Ann Robin is a welcome distraction from chaos of the rush-hour traffic that is harnessed by the nest of traffic lights at the corner of Camp and Lamaha streets. You wait for the lights to set you free then she catches your eye, sauntering in and out of rows of cars and timing her burst of sales in a manner that tallies with the length of time it takes for the lights to go from red to green. It is, evidently, a practiced art. If she gets it wrong she would miss her regular customers, or perhaps she may even be run over.
Robin boasts five challenging years of vending all of the country’s daily newspapers every day of the week. It is her primary source of income. It is a pursuit that begins several hours before she puts in an appearance at Camp and Lamaha streets. Long before that – at around 4am – she makes her way to the different locations where she picks up the newspapers. After that she must begin her delivery routine to customers whose homes are located in an area that is bordered by Cummings and East streets, respectively. For that, she is required to secure private transportation.
By 5am that part of her routine is completed and she makes her way to her customary vending spot, where several early morning customers await her arrival. Later she is joined by three of her four children, two sons and a daughter who help with the distribution of the newspapers. By the time the first waves of the rush hour traffic appear, Robin is ready for the procedure associated with selling newspapers in traffic. It is a carefully thought-out process, which, apart from focusing on the ever changing traffic lights, requires attention to the motorists themselves. Some vehicles, Robin knows by sight. With regard to the others with which she is less familiar, she needs to establish some kind of eye contact with drivers/passengers. That way she gets a sense of whether she is likely to make a sale or otherwise. Rainy days are “murder”, she says. Luckily, unsold newspapers can be returned to the retail post.
The enterprising Lindener explains that because of financial circumstances she was unable to complete her education. She vows that her own children will not share that experience.
No stranger to one form of modest entrepreneurship or another, Robin previously sold in the Stabroek Market. She advocates early rising, honest endeavour and the avoidance of drugs and crime.
She is, she says, not enthused by the idea of salaried employment. Over time she has grown used to self-employment, to managing her own enterprise and for the foreseeable future she intends to keep it that way.
