The Coconut Seller's Woes - No way out?

After our usual morning walk-a-jog, my husband and I decided to get some fresh, tender coconut water to beat the heat. We went to the little corner shop near our home, where a man and his wife sell tender coconuts.

It's a misnomer to call it a 'shop'. There's no roof or shelter or any built structure. All tender coconuts are piled up and covered with a tarpaulin sheet on hot days. The man sits on a rocky stool and his wife beside him, looking lost and forlorn. It seems they have had their "little shop round the corner" from the past twenty years there in that very place.

As the man picked coconuts to slash and peel for us, I thought it might be great to ask the couple to deliver coconuts to us every morning. "No madam," was the man's prompt answer. "Who will look after my shop, if I go and deliver coconuts to people's homes?" I tried a different tactic. "Why don't you deliver them to our place before you shut shop, or when you start early morning?" He hesitated. But, his wife agreed saying, "We will give it to you sometime in the morning....whenever we can. Is that ok?"

That was more than ok. But, that also led me to start a conversation with her. It seems the couple get their supply of tender coconuts from Maddur (close to Mysore) and sometimes Coimbatore. They personally go to Maddur every 15 days and get at least 1000 tender coconuts from the wholesale market there. "We pay Rs 8 per coconut. Out of this, Rs 5 goes to the person selling coconuts in the market and Rs. 3 is for the person, who grew these coconuts on his land" she said. They prefer buying coconuts from the wholesale bazaar, than purchase it directly from the farms. "We can be assured of good quality and we also know these people," insisted the lady.

But they also pay the local matador / lorry guy about Rs. 200 to transport these coconuts to Bangalore. With all this expense, the couple sell each tender coconut for Rs. 10 here. Not all coconuts are sold, which in turn adds to wastage and loss. "We have at least 100 coconuts, which have gone bad, or no one wants to buy and we lose our money," complained the coconut seller. (I think that's another reason that they try to palm off old, over-ripe coconuts to customers!)

It's a no-brainer to guess that these people are living with a perpetual loss. So, isn't there a better way for them to manage their supplies and sales? I wonder...