticket,” said Luardo. (Violators will be warned but those who will be arrogant will be issued citation tickets.)

From January to September, more than 5,000 individuals were already issued citation tickets by BEOs for violation of City Ordinance 1361 and Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act. About 369 of them were criminally charged.

City Ordinance 1361 prohibits the throwing of garbage in public places, while RA 9003 provides that garbage must be segregated at the household level before readying them for pickup by garbage trucks. —  (FREEMAN)