LockDown Jugaad

Another one of the unique experiences that one faces in life due to circumstances beyond our control and which we couldn’t have imagined just a month or so ago. 

The current lockdown resulted in an unexpected problem – we ran out of packaging boxes. Our orders for new boxes with updated designs and fresh colors had been placed with our box manufacturer like every year. He was going to start the manufacturing and had even bought the paper required and cut it into the appropriate sizes. But before he could begin printing, the Covid lockdown was announced on March 23rd due to which he could not resume printing and production. We all thought this would go away soon, perhaps a week or so………..or at the most a fortnight. But it dragged on and finally we had used up all the stock left over from the 2019 season.

We were in a real dilemma since the mangoes were ready and needed to be harvested but we could not pack them in the appropriate boxes for their protection and safe handling. A similar situation exists across the Konkan with paper and raw material being in short supply, lack of reliable transportation due to shortage of drivers and frequent police checking and a real struggle for getting basic things needed to run operations in a farm or industry. We were really at our wit’s end as to how to get over this obstacle since letting mangoes go to waste due to lack of packaging boxes is like pouring good whiskey down the drains due to lack of bottles.

A bright young boy who does harvesting at our farms came up with a bright idea. If the printing was the problem, perhaps we can get plain corrugated boxes without any branding or printing. It would not have the unique AAMRAI branding or colours but the mangoes inside would be safe and would reach the eager customers. We quickly inquired with our packaging guys and they confirmed that it could be done. They quickly started production and within two days we have plain white boxes at our farms. We also managed to get AAMRAI stickers printed to be pasted on the top of the boxes so that the boxes would still bear the AAMRAI mark and brand promise. 

The final result was quite satisfactory considering the last moment execution and quick thinking. 

Take a look at the two pictures and judge for yourself. One of them is the traditional AAMRAI box and the other is the lockdown jugaad.     

So dear customers, please remember that even if you get any of these boxes at your home, please bear with us since we are all struggling through unprecedented times and the mango inside is still AAMRAI