Cell Phone Turns Out To Be Grocer's Best Buy

NEW DELHI -- Just at 8 a.m., Devi Datt Joshi pedaled up to his usual spot under a shady tree, his three-wheeled bicycle cart piled high with fresh fruit and vegetables. Within minutes his customers were running knowing fingers over tomatoes, apples and radishes.

As Joshi weighed their purchases, his young assistant packed bag after bag of produce and set them aside in the shade. They were already spoken for -- in at least 25 orders Joshi had received the evening before on the cell phone that has transformed him from a worn-out, half-broke vegetable hawker to a well rested, well paid entrepreneur.

"The mobile phone has more than doubled my profits," said Joshi, 38, sweating in the morning heat, his little Panasonic phone safety-clipped to his shirt pocket with a pink bungee cord. He said he used to earn about $3 a day -- now he takes home about $8, for a much shorter and easier work day.

Before he had a phone, he said, he would start his day at 3:30 a.m. at the wholesale market. He would pick out the freshest vegetables in amounts based on his best estimates of his needs for the day -- essentially doing his business by guesswork.

By 8 a.m. he was at his shady spot. Some regular customers came, some didn't. He then spent the rest of the day, until at least 4 p.m., pedaling through the hot streets, calling out his vegetables and prices. He never bothered selling fruit, because it is so perishable that it would end up spoiling in the brutal New Delhi sun. If he bought too much, it went to waste. If he bought too little, he couldn't fill orders from customers needing a large amount of goods for a party.

Then, in 2001, Joshi got a cell phone. He's still at the wholesale market by 3:30 a.m., but now he buys largely based on the orders phoned in the night before. He knows almost exactly how much he needs, which has virtually eliminated costly waste -- and he knows when to buy in bulk for parties and weddings. He said well over half of his business now comes in phone orders.

One recent morning, Joshi worked his cart for just over and hour, and sold virtually every piece of produce to his regulars, telling them "Good quality! Good price!" as they haggled him down a few pennies. By 9:15, there was nothing left but one onion, a few cauliflower leaves and half a pumpkin. Every few minutes, as he weighed produce and took money, his cell phone rang and he wrote down another order.

"Yes, okay," he said into the phone, scribbling notes on a small piece of paper. "No, peas are finished. No more today."

As he worked, his helper -- whom Joshi couldn't afford to hire in the days before he had a cell phone -- packed orders for phone customers. As he packed, Joshi pedaled off down a few narrow streets and delivered a handful of orders; his assistant would deliver the rest.

Down one small street, Joshi handed a bag of potatoes and tomatoes to Rashi Mittal, 33. She said she likes his service because she has an 18-month-old baby, and getting free delivery is easier than taking her baby out. "This is so convenient for us," she said.

By 10:30 a.m., seven hours after he started, Joshi's day was over -- no more exhausting days riding his bike around the city begging for buyers.

He said the cell phone has allowed him to put his two sons -- ages 16 and 12 -- into schools where they will get a good education.

"And now," he said, "I will go home, eat something and then sleep for a few hours."