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 The job usually involves starting before dawn, enduring long hours
under the Caribbean sun, dodging or bribing police, and then selling
a coveted spot at the front of huge shopping lines.
As Venezuela's ailing economy spawns unprecedented shortages of
basic goods, panic-buying and a rush to snap up subsidized food,
demand is high and the pay is reasonable.
"It's boring but not a bad way to make a living," said a 23-year-old
man, who only gave his first name Luis, as he held a spot near the
front of a line of hundreds outside a state supermarket just after
sunrise in Caracas.
Unemployed until he tried his new career late last year, Luis earns
about 600 bolivars, a whopping $95 at Venezuela's lowest official
exchange rate but just $3.50 on the black market, for a spot. He can
do that two or three times a day.
"There's a lady coming at 8 a.m for this place. She's paid in
advance," Luis said, patting his wallet despite nods of disapproval
around him. "I'll have a break and then maybe start again. I chat to
people to pass the time, the conversation can be fun. If it's not, I
play on my phone."
 The phenomenon began about two years ago but accelerated suddenly
this month as a Christmas and New Year distribution slowdown
exacerbated existing shortages of basics from milk and meat to
toilet paper and diapers.
Foes of President Nicolas Maduro, and his predecessor Hugo Chavez
who ruled from 1999-2013, say the lines symbolize the economic
incompetence and inevitable scarcities of socialism.
Nationalizations have crimped private production while imports have
fallen due to restrictive currency controls.
The government says panic-buying driven by unfounded rumors of
chaos, price-gouging and hoarding by unscrupulous store owners, and
media exaggeration of shortages, are behind chaotic scenes at
supermarkets and pharmacies around the nation.
"If there was no food, you wouldn't be seeing lines!" said Carlos
Osorio, the vice-president for food, adding that in 15 years of
socialism per capita annual meat consumption rose from 11 to 26 kg.
CHEAP CHICKEN
That statistic is no consolation for Alcira Garcia, a retired
60-year-old from the poor Caracas suburb of Macarao, who rose at 4
a.m. to stand in line at a downtown state supermarket to find cheap
food for her household of five.
Despite her efforts, she left sweating and harried at 11 a.m. -
without red meat. "But I did get chicken, rice, oil and toilet
paper, so it was worth it!" she said before starting the slog home
with her bags.
Chicken that day was selling in the state-run Bicentenario
supermarket for 43 bolivars per kg - four times cheaper than in
private stores and a prime illustration of why so many Venezuelans
are prepared to wait hours in line for bargains.
Subsidized food and other basic products have made a huge difference
in Venezuelans' lives and long been a mainstay of the government's
support among the poor. Maduro's challenge is to maintain such
welfare generosity in an economy already in recession even before a
recent crash in oil revenues.
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The shortages have already weighed heavily on his popularity, at its
lowest point of 22 percent according to one prominent local
pollster, and augur badly for the ruling Socialist Party in
legislative elections later this year.
Bearing out a constant government complaint, some people leaving
supermarkets on a recent morning with far more products than one
family could need acknowledged they were for re-sale. Many goods
turn up at twice the price in the huge Petare slum.
The local Datanalisis pollster estimated that 65 percent of pharmacy
customers could be re-selling, while the average consumer spends
eight hours a week shopping.
There have been scores of arrests of people hawking goods across
Venezuela's borders with Colombia and Brazil, where they are sold
for a large mark-up.
"What else am I supposed to do? If I can't feed my family working
honestly, then I'm forced to try other things," said a Colombian
immigrant who gave his name but asked for it not be published, just
out of jail where he spent a month after police caught him smuggling
across the border.
There is a heavy police presence at many shops and increasing
restrictions on sales, with some people receiving stamps on their
arms or only allowed to shop on a certain day depending on the
number of their ID card.
Some families send elderly relatives to hold spots for them, while
others take babies and use them as an excuse to jump to the front.
Other services have quickly sprung up outside stores, from
chair-renters to bag-sellers and juice-makers. An opposition
columnist has started an interactive map showing locations and
photos of the worst lines around Venezuela.
"I've had enough," said housewife Saray Linares, 27, who is pregnant
with her fourth child and was outraged at being pushed during a
crush at a supermarket counter. "It's horrible, savage, people
running everywhere."
State TV has begun a campaign urging Venezuelans to show confidence
in their country and reduce the panic-buying. Maduro said at the
weekend that in just four days last week, 18 million people - out of
a population of 30 million - had been supermarket shopping, three
times more than normal.
(Additional reporting by Diego Ore; Editing by Alexandra Ulmer and
Kieran Murray)
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