Vendor receives only a quarter for selling banana, buyer offers bigger payment for conceptual work, facing logistical challenges.
In a surprising turn of events, Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun made headlines when he purchased an artwork featuring a banana duct-taped to a wall for a whopping $6.2 million at an auction. Following this extravagant purchase, Sun announced his intention to buy 100,000 bananas, equivalent to $25,000, from the Manhattan stand where the original banana used in the artwork was sold for just 25 cents.
However, Sun’s grand gesture faced practical challenges when it came to fruition. The stand’s employee, Shah Alam, explained that procuring such a large quantity of bananas from a wholesale market in the Bronx would incur significant costs. Additionally, transporting such a large volume of bananas, typically packed in boxes of about 100, would present logistical difficulties.
From a financial standpoint, the net profit from Sun’s proposed purchase of 100,000 bananas would only amount to around $6,000. Alam emphasized that selling bananas does not yield substantial profits, especially considering his modest hourly wage and the fact that any earnings would rightfully belong to the fruit stand’s owner.
Sun’s extravagant purchase and subsequent offer to buy a large quantity of bananas shed light on the stark realities faced by street vendors in New York City, where operating costs and profit margins can be challenging to navigate. Despite Sun’s well-intentioned gesture, the practicalities of the situation highlighted the disparity between extravagant art world transactions and the everyday struggles of those working on the streets of the city.
Source: The NY Times
