did the journalist not read the memo.....

[El Presidente]

If this becomes a trend....they would have to sack 90%  of working Cubans!

Stealing from your employer is the only reason you have a job. It certainly isn't for the $20 a month 

 

Workers fired for selling 15,000 apples to one client in Cuba

Agencies On Sep 15, 2018

 

 

HAVANA: Several employees of a Cuban supermarket have been fired for selling 15,000 apples to a single customer in a country regularly plagued by food shortages.

State news outlet Granma reported on Friday that the employees involved were let go after news of the sale first broke on the blog of a Cuban journalist, who witnessed it at a supermarket in Havana.

A group of “young, husky people” who were “organized in a quasi-military” way appeared at the store and bought 150 cases of 100 apples, according to journalist Iorel Sanchez, who said all the fruit was for a single customer.

The buyer paid the equivalent of 45 cents per apple, according to receipts published in the blog post.

It is not uncommon in Cuba — regularly hit with shortages on staples including fruit, butter, milk and beer — for a trader to buy a large stock of food to resell it at a higher price.

Granma said eight employees of the store — owned by Cimex Corporation, which is state-run but subject to the laws applicable to private enterprise — had been dismissed.

Cuba imports almost all the food consumed by its 11 million inhabitants, including apples, according to the official site Cubadebate.

The island is seeking to reform its Soviet-style economic model: a new constitution to replace the 1976 version has been approved by parliament and submitted to public debate.

In a bid to improve its supply of food products, Cuba’s government recently extended the area and allowed period of cultivation granted to the island nation’s farmers.

 

[Islandboy]

I admit I have pretty much zero insight as to how things work in Cuba, but it seems strange to do this with such a perishable product. I can wrap my head around buying a bunch of beer to resell for profit, but apples?

[ponfed]

4 hours ago, Islandboy said:

I admit I have pretty much zero insight as to how things work in Cuba, but it seems strange to do this with such a perishable product. I can wrap my head around buying a bunch of beer to resell for profit, but apples?

Properly stored apples can last a good while.

Like a few months easy.

Don't know if it holds in warmer climate though

[Fuzz]

25 minutes ago, ponfed said:

Properly stored apples can last a good while.

Like a few months easy.

Don't know if it holds in warmer climate though

Only if you can control the temp, humidity and atmosphere (ie oxygen and carbon dioxide content). Apples (depending on variety) can be stored for up to a year in a properly controlled environment.

[OZCUBAN]

3 minutes ago, Fuzz said:

Only if you can control the temp, humidity and atmosphere (ie oxygen and carbon dioxide content). Apples (depending on variety) can be stored for up to a year in a properly controlled environment.

Someone should tell woolies fresh food people my arse the stuff is rotting on the shelves 

except strawberries ? I still have been buying them ranger is my middle name plus you can’t let some wankers ruin a whole industry 

 

[Fuzz]

26 minutes ago, OZCUBAN said:

Someone should tell woolies fresh food people my arse the stuff is rotting on the shelves 

except strawberries ? I still have been buying them ranger is my middle name plus you can’t let some wankers ruin a whole industry 

 

It's as fresh as the day it came out of cold storage!

[oliverdst]

15000 apples from the SAME market?

Is there a cuban Walmart?

We know where the apples are now: in the Manzana Kempinski. ?

[gweilgi]

17 hours ago, Islandboy said:

I admit I have pretty much zero insight as to how things work in Cuba, but it seems strange to do this with such a perishable product. I can wrap my head around buying a bunch of beer to resell for profit, but apples?

Hmmm ... I read "15,000 apples" and I think "cider!".  

Easy to make, and probably just as easy to sell at a profit as beer....

[GasGuy82]

24 minutes ago, gweilgi said:

Hmmm ... I read "15,000 apples" and I think "cider!".  

Easy to make, and probably just as easy to sell at a profit as beer....

At first when I read your comment, I thought you were right, however, if you do the math, it doesn’t pencil. You apple cost alone is almost $20/gallon at $0.45 each. Then you need sugar, yeast, equipment, labor, bottling, refrigeration or someplace cool. Let’s be generous and say cost is $25 a gallon but more likely $30 a gallon, then you want to make a profit, of say, $10 a gallon. Your are looking at $3.25-$3.75 per 12oz. In a country with wages as low as they are, I don’t think many people are buying 6% cider at $3.50 a bottle.

Now, some type of apple based spirit is a possibility, however, in the birthplace of rum, are apple based spirits a real mover?

[Trimming]

Maybe it was the new release...

[BuzzArd]

Too many mathamatical calculations in this thread already.

I’m just glad beer is a staple in Cuba. 

“is not uncommon in Cuba — regularly hit with shortages on staples including fruit, butter, milk and beer ...”