Billing for your organic store in Chandigarh
The Saturday stall by the lake, the farmer paid in his hand and the jaggery that goes there and back.
Tools for a store with a Saturday stall near Sukhna Lake and a shop in the week
Bills on your phone
A bill made standing at a table by the lake, with no counter and no power point, for the walker who asks for a kilo of jaggery and a bag of millets.
UPI payments
A QR code held up at the stall for the walker who brought a cloth bag and a phone and no cash.
Orders to suppliers
The Thursday order to the farmers for next Saturday, with the kilos each is asked to bring and the kilos that came last time.
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From a stall run on memory to a standing bill and a farmer's page written the same minute
Friday evening, the tempo loaded from the count and not from memory
On Friday evening the stall's load is chosen from what the shop holds: jaggery, honey, pulses, rice. Read the count on the phone at the shop and load what is there, so the stall is never promised more than the shelf has.
The jaggery and the honey gone by nine, the sacks of rice untouched till noon
When the market closes, open the morning's sales and read which goods the walkers reached for first. Bring the jaggery and the honey double next Saturday, and the rice in half. The Monday order is made from the list the stall wrote, not from tired shoulders.
The farmer's money in his own hand before the morning is over
The farmer takes his money in his own hand before the morning is over, and the stall's day does not end with an unpaid farmer. At the end of the month his memory and yours say the same thing, because what was paid at the stall was said aloud when it was paid.
Why a Saturday stall by the lake has no counter, no power and no pen, and the farmer is paid before the bill is written
A stall at the Saturday market, with no counter, no power point and no pen
On Saturday morning the walkers come to the organic market by the lake, bag in hand, and crowd round the stall. There is a table, a few sacks and a steel scale, and nowhere to write. The owner sells standing, takes cash or a scan, and stuffs the notes in a bag, and the week's sales are what the bag holds at noon.
Jaggery and pulses that go to the stall in the morning and come back at noon
Jaggery and pulses ride to the market-day stall in a tempo, and the stall sells by the handful while the shop sells by the kilo. A customer who bought at the stall comes to the shop on Tuesday and expects the stall's price. Nobody wrote what the stall charged, so the shop's price looks like a cheat, and the customer goes back to the stall.
The farmer who is paid in his own hand at the market
The farmers sell to the shop directly, and the shop pays them in cash on the spot, standing between the stalls. The money is counted out, the farmer folds it away and nods, and the owner writes the amount later on a scrap. By the end of the month the farmer says he is owed for a lot, and the owner has the scrap in another shirt.
A producer group that sold at markets and online from one record
What a Chandigarh organic store owner asks before starting
At the Saturday stall there is no counter and no power point. Will a bill be made standing up?
Yes. You need no counter and no power point. Pick the goods, show the QR code or take cash, and the bill is on the day's list before the next walker reaches you.
At the market-day stall some goods go fast and some sit. How do I see which?
The jaggery and the honey are the first to be asked for, and the rice sits low. Next market day, carry more of what went and less of what sat, and leave the rice for the shop.
Walkers forget their cloth bags and ask for one at the stall. Can the bags be sold and counted?
Yes. The cloth bag is an item with a small rate and a count. Put it on the bill with the goods, and the stack is counted down at the end of the morning.
Can I see how much jaggery the Saturday stall sold against the weekday shop last month?
Yes. Last month's jaggery at the Saturday stall and at the weekday shop can be set side by side, in kilos, so you see which place sold more and carry that much next time.
The Saturday organic mandi near Sukhna Lake and its first day in 2017
The Chandigarh Organic Farmers Market holds an organic mandi every Saturday near Sukhna Lake, so organic farmers and buyers trade without intermediaries. A shop that buys from the farmers there is standing at the other end of that exchange, and the farmer's name is the thing the customer asks about.
An organic mandi opened in Chandigarh in November 2017 and its sales crossed Rs 40,000 on the first day. A first day like that means many small sales across many stalls, and each seller who took money that day needed to know what had gone.