Tips, Gratuities and Service Charges

A little something extra. For the effort. I’m talking about tips and tipping. Not all small businesses have any forms of gratuity associated with good service, but many do. Food businesses. Bars and clubs. Tour guides. In a nutshell, gratuities of some form or another play a part in the compensation of employees in many of these types of businesses. If your business does involve gratuities, should there be an established policy in place when it comes to tips and other forms of gratuity? I do not believe there are right nor wrong answers because every situation will probably call for its own solution, but perhaps a little discussion on the issue will be of benefit to some readers of The Small Business File.

There are many different approaches that could be taken by small business owners when it comes to how tipping should be handled. For the sake of simplicity, let’s break things down into two camps. Those that have a policy, and those that don’t. In cases where tips are an infrequent part of the compensation of an employee, there probably isn’t much of a need for a policy on tips and gratuity. If one customer in a couple hundred is simply overjoyed with his/her service received and offers a small tip out of appreciation, then there’s hardly any need for a company policy. But if tips are frequently given, perhaps it is a good idea to come up with an agreed upon framework among staff on how tips should be handled.

Most of the time tips received can be viewed in one of two ways: (1) an individual tip for a particular person’s extraordinary efforts; and, (2) a tip that could be given for a great team effort. Having a policy in place in relation to who receives what portion of a tip or gratuity should be something talked about and agreed upon in most small business settings. In many parts of the western world, servers in bars and restaurants expect to keep their tips to themselves. Sometimes there are unwritten rules like sharing a portion of your tips with the kitchen staff or those who bus the tables. In the Philippines, this form of tip-sharing may also be present in many bars/restaurants, but many other restaurants owners I talk to (both foreign and local) instead opt for the pooling of tips and sharing among all hired staff. In many ways, this latter approach to sharing tips and gratuities is probably more in line with Filipino cultural values, so this could be why this type of ‘policy’, whether written or unwritten, is more common here than in other parts of the world.

There are also a growing number of establishments in the Philippines that include a mandatory service charge to the gross sales tally of each bill. Many restaurants that engage in this practice seem to have adopted a service charge in the 10 to 15 percent range. Again, this practice is relatively new, but from what I have discovered in talking to a number of staff in such establishments, the reasons for introducing the additional charge have nothing to do with tax collectors trying to stamp out the under-reporting of tips (a main reason for such forms of legislation in many Western jurisdictions). Instead, it seems many restaurants are adding a service charge for the sake of having a service charge! In some cases, the service charge does go to the hired staff. But there are cases where owners are simply pocketing all or the lions share of proceeds gained through this added charge.

Clearly there are issues to consider when contemplating how tips, gratuities and service charges should be handled within a small business where such additional forms of compensation may be a regular occurrence. Some owners might prefer that individual staff keep their tips to help encourage outstanding service. Other owners might instead prefer to see tips pooled so as to keep all staff members equally happy and productive. And other owners who implement service charges may want to be clear with their staff and their customers why and to whom any proceeds go. There doesn’t seem to be any cut-and-dry answer on how to address this issue, but some consideration and proper communication would probably go a long way in helping alleviate any misunderstandings and possible grievances from staff and customers alike.

How about you? If you have a small business, or have experience working in this type of business environment, please feel free to leave a comment and  share your philosophy on how and why you handle tips and gratuities a certain way.

On Cambridge Farm there were some cows!

In 1990 when Ellie was working on the construction of our building, she kept on getting all kinds of offers to buy thing at good prices from people who needed money pretty quick! She got a small Jeep for around p40,000 which really got abused and overloaded but did the job it was asked asked to do! The best buy I think was a small herd of cows consisting of about 35 heads for a really good price! This was from a very dear relation, Joe Deonoso who at that time had well over 1,000 cows and he said that he did not need this particular herd but really, as he was not short of money I really think that he was just being a good relation and wanted Ellie to get into the cattle business for a while!

All the cows were mostly the local variety of White Brahma, a few had other colors on them! Some were mothers and calves, some were yearlings and one was a good size bull who was kept busy with the lady cows! The was also a cowboy with them so we took him on also! We did not actually keep them at Cambridge Farm as it was too small so we kept them in a pen opposite Tropicana Beach Resort which was a very good location with plenty of water to be had from a borehole which was on the land! To graze the cows, the cowboy took them out to the hills every day, the hills were right at the back of the pen anyway so that made the job a lot easier! The pen was actually on a grazing leased piece of land so like everything else here it was not free as we had to pay the guy who held the lease one calf in three which was the standard going rate! We did try to get our own lease but all the areas which were available were well up on the hills with no roads and more importantly, no water so we accepted the place where the cows were, that way the cows knew where they lived anyway! Basically we were in a good location and had no real reason to move!

When I got back to General Santos on a leave period, I was asked to think about a brand for the cows so I did a few simple designs but unfortunately when we had them checked in the Cattle Brand Registration Office all were rejected as they were already in use or were very similar to existing brands so it was time to put brain in deep thought mode and the perfect brand appeared to me! Being British gave me the idea, the sign for the British Currency, the Pound Sign £! This design was approved and a local Brand Maker soon made up two different sizes, one for the large animals and one for the young ones!

