Competing with the Black Market? Long live the underground!
Photo by Paul Basel (Opens in a new window) from Pexels (Opens in a new window)
by Jason Velázquez (Opens in a new window)
August 13, 2023
Editorial (Opens in a new window)/Opinion (Opens in a new window)
I once dated a gal who thought the Black Market was a geographic point infamy, rather than an illicit system of trade occurring everywhere at all hours. Charmed at the thought of being able to visit the OG source of everything from stolen car stereos to handguns to unstamped packs of smokes, I asked where these back alley vendors were located. “Somewhere in New York City. Or maybe in Jersey,” she’d heard, but that it was definitely “run out of abandoned warehouses. Near the docks somewhere. And they move it to a new location whenever they think the law is on to them.”
She wasn’t entirely wrong about the setting and ambience some of the time — plenty of contraband and cargo that falls off the back of a truck does originate in exactly these sorts of seedy environs, just as portrayed by Hollywood. I’ve experienced some of that “On the Waterfront” vibe, but I’m betting that shifty sales operations can be found in just as many suburban man-caves as dimly lit quays. The function of the Black Market (excluding hard drugs and human trafficking, which are Bad Things) is connected to the who it serves, which is why there’s a decidedly Blue Collar persona. We connect the concept to the working class and working poor, but the underground economy chugs along at all times at all income levels. The higher up the economic ladder you climb, of course, the less common are cash deals for consumer goods, and more likely are the wares shifty favors exchanged for other shifty favors that have less easily traceable monetary trails.
I’ll save the rot at the top essay for another day, though.
For the proles, the underground economy (Opens in a new window) — the phrase I’ll try to stick to, since Black Market is as semantically problematic than blacklisted or blackballed — is a survival mechanism. Money is forever tight, and if you can save or make a buck dealing in swag, that’s just how the rent gets paid in a huge financial game rigged against you. To afford legitimate expenses, sometimes you have to resort to off-the-books revenue. Even the government gets in on the action. Bake sales pay for school supplies while the opium trade pays for CIA special ops the public would rather not know about. The rule of thumb is, in my ethical framework, don’t cause misery or pain to other living things through cruelty or neglect, and your clandestine commerce is probably forgivable.
When I found out that my rideshare driving gig was in competition with an underworld livery exchange, my eyes were opened to a whole new sphere of liberated commerce. Enter the online forum “413hoodUber.” Not exactly secretive, but definitely an IYKYK kind of thing. The premise is simple: I have cash and need a ride somewhere, you have a car and don’t mind ferrying total strangers across town. So far, indistinguishable from the official operating model of Uber or Lyft, right? But the similarity ends there.
See, Uber (depending on the driver’s geographic market) doesn’t tell the driver where s/he’ll be going before s/he has to choose to accept the request, NOR does Uber say up front what the driver’s pay will be. Via 413hoodUber, the passenger posts what their Point A and Point B are, and, usually, how much they’re willing to pay. A prospective driver can respond directly to the post, or more commonly, takes the negotiation off-thread into a DM. I have to say, it does my heart good to see el regateo right out in the open.
“Yo. So…I can’t do it at 4. 6:30 good?”
“5:30 latest”
“Aight. Let me move some shit around and get back to you.”
” … “
“We good. You say $15?”
“Yeah.”
“You crazy. You talking all the way over to Westfield? more like 25.”
“Got a 20 dollar bill. Take it or leave it.”
“Hang on.
” … “
“k. I’ll see you then. But NO extra stops and NO extra riders and NO eating.
“Thx.”
“And be ready to go when I pull up. I’ll wait three minutes. I don’t see you, I roll.
“You be on time and I’ll be ready.”
“cool”
“Thx”
The beauty of this system is that it is completely unregulated either by the state or by a billion dollar gig platform. No background checks and no insurance verification. No taxes paid and no exorbitant percentage carved off. Best of all, it is a better example of the FREE market than almost anything that happens under authority of the king’s seal. The prospective passenger can set the upper price limit and her conditions for the ride, and the driver can set the lowest price limit and his conditions for the ride.
Either one might be a serial killer. The car might be unregistered, uninsured, and falling apart. The driver might have lost his license for serial OUI. The passenger might jump out at a light and stiff the driver. Every sketchy scenario is imaginable, and yet, the likelihood of anything untoward or dangerous coming to pass is actually pretty small. And using a ride sharing app doesn’t guarantee the passenger or driver protection from tragedy either, as repeated shocking stories have highlighted. Ultimately, the rider pays way less than they would through an app, and the driver gets paid more. Most importantly, the transaction isn’t controlled by manipulative algorithms sealed inside some black box in San Francisco. The deal takes place between flesh and blood humans who value greater liberty in their financial affairs.
I know that, while Uber would like take a cut of all personal transportation needs, I’m not really suffering. There are never enough drivers in most of the markets in Massachusetts, so I’ll always stay busy (though I’ll say again that it’s bullshit that I have to support The Greylock Glass by driving strangers around at 2 o’clock in the morning instead of doing more/better reporting). It reminds me of how, even though I’ve had things stolen from me, I don’t hold a lot of acrimony for the guys who’ve shown up at various places of employment with a trunk or van full of “gift items” my co-workers and I might be interested in. Picked up an awesome set of “overstock” speakers once upon a time. I’d rather know that the network exists, despite the obvious wrinkles. There may come a day when I need to book low-profile passage somewhere, you never know. Or, should the country ever plunge into a Second Great Depression, it might be good to know a guy who knows how to get things.
