Play your cards well

I had a long conversation with one of my neighbors about how his business was doing.  He prefers to be called Jojo. He was in the tourism business doing car rentals and tours around the tourist spots of Cebu and the adjacent islands. Being neighbors, I saw his business grow from one van to five commuters in a span of 5 years.

But the pandemic has now left him with a predicament. No tourists, no business. 

Luckily, my neighbor was quick to offer his services to the call centers that still operated during the ECQ. The problem was, Jojo was struggling with expenses. He said he could only set aside a very small amount for maintenance.

“Three of my vans were due for preventive check-ups and oil change. But I had to pay the loan or else all would pile up. I decided not to do the oil change,” Jojo said in Cebuano.

“I have many vans to maintain and at March end came the due dates for the 3 vans. Nangita gyud kog diskarte (I had to think of ways).” He said he literally did some “never heard” cost cutting measure like straining the used engine oil with the stockings of his wife and putting it back in the engine. 

He also went around the neighborhood offering change oil services. He would check the condition of the used oil that he collected from our neighborhood, strain it, pour it in his van’s engine and top it up with new oil. 

He instructed his drivers not to idle the vans with Airconditioning ON while waiting for their clients, a common practice that they do to please their clients. He also told them to drive the vans economically, with the least amount of engine revolutions and more of just rolling the car.

He learned how to clean the Airconditioning System (A/C) all by himself. 

“Gamit kayo hinuon ning internet boss (The internet was very useful). I learned how to clean the airconditioning evaporator without taking it out of the car as I wanted to save on freon and labor,” he said. 

“Ako mga driver adto wala kauli sa probinsiya (My drivers couldn’t go home to their provinces).  I just made them helpers in maintaining the vans. By end of April, we would alternate the vans just so mileage will be shared,” Jojo said.

“We made the side windows of the van a bit smaller by adding sunshields to make the A/C more efficient. Layu layu to amo biyahe kay nay agent na taga-Minglanilla og dunay taga- Talisay, unya ang usa ka van sa North pud, Consolacion, Mandaue og Bacayan pud. Unya init kayo to pag Abril og Mayo (We had routes as far as Minglanilla to the south and Mandaue and Bacayan to the North, and it was terribly hot during April and May).”

He said he also needed tires by the end of April. “Nakatabang gyud ang Facebook market og kaning mga China na ligid na barato (Facebook market really helped and the tires that are made in China that are widely available.”

He said he made sure he was cost cutting on tires but didn’t forget that he had the responsibility of making his vans safe for travel.

He said the pandemic tested his ingenuity and his skills. If he didn’t think of these ways, he said he would have folded already by now. 

“Ako paagi adto dili siguro ka mo-uyon kay labing suwito raba ka og awto bai pero ako gyud to gibuhat para ma sulod nako sa budget unya makatog ta nga dili maguba atong mga sakyanan unya mayo ato serbisyo (My ways of doing things you might not agree on, especially you my friend, as you are highly learned about cars, but I just had to do it to fit the budget without sacrificing a lot for maintenance and good service),” Jojo added.

Indeed, the pandemic has changed the way we see Life. It will never be the same again,  But that’s okay. Jojo clearly understands this.