Once we had the Branding Irons ready we decided on a day to brand the herd so as usual the food and drink was prepared and it was a family day out to do the deed then on to the beach! The cowboy did not take the Cattle out on that morning so as we arrived, a fire was built to cook the Branding Irons and the cattle were driven into a special trap with a strong gate on each end so that only one cow at a time could be penned and branded! A couple of other cowboys were assisting with the process so there was no real problem except for a couple of the calves who were not happy about being separated from their mums for the first time and the mums were not too happy hearing their babies shouting for them especially when they got their first kiss with the Branding Iron!

The actual Branding was very interesting to me because I had seen it in movies before but had never actually seen it done live before! The cowboy was very skillful at Branding as he knew when the Branding Iron was the correct temperature, if it was too hot it would burn through the hide and could possibly cause infection, if too cold then the Brand would not be permanent! Also when applying the Brand he kept the contact time very short, just long enough to leave a permanent mark! Once the work was finished we all feasted in the normal Philippino Style at Tropicana Beach Resort and went swimming etc, the cowboy on the other hand after eating took the newly branded cows up the hills to graze! They all seemed non the worse for their Branding Adventure and some still had several other brands on them from previous owners!

Now as the Branding was going on we had to fill out new papers for each cow so that we could register the New Brands with the correct office! The registration form was basically a single page with two cow pictures on it, one right and one left side and a few lines for details! On the cow drawings we had to put the distinguishing marks of each animal meaning the different Brand, colors etc, also you can guess what we had to draw to signify a bull! Once the paperwork was completed it was submitted and stamped at the office and we had our official copy! These copies came in handy a while later when I was doing my permanent residency as I added then into the requirements to show my wealth!

Once the herd was all registered we really had nothing to do with them as the cowboy looked after them, all we had to do was check on them once in a while and we had a couple of relations who worked in the cattle business so they checked up on them also! The Bull did his job well and kept the cows pregnant all the time, any who did not get pregnant was destined for slaughter! We had a couple of young calves run down by trucks on the road but the meat was good so we ate them anyway so It was no real loss!

We had several young Bulls which we were told needed to be castrated so again a day was set, the food and drink prepared and again it was family day at the beach also! Once again I had never seen this done live before and I thought that the cowboy would use a knife on the unwanted parts but I could not have been more wrong! The cowboy had a piece of equipment called a Burdizzo, this looked very much like a Vice Grip for holding pipes, it was designed to go over the testicles and had a flat bar on each end of the vice piece and was clamped onto the poor unsuspecting bull so that the skin, blood supply and nerves were compressed into the thickness of a piece of paper! The testicles then basically died and was reabsorbed into the body leaving the once Bull to be a eunuch! Ouch! One thing, when the Burdizzo was applied, the unlucky animal did not move a muscle or even breath until the clamp was removed a few seconds later, job finished!

All this was the interesting part of being a part of a cattle owner, paying the salary of the cowboy every month, buying medication and inoculations and other stuff cost quite a lot per year! We also had a couple of cows stolen but we kept the herd for several years and it increased in numbers until we had 55 heads but the joy of owning cattle was gone really and after getting a very good offer for the herd we decided to sell it and do something else with the money!

If we had lived out where we had the cattle then I am sure that we would have kept them all but its really not a good idea to have expensive livestock out in a place where you cannot actually keep an eye on them yourself!

Is there opportunity in the Philippines?

Again, today I am sharing with LiP readers my weekly column from SunStar Davao, the biggest local Davao newspaper, where I write every week.  I hope you enjoy the article.

One thing that I really see a lot of here in the Philippines, which makes me feel bad, is the huge rush of Filipinos who want to go abroad.  The crowd of those who want to leave is so huge, it almost seems like everybody you know is on a quest to leave the country.

When you look into this and try to figure out why everybody wants to leave, the reason is almost universally that the people want to find work.  They need jobs that they feel are not available here in the Philippines.  They want to improve their lives, make more money, support their family, etc.  You can’t blame a person who wants to improve their standing in life.

It’s true that when you look around the country, it would seem that there are not a lot of promising jobs to be found.  For somebody without much training, they might get lucky and land a job at a fast food chain, or in a department store as a clerk.  But, how much of a future is there in those kind of jobs?  Well, unfortunately, it seems like most of those jobs are only temporary contract jobs that last for 5 or 6 months.  After that short time passes, the employee is let go, and a whole new staff seems to start working.  I suppose that I also would have a hard time getting excited about only being able to find such a temporary job like that.

However, is it true that there is no opportunity in the Philippines?  In my opinion, that simply is not the case!  I see so many opportunities available and just waiting for the right person to fill the slot.

I am from the United States of America, and I always hear a lot of Filipinos tell me that they want to go to the USA so they can find work and help support their family here in the Philippines.  However, what these people don’t realize is that life is tough in the USA.  The pace of life is fast, and there is little time to rest.  In the States, if you aren’t staying busy, you are losing ground.  Often you won’t have time for your family, you only have time to work!  Believe me, it’s not an enjoyable way to live your life when you have to work all the time like that!

