Well paid seasonal work

Our country is known for production of many fruits (plums, apricots, apples, blackberries,...), among them, raspberry. Specially part where I am from, West Serbia. Raspberry is very good fruit, full of vitamine C, it's benifitial for many things, health wise. Season is in summer only but we froze it, so we can have it throughout the year.

People usually have a lot of rows of the raspberry, and they need help in the season to collect it all, because it's necessary to be done in the certain time. It also depends on how good raspberry is that specific year. Some workers get paid per kilo of raspberry, and some by the day. Most get paid per day, I think, and if the worker is not from the same place, or near, they get a place to stay, as well as food. But it all depends on agreement, of course.

Usually this job is paid around $20 per day (it's not the same at every place). Last year, however, it was around $30, due to a huge raise in price of raspberry per kilo. Purchase price in refrigerators of one kilo was up to $4.5, and usually it was from $1-$2.5 (depending on the year). It never seems fair to me that someone puts all that work in it, and get paid $2 per kilo, while in some big supermarkets they sell it for much more (like, 250gr for $2, and I know abroad it's even more). Also, many people that live on countryside, have this as one of the main recourses of money, so they lose a lot if year is bad, and price is not good. Before there were even protests here because price was really bad at some seasons.

This year, however, they predict unbelievable price of 8-$10 per kilo (as purchase price, and later, they will sell it for even more), and it's because there was late frost and some plantations were destroyed, so there is less of raspberry. But also, inflation maybe, I am not sure. This is the reason why payment for pickers is now bigger, and it will be $50 per day.

Doesn't sound bad at all, right? You could have $350 in a week of work, and that's how much someone here earns in a month. But don't get tricked. Being a picker is not an easy job. You do work pretty much the entire day (from early morning, until sun sets) and you are constantly on your feet, standing or bend a bit, mostly in direct sun, because season in the summer. It's about 10-12 hours of hard work, and before it was paid only $20. Now payment is better, but still, work is the same. And having raspberry is not only seasonal work for those who cultivate it. It requires things to be done before season, and it can be all destroyed by the weather.

I never did this for payment, because earlier we had our own raspberry, so I did it as free work 😁 But I hated it, because I can't be long in the sun, and it's everyday work, and it seems like it will never end. We had other fruits and agricultural work that it was easier for me to do. Like plums. However, now that I saw price for raspberry this year, I wouldn't mind if we had few rows of it, if you get what I mean 😁

I like to eat raspberry, it's good for smoothies and it's great in cakes also. Here people even make brandy, rakia of it. But when I was picker I got sick of it for a while. Not only coz I could eat it daily, but also because I hated that work.

Did you ever did such job or similar, and what you think of the price? Is this type of work payed better in your country, or worse? Or it also depends on the year and price of the goods? Would you be a raspberry picker this year in my country?

Photos used in this article are original and taken by me. First one isn't raspberry though, but it's a berry 😁

Thank you for reading my post ^^ :)