Argentines are bad at business. Period. And it's not some socio-political, deeply historical, "you wouldn't understand if you're not from here" bullshit either. It's a combination between a systemic problem based on a lack of faith in a faulty system and plain old laziness. Yes, you have to take decades of hyper-inflation, currency devaluation, military coups, and a grossly corrupt government into account. But that still doesn't account for the moronically simple mistakes made by local businesses on even the smallest types of transactions. I'll explain.
The Competition Conundrum: In Montserrat there is a restaurant called Tio Angel. It's a typical Porteño cafe selling everything from pizza, steak, pasta, and sandwiches, to coffee, booze, sweets, and salads. Tio Angel is a small business, not corporate-owned, and with a low overhead due to its location and small staff. Tio Angel is open, serving food non-stop from 9am 'til 1am. The menu never changes regardless of the hour.
Within a 3 block radius there are approximately 3 other restaurants, not counting the shady Dominican bar which is open from 8am-8pm and pretty much exclusively caters to off-duty whores and curious hostel hippies. Non of these restaurants is open all day. In fact, aside from the whore bar, you have 2 pizza places open from 12pm-2:30pm, and 8pm-11pm. That's right, roughly 5 1/2 hours daily. The staff most likely makes the same as they do in Tio's, the overhead is similar, and the clientele EXACTLY the same.
And here comes the big surprise folks......Tio Angel makes a whole shit-ton more money. Not only that, but to make up for the losses in volume-based revenue, the other restaurants constantly raise their prices. It's not a secret. When you allow your customers the freedom to choose a more convenient time for them to buy your product, you sell more. You can even charge more for the privilege, and people will pay.
Fuck You Gringo: Which is exactly what businesses are telling you when they blatantly up-charge you based on being a gringo, or non-continental foreigner. You can even see it in their eyes when you buy something. "How much for the beer (in obviously broken Spanish)?"...blank stare, blank stare, and then the pitch, "5 pesos?". Then the Argentine behind you buys it for 3, no reaction from the clerk, and likewise no more gringo business for him. So, my man just lost a potential repeat customer for a one-time gain of 2 pesos. Also, gringos know other gringos, which means he probably just lost 20 customers. But hey, enjoy your fucking 2 pesos.
You see, as much as we look like loud, bumbling, walking ATMs, we're not as dumb as you think. Sure, most gringos think in Dollars, Pounds, and Euros, but we still have a city of 14 million people vying for our business. Which means, if you fuck me over, I'll just move on to the next place who will sell to me fairly, tell all my friends about it, and skyrocket their bottom line. You don't need to go to Wharton to figure that shit out.
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: This one has a lot to do with almost a century of economic instability. Still, it's annoying as fuck, and not completely necessary. Many Argentine businesses have a seriously hard time coping with profit gains and long-term success potential....What did he just say? Ok. I'll let that sink in. Ready?
When a small business in Argentina shows a bit of life and potential, people go into a panic and start making rash decisions. In other words, unexpected success scares them because they assume that it's either a fluke, or that it won't last. Their solution: grab as much cash as you can quickly by raising prices, slashing salaries, and then sit back and wait for the eventual crash. What this really does is sour any good will you had with your budding clientele, inspire your staff to steal, and destroy your small business.
It's like getting a wink and a smile from a sexy girl in a bar, and instead of chatting, getting her digits, or asking her out to dinner, you pinch her ass and try to drop a finger in her. What does that leave you with? A black eye and a wet finger. Boo-hoo. Sucks, when you could have had weeks, if not years with a potentially amazing woman. It's the same in business. Build on your success potential by understanding the nature of your smaller successes. The few businesses here that do that are vastly successful, and have even weathered some of the toughest times and crisis' in the country.
In conclusion, from what I've seen in my time spent here, the basic Argentine business model goes like this:
-Copy idea of some other moderately successful local business.
-Underpay your employees, assume they will steal because of this.
-Spend the excess money dressing your place up with huge glass facades and tacky signs, much like an airport lobby.
-Convert your pesos to dollars, and further drive up inflation, which also drives up your prices.
-Don't have price tags. Just make shit up as you go along.
-Pay off the cops.
-Blame your eventual failure on either Cristina Kirchner, the weather, or the 2001 economic crisis.
Happy Friday Motherfuckers.
Gringo. Out.
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