If you want to start up any kind of business in the States you need a few things:

1. Lots of money.  Starting any kind of business in the States takes a ton of money!  If you don’t have that cash, you might as well give up on the goal too.
2. Plenty of time.  If you go into business for yourself, you are signing up for a lot of hours at the job!  No time to do anything but work, it seems!  Especially for those just starting a business, because they often can’t afford to hire an employee or two to assist in carrying the load.  So, the owner of the business must do everything himself!  It’s not an easy life, and it can take years to build your business to the point where you can start sharing the burden with a few employees.
3. Lots of patience.  You have to be patient long enough to make the business successful.  Patient with not having much money too!  You will have to reinvest much of your earnings to make the business grow, and make it a success.

However, here in the Philippines, it is still possible to start your own business on a low budget!  Hiring employees is inexpensive too.  Families here are close knit, so you can get some of your family to help out too!  Nieces, Nephews and such are always looking for work, and would be happy to help you get your business up and running!

The other great thing in the Philippines is that there are a lot of business niches that are still unfilled.  In the USA, it seems like no matter what kind of business you want to get into, there are many others already doing it here!  No so here in the Philippines, though!  If you can “think outside the box” or be creative in your thinking, you an still find plenty of opportunities here in the Philippines.

Another great thing about finding a business niche here in the Philippines is that if you stay here you can still enjoy your family here, the Philippines foods, culture and such!  If you leave the country you will soon find that you are missing these very basic things in life, and you will long for these things for many years!

So, next time you think that you want to go abroad, try to spend a little time thinking about what your best option is!  I firmly believe that there is plenty of opportunity to be had right here in the Philippines!  If you keep an open mind, and do some creative thinking, I think you will find that I’m right too!

F&B Insider: Shrinkage

F&B Insider is a special column that appears on occasion in the Small Business File. Each week the Small Business File addresses some interesting topic related to entrepreneurship or small business management in the Philippines. F&B Insider columns focus on issues of particular interest to those small business operators in the food and beverage and hospitality industries in the Philippines.

One of my favorite Seinfeld episodes was the one where George and Jerry try and explain ’shrinkage’ to Elaine. In case you need to refresh your memory, search Seinfeld and Shrinkage in YouTube, and you should get directed to one of the many clips related to this episode.

In the F&B industry, shrinkage means something totally different from what George and Gerry have in mind. And it doesn’t have anything to do with laundry either, as Elaine might have offered. Instead, shrinkage has to do with loss of product that occurs due to a variety of reasons.

The most common forms of shrinkage are related to losses of product in the beverage department of a business. Shrinkage can occur because of employee theft, inaccurate pouring, customer returns, poor handling resulting in spillage, or the accidental breaking of bottles. The best way to reduce as much shrinkage as possible are to limit opportunities for any theft, and properly train your bar staff. You’d be surprised at how few managers take the time to train their bar staff in exactly how they should pour drinks, maintain an uncluttered work station, and how to keep bottles and other stocks safely out of the main traffic areas of a restaurant or bar.

How can one limit pilferage? The easiest way is through proper supervision. It is much easier for an employee to steal when supervision is lax. I can’t tell you how many foreign business owners complain they are being robbed blind, and yet fail to see that when they are present, nothing seems to go missing. If you have been made to believe you can open a small bar or restaurant and then hand over management to somebody else so you can spend your days at the beach or lazing about, then I’m afraid you and your bar or restaurant will likely be going your separate ways in a rather short period of time. You really need to be physically present much of the time.

The other way to limit pilferage is to split the two ends of every sales transaction. What I mean by this is have servers be responsible for serving, and a cashier responsible for verifying orders and concluding any sales with the customer. If a server is responsible for both, it is easy for them to be tempted into serving the customer and accepting payment, but with the proceeds going directly into their pocket and no sale being recorded whatsoever. This tactic by unscrupulous staff members can devastate a bar or restaurant. Limit pilferage by being present as much as possible and try and split up the sales transaction by making sure there are separate servers and cashiers with different responsibilities.

Training staff properly is also an important step in reducing shrinkage. If a staff member is not told to pour exactly 1 ounce, and how much that is, it can be easy for a novice server to over-pour a drink. Your staff needs to be taught that every drop counts. This is especially true when you serve premium brands. Over-pouring house brands will sting the pocketbook a little. Over-pouring a premium brand can be extremely costly to the business. Train your staff to pour or serve the exact amounts.

Training should also include having a system for dealing with busy periods in a shift so as to avoid making the wrong order for a customer. Make sure there is a system for staff to know which order to work on and in what order. There is nothing more frustrating for an employee than to be given a bunch of orders at once. In many cases, somebody will end up with the wrong order. Wrong orders get returned, and this costs the business money. Furthermore, properly storing inventory saves money too. Keep bottles away from high traffic areas where they can get inadvertently bumped-into and broken. A little bit of good old fashioned organizing can save you losses of product.

Two final points. First, try and get into the habit of doing frequent inventory checks. The more frequently you check your inventory, the more likely it will be that staff will be concerned with properly pouring or serving the correct portions, and also feel less temptation when it comes to pilfering a free drink for their friends or fail to ring up every order made by a customer. Once you know how much inventory should be present and how much sales should have reduced the inventory, you get a pretty clear picture of just how much shrinkage you have in your operation. Frequent inventory checks also help you keep on top of your inventory — you are more likely to have a better handle on ordering stocks if you make regular inventory checks.

