Lao Dong reporters recorded at Bao Tin Minh Chau branch (Cau Giay), hundreds of people patiently lined up for many hours from 6 am to wait to "catch fortune" at the beginning of the year.
However, it was not until 7 am that the waiting room opened and it was not until 9 am that the transaction system officially operated.
The waiting room is scientifically arranged with 10 rows of seats, with a maximum capacity of about 150 people. The process takes place in a "rolling" style: for every 15 people completing the purchase, 15 new people will be added to the empty seats. At nearly 8 am, all the seats in the waiting room were full.
The crowd waiting is mostly elderly people, but there are also many young faces going to buy gold for their own purposes.
Mr. Duy Nam (Cau Giay), a young customer, shared the reason for buying gold on this occasion: "Gold prices are high, but I have to buy it now because my family has a wedding, this is an indispensable dowry, so I can't wait until the price drops.
Besides convenient transactions, regulations on payment limits also lead to unfortunate situations. Recorded at the transaction counter, there have been cases where customers brought large amounts of cash with the intention of buying a lot of gold, but because they did not clearly understand the State's regulations on transactions from 20 million VND or more requiring bank transfers, the initial plan could not be implemented.
The case of Ms. Vu Thi Ha (Dich Vong Hau, Cau Giay) has a different nuance. She said that before Tet, she ordered more than 1 tael of gold for more than 170 million VND and today is the appointment date to receive gold. However, because she did not understand the delivery process specifically for pre-ordered customers, she still went to the waiting room, queuing with new buyers.
Although having to wait for more than 2 hours due to a process error, Ms. Ha still decided to register to buy an additional 5 taels of gold right at the counter. Sharing about this decision, Ms. Ha confided about her long-term accumulation plan for her children: "Taking advantage of waiting, I bought it right away for good luck at the beginning of the year. I want to accumulate gradually for my son, later if I can't buy a house, at least I will have capital of gold for my son when he starts a family.
Answering customers' questions in the waiting room, the store staff shared that on the 8th, each customer is only allowed to buy a maximum of 5 taels of gold.
For customers who transact from 1 tael or more, the store will issue a return slip on March 11 (Gregorian calendar) instead of delivering physical gold right on the spot.
Although the store installed vending machines to reduce the load, due to the slow operation of the system and excessive customer pressure, employees had to ask customers to make transactions directly at the counter.
Each transaction takes about 20 minutes, but the total average waiting time of each customer is up to 3 hours.
Plain gold ring price list recorded at Bao Tin Minh Chau (8th day of the lunar month): Buying price is 18,160,000 VND/chi. Selling price is 18,460,000 VND/chi (This price level is kept stable compared to the 7th day of the lunar month).
In addition to plain rings, customers still come to the store to buy other types of jewelry to get the God of Wealth cross.
With the heat from the 8th, it is predicted that pressure at gold trading points will increase sharply as it approaches the main day of Via Than Tai festival, which is the 10th day of the lunar calendar.
