What are middlemen

A middleman is a person in between the producer and consumer, between the

firms and households. Middlemen that create a bridge that makes buying and
selling of goods easier for all.
Middlemen play a vital role in business activities to maintain regular flow of goods and
services in the economy. They purchase goods from the producer to sell to
consumers at a higher price.
I. DESCRIPTION of the CAUSE of INFLATION(1 to 9)/UNEMPLOYMENT (10
and 11)

Middlemen add interest to the original price from the producers.

Inflation occurs from time that a middleman buys goods from the
producers, which they sell at a higher price. The price increase depends
on the middleman.

II. EXPLANATION WHY IT (I) CAUSES INFLATION/UNEMPLOYMENT

The presence of middlemen is also a major cause of inflation. As you can

see here, as middlemen make it easier for the buying and selling of
products, they also add a markup to the price. For example, according
to Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), this February 21, 2019, the price
of carrots (bundle of 8-10 pcs. or kg) the wholesale price is at a range of
25 - 32 Php. When retailers such as public markets sell them, the price
increases to 35 - 80 Php and when supermarkets sell the carrots, the
price increases more at 49 - 86 Php. This only shows that there are
significant price increases as more middlemen are involved in the
economy, more and more price increases will be done to the product.

III. GROUP RECOMMENDATION and ITS DESCRIPTION

The group would recommend an increased usage and availability of
online shopping as a solution to the presence of middlemen causing
inflation. The premise is simple, since middlemen are also buying from
the manufacturers selling the product again to customers, why don't the
manufacturers themselves sell to the customers directly? This will not
only reduce the number of middlemen involved in the process, but also give
comfort to customers as they would never have to leave their houses to buy
products. The use of online shopping would eliminate the excess
increase in the price of goods due to middlemen. The only extra price
needed is the shipping fee for the delivery of the product. In addition, 9
 out of 10 filipino consumers do their shopping online in which 47% buys
because of cheaper prices

I. PLAN of ACTION
A. OBJECTIVE/S:
The objective of online shopping is to minimize the number of
middlemen involved in buying and selling products, which aims
to address the problem of inflation involving middlemen in the
country. The less middlemen there is involved, the closer the price is
to the original.

B. PERSONS INVOLVED:

The persons involved will be less as middlemen are reduced or omitted.

There are only the firms or the producers and the households or the
consumers. The firms’ role is to create the online service that would sell
their goods to their customers. They are responsible in reducing the
middlemen involved. They would not have to sell to others in wholesale or retail
instead, have transactions with customers directly. The other persons involved
are the households or the consumers. Households are the people who
would benefit from online shopping. Not only is online shopping more
comfortable, since they need not to leave their houses when they buy products in
the market, but online shopping is also a source of lower prices. As said
before, consumers buy the product directly how the producers intended the price
to be.

C. NEEDED RESOURCES:
There are resources needed for this plan to start, first thing is the online platforms.
There are already multiple platforms for online shopping, but with the group’s plan of
using online shopping more to address inflation, we need more platforms for the said
activity. This project will also need the firms’ loyalty to the online shops for them to
only sell their products to the online shops. With more platforms to be
established, shipping services is the next resource that we need. More shipping
services are needed for the numerous people who will ship the products they
bought online.

D. SUCCESS INDICATORS:
There are a couple of success indicators that could be achieved. First is an
insignificance of middlemen in the economy. Success is to be achieved when, of
course, middlemen are lessened in the economy. This means that the inflation of
products are also lessened, because the price of the product is as close to the
producers’ will in the first place. Therefore, the price must also be stable for both the
producers and consumers, such that middlemen are not anymore needed in the
economy. Lastly, more customers using online shopping services means that they are
satisfied with having no middlemen involved.

IV. INDIVIDUAL PLEDGE/ACTION in SUPPORT to the RECOMMENDATION

STATED ABOVE
I pledge to turn my favors onto online shopping websites in terms of product
consumptions for its perceived advantages. I believe that through these
mediums we can avoid unfavorable charges caused by middlemen to this day
and forth, I will take actions appropriate to this pledge.

INDIVIDUAL OUTPUT
1. Communicates effectively and confidently
2. Considers/integrates the issue of sustainability in his/her own
action/support