Lastly, remember that providing complimentary drinks or meals is something that needs to be monitored very closely. Every time you hand out something ‘compliments of the house’, you are giving away money, and this can be very dangerous to businesses that operate on very tight margins. If you do feel compelled to provide complimentary meals or beverages, make sure such freebies are accounted for. Actually note the loss in your sales journal, so you can see how they affect your daily take. When you institute this policy you will see exactly how much complimentary meals or beverages are costing you.

Good luck in finding ways to eliminate shrinkage in your F&B business. Until next time, Bon Appétit!

More and more expats and OFW’s are getting involved in small businesses that fall under the food & beverage industry umbrella. F&B Insider articles will focus on some of the key issues that can help small business owners gain an edge over other establishments in this very competitive industry.

The call that didn’t come

Again, this week, I am sharing my column from SunStar Davao here on LiP.  This article is appearing in SunStar on Friday, November 6, and the same day here on LiP.  Enjoy the article.

Does PLDT know what customer service is?  It would seem that they don’t, based on my recent experience with them.

I earn my living on the Internet.  All of the money that I earn comes through my work on the Internet in one way or another.  Because of that, it is important for me to have a reliable Internet connection.  If I don’t have good Internet, I can’t earn money!

Because of the fact that Internet connectivity is so important to my livelihood, I have multiple Internet accounts.  I recently got a third Internet account, through PLDT, with their MyDSL service.  I had been a MyDSL customer from 2002 until 2008 and had always been very happy with the service, until May of 2008 when they cut off my account three times for no apparent reason.  Every time I would inquire, they would get me hooked back up, but it was a hassle to never know when my service would be off again.  Because of that, I canceled the service at that time.  I got two different Internet connections with different companies when I had the PLDT disconnected.

About a month ago, I decided to give PLDT another try, since I had been happy with them for a number of years, so I got a third connection.  Having backup connections made me feel secure that I would always be online, and if one was interrupted there were still two more backup connections.

Well, the other day, my PLDT connection stopped working again.  I figured that it was just a regular outage and would resume in an hour or two.  By afternoon, though, and still no Internet from PLDT, I was a little concerned, so my wife went to the PLDT office to find out what happened.

The people at PLDT informed my wife that they had disconnected my account.  Hmm.  Why?  My wife assured them that the bill was paid, and we owed nothing on the account.  PLDT informed her that indeed the bill was up to date, and the problem was an account issue with PLDT’s computers!  Because there was a problem in their own computer system, they cut me off!  They even told my wife that there were “a lot of people with the same problem” and they were all very angry about the fact that they had been cut off.

I understand that problems happen, and must be worked out.  Here is what I don’t understand, though.  PLDT is the phone company.  They know my telephone number.  Why didn’t they call me and inform me that they were having a problem and would need to terminate my account (hopefully temporarily)?  Is that not the way customer service is supposed to work?  Inform the customer of what is going on.  But, PLDT, as they always have done, just cut off the account without any notice.  A simple phone call would have been so nice, and as I say, they certainly know my phone number.

Credit where credit is due

Credit.  The word can mean a number of things.  It can mean that you are acknowledging what somebody else did.  It can be associated with the lending or borrowing of money.  Lots of things.  In today’s article, I’m going to talk about credit in terms of borrowing money, and also the tracking of your borrowing and pay back habits.

In the USA, and probably most of the western world, when you borrow money, make payments for money owed and such, there is a “credit reporting agency” that keeps track of your habits.  If you are a person who pays your bills late, that is noted, and can be checked on by potential creditors for a number of years down the road.  Then again, if you pay on time, or pay more than what is due, that is also noted in your records, and it shows potential creditors that you have the potential to be very responsible with debts.

In short, in the USA and other countries, it is very easy for a company to check on your payment habits, and decide if you are the type of person whom they wish to extend a loan to.  If you have a good record with borrowing and repaying money, there is a good chance that you will get additional loans.

Last week, I got an e-mail from somebody that has to do with Credit Reporting Agencies.  It’s an issue that I know about and have dealt with before.  Here is a slightly edited version (I don’t want to give the personal information of the person who inquired) of the e-mail I received:

Hi there, I am realtor in Canada and am helping a client who
moved from the Philippines to find a home. The banks are asking for a
credit bureau from the Philippines, but it seems that this is a
difficult task. What is the best way to show a credit bureau or
credit information for the past year. Where would my client request
this information and how difficult is it to get?

Well, you see… the problem this person is facing is that there is no such thing as a credit reporting agency, or credit bureau in the Philippines!  Yes, you read that right, they don’t have a way of tracking you if you don’t pay your bills, or no way of seeing your credit worthiness if you do pay your bills!

Additionally, if you have great credit in the States, there is no way that you can “transfer” that credit here, so that people know that you are honorable in paying debts that you know.  Again, if you leave the States owing a bunch of money, that also cannot get onto your “record” here, because basically there is no record!  Now, let me say, if you owe enough money there, and try to skip out on it by moving to the Philippines, that could still lead to trouble for you, because if you owe enough money, they might just track you down, and still come after you here (if the amount owed is enough to justify the cost of doing that).

