Billing for your fruit and vegetable shop in Chandigarh
The free chillies and lemons, the evening cart and kinnow by the dozen and by the kilo.
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Why the free chillies and lemons are never billed, the evening cart goes uncounted and kinnow sells by the dozen and by the kilo
The free chillies and lemons and the extra handful that are never counted
With every kilo of vegetables the owner drops in a few green chillies and a lemon, and when the scale tips he adds one more handful, because the customer is a neighbour. Each is a small thing, and over a month it adds up to a great many. At the end of the week the stock of chillies and lemons is short, and nobody can say whether they were sold, given away or thrown out.
The cart that goes into the sectors at six in the evening
A boy pushes a cart of vegetables through the sector lanes when the offices are closing and the houses are cooking. He starts with a full cart and comes back with what is left, and the money is in his pocket. The shop's own count and the cart's count are never added together, so nobody knows how many kilos left the shop that evening.
Kinnow by the dozen on the cart and by the kilo in the shop
In the cold weeks the heaps of kinnow grow taller each morning. On the cart in the lane it is sold by the dozen, and in the shop it is weighed by the kilo, and a dozen of the big ones and a dozen of the small ones weigh differently. The owner prices both from habit, and by evening he cannot tell which way sold more.
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From a handful added by feel to chillies counted, a cart counted out and kinnow counted two ways
Chillies and lemons put on the bill as small lines, so the handfuls are counted
Make green chillies and lemons items with a small rate and put them on the bill beside the vegetables. At the end of the week the count says how many went out. You decide from that number whether to go on giving them free, and the stock of chillies stops being a mystery.
What the houses ate at the six o'clock lane
The boy wheels the cart into the sector lane at six. Write down what he loads, and set the evening's bills against it. The difference is what the houses ate and what he brings back, so by Sunday you know how much to load for a lane that eats fast and how much for a lane that waits, and the cart goes out right-sized.
Kinnow as two items: by the dozen on the cart, by the kilo in the shop
Make kinnow an item by the dozen for the cart and another by the kilo for the shop, each with its own rate and its own count. At night the report shows which way it sold more, and the next lot is bought for that way of selling.
Tools for a shop that fills at dawn and rolls a cart out at six
Bills on your phone
Small lines at the end of the sector bill for the chillies and lemons, so the free handful is on the bill with the vegetables and the kinnow.
Many shops, one owner
What the cart brings back at night is the leftover. Read it against what went out, and the difference is what the houses in the sectors ate that evening, set beside the shop's own day.
Daily reports
The weeks when the kinnow heaps grow tall, set against the weeks before them, dozen by dozen on the cart and kilo by kilo in the shop.
Producer groups whose market stalls and online shop share one stock
What a Chandigarh vegetable shop owner asks before starting
A dozen of the big kinnow weighs more than a dozen of the small. Will the cart and the shop agree at night?
Yes, but a dozen is a count and not a weight. A dozen of the big kinnow carries more kilos than a dozen of the small, so the same dozen is more fruit on one day than on another. Look at the size in the heap before you call the dozen, and at night see which size the sector's houses took.
The boy takes a cart through the sectors at six. What do the lanes want at that hour?
At six the houses want leafy greens and small bundles for the day's cooking, not heavy sacks. Load the cart with greens, a few lemons and chillies, and keep the potatoes in the shop.
The neighbour gets an extra handful of chillies and a lemon for being a neighbour. What does it mean to her?
A free handful is how a sector shop says it knows her, and she comes back for it; what she buys beside it is the shop's trade. Put the handful on her bill at no charge, so a week's bills show what the gift costs.
Cold mornings bring more buyers for kinnow. How tall should the heap be?
Build the heap for the first hour, when the cold sends the houses out, and add as it goes. A heap built for the whole day turns soft.
What the agents at the Sector 26 market pay, and the week the rain raised the gourd
Commission agents (arhtiyas) at the Sector 26 grain, fruit and vegetable market already pay a 2 per cent market committee fee, and opposed an extra garbage cess. A shop owner who buys from such an agent is paying a rate that carries the agent's costs, which is one reason the slip from the agent is worth keeping.
Heavy rain and flooding disrupted vegetable supply to the tricity; bottle gourd rose from Rs 30-35 to Rs 40-45 per kg and cucumber nearly doubled in two weeks. A shop that changes its rates twice in two weeks needs every bill to carry the rate of its own day.