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
