This is the first time I've heard of a Yakult Lady! Street vendors were a reality in my childhood city of Hong Kong: independent business owners who didn't have to pay a franchise fee who line the...
This is the first time I've heard of a Yakult Lady!
Street vendors were a reality in my childhood city of Hong Kong: independent business owners who didn't have to pay a franchise fee who line the streets outside elementary schools. They sold Yakult, but also Vita brand drinks and soft drinks. They might have a cooler, a heated push cart, or just a large red/white/blue plastic bag full of non perishable treats. Some snacks cost $X.50, and instead of giving change, they upsell and hand you a package of seaweed instead, that they usually sell for $0.50.
The idea of a biking seller seems quaint in an era of convenience stores and nationwide vending machines. And perhaps with record breaking low birthdates, the industry is sunseting even faster than otherwise.
I always think of this clip now, when I hear ice cream truck: 9 quid for two ice creams...bet he can hear me I've cream trucks always felt like such a rip off, but I love that siren song and the...
I always think of this clip now, when I hear ice cream truck: 9 quid for two ice creams...bet he can hear me
I've cream trucks always felt like such a rip off, but I love that siren song and the taste of luxury. I've only ever purchased from one maybe.....under 5 times for sure.
The Yakult probiotic shots are great if you ever need to take antibiotics. I've started seeing clinics recommend them (as well as Culturelle tablets) in discharge papers, as they can help keep you...
The Yakult probiotic shots are great if you ever need to take antibiotics. I've started seeing clinics recommend them (as well as Culturelle tablets) in discharge papers, as they can help keep you from losing your gut flora and getting C.Diff.
They also remind me a little of how Calpis/Calpico tastes.
Yakult was always really nice but at the same time I don’t know if it’s actually significantly better for your health than your average flavored yoghurt. They’re a pretty big brand with a global...
Yakult was always really nice but at the same time I don’t know if it’s actually significantly better for your health than your average flavored yoghurt. They’re a pretty big brand with a global presence so I’m sure they’ve sponsored some studies.
I wonder if anyone here has tried to culture their own drink with yakult. If the bacteria isn’t dead then it should be easy to propagate, especially since ubiquitous instant pot ownership means that everyone has a yogurt incubation chamber.
Looks like you can absolutely use it as a starter based on a quick google search. Couple of Reddit threads and some blog-type websites report success with making yogurt using Yakult. I might need...
Looks like you can absolutely use it as a starter based on a quick google search. Couple of Reddit threads and some blog-type websites report success with making yogurt using Yakult. I might need to give making yogurt a try!
Dr. Minoru Shirota invented the sweet, milk-based probiotic at Kyoto University in 1931. Formulated from Dr. Shirota’s own strain of lactobacillus — a strain of Lacticaseibacillus casei called Shirota — the drink was designed to promote a healthy digestive tract, quality sleep, and immunity. Today, that halo of health still surrounds the brand. My sister works in a Chicago hospital where a doctor sponsored by Yakult researches the benefits of lactobacillus on immune health. Influencers push it on followers as a health supplement for their families.
While the majority of Yakult is sold in stores, the company employs thousands of Yakult ladies to sell bottles in person. As of 2024, there were about 32,000 Yakult ladies operating in Japan, and another 50,000 outside of the country, mostly in China, South Asia, Brazil, and Mexico (where the uniforms can differ from the iconic blue color scheme in Japan). They deliver their wares on foot, bicycle, and motorcycle. With powder blue visors and matching pantsuits, they cut recognizable figures wherever they make their rounds.
[...]
Kazuhiro Noguchi, a Yakult franchise owner in Hiroshima, first introduced the delivery women in the mid-’50s. Believing it was easier for a housewife to enter a fellow housewife’s kitchen than for a salesman to get in the front door, he created a job for working women that fit with midcentury gender expectations.