Now, even though there is no credit reporting here, there still is one way that bad (or good) credit could affect you here.  That is if you are dealing with the same company, or a sister company.  For example, Smart Telecommunications is a subsidiary of PLDT (Philippine Long Distance Telephone).  If you owe Smart a bunch of money, and skip out on it… when you go apply for a landline at PLDT, they will likely have a record of the fact that you owe money to Smart, and they will catch you that way.  But, if you owe Globe Telecom (another cell phone provider), PLDT would have no way of knowing, because they are two different companies.

OK, so if there is no credit reporting, how do you get a loan?  How do companies decide if you are worthy of the responsibility?  How do they know that they won’t be ripped off?  What they do is that they look at your employment, your salary, and they check if you have borrowed from them before, and how you were on the payments.  You will need to supply other data too, such as a statement from the Police or NBI (National Bureau of Investigation), a clearance from the Barangay Captain (sort of the “mayor” of the neighborhood where you live) that will attest what kind of record you have.  Do you have criminal convictions?  Are you currently wanted?  The Barangay will attest to your character – are you an honest person, or not?  Do you cause trouble in the neighborhood?  If so, it might indicate that you are not the type of person that they want to do business with.

Another factor is that if you are a foreigner, it will be very, very difficult to get any kind of loans here.  If your wife is from here, and has an established record here, she could probably get the loan, but not you.  If you are an immigrant, and have been here for a few years, that is when you might be able to start getting some small credit deals, and thus building a record, but only with the company in question.  For example, if you get a credit card at a certain bank, and show a good record of credit worthiness, then after a year or two, perhaps they will allow you to upgrade to a better card with a higher limit.  Your beginning card, though, even though it is a credit card (as opposed to a debit card) will likely require you to keep a deposit at that bank, as collateral for the credit.  The payments will not be drawn against the deposit, the deposit is just there in case you skip town and owe money.

I suspect that in coming years, but possibly many years down the road, credit reporting and record keeping will make it’s way to the Philippines.  I mean, it is inevitable for it to happen.  Companies can minimize the monetary risk they take with people if such reporting is done, and is centralized, as it is in other countries.  We’ll have to wait and see if it happens!

Flying to Tuguegarao

Last month, I needed to go up to Abulug in order to pick up Rebecca and Juanito. We are back and forth to the province about every month, depending on what needs to be done up there. Over the course of this year, with Juanito’s adoption in progress and several land transactions (along with a squatter problem), we have had to go to Abulug more often than normal… And it usually involves things that Rebecca must do, rather than my being the helpful Kano husband. Abulug is 120 km away from the closest airport, in Tuguegarao. To get up there, there are three ways to go: Drive, bus, or Fly and drive. Each way of travelling has its’ own advantages and disadvantages, and we tend to use whichever method suits our needs for a particular trip. Of the three travelling methods, we use the bus the most, followed by me driving, and flying the least often.

Here’s how we travel, with the approximate costs, time, advantages, and disadvantages. I hope this is helpful to expats when deciding how to travel within the country… The relative advantages, disadvantages, and costs are roughly comparable throughout most of the country, regardless of  your destination. Note that we normally rent a car up North when I travel (Rebecca never learned how to drive)… At the end, I’ll detail how to do that in the province (No Avis or Hertz in most small provincial towns).

By bus:

Cost: Florida Lines, Cubao or Sampaloc to Tuguegarao, Aparri, or Ballesteros.

400 pesos each way, per person for Ordinary (Small seats, no aircon, many stops)… 12 hours to Tuguegarao, 16 to Aparri or Ballesteros.

650 pesos each way, per person for Deluxe (Same as Ordinary, but with padded seats, aircon, and video… Planned stops every 2-3 hours)… Same time as Ordinary.

850 pesos each way, per person, for Super Deluxe (Wide seats, aircon, videon, one stop or nonstop)… 9 hours to Tuguegarao. No Service to Aparri or Ballesteros. (FX, Jeepney, or drive from there, about 3 hours).

950 pesos each way, per person, for Sleeper (very comfortable Lie-flat seats, nonstop, only one bus per day to each origin station). 8-9 hours to Tuguegarao. No service to Aparri or Ballesteros. (FX, Jeepney, or drive from there, about 3 hours).

Rebecca has been taking the bus back and forth to Abulug from the time she was an infant. Note that there is normally no central bus station in Philippine towns (There used to be a Central terminal in Cubao during the Marcos years, but that has long since disappeared)… Each bus company operates its’own stations along their allotted routes. The locations of the station you depart from depend on where you are going and which bus company owns the route. For Tuguegarao, it is Florida Lines and Victory Lines, primarily, with a few smaller bus companies also. Once you ride a route, you learn where the stops are located for meals, though I must caution tender Western stomachs to be really careful when eating along bus routes. We always take the busses that leave in the early evening, travelling overnight, and arriving very early AM in Tuguegarao (or late AM in Ballesteros).

Advantages:

1. Virtually unlimited amounts of baggage (Generally, for two people, 3 bags / boxes per person… Over that, you buy a “seat” for your cargo, either officially, or unofficially by making a deal with the driver or conductor.) This is an advantage for us since there are times we may be carrying several hundred kg of “stuff” with us to the province.

