How to establish professional standards?, Watermelon auctioneers knock melons tens of thousands of times a day and weigh 30000 pounds. Demand | Market | Need | Zhang Linghui | Cooperative | Quality | Occupation | Watermelon

Knocking melons tens of thousands of times a day and passing 30000 pounds

How to establish professional standards for a popular paparazzi?

In the midsummer season, watermelon sales peak. The new profession of paparazzi, which guarantees the quality of watermelons, has emerged. The reporter learned from the interview that the gourd picker shoots melons tens of thousands of times a day, which brings better quality control and higher sales of watermelons in response to people's higher requirements for watermelon quality and strong demand for e-commerce development. Whether future melon photographers need to promote depends mainly on market demand, according to experts. At the same time, experts suggest establishing professional standards from two aspects.

On July 6th, Pangnongxing Cooperative in Daxing District, Beijing began to be busy early in the morning. The local melon farmers brought carts of freshly picked watermelons, and 25-year-old melon picker Zhang Linghui also started her daily routine of "picking melons".

Lift a watermelon with your left hand, bounce your index finger a few times with your right hand, weigh it, and immediately throw it to the farmer on the other side for grading and placement... The entire process takes only five or six seconds, quickly and orderly, and a qualified Panggezhuang watermelon passes the inspection. This year, nearly 3 million kilograms of watermelons have been inspected by Zhang Linghui.

"This job has allowed me to achieve watermelon freedom"

In the midsummer season, watermelon sales have reached a peak. Thanks to the unique natural conditions such as soil and light, the Panggezhuang area in Beijing has a history of over 600 years of watermelon cultivation. Nowadays, local watermelons are no longer only provided to surrounding cities, but also widely sold in southern China and other regions. The development of the watermelon industry has also brought higher and more stable quality requirements. The new profession of "Gua Pai Shi" is born to meet the needs.

"I was born in 1998 and come from Handan, Hebei." Last February, Zhang Linghui quit her customer service job in her hometown and came to work in Panggezhuang with her family. It only took her two months to start learning and become an independent and responsible "melon photographer".

"At first, I didn't rush to pat melons, but after getting to know each other for a long time, I wanted to learn a new technique at a young age. When learning to pat melons, I started by looking at the scales. When the melons were weighed, I listened to the master play the melons while feeling the sound of the melons. This is a job that is mainly based on experience accumulation, and playing more will naturally make my judgment of the melons more accurate." Zhang Linghui told Guatian in a cheerful manner, and Zhang Linghui showed reporters the appearance and sound of melons with different maturities: "The standard of a good watermelon is mainly its maturity, to ensure that it cannot be raw or empty in the hands of consumers. The sound of a good watermelon is low, muffled, but very loud." "Liang, when knocking, the hand holding it will have a vibration. The sound of the melon is relatively crisp, and there is no tactile sensation as if it is knocking on a stone."

The melon shed in the summer afternoon was particularly unbearable, accompanied by the scorching sun and the roar of vehicles and machinery. On the day of the reporter's interview, under the high temperature of 38 ℃, the watermelon purchase site was like a "big furnace". Ice cold patches, large fans, mineral water, and heatstroke relievers have become common items here. In order to ensure shipment, Zhang Linghui and other melon photographers immediately start working as soon as they see new watermelons delivered.

"I mainly pick local late melons now, and this year's peak season can last until October. On average, I handle at least 30000 kilograms and 7000 watermelons every day, and knock melons tens of thousands of times. This job also does not have an accurate rest time, so becoming a melon photographer is not about picking watermelons, but about the environment - adapting to the heat will not make me feel tired." As the youngest female melon photographer in the cooperative, although she works hard, Zhang Linghui enjoys it.

New professions bring better quality control and higher sales

With the rapid development of the fresh retail industry, more and more agricultural products can be sold to farther places through online platforms, but the quality of products that cannot be touched is more or less worrying.