“Especially for women with young children, this type of thing — where they could work while the children were at school — was a very attractive job because it allowed the household sphere to still hold their attention,” says Hilary Holbrow, a sociologist at Indiana University who specializes in labor and gender in Japan. The Yakult lady proved to be a success, and by 1963, she became formalized as a company-wide sales system. Today, Yakult still tries to attract working mothers with flexible schedules and on-site day care facilities.
[...]
“Most Yakult ladies start their shifts around 8:30 a.m. and finish by 1 p.m., unless they work a full-time shift, in which case they work till 5,” she told me. Yakult ladies bike everywhere, cycling around town for hours, sometimes going out of their way to make a single delivery. Though most Yakult ladies deliver to private homes, the team at the Osu Kannon center have corporate routes, meaning they’re dipping in and out of office buildings to hand off drinks to clients. They’re also supposed to stop and chat with anyone who strikes up a conversation on the street.
Yakult ladies aren’t classified as full-time employees, but kojin jigyo usha (roughly “sole proprietors”), essentially making them owners of bicycle-sized franchises. They purchase product from Yakult and make a profit based on what they can sell. Yakult says the average earnings of a Yakult lady are roughly $682 USD a month, compared to an average of $1,774 per month for Japanese women broadly. In Yahoo Answers forums, Yakult ladies claim wildly different profits: Some say they work only three hours a day and make more than the company average. Others claim to work far more, selling roughly $2,700 worth of product in a month to take home about $600, roughly a 22 percent cut.
They may decide their own schedules, but Yakult ladies don’t have designated holidays or sick days. The company encourages them to manipulate their schedules to accommodate time off. Even with an electric bike, it can all take a physical toll, and the manager told me Yakult ladies need to “get creative” to make it work. That might not be worth it to some mothers.
[...]
At the Yakult Center, many of the Yakult ladies seemed to be in their 60s, which tracks with national trends. Nearly a third of Japanese citizens are 65 and older, and the national fertility rate is at an all-time low. The women working at the Osu Kannon center may have been some of the same women I saw delivering drinks when I was a kid. I didn’t see new mothers — mothers who look like me — among their ranks.
Still, Yakult positions its delivery workers more as mothers than salespeople. “We don’t do sales because everyone knows what Yakult is,” the manager told me. “The price hasn’t changed in years, so we don’t negotiate.” Instead, Yakult ladies are mijika na sonzai, roughly “known entities,” implying they’re not only familiar to their customers but close to them.
This immediately set off a whole bunch of middle-marketing red flags for me. I guess if it's just older retired ladies getting some extra scratch while they travel around their neighborhood it's...
Yakult ladies aren’t classified as full-time employees, but kojin jigyo usha (roughly “sole proprietors”), essentially making them owners of bicycle-sized franchises. They purchase product from Yakult and make a profit based on what they can sell. Yakult says the average earnings of a Yakult lady are roughly $682 USD a month, compared to an average of $1,774 per month for Japanese women broadly. In Yahoo Answers forums, Yakult ladies claim wildly different profits: Some say they work only three hours a day and make more than the company average. Others claim to work far more, selling roughly $2,700 worth of product in a month to take home about $600, roughly a 22 percent cut.
This immediately set off a whole bunch of middle-marketing red flags for me. I guess if it's just older retired ladies getting some extra scratch while they travel around their neighborhood it's not so bad, but the American skeptic in me says that probably isn't the case.
It's not quite like American multi-level marketing since the corporation deals directly with the "franchisees" and they're not pyramiding by recruiting and selling to each other. Yakult is also a...
It's not quite like American multi-level marketing since the corporation deals directly with the "franchisees" and they're not pyramiding by recruiting and selling to each other. Yakult is also a well-known, internationally marketed product line that presumably has adequate quality control (unlike, say, Amway or LuLaRoe).
OTOH, just because it's not as exploitative as the U.S. model doesn't mean it's not exploitative. 22% for hard physical and emotional labor doesn't sound like a great trade-off for time flexibility.
It doesn't sound like "hard physical and emotional labor" unless you push yourself too much? Particularly in Japan, which is very safe and where people are polite. (Or so I've read.)
