Venezuela. The South American nation is going through a crisis in the paint sector, so much so that now consumers are reaching the limit of having to buy expired paints to be able to paint their homes or offices at the end of this year.
The high prices of products and the scarcity of them are leading the consumer to use this type of practice. As reported by the Metropolitan Newspaper, buyers say that the paint only has to be strained "to remove the lumps" and thus use it. Paint sales in Venezuela are forecast to fall by 60% this year.
"It's not really that perfect, but you save a little money that you can use in other things. The situation in Venezuela is quite difficult and we have to save as much as possible because we do not know what will happen tomorrow," said Rosa Marcano, a buyer, who said that it is less expensive to acquire an expired painting.
For her part, the seller Mariela Guipe, in charge of La Tienda del Pintor in the Puerto La Cruz region, indicated that the most sought after color is white, but due to its high cost, users are choosing to bring other alternatives such as beige, salmon, pink, yellow and light green. The merchant said that the sale of the expired products has been helpful because they cannot be kept on the premises after they reach their expiration date.
"People come to ask if there are expired paintings to buy them, because a cuñete can cost up to 20 thousand bolivars and the minimum wage is not enough for that," said a local hardware store salesman, while the user Maritza Ramírez, said that her family has had to raise money together to paint the house: "This is how we did in my house so as not to lose the tradition, because really the prices are extremely high and there are other needs."
