Success and failure stories

An earn-from-home ad, money paid in, and 970 taka gone

A housewife who answered an AI-generated "earn from home" ad on Facebook lost 970 taka; a second woman in the same report withdrew 800 taka successfully at first and then lost more than 1,400.

Seven to eight lakh taka of mangoes rotted on the trees during the shutdown

Mangoes from his own orchards sold through a Facebook page. The July 2024 shutdown fell in the middle of the season and 7-8 lakh taka of fruit rotted on the trees.

Some days 50 taka, some days nothing: 67 years of mending shoes

He has mended shoes since he was nine and is now 76. The day brings anywhere from 50 to 180 taka, 200-300 in winter, and the old-age allowance is 1,650 taka every three months.

Under 300 taka in three months, with the equipment sitting idle

With weddings and social gatherings stopped under COVID restrictions, this mic-hire business took under 300 taka in about three months. Saidpur has more than a hundred such small operators.

The salon closed in lockdown; a vegetable cart now brings 400-500 taka a day

A salon with staff closed for good during the pandemic. A vegetable cart now takes 2,000-2,500 taka of stock a day for a 400-500 taka margin, and reopening the salon would need 70,000-80,000 taka.

After the shop came down: a footpath, and less than half the income

A tin shop over a drain brought 700-800 taka a day. After the municipality took it down, the work moved to an open footpath at 50-60 taka a haircut.

Started in 1975

A 3-4 taka margin flips to a 2-3 taka loss, with 100-plus trucks stuck at the port

Demand at the Hili land port halved in four or five days, leaving more than a hundred loaded rice trucks unsold and turning a 3-4 taka per kg margin into a 2-3 taka loss.

Twenty betel nuts: from 700-800 taka down to 200-300

The supari harvest in Indurkani was better than last year, but the price for twenty nuts fell from 700-800 taka to 200-300.

From 40-50 book shops down to 10-12 in New Market

New Market once had more than 40-50 book shops and now has 10-12, six of them closing since 2019; the survivors have shifted their shelves to stationery.

A day's 60,000-70,000 taka of sales is now barely a month's

What this 45-year-old secondhand book shop once took in a single day it now barely takes in a month, and the Moghaltuli-Dharampur shops are down from about ten to four.

Potato bought at 26-27 taka is selling at 12-13

Eight truckloads of potato bought at 26-27 taka a kg now fetch 13 wholesale, 12 for graded stock out of store and 9-10 ungraded.

A 6-8 taka loss on every kilo, and 95,000 sacks still sitting in store

Potatoes stored in the hope of a rise cost 18-19 taka a kg all-in while the market fell to 11-12. Of 125,000 sacks stored, about 95,000 were still unsold.