Billing for your organic store in West Bengal
Each lot of rice, honey or gur has its own rate, its own stock and its own line on the bill.
Rice and farm country behind an organic shelf
The goods on an organic shelf are grown in the farm districts, and the families who sell them to you know the places.
- In Purba Barddhaman rice is the main crop, and the district says it is the only one in West Bengal that is strong in both industry and farming.
- Purba Medinipur is mostly farmland, growing paddy, potato, vegetables and betelvine, and most of it is sold in local markets and in Kolkata nearby.
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Why an organic shop in Bengal cannot treat all its rice as one rice
Fragrant rice from three farmers, one scoop
A Bengal organic shop sells Gobindobhog and Tulaipanji from sacks, and the sacks come from different farmers. Each lot costs a different rate a kilo, and the customer asks for the one she bought last time. You scoop from the nearest sack, say a rate from memory, and by night nobody can tell which farmer's rice sold and which one is still in the corner. The customer who is careful about what she eats notices the difference in the grain and asks for the first lot again, and you have to guess which sack that was.
Winter gur, honey and the things that come and go
Date palm gur comes in the cold months and is gone by spring, and the honey comes in small lots whenever a farmer group has it. When it is on the shelf it sells quickly, and when it is not, regular customers ask why you never kept more. They plan their winter around the gur, and they remember the year you ran out.
Baskets paid at the month's end, for families in flats far from the lane
Honey comes in small lots and mustard oil in a tin, so the same slip can carry a different rate from one week to the next. The boy who carries a basket to a flat far from the lane reads the rate off a slip written days ago, and at the month's end the family disputes the bill line by line. The shop has only the slip, and it is in the boy's pocket or lost.
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Tools for loose rice, winter gur and a shelf of honey
Low stock warnings
The winter gur or the last lot of honey, shown as running low while the farmer group still has more to send.
Offers for regular customers
A lower rate on honey for the families who take a basket every week, so the offer is on the bill and not in your head.
Your own online shop
A shop page with this week's rice, winter gur, honey and oil, so the flat-dwelling families who take a weekly basket can send their order without a call.
From the farmer's small lot to the new rice of Nabanna
Fragrant rice from the nearest sack still gets the right rate
When the second lot of Tulaipanji comes at a higher rate, the helper may scoop the fragrant rice from whichever sack is nearest, and in a busy hour he does. The two lots look alike in the sack. What he scoops is what the customer is billed for, so the bill must name the sack he scooped from, and the rate follows the name every time.
The Pujo gift hamper, five goods on one bill
Before Pujo and Bhai Phonta families ask for a hamper of rice, honey, gur, oil and dal to send to relatives. Make the hamper from the five items, each at its own rate, and the bill lists all five with one total. The relative who receives it can see what was in the hamper, and you can see which of the five ran low.
Nabanna's new rice and last year's stand in the same lane, and the bill names which
At Nabanna, families ask for the new rice by name while last year's lot is still in the sack beside it. The family that asks for the new rice is shown the new rice, and last year's rice is never sold to her under the new name, whoever stands at the counter that day, and the new rice is known by its name on the shelf and on the slip.
Questions an organic shop in West Bengal asks
Three farmers' lots of Gobindobhog sit in sacks side by side, and the scoop goes into the nearest. How do I know whose rice a customer took?
Keep each farmer's lot as its own item and bill the lot you scooped from. The bill names the farmer group, and the three counts show which lot is nearly finished, so the nearest sack is not the one that is emptied by accident.
A regular asks for honey that is not on the shelf today. How do I tell her what I have?
If the honey she wants is finished, offer the nearest one and say its rate before she takes it. She chooses with the price in front of her, and a regular does not go home with a honey she did not expect to pay for.
Does the new rice of Nabanna sell faster in its first week? Can I read that week?
Yes, the first week is the week to look at. Read how much of the new rice went in those seven days, and put it beside last year's rice in the same week.
Sufal Bangla Green at New Town and the farmers' open market
The state Agricultural Marketing department opened 'Sufal Bangla Green' at New Town, a first-of-its-kind organic market for organic vegetables, fruit, rice, pulses, spices, oil, ghee and honey.
A West Bengal study found only 2 per cent of organic farmers had a link to a specialised organic market; the other 98 per cent depended on the open market.