The rich car trips

Hard work

At around 6am, Mr. Tran Van Duong and his wife in Kim Xuyen commune (Kim Thanh) arrived at Thuong market (Bac Giang city). To make it to the market on time, the couple had to prepare their goods the night before and leave early the next day. Having been specializing in selling seafood at this market for more than 2 years, Mr. Duong's vehicle has become familiar to many shop owners here.

The Thuong Market is just one of many familiar places for the couple to sell their goods. Traveling to many places, visiting new lands and making more friends have become some of the experiences that have helped the couple firmly overcome the difficulties of life.

Mr. Duong said that before coming to this profession, he worked as a worker in an industrial park near his house. Although his income was stable, it was not high and he was constrained by his time. He was familiar with seafood sales so he decided to change jobs. He saved up money to buy a truck to sell frozen goods. While selling goods, he also searched for markets and expanded his customer base. After 5 years, Mr. Duong and his wife were able to build a house and buy a small piece of land on the street to serve the family business.

Mr. Nguyen Van Viet in Le Loi commune (Chi Linh) has tried many jobs but has not been as successful as expected. With the suggestion of his friends, he decided to try his luck with selling fruits. The truck was quickly converted into a mobile store to accompany him on the roads. After finding a quality source of goods, he worried about finding a place to sell his goods.

With seasonal fruits, he chooses locations such as industrial parks or markets with a large population. He stops selling each shipment for about a week until the goods are sold out before moving to a new location. The sales locations are not only in the province but also in neighboring provinces and cities such as Bac Giang, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh... Each truck of goods earns him a profit of 4 - 5 million VND. Each month, he sells 5 - 6 trucks of goods, some months even more. His income is therefore increasing, and his life is more comfortable than before.

Anh Viet said: "This job is hard, especially in terms of living and eating. There are times when I only eat a cake or a pack of noodles. Working in a fixed place makes me feel suffocated and cramped, but traveling on many roads gives me new knowledge. Even though I only sell goods, I also try to learn about the characteristics of the land where I stop. This helps me make many new friends. We are all business people, so we can easily share with each other the sad and happy stories in life and tell each other how to do business."

More opportunities

For Mr. Duong, choosing a sales job allows him to travel to many places and meet many people, but the greatest joy is getting to know his current wife. "This job has helped my wife and I become a couple. Now, every long-distance shipment has my wife to accompany me, so I don't feel as tired as before. This job is not as restrictive or stressful as a worker's job, and I have free time and a fairly high income," said Mr. Duong.

After many years of working in the trading profession, Mr. Nguyen Van Hai in Doan Tung commune (Thanh Mien) has built for himself a small production and business facility in the locality. In addition, he also has a gold and silver shop right at home. All of this is the result of many years of hard work in the business.

Mr. Hai said: "Previously, I specialized in trading insect sticky traps from China to resell in provinces and cities of Vietnam. This item is not of high value but has a high demand, especially in provinces and cities from the Central region and further south. After 3 years of trading like this, I have had large customers and am ready to sign contracts for production. Now, I have opened a sticky trap production facility and created jobs for 15 local workers with an income of 6 - 7 million VND/person/month".

Mr. Hai is just one of the businesses in Doan Tung commune that has prospered thanks to trading. From small businesses, many households here have built high-rise buildings, opened factories, and purchased more trucks to serve their trading and business. The high-rise buildings that have sprung up next to each other are the result of the trucks traveling back and forth everywhere.

"The commune has over 200 households trading and producing, small businesses, creating jobs for about 2,000 local workers. Therefore, the local transportation service has also developed. The whole commune has over 300 large and small trucks, transporting goods to 63 provinces and cities across the country. Some goods are also sold to neighboring countries such as Laos, Thailand... Currently, the average income of people in the commune reaches over 87 million VND/person/year, much higher than the average of the whole district", Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Chairman of the People's Committee of Doan Tung commune added.

As the economy grew, many new types of businesses emerged. The back-and-forth transport trips were arduous but also brought a comfortable life to many families. From those first trips, many families had enough to eat and save, and built spacious houses.