Billing for your dairy counter in Lakshadweep
Cartons off the ship, tins of powder and the tea stall's account, each counted on your phone.
Who drinks the tea at an island dairy counter
Most people at an island dairy counter work on the sea or among the palms, and they take milk in their tea when they are back.
- The main occupations in Lakshadweep are fishing, coconut cultivation and coir twisting, and tourism is an emerging industry.
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Tools for a counter that lives on packet milk and powder
Low stock warnings
A warning when the baby powder or the packet milk is near zero, with a few days in hand to put it first on the next list.
Daily reports
How many cartons went each day, so a week of rough sea can be set beside a week of ordinary sales and the next order sized to match.
Bills on your phone
Packet milk by the carton and powder by the hundred grams on one bill, the stock of each falling in its own unit.
A carton that came on the ship and the one that came before it
The earlier ship's cartons and this ship's, on one shelf for the weeks between
Each ship brings cartons of the same milk, and the cartons of the earlier ship are still on the shelf when the new ones land. The newer ones are carried to the front and the older ones stay at the back. A lot has to last the weeks until the next ship, so the older cartons are the ones near their date, and nothing written tells you which are which.
The tin that a baby needs every week
Some tins on the shelf matter more than others. A house with a baby buys the same milk powder every week, and if the tin is not there on the day, the mother cannot wait for the next ship. You keep two tins aside in your head for her, and that is a promise nobody else knows about, so another customer, who also needs a tin, buys them and goes home satisfied.
Powder in a tin, sold by the glass
A tin of milk powder sells whole to a house, but the old man at the corner wants a hundred grams for his week of tea. The open tin gets lighter in small amounts, with nothing to show how much is left, and the count of tins on the shelf never includes the one in use. On the day the ship is late, that open tin is all you have, and you cannot say for how many customers.
The older lot first, and a page for the tea stall
Cartons for the weeks between two ships, from the daily count
Every bill takes its cartons off the stock, so the daily report shows how many cartons went on each day. Add up a week, and you know how many cartons you need to last until the second ship after this one. You order enough to cover the gap, and not a carton more, because packet milk keeps longer than fresh milk but not for ever.
The tins that must never run out, on a list you check on ship's eve
Mark the baby powder and the tins that regulars depend on, and look at the low-stock list on the evening before the ship's order is written. Anything that is close to zero goes first on the order. The house with the baby does not find the shelf empty on the day it needs to buy, and you do not have to promise a tin that you cannot be sure of.
The open tin counted in grams
Make the powder an item priced by the kilo, and sell it by the hundred grams from the open tin. Each sale takes its weight off the stock, so the count in the phone matches the weight of the tin on the shelf. A sealed tin is opened only when the open one is nearly empty, and the old man's week of tea is never the last of the powder.
What island dairy counter owners ask
Two ships brought the same milk. How do I tell this ship's cartons from the last?
Make a separate item for each ship's lot, with the day it landed in the name. The lot has to last until the next ship, so the older item is the one nearest its date. Sell it first, and its count shows what is left.
A mother's baby tins come every week. How do I keep two aside for her so the next customer does not buy them?
Make her bill the day the ship lands, for her two tins, and put it on her page. The count falls at once, so the next customer sees only what is left, and she pays when she takes them.
Islanders buy powder or Tetra pack because it keeps. How do I see which sold more this month?
Open the month's daily report. Powder in grams and Tetra packs by the carton are separate lines, so you see which the island took more of, and you order for the next ship from that.
Where the island's milk really comes from
Lakshadweep's two government dairy farms produce at most 100 litres of milk a day, used by hospitals and anganwadis, an Animal Husbandry officer told The News Minute in 2021. That is far too little for the counters of the islands, so the packet and the tin fill the gap.
An Animal Husbandry officer said in 2021 that Lakshadweep islanders mostly rely on milk powder or Tetra pack milk because it has a longer shelf life. A longer shelf life is why the stock on the shelf can be counted in cartons and tins, and not in litres that must go today.