In 2018, trucks carrying tobacco formed a line more than two kilometres long at Tobacco Sales Floor in Harare, Zimbabwe. The Herald reported that growers could wait a day or two—and sometimes much longer—before selling. Around that wait, small businesses sold cooked food, drinks and wrapping materials or transported bales.
A place where one person waits to sell becomes another person’s workplace. The queue records delay, but it also creates a small market that answers the hunger and practical needs of those caught inside it.