With the advent of the holy month of Ramadan every year, as well as during the seasons of holidays and weekends, many hawkers spread in some locations in cities in the Kingdom to provide some home-produced snacks, and this phenomenon represents a source of income for many families to meet the requirements of life, although there is no The existence of controls that control the market for these products, but it may be a positive phenomenon, but after legalization of course.
The phenomenon of street vendors is not a new idea and is not exclusive to some families. In many countries of the world, including developed countries, we find what is known as the Sunday market or car boot, which is held in some cities, especially on Saturdays and Sundays, where some families sell what is in excess They need household items instead of throwing them in the landfill, and the visitor to those markets finds these street vendors spread in them, offering snacks to visitors to the weekend markets.
This phenomenon is called shadow markets. It falls under the so-called parallel economy, which represents all economic activities that are not subject to the supervision of the concerned government agencies, and therefore its profits are not precisely defined and are not subject to taxes. However, these markets are usually overlooked because they are temporary and not permanent.
Aside from the street vendors, the electronic household products market also represents a source of income for many families at the present time, especially after the spread of social media channels such as Instagram and others, where some families sell their products through these platforms, which enables them to continue their business and reap many profits. , without incurring many costs such as renting a place to practice work and the many accompanying costs that follow, and other than the lack of health requirements and safety standards in these products, the absence of state supervision over them may cause them to be exploited by the enemies of the state to integrate them into illegal business networks such as terrorism or drugs Or others, and therefore the activities of this type of activities marred by many complex and overlapping problems.
However, I personally do not prefer to eliminate this phenomenon completely, but rather to legalize it or govern it in a more accurate sense. Encouraging household products contributes to breaking the state of monopoly and the accompanying high prices of some commodities in many regular shops, in addition to contributing to alleviating unemployment. Therefore, it is better to contain this phenomenon by subjecting it to the supervision of the competent authorities in the country, and granting licenses to owners in accordance with certain controls, the most important of which are those related to health requirements, and the provision of specific specific areas in some cities – such as parks, for example – may contribute to legalizing these activities instead of leaving street vendors. They spread randomly on the roads and sidewalks.
Legalizing the state for this activity will help increase confidence in these products, and thus increase the profits of their producers. It is also possible to launch electronic platforms licensed to sell household products, so that buying or selling is done only through them, which gives them credibility and reliability as a virtual official market, which means monitoring The state electronically for each activity that is carried out in it so that it has the appropriate quality, and customers will be able to interact with this economic market without fear, which serves both the customer and the service provider at the same time, which ultimately means integrating the activities of the shadow economy into the formal economy through its governance and subject it to government supervision.
It is well known that developed countries are characterized by having tight databases for all the activities that take place within their lands, and the more advanced the country is, the more it is able to limit its economic activities and coordinate between them through mechanisms that ensure their comprehensiveness and integration with each other, so that all activities within the country are practiced smoothly. And harmony, and it is noted that Vision 2030 is particularly interested in developing the economy on more than one axis, and perhaps the elimination of unregulated markets and the state’s supervision of all economic activities in the Kingdom will help raise quality standards and ensure that they are applied with sufficient decisiveness.
I fully understand the municipalities’ endeavor to reduce the activities of street vendors, whether because of the lack of health requirements for their products or the negative impact of their presence on public taste, but we can look at this phenomenon through multiple visions and not only through one perspective, instead of focusing on the negatives of this phenomenon, we can look at the advantages Which it may include and can benefit society, and there is no doubt that any society faces many challenges and problems, and fighting negative phenomena without considering the consequences of their disappearance is a wrong and deficient treatment for the problem, and the solution lies in studying any phenomenon in all its dimensions, and then seeking to reduce its negative aspects while preserving Its positive aspects, and thus we have made the most of the phenomenon without prejudice to its advantages, and turned failure into success and failure into progress and development.
Muhammad Mufti
