#FREEELPAPERO
For as long as most of us can remember, the chip-selling trade has flourished during high school break and lunch. Every day, it's business as usual; crowds of students travel to an undisclosed location within ASFM's confines to purchase these savory bags of potato chips, leaving the seller(s) making mountains of cash.
Tuesday, November 19. Lunch. The industry sees its first notable threat. Onlookers - most of them customers - watch in confusion and amusement as El Papero is detained by ASFM's law enforcement, it did not take long for a mob of "peaceful protesters" to convene outside the front offices. Another day passed, and it took no more than three minutes of our usual fifteen-minute break for the supposed heir apparent of the original Papero to get busted for distributing in the same exact place as his predecessor.
As significant as these events may be, they won't bring the industry’s demise. El Papero wasn't the only source of "illegal" goods, and bags of potato chips are definitely not the only products sold in ASFM's intricate black market. It'd be very tough for the administration to unleash a full-on crackdown on the sale of these products, so current customers should fear not when it comes to satisfying their sweet-toothed necessities.
There is one thing that seems puzzling regarding this whole situation, however. If the school embraces students who want to learn how to be entrepreneurs and businessmen, offering classes like Entrepreneurship or Economics and ASFM-approved events such as Shark Tank, then why can't these same students implement what they've learned in these courses at school? The supply and demand relationship in place when it comes to chip-selling (but not exclusive to potato chips) is quite obvious. Moreover, competition between markets - the other being the Grab and Go section, which provides a rather small selection of potato chips - is always a good thing for both parties.
Sure, I do have to concede that the school’s handbook specifically states that the sale of products not school-approved is forbidden. However, the idea of a crackdown seems quite ludicrous with two things in mind; firstly, when it comes to the cafeteria, especially when compared to last year's abomination, business is booming; the long lines that form at lunch after one minute at the Campus Café speak for themselves. Secondly, it goes without saying that both parties aren’t directly competing with each other as the Café and the black market sell different products, thus attracting different customers seeking other ways to fill their stomachs.
To round this off, I'd like to reference something that was said last year in an article by El 107's investigative team, which also tackled this topic. Here, Ms. Lamadrid suggested that "[Admin] is working on finding a way to give students an opportunity to sell their products whilst meeting the SEP requirements. The administration is looking into it to probably make it happen next year." As the school has been aiming to improve this last year, it’s worth defining these policies for students to know the reasons behind them and whether they can engage in these entrepreneurial activities.