I suppose this essay is a spiritual sequel (phrase pilfered from Adam Johnson of Citations Needed (Opens in a new window)) to last week’s discussion of anarchy. I have always believed in removing any barrier in human relations that is more or less parasitic in nature. While I do believe in paying just and necessary taxes, and I do believe that regulations keep honest actors from sliding into business behavior that can pose a threat to health and safety, I also believe that there MUST be a vigorous flow of goods and services that are exchanged just around the corner from Main Street and the big box stores. Democracy has always depended upon it, in fact.
The American Revolution was financed largely by smuggling (Opens in a new window) and colonialist families were only too happy to pick up tea, sugar, and rum (Opens in a new window) on the cheap. Additionally, swashbuckling American corsairs were exceedingly good at poking holes in the British naval blockades, allowing weapons shipments from France to find their way to ports in Boston, Baltimore, and Charleston. And although, fast-forwarding to the 21st Century, the United States has seen the rise of a hyper-bougie push to eradicate anything that carries a plebeian whiff, chances are good that the legacy wealth of some of just the nicest families originated in backrooms rather than boardrooms.
And I’m okay with that.
In any country, the societal mechanisms of discrete commerce frowned upon during boom times are quickly embraced by more people than will admit during times of bust. Or unrestrained social upheaval. Or fascism.
As the wealth gap yawns ever-wider, no amount of “honest work” is going to cut it for more and more families. The underground economy can rescue a household, if not from poverty, at least from complete destitution. And whichever side of the transactions you might be on in any given moment. I condone participation in them. As with all surreptitious dealings, make sure you know the person holding the other end of the dollar bill. Create no records, paper or digital. Keep everything on the DL.
At this point, I can just about hear some of your asking, “Procurement on the Black Market sounds like an exciting, refreshing change from business-as-usual, Jay! But how do I get involved?!”
Fear not. You probably already are.
Do you buy farm fresh eggs from the nice lady down the street? Berries from that little stand on your way to work? There is a remote possibility that she’s paying taxes on those sales, but God, I hope not. Backyard chickens and berries are almost cliché as a sources of unreported income, and authorities largely turn a blind eye because the numbers we’re talking about are generally pretty small. Even still, pat yourself on the back! As you tuck into a wholesome breakfast burrito made possible by underground hens, savor the flavor of soft insurgency.
The same goes for services. Your babysitter may be certified these days, but I’d wager that the vast majority of kid-minders, house sitters, and dog walkers are operating outside the attention of any local, state, or federal authority. I do NOT advise that you have your roof repaired by an unlicensed handyman, but if you need a doorknob replaced or a porch painted, your local odd jobs guy is probably a perfectly good solution, and he’s probably operating under the radar as well.
Going a little deeper into pirate territory, you might choose to stock your freezer with verboten food items. Given that most of you are out here in Western Mass. (in which I include the Berkshires), if you eat meat, you may know hunters who are happy to let go of some venison if you make it worthwhile. Additionally, some excellent mobile butchers operate in the region, and while they themselves aren’t going to risk selling non USDA –inspected meat, a little asking around might turn up a farmer nearby with a surplus of beef or lamb. I’ve raised grass-fed beef and pastured pork, which I had processed at Hilltown Pork over in Canaan, NY. I was selling at farmers markets, so I needed the USDA stamp and the cryovaced packages, but I had a number of customers who pulled me off to the side to let me know that they’d be more than willing to buy meats from me under, let’s say, more relaxed standards of trade. Given how little a USDA label actually means these days anyway, where’s the harm if you know your farmer?
But perhaps the most meaningful contribution you can make towards fueling the underground economy is to use the barter system whenever you can. You probably do some amount of this with friends and neighbors, but I’ll bet you could take it to the next level. Are you good with a sewing machine and need wood for the winter? Do you have a gazillion zucchinis and would love some peaches? Put the word out there and watch how quickly you make new friends with the common cause of taking your financial interactions off-line.
If you don’t have a network already in place, I’m here to help! Along with a few other things I do, I maintain Berkshire Mutual Aid (Opens in a new window). Launched at the beginning of the pandemic, the website continues to provide information about food resources in the area, BUT ALSO has a very cool Barter Board (Opens in a new window). It’s an anonymous, simple way to connect people who choose to opt out of the monetary system whenever they can. I’ve overhauled the site and updated a few things, and have reset the board, and it’s ready to help you indulge your rebel impulses and stick it to the man! I’m also looking for someone interested in being the Web admin and acting as a sort of manager and cheerleader for the site. Pioneer Valley, Worcester County, and Boston all have strong Mutual Aid movements going on. The Berkshires really needs ours to flourish. Too many people are struggling who could be cooperating and getting by.
Do you have any great resources or tips about participating in the underground economy? Shoot me an e-mail and let me know!
Until next time, stay safe, be good to each other, and go easy on yourself!
Jay Velázquez
Editor-in-Chief, The Greylock Glass
