Hello @blanchy. I answer you again in parts.
She's a better person than I ever will be.
I think we all give what we can and, as I explained to you before, more than 4 years ago I had no idea what crypto was, I joined Hive and it opened many doors for me, especially the one of knowledge. Let's say, doing this volunteering in my way of “paying back” what Hive has given me so much since then. I think we all contribute as best we can and as I do not have a way to invest, for the circumstances you already know, this is my way of doing it. You invest by making this kind of post, for example.
Did she get shafted by a supplier for the rubber bands? Who did we buy these rubber bands from? Nobody doubts that @arlettemsalase is a great presenter and a credit to Hive. I may argue that procurement may not be one of her specialties.
No, I have not been scammed. I think I would be scammed a hell of a lot faster by Alibaba since I don't shop through those places. The bracelets were bought from a direct supplier here in Venezuela with the intention of reducing costs, shipping, taxes and other things that come with buying things outside of Venezuela. Although it is not the same to buy from the USA, I didn't look for them on Amazon, to be honest. But I did an exhaustive search within the Venezuelan suppliers and I managed to get the best price because most of them charge 1 USD or more for each unit of product.
And just as it is for the bracelets, so it is for the stickers and all the merchandise I have bought in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Argentina. I have also moved merch to those countries or we have bought from the site, it all depends on the prices.
Venezuela is an expensive country, if you didn't know. Due to dollarization and the exchange rate differential, everything can go up. Talking about the country situation is too long, you have to give too much context for you to understand how deteriorated a country that has been in the same for more than 25 years can be.
I started messaging the manufacturer of some rubber wrist bands. The Hive bracelet that was at the Rio Blockchain event is not complicated so he is gonna send me a sample of one made up and send it over to me. It will cost me $20 in post but I don't mind. I would like one anyway.
If you attended the Hive Fest, you will surely have one or more than one in your hands right now because I sent some of them from Colombia.
It's 8800 HBD. Magical internet money.
As I explained above, every time we are going to make a purchase, inside or outside Venezuela, for any country where we are going to represent Hive, a study of suppliers is made in order to create the most optimal budget. It is not about magic money but if you get 1 bracelet for 20 dollars for shipping, how much do you think it would be to ship 11,000 bracelets? That weighs more than 20 kilograms, approximately. Believe me it wouldn't come out to $20.
Stuff happens in life, I get it, but it is even more reason not to give these accounts funding during these hard time in my opinion.
Do you think if I were a bad person I would have a job at the oldest exchange of all time? If I were irresponsible, unfulfilled, etc.
We all go through bad days but our actions speak for us. I was trusted for this and I have not failed that trust. Both the exchange and Hive.
They don't have any stake in the game. Not much to lose. The most they can lose is $50 if what they are doing is voluntary. There will not be much sleep lost if Hive goes down the drain. A person with more skin in the game would be more careful with the Communities funds in my opinion as they are a stakeholder. It's the fundamentals of decentralized crypto.
There is something that is worth more than all the money you are talking about and that is: Reputation.
Unlike a good part of the witnesses or you, I have my name and surname in all this, from the beginning, I am not anonymous, and believe me I have more to lose than 50 USD which is what my account could be worth today.
It is always a pleasure to respond to you.
Best regards.