[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: produce pick-up



Well, here is OUR take on this never-ending problem:

We have delivery on a limited basis and farm pickup. Deliveries are to two
locations, both delis with cool places to put the produce. The delivered
shares are bagged up and labeled for each member. For this the delis (who
also have shares in the farm) get free delivery (others pay $1 or $1.50,
depending on distance, for each week of delivery). The members have all of
the open hours of the business to pick up their stuff, though if they are a
day late it will be less well preserved; after two days the deli folks have
some extra produce. 

Members that pick up at the farm have a 3 hour window of opportunity to get
their veggies. We have them split into two groups, Monday or Thursday. We
pick the veggies and put it into a freezer that we have buried in the back
of the barn as a root cellar of sorts. This keeps things surprisingly well
for a day or more, though the produce is only a few hours in that storage
before they come to pick up. All of the produce is out in bulk for people
to pick and choose, with substantial guidance regarding numbers or pounds
per share. This works very well for us, and the members like it better than
pre-bagged, as we did the first year, since they can just leave the stuff
they don't like.

 At the end of the 3 hours we bag up the veggies for those few (often the
same ones from week to week) and put it back into the freezer with their
name on it. Usually only one or two, sometimes everyone actually remembers
and comes on time! They soon learn that they can come anytime in the next
24 hours or so and pick it up at their leisure. This has not been abused to
any great extent, and we are not usually bothered or pulled from other work
when they slip in and grab their groceries. Well, there is this one talker
that we need to work on...About all that is really ruined in the overnight
storage is the bouquet. After another night (rare, but not unknown) the
produce is deteriorating rapidly and the usable veggies go into our kitchen
or that of one of our deli share holders.

Retention rates between pickup folks and delivery people are about the
same. The pickup people are happy because they WANT a visit to the farm,
the delivery people because they don't have time for a visit to the farm. 

Word of mouth has been, hands down, our best advertising. New members,
hearing about it from a friend, know more about what they are getting into.

Jo and Jim at Five Springs Farm (and "The Community Farm" newsletter)

----------
> From: Don T. Sauter <dsauter@wvu.edu>
> To: CSA-L@prairienet.org
> Subject: produce pick-up 
> Date: Sunday, November 29, 1998 4:42 PM
> 
> 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
>