In the early morning hours, Samarn Supo heads to the Talaad Thai market in Pathum Thani province to stock up on trade supplies.
A shopkeeper works in the back of a pickup truck converted into a ‘phum phuang’ mobile grocery stall with a sign urging customers to wear masks and keep a distance of at least 1.5 metres from the vehicle. Stalls on wheels are credited with ensuring food security for people staying at home amid the Covid-19 pandemic. King-oua Laohong
Mr Samarn, 62, is one of 500 city vendors selling groceries from the back of a pickup who sources his goods from the country’s biggest wholesale market.
He drives a converted pickup truck and sells in housing estates and other crowded communities.
Now as the Covid-19 crisis confines more people to their homes to avoid risks attributed to the virus, fewer consumers are making their usual trips to supermarkets.
Demand for grocery home delivery services has increased and grocery truck vendors have answered the call to drive produce, meat and products to customers.
The vendors are now recognised for the important role they play in keeping society functional during the outbreak. They supply fresh vegetables and cooking ingredients to households every day as people cut back trips.
People like Mr Samarn help the micro economy tick over at a time when supply chains are disrupted.
They are also meeting many new customers who work from home and are in need of conversation.
Mr Samarn said the Covid-19 outbreak may be bad news for his customers, but for him, it is a blessing in disguise.
As more people stay at home, his chances of making a sale increase. The only drawback is the nationwide curfew, but a handful of customers do not mind late deliveries.
Before the outbreak, Mr Samarn would finish packing supplies at Talaad Thai market about 6am. He would spend time packing vegetables, fruit and meat into bags before hanging them on a frame in the bed of his pickup truck.
His assistant would sit in the back, among the goods, ready to sell.
The two would arrive at their first stop in a housing community along Tiwanon Road in Nonthaburi city about 7am. Their last stop would be at midday.
However, since the curfew was enforced, stops and deliveries along his route have been delayed by three hours. This is because Talaad Thai market is now very busy when it opens at 4am, the end of the curfew period. Many vendors have to wait for backlog orders to clear.
“Last night, a fellow vendor left home before 4am to buy supplies at Talaad Thai and he was fined 4,000 baht for violating the curfew,” Mr Samarn said.
He came across other changes after the outbreak began. High-end housing estates, which used to turn away mobile grocery vendors, now welcome them.
However, Mr Samarn said he avoids those neighbourhoods and saves his produce for regular customers in other communities.
The economy is in dire straits and some of his customers have been hit hard, with many requesting to pay for Mr Samarn’s wares later.
“It is all right. I help them out in difficult times,” he said, noting he has known some customers for decades and no one has cheated him.
Mr Samarn said he refrains from extending credit to construction workers because some disappear from building sites without settling grocery bills.
Mr Samarn is one of a type known as phum phuang vendors, offering general produce and meat. Some goods are placed in small bags, tailored for customer orders.
“Customers might prefer an assortment of vegetables for 50 baht, including morning glory, kale, cabbages — you name it,” Mr Samarn said.
Malee Chancharoen, a customer, said products sold by mobile vendors are fresh and at fair prices.
“Best of all, I do not need to venture out to the local market,” Ms Malee said.
She places orders in advance and sometimes Mr Samarn gives discounts. Ms Malee’s family and the vendor have grown so close over the years that he is invited to family gatherings.
Chaluay Khamchaona, a phum phuang vendor in the Seri Thai area of Bangkok, said sales have doubled since the curfew began.
Mr Chaluay said he has gained customers as people are now less inclined to leave home.
But he has a message for customers who hoard goods due to fears caused by the novel coronavirus crisis: Don’t do it.
“We sell everything from eggs, pork to vegetables at pre-virus prices,” Mr Chaluay said. “The country is not facing shortages [of goods].”
He said though his profit margins are small, he offers discounts when he can to maintain a broad base of customers.
“I used to take one day off per week. Now, customers ask me to come every day because they think they may not have anything to eat,” Mr Chaluay said. “So, I’ve decided to work non-stop.”
A native of Sing Buri province, Mr Chaluay rents a house in the Min Buri area. He has been in the phum phuang trade for over a decade.
He used to tend to his rice farm three months per year, but the pandemic has forced him to stick to vending.
The situation is different from vendor Sompote Thaweechoke, who has scaled down deliveries due to the curfew.
Twice a month Mr Sompote sets out for his hometown in Sing Buri with his converted pickup truck to stock up on chilli paste and local vegetables before crossing to neighbouring Nonthaburi province to sell them.
However, Mr Sompote must return home before curfew, which starts at 10pm. Instead of selling in areas deep in Nonthaburi, he stays close to the Suphan Buri border. “These days, if you want to survive, you have to make adjustments,” he said.
Mobile grocers have recently been enlisted by the Commerce Ministry to assist in distributing cheap fruit and vegetables to households in Bangkok.
Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said the initiative is being run jointly with Talaad Thai, billed as the largest farm produce market in Southeast Asia.
Pickup owners join the ministry’s scheme and officials supply drivers with cheap goods from agricultural cooperatives across the kingdom through Talaad Thai.
The service will start with 350 participating vehicles. To participate, people must own a truck and about 15,000 baht to buy products at Talaad Thai.
The return on their daily investment will average 2,000 baht per day.
