Billing for your stationery and book shop in Uttarakhand
The class list, the copies and the pen for the exam, all on one quick bill.
Tools for a counter that sells paper, pens and a photocopy by the page
Low stock warnings
Shows the reams of paper and the rolls of tape running out before the form days and before the free books come.
Orders to suppliers
The order for reams and files sent to the wholesaler in the plains in the quiet month, and ticked off when the truck brings them up.
Daily reports
The photocopy sales of the form days set beside the exam fortnight, item by item, so you see which of the two fortnights needs the second ream ordered earlier.
Company towns, farm districts and hill markets: where the school lists come from
A stationery shop sells to the schools and families of its district. Here are a few of them.
- Haridwar's industry centres on the SIIDCUL industrial estate and BHEL's two plants, which make large turbines, generators, castings and forgings. Families who work there buy school lists for the session.
- The Dehradun district site says the area is known for special Basmati rice, tea and litchi gardens.
- Almora town makes copperware and woolen goods like shawls and carpets, and a Ministry of Textiles marketing and service centre operates there.
- Kotdwar in Pauri Garhwal hosts a Bharat Electronics Limited unit making telecommunication and military communication systems.
From the school interval's pencils to the brown paper that covers the free books
The geometry box sold whole, the compass sold alone
Make the geometry box an item with its own rate and the compass another. A student who has lost only his compass pays for the compass, and the count of whole boxes is untouched, so the shelf of boxes is true on the evening before the first paper.
The form-day packet, the same for every file
Make the packet of copies, an envelope, glue and a pen an item of its own with its own rate. For the long line, one tap is a bill, and the packet's own count tells you in the evening how many went. The next family in the line gets the same quick service, and the line does not stretch into the street.
A tuition teacher's whole class on one bill, in quires
A tuition teacher buys answer sheets and exam pads for her whole class in one go. Her bill reads in quires, one line for the class, in her name, and goes to her on WhatsApp. She pays for the class once, and next month's pads start a new line.
A year's trade in two fortnights, the form-filling days and the brown paper for free books
A year's trade in two fortnights, ordered from memory
The shop earns most of its year in the fortnight before the session and the fortnight of exams. The order for those weeks is placed in a quiet month, from memory. Some kinds of copy are out in the first week, and others are still on the shelf when the next session begins.
The form-filling days, when young people queue with files
When a recruitment or a job form is out, young people come with files, wanting copies, a photo copied, an envelope, glue and a pen. They are anxious and in a hurry, and each wants a few things. The line is long, and every one is a small bill. Their hands are full, their eyes are on the clock, and a few of them will leave without waiting for the change.
The free books come, and every one needs a cover
The free books are delivered to the schools from the depot, so no family buys a textbook from you. But the school list still asks for what goes around them: a cover for each book, labels, a roll of tape and the notebook. When the list changes by order, the old titles stop moving, and the only thing you can order is what the new list asks for.
Questions Uttarakhand stationery shops ask about lists, covers and the school season
A child asks for a pencil at the interval and promises the coin tomorrow. Where do I write it?
Open a page in the child's name and add the pencil with the day. When he brings the coin, read him the page and take it off.
The book list changed. How do I know which old titles will not sell again?
A title with no sale since the list changed will not sell again for that class. Stop ordering it, and sell it down at a lower rate on its own line.
The children collect their books from school on one afternoon and every one is at my counter by evening. How many covers do I hold?
Count back from the school's number of children, one cover for each book. Read the cover count when the first children have gone and send for more that night.
Copies for the state board and for the CBSE schools look alike. Can I keep them apart?
Yes. Name each copy with its board and class, and each is its own item with its own count. The stock list then shows at a glance which board's copies are on the shelf.
Free textbooks and the NCERT rule
Government schools in Uttarakhand get free textbooks; for the new session, books are delivered to schools from the Roorkee book depot (Pustak Bhandar) in Haridwar district. The books come free, so the shop sells everything around them: copies, covers, pens and the box of geometry.
In April 2018 the Tribune reported that Uttarakhand's school education department had enforced NCERT books in CBSE schools and was weighing the same for ICSE schools. When a book list changes by order, old titles stop moving, and knowing what is left helps a shop order only what the new list asks for.