2. Very cheap way to travel.

3. Ironically, very relaxing. The stops break up the trip, and, if travelling in daytime, a beautiful route with nice scenery.

Disadvantages:

1. It is a bloody long ride, and very hard day… Lose a day up and a day back. Except the sleeper bus, it can be difficult to get much sleep.

2. The bus drivers tend to set the aircon cold enough to hang meat in the bus (or freeze all testicular function).

3. We have had things stolen from baggage on the bus (While we were asleep… an Ipod and Cell Phone)… Keep valuables close at hand.

Driving:

Cost: I pay 2,000 pesos per day, plus petrol (one tank up and one tank back) for a Nissan Sentra (Private owner… Hertz and Avis average 3,500, but you are insured and not responsible for any damage… an issue. Read my earlier article about driving at night). (Average 10,000 pesos for short, up and back, trips… 3 days minimum).

Time: 14 hours minimum, each way (I made it once 13.5 hours, but in bad traffic, it also took 19 hours once.)

Advantages:

1. No need to rent a vehicle up North.

2. Lots of room for baggage and cargo.

3. Ability to stop whenever we want.

4. No problem on Juanito’s car seat.

Disadvantages:

1. Long, hard, drive, with few hotels along the way to sleep over. After going up and back, I need time to recover.

2. Dangerous at night.

3. More expensive.

Flying:

Cost: Despite the low fares advertised, it averages out at 5,000 pesos per person each way after taxes, departure fees, and taxi to the airport.

Time: 2 hours screwing around at the airport, 45 minutes flight time. Tuguegarao flights are ALWAYS late(Every time I’ve flown there, sometimes by up to 3 hours. Still need to get to Abulug after landing, so + 3 hours). Minimum time 6 hours.

Advantages:

1. Despite delays, quick and less stressful. Still have 1/2 day in Abulug on travel days.

2. Relatively comfortable.

3. Flights depart from NAIA Terminal 3… New and stress free.

Disadvantages:

1. Tight baggage weight / pc restrictions (This is a BIG issue with us). Restrictions are more strict on domestic flights.

2. Limited number of flights (One each daily, Air Philippines and Cebu Pacific). The return flight turns around immediately, and each airline departs near the same time, so impossible to fly up and back the same day (You need minimum of one night overnight in Tuguegarao).

3. Most expensive way to travel.

4. Still need to get from Tuguegarao. (Going by FX averages 500 pesos for Filipinos each way, 1,000 pesos for Kanos each way…Unless you are a highly skilled negotiator… The drivers are all in Kahoots, so the rates are fairly standard, including Kano pricing).

Car Rental in Tuguegarao or Aparri:

As I mentioned above, I tend to rent a car when I go up to Abulug. There are a number of reasons behind this, not least of which is that since Rebecca’s mother does not own a car, there is usually some hauling and other tasks that need to be done up on the farm. Additionally, we tend to go to Tuguegarao and then shop, do other chores, before heading up to Abulug. A vehicle makes these tasks much, much easier. As I mentioned, there aren’t many car rental options outside of Manila, Cebu, Davao, and GenSan, so how do we rent a vehicle? Well, the answer is that we rent from Becky’s large, extended family. In Tuguegarao, we rent a Mitsubishi Pajero from an in-law at 2,500 pesos per day, plus petrol. In Aparri, we rent an FX from Rebecca’s uncle for 2,000 pesos per day, plus petrol. Filling the tank on each of these vehicles usually costs between 2,500 and 3,000 pesos for diesel. We are 100% responsible for any damage, regardless of fault (Even a flat tire… I had to get one fixed… You don’t just call Avis!)… Something to keep in mind before making these types of arrangements. Also, when you rent from Hertz or a company, the daily rate clock is 24 hours from when you pick up the car… Expect in these types of arrangements to pay an extra day over the time you rent, because they always count sun-up to sundown as a full “day” . Most Jeepneys and FXs can also be rented by the day, with driver, averaging 2,000 pesos for an FX or 1,000 pesos for a jeepney… The drivers wait for the busses and flights to arrive and congregate there at those times. You just need to ask around at the airport or bus depot… SOMEONE will rent to you there.

Hopefully, you found this article helpful before heading out into the sticks… Again, costs and times are relative, but having travelled in all three regions of the Philippines, they are relatively consistent in my experience.

Chriselle Snack Hauz and Fast Food!

In 1993, My wife was spending a lot of time away from the Hotel so I got to wondering what she was up to as I knew that she was doing something in secret so one day when a local builder friend came in to collect my ladder I just asked him how the project was going on and in good Filipino fashion he immediately told me all about it! There are no well kept secrets in the Philippines!

Now I knew what was going on, I jumped into the pick up and “just by chance” happened to stumble onto the secret! Ellie had got a very good deal from a relation to rent a small building right opposite the Yellow Bus Station on the National Highway in Gen San and was converting it into a small eatery as it was a prime site for such a venture even though it was the center building in a block of 5 similar businesses, all eateries! Ellie was quite surprised to see me and had no choice but to tell me her plan, I asked her why she had not told me about it and she said that she wanted to surprise me! She had succeeded in doing so I will admit!