It doesn't sound like "hard physical and emotional labor" unless you push yourself too much? Particularly in Japan, which is very safe and where people are polite. (Or so I've read.)
Imagine that a serving of Yakult costs the equivalent of $3 USD. $2,700 sales in a month is 900+ bottles, which surely take some effort to sell. The article says nothing about how many miles the...
Imagine that a serving of Yakult costs the equivalent of $3 USD. $2,700 sales in a month is 900+ bottles, which surely take some effort to sell. The article says nothing about how many miles the saleswomen traverse on scooters equipped with coolers heavy enough to chill each day's bottles. They're exposed to traffic dangers, weather, and the simple rigor of riding a relatively uncomfortable vehicle for much of the day, as well as stair climbing or walking to reach their door-to-door deliveries.
Before you argue that it's healthy physical and social activity, I'd have to ask if you've ever done similar delivery work or know anyone who has. Everyone I'm acquainted with who did was badly beaten up by the effort and desperate for something that paid better. You can't survive on that kind of money without other income, even dealing with polite customers is exhausting when you're dealing with that many transactions.
From the article: It's absolutely emotional and physical labor. I couldn't do deliveries because I can't pull off "customer service voice/face" all day. And they're expected to be sociable to...
From the article:
Yakult ladies bike everywhere, cycling around town for hours, sometimes going out of their way to make a single delivery. Though most Yakult ladies deliver to private homes, the team at the Osu Kannon center have corporate routes, meaning they’re dipping in and out of office buildings to hand off drinks to clients. They’re also supposed to stop and chat with anyone who strikes up a conversation on the street.
They may decide their own schedules, but Yakult ladies don’t have designated holidays or sick days. The company encourages them to manipulate their schedules to accommodate time off. Even with an electric bike, it can all take a physical toll, and the manager told me Yakult ladies need to “get creative” to make it work. That might not be worth it to some mothers.
It's absolutely emotional and physical labor. I couldn't do sales deliveries because I can't pull off "customer service voice/face" all day. And they're expected to be sociable to anyone.
A manager saying "get creative" is a big red flag to me, personally.
Yes, if you're trying to survive doing this, maybe you'll push yourself to do it all day and that could be pretty grueling. But from the article is sounded like many of them are doing it for a...
Yes, if you're trying to survive doing this, maybe you'll push yourself to do it all day and that could be pretty grueling. But from the article is sounded like many of them are doing it for a half day or less:
“Most Yakult ladies start their shifts around 8:30 a.m. and finish by 1 p.m., unless they work a full-time shift"
...
"average earnings of a Yakult lady are roughly $682 USD a month"
...
Some say they work only three hours a day and make more than the company average. Others claim to work far more [...]
Unfortunately this is only anecdotal. It would be interesting to know how many hours they're working on average and how much it varies.
The difference with MLMs is that in an MLM, you make money by getting more sellers onboarded onto the program - in fact, you usually make all of your money from that, since the product is...
The difference with MLMs is that in an MLM, you make money by getting more sellers onboarded onto the program - in fact, you usually make all of your money from that, since the product is dogwater. That's where the pyramid comes in - if all the money people make is from the sub-connections, then it's just a pyramid scheme with girl-scout cookies stapled onto it.
What they described is just... being a seller. Like, that's how all street merchants everywhere work - they buy the product, with their money, and then sell it.
That cycle is an occupation as old as civilization.
This is the first time I've heard of a Yakult Lady!
Street vendors were a reality in my childhood city of Hong Kong: independent business owners who didn't have to pay a franchise fee who line the streets outside elementary schools. They sold Yakult, but also Vita brand drinks and soft drinks. They might have a cooler, a heated push cart, or just a large red/white/blue plastic bag full of non perishable treats. Some snacks cost $X.50, and instead of giving change, they upsell and hand you a package of seaweed instead, that they usually sell for $0.50.
The idea of a biking seller seems quaint in an era of convenience stores and nationwide vending machines. And perhaps with record breaking low birthdates, the industry is sunseting even faster than otherwise.
