We were self-employed, operating 6 online stores providing almost 8000 retail listings. We’ve been selling online since 2002, so we were not naive to the challenges of e-commerce.
Going into the summer of 2025, we saw days when combined retail sales did not crack $100.
Our 2 eBay stores had a combined 3,000-plus items that I kept discounting, eventually down to break-even pricing.
Consumers had stopped spending money. Our 23-year-old pet supply website saw a 80% drop in revenue as our customers went to Walmart to buy the cheap stuff or relinquished their pets.
Suddenly, our commercial debt burden was crushing, and groceries now came from food pantries.
Seeing the unsustainability of rising costs and sales that were mired in molasses, we sold but mostly gave away to a local church EVERYTHING we owned.
I just stopped paying any bills, bought a 20-year-old motorhome, and am writing this from a small town about an hour’s drive southwest of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.
We’ll stay here until our visas expire and then renew them or make our way to Panama, where the path to citizenship is short and rewarding.
We get by on our social security checks and are beginning to revive 3 websites based on drop shipping models.
I’m a 73 year old 4th-generation American-born Jew. I know what ethnic cleansing looks like. This administration is run by a Jewish Nazi (Steven Miller) who thinks disappearing brown parents while leaving 4-year-olds to fend for themselves is a good plan
Tomorrow we’ll walk the 2-½ km into town, where total strangers smile and say “buenos diaz.”.
Chimulco RV Park – our new landlord
Lunch for 2 with a Coke is $4 US. Produce is cheap, fresh, and bountiful.
Our new favorite butcher grinds 95% lean ground beef fresh for 80 Pesos per ½ kilo ($4/lb US)
You have a choice – complain, suffer, and perhaps fight, or change your path.