Now that I was in the loop, I was put on the construction gang, I was doing the electrics, plumbing etc, The walls were being paneled  with the outer skin of the Coconut Tree, in order to save the men time, I brought my small electric Chain Saw down to the site and the workers were amazed of how fast I could trim the edges of each piece of skin in order to fit them together! We replaced the old toilet and fitted one with a flush, the floor was all concreted, the concrete walls were all painted! We fitted a raised section in the roof so that the smoke and fumes would go outside and the natural breeze would blow in! Several wall fans were installed and I fitted a cooker hood over the non-gas cooking area! I even fitted a 12 volt backup light system running from a vehicle battery in case of brown outs! I was really enjoying this project!

Ellie was in charge of the cooking and serving equipment! She had made a stainless steel food warmer which was very rare around here, all the tables were covered with white Formica which was easy clean! We fitted a Stereo unit which we brought from UK so the sound was good! Everything about the place was looking very good and people were showing a lot of interest and asking when we would open for business! As opening day was getting nearer, Ellie went into overdrive and managed to get the refrigerators from San Miguel and Coke, she also added a freezer for ice making! Much of the cooking items we already had spare at the hotel so they were brought down! Decorations and posters, A sign board from San Miguel was set above the door! We were now ready to open but we had to wait a couple of days as we had to wait for a date with the Chinese lucky number 8 in it, i.e 08, 18, 28!

The big day came and we opened the doors waiting for the hungry public to arrive but to our amazement everyone still went to the other 4 eateries in the line and nobody came into ours! This went on until just before lunch time and the staff started asking people what was wrong and why people were not coming in and one Jeepney Driver summed up the problem very simple, he said, your place is too clean and everyone think its too expensive to eat and drink there! This guy was correct so we gave him and his conductor a free meal and showed him the price list and he was surprised to see that we were the same as the rest so he went away happily and became a regular customer! Once people realised that not only were our prices the same as the other in the block but our drinks were cold and the food was hot so from then on, we had a good clientele but it took a few days for the word to get out!

Business was doing fine and many people who were waiting for buses or dropping from the bus station came to eat and drink with us before continuing on their journeys, even the bus crews were now regulars! We had many requests to put a Cable TV in as well which we did and we also started to open 24 hours a day as there were lots of night guests also but unfortunately many wanted a place to sleep while waiting For an early bus and this made the place look like a doss house for vagrants at times so we again closed down on a night time! After about a year of operation we realized that we would never do too well with an eatery because with living away from the premises we could not control everything so we were thinking of what to do when the City Council made the decision for us by telling us that the front sections of all the eateries were illegal and had to be removed as the National Highway was going to be widened and in order to accommodate the project our front section had to go!

That was the excuse that we needed so we gave the place to the relations who were helping to run the business and moved ourselves totally out of it! It closed down completely not long afterward when the Yellow Bus Company moved its operation to the new station further away in an other part of the City!

The Eatery was a very interesting project as we found out for ourselves, Filipino’s did not trust clean thinking it meant expensive! The Family unit who usually own the small eateries are real hero’s to me as its very long working hours, you have to deal with awkward or drunken customers and you have always got to be ready on time with your service or your customers will go somewhere else! We tried to make this small eatery into a viable business for ourselves which we actually did but with fuel costs to and from the hotel several times a day, cooking food at the hotel and delivering it and with me drinking beer there, in the end it all became too expensive so we had the good sense to get out before things went bad for us!

The moral of this story is: If at first you don’t succeed, get out before you lose your shirt!

Get it now!

OK, folks… I am sure that most readers of this site are familiar with my book, 49 Ways to Make a Living in the Philippines.  This is my best selling book, by far, and a lot of people have given me very positive feedback after purchasing the book!  I know a number of people who have purchased the book and are actually putting an idea or two to use and are earning real money by using the methods that I have recommended!

Whether you need to completely earn a living while living in the Philippines, or if you just need to supplement your income to make a Philippine life possible, this book can help you!  You have my personal promise on that!

Well, as of this morning (October 17, 2009 in the Philippines), I have put the book on sale!  That’s right, instead of paying the regular price of $49 for the book, for a short time you will be able to get your copy for just $39.  This deal is only available to those who order through my Auctiontopia Bookstore, though.

So, go order your copy today.  When you order, this electronic book will be downloadable through the website, or I can e-mail you your copy for your convenience.

This book covers a number of methods to earn money here in the Philippines:

• How to earn money on the Internet
• How to earn money in the Philippines without using the Internet
• How to earn money in a hybrid manner, where you will do a combination of Internet earning and non-Internet earning

So, get over to the Auctiontopia Bookstore and order your copy today!  Just $39 for a short time!

Cambridge Farm Hotel Grows a Swimming Pool!

As the Hotel Business was improving and we were getting more long term guests staying with us, every day or every few days we were asked, when will you build a swimming pool? After some time, the wife went to Manila on a trip so I took my chance and started the construction of our pool!

