Travis Posted September 7, 2010 Posted September 7, 2010 Scandal number two:(disclaimer: I knew we'd get cheated several different ways; was just curious to see it happen, though)So about our farm, we were supposed to sell our first 14 pigs in June, which then became July. The meatshop needed another month to open, but they promised to buy our pigs for 130pesos/kilo if we waited, rather than at 110pesos/kilo. We thought it made good sense to wait since we'd make a bit more money, assuming the pigs grew well, so decided to wait. We also wanted to establish a friendly business relationship with that meatshop, rather than leaving them high and dry with too few pigs a month down the road. What goes around comes around, right? So, after the first scandal where someone cheated us out of our July dates, we finally got our pigs picked up by the meatshop. They asked if they could pay us after selling the pigs, since they were still new and didn't have a lot of money yet. We said okay, still believing we were getting 130/kilo. I asked my wife a bunch of times, assuming she'd check. I guess she just asked our farmhand (we're out of the country), who replied yes to her, without checking, and she replied yes to me. Now, in September, they finally paid us, but only at 110 pesos per kilo! OMG!!! I was furious yesterday. It's not as bad as if they'd ripped us off clean and just not paid anything, but it's still bad. We spent 6 extra weeks feeding those pigs, so by selling them at 110, there's almost no profit to be had. And since then, we've gone and bought 50 more pigs which we can barely support as is. Now, roughly 20k php short of what we expected, we'd be officially in the red for a month. I wrote a complaint to our contact in that meatshop as well as called him, and he had a variety of reasons why they couldn't pay us 130, most of which I couldn't understand over the phone. I asked him to write me as well. I want to find out if this was a problem where they lied to us, as I feel now, or where our farmhand miscommunicated or misunderstood what she was told. So now I had the idea to sell off about 10 pigs early, around 40kilos, in order to lighten our load over the next couple months. My wife disagrees, however, saying we could just mix the feeds with bananas and veggies grown locally, which will save money and still benefit the pigs nutritionally. I'm not sure, but I better find out quick. I would love it if mixing the feeds could save money without compromising the quality of the meat. If not, the mother-in-law (a retired teacher with a pension) might be able to apply for a loan to buy some of the pigs off us, so at least the profit stays in our family. I'm pissed about what happened, but I'm thrilled it wasn't worse. Not yet, anyways. Lesson is: don't do favors. Next time someone can't keep their date with our pigs, we'll open them up to whoever wants them. Back in June and July we turned down several walk in customers who are apparently wealthy people in town. Ah well. Still standing. to me you can only run a busines if you are actually here hands on or have a trusted person running it for you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekimswish Posted September 8, 2010 Posted September 8, 2010 to me you can only run a busines if you are actually here hands on or have a trusted person running it for you I agree with the first part, but my wife pushed for the second part of what you said. I've expected at some point for all our pigs to be stolen right from underneath us, or someone to run with the money, so as long as that hasn't happened, I'm alright. I wouldn't be surprised to find out people lied to us about prices along the way and skimmed off the top, but that's the price we pay for being out of the country. We'll be there in late November to take over the reins, so fingers crossed it doesn't go down the toilet before then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted September 8, 2010 Author Posted September 8, 2010 Scandal number two:(disclaimer: I knew we'd get cheated several different ways; was just curious to see it happen, though)So about our farm, we were supposed to sell our first 14 pigs in June, which then became July. The meatshop needed another month to open, but they promised to buy our pigs for 130pesos/kilo if we waited, rather than at 110pesos/kilo. We thought it made good sense to wait since we'd make a bit more money, assuming the pigs grew well, so decided to wait. We also wanted to establish a friendly business relationship with that meatshop, rather than leaving them high and dry with too few pigs a month down the road. What goes around comes around, right? So, after the first scandal where someone cheated us out of our July dates, we finally got our pigs picked up by the meatshop. They asked if they could pay us after selling the pigs, since they were still new and didn't have a lot of money yet. We said okay, still believing we were getting 130/kilo. I asked my wife a bunch of times, assuming she'd check. I guess she just asked our farmhand (we're out of the country), who replied yes to her, without checking, and she replied yes to me. Now, in September, they finally paid us, but only at 110 pesos per kilo! OMG!!! I was furious yesterday. It's not as bad as if they'd ripped us off clean and just not paid anything, but it's still bad. We spent 6 extra weeks feeding those pigs, so by selling them at 110, there's almost no profit to be had. And since then, we've gone and bought 50 more pigs which we can barely support as is. Now, roughly 20k php short of what we expected, we'd be officially in the red for a month. I wrote a complaint to our contact in that meatshop as well as called him, and he had a variety of reasons why they couldn't pay us 130, most of which I couldn't understand over the phone. I asked him to write me as well. I want to find out if this was a problem where they lied to us, as I feel now, or where our farmhand miscommunicated or misunderstood what she was told. So now I had the idea to sell off about 10 pigs early, around 40kilos, in order to lighten our load over the next couple months. My wife disagrees, however, saying we could just mix the feeds with bananas and veggies grown locally, which will save money and still benefit the pigs nutritionally. I'm not sure, but I better find out quick. I would love it if mixing the feeds could save money without compromising the quality of the meat. If not, the mother-in-law (a retired teacher with a pension) might be able to apply for a loan to buy some of the pigs off us, so at least the profit stays in our family. I'm pissed about what happened, but I'm thrilled it wasn't worse. Not yet, anyways. Lesson is: don't do favors. Next time someone can't keep their date with our pigs, we'll open them up to whoever wants them. Back in June and July we turned down several walk in customers who are apparently wealthy people in town. Ah well. Still standing. Hello Ekimswish,Thank you for updating us on your business operation. It's good to know that you are at least breaking even,more importantly that you are "still standing". Lessons learned that you and your wife have discovered thatsome close relatives can't be trusted or not reliable in doing any type of business, except monkey business.As for my own experience, I have found out that the father (Yakuza member) of Anna's daughter was in aJapanese prison. Fortunately, Anna followed our advise and severed contact with him completely. She isnow remarried and living in Italy. Judy's mother has somewhat mellowed out -- I think karma finally got toher and now seeking redemption. That 3K bucks to pay off Judy's contract was gone with the wind. Oh well.......Jake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekimswish Posted September 9, 2010 Posted September 9, 2010 Thank you for updating us on your business operation. It's good to know that you are at least breaking even,more importantly that you are "still standing". Lessons learned that you and your wife have discovered thatsome close relatives can't be trusted or not reliable in doing any type of business, except monkey business. Actually it's not our family members helping with the farm: it's some people my wife has known a long time and trusts. I would've still preferred to NOT start the operation yet, and just wait until we moved there. The people who changed the price on us are from the neighboring town, and we only know them through this business. and on FACEBOOK! ... lol... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travis Posted September 9, 2010 Posted September 9, 2010 to me you can only run a busines if you are actually here hands on or have a trusted person running it for you I agree with the first part, but my wife pushed for the second part of what you said. I've expected at some point for all our pigs to be stolen right from underneath us, or someone to run with the money, so as long as that hasn't happened, I'm alright. I wouldn't be surprised to find out people lied to us about prices along the way and skimmed off the top, but that's the price we pay for being out of the country. We'll be there in late November to take over the reins, so fingers crossed it doesn't go down the toilet before then. :th_Good-Luck: you are a brave man :thumbs-up-smile: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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