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Re: produce pick-up



It seems that you are giving the problem of pick-up some good thought.

We, too, have a customer base that is far away (45 minute in our case) and we run into
a number of problems with pick-up/drop-off.  Over the years we have decided that not
bagging was the way to go. We drive into the city with the vegetables in bins and let
the subscribers pick their own vegetables out of the bins.
This works out fine if we are there, but we have run into a number of problems if we
aren't ie when we have an unattended pick-up at a shareholders house or office.  Some
people take too much and there is nothing for the last person, or the last person is
upset that there are too many vegetables left over. etc.
But since, until this last season, we mostly had formal drop offs with one of us
sitting there socializing and helping the shareholders get their vegetables, it was
fine.
Then this year, because of subscriber demand, we started delivering primarily to
offices and started having problems. A number of the offices would send down one
person to get everyone's veggies. This put us back to the problem with the unattended,
unbagged drop-off.  For the first time we had shareholders requesting bagged veggies.

We are not sure how we are going to solve this problem next year. What we will
probably do is play it by ear.  If we have to bag it for some offices, we will,
otherwise we would rather not (when we have to bag each share it takes a lot of time)
We will continue to encourage each shareholder to come down to the truck and select
their individual share.

One other point, the place where we have the highest retention rate is where we have a
community drop off.  This might be because the shareholders that live in the community
are more stable and stay around from year to year where the office shareholders are
more transient, but it might be because they have a stronger sense of community. Our
end of season survey didn't help us with the answer either.
The place where we have the lowest retention rate is the people that come out to our
farm to get their vegetables.  While these people probably get more attention and
vegetables, it is a drag driving the country road to our farm and then down our long
driveway and then to have our dogs bark at them.

Produce pick-up is an important issue, one that takes a lot of our time.  We are
always envious of CSA/subscription programs where the shareholders come out to the
farm, but in our case, and we suspect in many other cases, it doesn't work.

In summary, of all the way's we have tried, the most satisfactory for us and (we
think) the shareholders was to have a drop-off period where we are there. With this
method we did not bag the vegetables, the shareholder did (we had the shareholders
'recycle' their plastic grocery bags).  The problem with this is finding a time and
place that makes everyone happy. We also found that shortening the time from 2 or 3
hours to 1 hour was fine.  We had the same percentage of people remembering to get
their vegetables with 1 hour as we did 3 hours.  We cut our best  site to 45 minutes
this year without any problems.  I think the shareholders liked it better if there are
other shareholders there when they pick up their vegetables.

One more thing, this coming season we are contemplating working with a youth group and
having individual, home deliveries. Sort of like paper routes. I think we will start
really small with this and work out the numerous potential kinks.
Leigh

Don T. Sauter wrote:

> Fellow CSA/subscription farmers,
>
> I'd like your advice and to hear of your protocol (and it's problems)
> regarding produce pickup.  I'll tell you first  about my situation and my
> dilemna as I see it.
>
> I just finished the first year of running my subscription garden (no core
> group). My farm is 35 minutes from my customer base.  Since I also work a
> necessary, full time off-farm job, I purposely kept my subscriber numbers
> very small with 5 half-shares and 1 full share. The produce quantities for
> this amount of people are fairly manageable to leave in coolers (with
> "freezy things" in them) and I currently give the subscribers a 3-hour
> guaranteed window to pick up their already divvyed-up bags from the
> unmanned cooler drop-off site in town (outside behind a subscriber's house
> in the neighborhood where my subscribers all live). This works reasonably
> well (even though I still have people who can't seem to go 5 blocks or less
> from their homes to pick it up--I donate the leftover bags to potential
> subscribers). However, next year I'm going to add more customers...only 4
> or so more which, again, would be fairly manageable to continue to handle
> the produce delivery & pickup the way I am now---but it won't be manageable
> this way for much longer as I add more customers (I plan on giving this
> business my full attention in about 4 years.)
>
> I am considering re-designing the pickup protocol and feel that I should do
> it now while I still have a small customer base and can educate them and
> get them used to this "new way."  My options as I see them:
>
> 1. Most desireable for me: Still divide up the produce for each of them,
> but have it in paper bags or boxes, and offer a 1 hour time period for
> produce pickup.
> Pros:  a. Don't have to use plastic grocery bags (In coolers, everything
> "perspires" and gets wet.)
>        b. Don't have to buy (or ask subscribers to buy) coolers--not very
> "sustainable"
>        c. Produce deteriorates for shorter period of time.
>
> Cons:  a. One hour time period may be very limiting for some subscribers &
> some of them won't ever make it--       may be seen as restrictive and inconvenient
>        b. I have to be there since I'll need to keep produce in my cooled,
> covered truck bed during hot    weather or to keep the rain off
>        c. Have to keep supply of boxes or paper bags on hand.
>
> 2. Continue with cooler scenario: Include in the first year fee $30 extra
> so we can buy for them 2 coolers to exchange from week to week.  Fee is
> refundable if they quit or they can have their coolers back, whichever.
> Pros:  a. I don't have to be there.
>        b. More flexible hours to pickup for customers.
>
> Cons: a. Not very "sustainable"
>       b. Customer has to return a cooler every week...and some won't
>       c. I have to continue to keep a supply of frozen pop bottles, milk
> jugs, etc. (we do have an extra         deep freeze) and some will be "lost" to
> the customers
>       d. Produce deteriorates as "freezy things" melt.
>
> 3. On-farm pickup: Not an option for a few years since I don't have a
> flexible schedule to allow for customer pickup out here nor do I have time
> to socialize (boy, that sounds mean, doesn't it?) When I'm not at my 8
> a.m.-5 pm. job, I'm in the fields planting, weeding, harvesting, watering.
> I have very little time to absorb anything extra right now--it won't always
> be this way (or I won't continue!) People are always asking me "How do you
> do it all--town job and garden business?  Well, I almost didn't do anything
> else for 7 months this year, i.e., went to work in town and then went to
> work at home.
>
> With your experience, what advice can you give regarding this aspect of
> CSAs/subscription gardens?  What are the pros and cons to your produce
> pickup protocols?  Thanks for your input.
>
> Susan Truxell Sauter
> ssauter2@wvu.edu



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