In this regard, e-commerce platforms also have relatively detailed requirements for the size, sweetness, and maturity of watermelons in their procurement. "The work of a watermelon auctioneer plays a great role in improving the efficiency of watermelon quality control and achieving refined management." Zhang Dong, the person in charge of Pangnongxing Cooperative, said, "Our team of watermelon auctioneers only does this job on a daily basis. During peak periods, an average of 7000 watermelons per person per day can be auctioned, with an error rate of less than 5%. Compared to traditional channels, quality control efficiency has been improved, and return and loss rates have also been greatly reduced."

According to Meituan Maicai's data, since its launch at the end of April this year, Panggezhuang watermelon has sold nearly 10000 units per day during its peak period. In addition to Beijing, it is also widely sold in southern markets such as Guangdong and Shenzhen.

Nowadays, many local watermelon cooperatives in Panggezhuang have started to create their own brands and sell them to various parts of the country through live streaming. The entire process from knocking, grading, to packing, packaging, and shipping is clearly visible, and the participation of the melon picker also makes online buyers feel quality assurance.

"We started live streaming in April this year and have sold over 5000 orders so far. In just two months, our fan base has increased to over 13000, and the repurchase rate and positive feedback of watermelons are very high," said Sun, the e-commerce manager of Pangnongxing Cooperative.

The increase in watermelon sales and the demand for quality have also raised the local planting level and increased the income of farmers from the source. "In the past, farmers grew melons more casually, with varying sizes of watermelons that needed to be sold in batches and categories. Sales channels and income were not very stable. Now, we will provide professional guidance to cooperative farmers from the beginning of watermelon cultivation, sign purchase and sales contracts, and deliver watermelons that meet basic requirements to us. The channels and prices are guaranteed, and we can earn thousands of yuan more per acre of land," said Zhang Dong.

How should new professions develop in the future?

"A melon picker is a technical job, and many people think they can do it, but to truly understand it, they need to undergo training and continuous practice. In our company, the salary of a melon picker is higher than that of an ordinary sorter, but it is also more difficult. Frequent tapping of melons can also cause some damage to nails." Under Zhang Dong's training, there are currently more than 10 full-time melon pickers here, who are grouped according to different watermelon varieties, and can increase to more than 20 during peak periods. Even in winter, the photographer still has greenhouse watermelons to inspect.

The paparazzi have brought a lot of help to the watermelon industry in Panggezhuang. When it comes to whether more paparazzi will be trained in the future, Zhang Dong said, "It still depends on demand. For example, in the next two years, we may develop watermelon planting bases in Inner Mongolia and other places, and we will definitely need to supplement professional technical personnel."

As a niche profession that is greatly influenced by seasonality and production from different regions, some people have concerns about the future development of a melon picker. Regarding this, Dou Xuewei, a teacher at the School of Labor Relations and Human Resources at the China Institute of Labor Relations, believes that as a skill oriented profession, the professional skills of a melon picker are built on the accumulation of practical experience and spiritual mastery of practitioners. Currently, this skill still belongs to tacit knowledge. Whether this profession needs to be promoted mainly depends on market demand, and judgments should be made based on reliable market research data.

"The profession of a watermelon auctioneer arises and exists under specific market conditions due to specific market demands. On the one hand, due to the increasingly layered and structured market demand, some consumers have higher requirements for watermelon quality; on the other hand, the expansion of the market and the requirements of e-commerce formats enable producers to carry out refined management of watermelon quality." said Dou Xuewei.

For the establishment and future development of professional standards for melon pickers, Dou Xuewei suggests: firstly, increase the upper limit of skills vertically and deeply, make the professional skill standards explicit, transform tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge with strong operability, and create a hierarchical professional skill system, such as participating in the breeding of fruits and vegetables, extending skills to agricultural technicians, etc. The second is to expand the boundaries of the skill system horizontally and broadly, such as incorporating the quality identification of other fruits and melons, to solve the problem of strong seasonal growth of a specific fruit.