If you happen to urgently need a product from someplace within the free world and you might be prepared to pay the worth, the worst “shortage” you’ll expertise is the price of flying there or hiring a “personal shopper.” As I beforehand wrote in response to an EconLog remark, “if you were willing to pay and you need a croissant before tomorrow morning, you can hop on a plane for Paris.” If you happen to discover that too costly, there isn’t any scarcity however merely a value you aren’t prepared to pay (I beforehand known as {that a} “smurfage” versus a scarcity). The costliest impediment, generally prohibitively expensive, can be authorities regulation.
There are additionally corporations, resembling Grabr or AirWayBill, who supply to match the non-rich with vacationers who will, for a modest price, get what you need when they’re there and ship it to you in particular person when they’re again. (See “Your Personal Shopper … On the Other Side of the World,” November 23, 2024.) It’d take you a number of days or perhaps weeks to get it, although.
The great thing about commerce (on which I wrote a earlier EconLog publish) doesn’t cease there, in fact. Many of the magnificence is invisible in our every day purchases, because of the retailers and different skilled middlemen together with retailers who introduced the product near you, or imported a few of its parts from distant locations. However a Wall Avenue Journal story of final week gave one other micro and customized instance of how commerce brings to extraordinary individuals what they may not in any other case receive (Joel Millman, “1,800 Miles to Satisfy a Craving: Meet the World’s Most Dedicated Food-Delivery Guy,” January 2, 2025).
Maik Chavez, 36, is the owner-operator of Maik Specific, a enterprise in Guatemala the place he lives. He’s a part of a cottage trade of particular person couriers, known as viageros or vacationers, who ship home-made meals and different items from Guatemala to Guatemalan People who organize them or obtain them from mates or household of their nation of origin. Final 12 months, Maik made 38 runs to cities in 5 U.S. states, every particular person run lasting lower than 48 hours. He carries his wares as private baggage on his flights. He expenses a flat price of $12 a pound. One in all his new prospects is Virginian resident Verónica Romero, who earns a dwelling as a home-cleaner; she paid $240 in money when Maik delivered her unique home-made meals for Christmas.
Fortuitously, our benevolent authorities surveils and controls:
Chavez travels below a B1/B2 enterprise visa that received’t expire till November 2027. Below the phrases of his entry, he can’t keep greater than 5 days at a time per tour, nor can he make greater than $2,000 on any go to. He says he averages $1,500 or so after bills and pays Guatemalan taxes on his earnings.
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After I was getting ready to draft this publish, I recalled studying an article on worldwide private consumers, however I couldn’t discover it. I’ve usually joked that I face a giant analysis assistant “shortage”: I direly want one however I can’t discover one available on the market for $3 an hour. Maybe Chat GPT can resolve my smurfage drawback? I requested her or him: “Can you find the title or url of a story I read several months ago (perhaps one or a couple of years ago) about intermediaries who will go and get whatever somebody (presumably rich) wants in a foreign shop and delivers it in person?”
After 5 seconds of “reflection,” she replied, “You might be recalling the article titled ‘Your personal shopper . . . on the other side of the world,’ published by the Financial Times on November 23, 2024. This piece discusses services like Grabr, which connect buyers with travelers to purchase and deliver goods from foreign shops, catering to clients seeking items unavailable or expensive in their own countries. The article highlights how these intermediaries operate, often delivering luxury items directly to consumers.” Included was the hyperlink to the FT story.
This was exactly the article I used to be in search of and which I hyperlink to above—even when I used to be incorrect on the timing and supply!
I informed her she was “a good robot,” and instructed her to attract a picture illustrating the Wall Avenue Journal story I additionally cite in my publish and which I uploaded to her. The featured picture of this publish (reproduced under) is one of the best considered one of half a dozen pictures she produced; removed from good, however for the worth…
An entrepreneur from Guatemala