Now, I must explain the very lucky natural money saving phenomenon which we have here, the land that we bought has about 2 or 3 feet of good top soil, then it is sand and gravel below so for all our construction projects we did not have to buy loads of sand and gravel, just dug it out of the ground as required! Not only were we able to dig out all our building materials but what was left was the hole in which we could construct the swimming pool! Already, even before I got started I was well ahead of the game! Once the work started there was no stopping us!

My building style was different to the local people as I did not use any expensive wooden form-work instead I used hollow building blocks! I first lined the random shaped hole with a wall of hollow blocks to act as a rear form in order to get the shape of the pool and to stop the earth collapsing! The working floor was the next part to introduce, this was a 3 inches thick concrete pad with just a drain hole at the lowest point, it gave a clean working surface! Once I had the outer wall and working floor constructed the steel reinforcing bars was fitted both on the floor for the main base and up the walls also! The main 8 inches thick floor was next and to allow for this large amount of concrete to be poured at one time I hired a mixer much larger than the small one that I had and I hired some extra workers also, unfortunately, the large mixer did not work at all so we did the complete mix using my small wheel barrow size mixer! This worked but it took us 18 hours to do a pour which we had estimated would take us around 10 hours!

We sure drank some cold beers after work on that day! An inside wall was then constructed of hollow blocks with a space 8 inches wide from the outer wall, this allowed us a good space to fill with concrete between the two form walls making the final thickness of the whole wall more than 16 inches thick, very strong! All cement and concrete had a waterproofing agent added to it in order to prevent any leakage, luckily for us it worked!

We had to play around a bit setting concrete steps and shallow areas for kids but this did not take long and very soon we were ready for the finishing! The drains, skimmer and water entry ports were all set in and pipes laid to the pumps, filters etc and for the finishing, we used a mixture of white cement and blue cement color mixed together! Again I employed a gang of plasterers as I wanted to do the finishing in one go so there would be less chance of this cement finishing lifting if water soaked underneath! All this went very smoothly but the finish was not really an even color but basically the pool was finished so we could now fill it up! This kind of color will be bleached out over time by the chlorine! The filling of the pool took 3 days continuous pumping from our 2 boreholes but it seemed to take an eternity! As we were filling, Ellie was landscaping and building cottages and a bar area, that’s where she has great ideas so I leave her to do this kind of work! To build the bar we bought a newly constructed Coconut Lumber Building from an Englishman who changed his idea of business, the price was cheap but we had to demolish it ourselves and in the process I manage to get a nail stuck through my foot! Ouch or some similar utterance I said and then off I went to the hospital for stitches and injections, the Doctor told me to rest and take it easy and afterwards I wished that I had taken his advice but I did not and was soon down on my back on a drip with a high fever and a dose of blood poisoning for a few days! Stupid me!

After my recovery, the pool was being used by friends and relations and it was not leaking so it was time to add the first batch of chlorine to the water! I added only 1 kg and went for a coffee, when I came back some minutes later I was shocked to see that the water had turned a very dark brown something like the brewed coffee that I had just consumed! What had happened was that adding the chlorine to a body of water which was mineral rich and full of invisible suspended solids created a chemical reaction and all of this stuff came out of suspension and colored the water horribly so for the next 2 weeks it was a case of add chlorine, vacuum the pool and clean the filter until the water was clean again! after the pool was cleaned up, Ellie had a portion of the requirements for visitors and guests constructed and we were ready and willing to open!

All went well, we did not have any real problems but we had to watch the water quality as even the rain is full of algae and if we do not put Chlorine and Muriatic Acid after a heavy rain the water will be green in the morning! Now we top up the pool only with water from the local Water District as it contains Chlorine already! We have only changed the water one time since we opened the pool and this was only so we could refurbish it after about 8 years! The last time we refilled we used the Water District also! Sometimes we have had bad chlorine which had expired and was worthless but now we only buy by the kilo and by doing this we can do the smell test because as chlorine is a gas you can easily smell it, if you cannot smell it then its no good!

We have all kinds of event at the pool side such as Parties, Reunions, Weddings and Receptions, Baptisms, Seminars, Birthdays, Beauty Contests including the Purok Malakas Miss Gay Contest once! We even had a choir practicing singing while up to their necks in water! As long as guests are happy, so are we! Running a pool is not easy or cheap as you need to add chemicals weather people are using the pool or not, really its more of an attraction than a money maker! One time we tried a Karaoke Machine at the pool but this did not last long as people only wanted to squawk into the microphone instead of buying food of drink!

As the years have gone by we have added things as requested, a slide was constructed but I refused to put a diving board there, we have a kids pool operating also, there are more tables and seats and even a couple of cottages for guests to stay in! Our kids have a small store which they run on a weekend and when not at school, I think this gives them good experience in dealing with people and money and they earn a bit of extra spending money also! Ellie keeps on changing the looks of the area and now there are large rocks all around the top of the pool giving it a bit more of a natural look! We even have a concrete ship wreck near the bar! Now she wants more cottages and a waterfall so she has her ideas as to what are the next requirements! If we have good income we build if not then she does things that do not cost much like rearranging the garden and transplanting trees etc! She never stop, she is always busy with something unlike me!

Just now Ellie is renovating some of the rooms and cottages until she has another good idea then another project will begin! Anything is possible!

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