In the US there are ice cream trucks rather than women selling yogurt to.kids, so less healthy but it seems vaguely similar?
This seems even more like the piragua carts in NYC. Just a push cart, a giant block of ice and all the flavors for shaved ice.
I always think of this clip now, when I hear ice cream truck: 9 quid for two ice creams...bet he can hear me
I've cream trucks always felt like such a rip off, but I love that siren song and the taste of luxury. I've only ever purchased from one maybe.....under 5 times for sure.
The Yakult probiotic shots are great if you ever need to take antibiotics. I've started seeing clinics recommend them (as well as Culturelle tablets) in discharge papers, as they can help keep you from losing your gut flora and getting C.Diff.
They also remind me a little of how Calpis/Calpico tastes.
Yakult was always really nice but at the same time I don’t know if it’s actually significantly better for your health than your average flavored yoghurt. They’re a pretty big brand with a global presence so I’m sure they’ve sponsored some studies.
I wonder if anyone here has tried to culture their own drink with yakult. If the bacteria isn’t dead then it should be easy to propagate, especially since ubiquitous instant pot ownership means that everyone has a yogurt incubation chamber.
Looks like you can absolutely use it as a starter based on a quick google search. Couple of Reddit threads and some blog-type websites report success with making yogurt using Yakult. I might need to give making yogurt a try!
From the article:
[...]
[...]
[...]
This immediately set off a whole bunch of middle-marketing red flags for me. I guess if it's just older retired ladies getting some extra scratch while they travel around their neighborhood it's not so bad, but the American skeptic in me says that probably isn't the case.
It's not quite like American multi-level marketing since the corporation deals directly with the "franchisees" and they're not pyramiding by recruiting and selling to each other. Yakult is also a well-known, internationally marketed product line that presumably has adequate quality control (unlike, say, Amway or LuLaRoe).
OTOH, just because it's not as exploitative as the U.S. model doesn't mean it's not exploitative. 22% for hard physical and emotional labor doesn't sound like a great trade-off for time flexibility.
It doesn't sound like "hard physical and emotional labor" unless you push yourself too much? Particularly in Japan, which is very safe and where people are polite. (Or so I've read.)
Imagine that a serving of Yakult costs the equivalent of $3 USD. $2,700 sales in a month is 900+ bottles, which surely take some effort to sell. The article says nothing about how many miles the saleswomen traverse on scooters equipped with coolers heavy enough to chill each day's bottles. They're exposed to traffic dangers, weather, and the simple rigor of riding a relatively uncomfortable vehicle for much of the day, as well as stair climbing or walking to reach their door-to-door deliveries.
Before you argue that it's healthy physical and social activity, I'd have to ask if you've ever done similar delivery work or know anyone who has. Everyone I'm acquainted with who did was badly beaten up by the effort and desperate for something that paid better. You can't survive on that kind of money without other income, even dealing with polite customers is exhausting when you're dealing with that many transactions.
From the article:
It's absolutely emotional and physical labor. I couldn't do
salesdeliveries because I can't pull off "customer service voice/face" all day. And they're expected to be sociable to anyone.A manager saying "get creative" is a big red flag to me, personally.
Yes, if you're trying to survive doing this, maybe you'll push yourself to do it all day and that could be pretty grueling. But from the article is sounded like many of them are doing it for a half day or less:
...
...
Unfortunately this is only anecdotal. It would be interesting to know how many hours they're working on average and how much it varies.
The difference with MLMs is that in an MLM, you make money by getting more sellers onboarded onto the program - in fact, you usually make all of your money from that, since the product is dogwater. That's where the pyramid comes in - if all the money people make is from the sub-connections, then it's just a pyramid scheme with girl-scout cookies stapled onto it.
What they described is just... being a seller. Like, that's how all street merchants everywhere work - they buy the product, with their money, and then sell it.
That cycle is an occupation as old as civilization.
It's uber but for probiotic drinks.