Abstract

DIEZ, DAVID. PROPINA Y ECONOMÍA DEL DON: LA SUBCONTRATACIÓN DE EMPACADORES EN SUPERMERCADOS DE BOGOTÁ. Rev. colomb. antropol. [online]. 2006, vol.42, pp.249-276. ISSN 0486-6525.

THIS ARTICLE PRESENTS THE RESULTS OF AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY ON TIPPING PRACTICES IN Bogotá supermarkets. I show how the goods and services exchanges between customers and packagers, among which the tip circulates, are permeated by gift and capitalist economies, two forms of exchange that despite their conceptual differences become entwined to strengthen the process of labor deregulation. Moreover, I examine the ways in which customers and packagers use this combination by analyzing daily interactions, my experience as a packager, and stressing the packagers ability to adapt to their labor environment. Supermarkets no longer pay for packagers' wages since they outsource their packaging needs to independent cooperatives, who in turn subcontract packagers. Finally, I argue that the proliferation of packager cooperatives in Colombia since 1996 reflects the labor deregulation supported by flexible capitalism.

Keywords : Tipping; gift economies; outsourcing; packagers; supermarkets.

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