Overseas Filipino workers spend $200 shipping $75 worth of goods to prove to family they’re “doing well” abroad through strategic product selection
Manila, Philippines
The balikbayan box phenomenon, a cultural institution where overseas Filipino workers send packages home containing goods of questionable utility and minimal monetary value, continues to demonstrate the power of emotional connection overriding economic logic. An OFW in Canada spends approximately $200 to ship $75 worth of items to Manila, which would be economically nonsensical except that the items communicate an essential message: “I’m thinking about you from far away and I’ve made enough money that I can waste it on inefficient shipping.”
One balikbayan box intercepted by customs contained: three containers of cooking oil (available in Philippines cheaper than the shipping cost), five bottles of vitamins (available locally), two jars of peanut butter (available in Manila), and one hand-knitted sweater that the Philippines climate makes unwearable. Total value: approximately 2,000 pesos. Shipping cost: 7,000 pesos. Emotional value to the family: immeasurable.
The family receiving the box was delighted. They displayed the items, showed them to relatives, and photographed the sweater for social media to prove that their family member in Canada was “doing well.” The fact that the sweater is completely inappropriate for Philippine weather was irrelevant. The box proved the essential message: I left you, but I’m still thinking about you and I have enough money to express it through inefficient logistics.
Economic and Emotional Dynamics
Balikbayan boxes represent an interesting intersection of economic irrationality and emotional necessity. A rational person would not spend $200 to ship $75 worth of goods that are available locally. A rational person would simply send money. But money is impersonal. A box is personal. A box says: “I chose these specific items because I was thinking about you specifically while shopping in a foreign country.”
The boxes contain items selected through a careful process: they must be unavailable or more expensive in Philippines (oil, vitamins), they must be distinctly foreign (American brands are preferred), and they must contain enough items to fill a box to justify the shipping cost. The typical box contains nothing someone actually needs, but everything someone is grateful to receive because it represents familial connection across distance.
Economists have calculated that balikbayan boxes represent a net economic loss of approximately 2 billion pesos annually in the Philippines economy through inefficient logistics. But the psychological and emotional benefits of maintaining family connection across thousand-mile distances have proven worth more to families than economic efficiency.
One OFW in Dubai explained his balikbayan box strategy: “I send a box every three months. My family waits for it. We talk about it. They show it to relatives. It’s not rational. But my mother cries happy tears when it arrives. That’s worth $200 to me.”
The balikbayan box phenomenon will likely continue as long as OFWs have families and shipping exists, regardless of economic rationality, because some human needs transcend economic logic.
Satire about culture at The London Prat and Bohiney Magazine.
SOURCE: bohiney.com