How did you come up with the pickup locations system?
In early 2018, after having been in the food business for several years, with sales primarily being from our little on-farm store, we had several customers—including a buying club of sorts at a Muslim Mosque in Delaware county—asking if we would consider delivery. We—being open to new opportunities—said yes, we would consider it, and began delivery to a mere handful of people (on the back of a pickup truck) in the greater Philadelphia area in April of 2018. We took the basic model from Joel Salatin’s metropolitan buying club idea and struggled along for the first year or two in an attempt to adapt it to our needs. After the few years we came up with a version of what we now call “pickup locations.”
Why do you choose someone’s house for a pick location?
We choose private homes (usually a customer's home) for our pickup locations so that we can leave orders there for pickup later in the day. This achieves three goals. One, it aligns perfectly with our stance as a private farm selling food privately to private individuals such as you, whereas meeting in public places could potentially muddy that stance. Two, it alleviates pressure for us to be exactly on time with the delivery truck throughout the delivery day, which can be difficult depending on traffic, etc. Three, it eliminates wait times for you if/when we're not on time. The normal procedure for leaving orders for later pickup is to leave your order (which is packed in a cooler just for you) in the driveway, front lawn, or on the porch of the pickup location. For the customer, it then is as easy as stopping by, finding your cooler, grabbing the food (which is bagged for easy handling), and leaving our cooler for us to pick up during the next delivery.
What should I bring to the Pickup Location?
Yes, please bring a cooler or an insulated shopping bag. (Unless of course you live 5-10 minutes from the pickup location and will be going straight home). As we mentioned above, all the food—except perhaps jugs of milk—is bagged for easy handling. Our cooler used for your order needs to go back with our truck. The exception, of course, are coolers containing orders we leave for customers to pick up later. Also, if you plan to pay us in person, bring your check or cash payment (try to be exact with cash because we do not carry change) and plan to meet us when at the pickup location.
Should I bring ice?
There is usually no need to bring ice. We pack your order in ice at the farm so you simply transfer the ice from our cooler to yours if you need ice. If you need extra ice, please ask us and we’re usually able to provide you with some. And if you don’t have far to go you likely don’t need ice.
How long does your truck wait at the Pickup Location?
We normally don’t unless we know someone is underway and won’t be long. Remember, the posted meeting time is an appointment. And “the doctor” does not like for you to be late for appointments 😊. If you plan to meet us at the pickup location, we appreciate if you are either early or on time. If you see you are going to be late but for whatever reason need to meet us, please call us at 484-753-4422.
If I miss a pick-up and the food is already paid for via credit card... then what?
Rest assured, unless you call and say you don’t want your order after all, we’ll have dropped it at the pickup location in the care of our site host. Feel free to simply stop at the pickup location and pick it up. Usually there is no need to contact us or the site host unless you see that you’re not able to pick it up on the day of the delivery. To be fair to the site host, we’re rather adamant that you pick up that day—even if it’s late in the day—so that the site host doesn’t feel like he/she should look after it. We also ask that you’re respectful of the site hosts property, time, and resources. If you want to establish a relationship with him or her (exchanging phone numbers, etc.) for the sake of contact if you can’t be there by a certain time, we’re not opposed, but please don’t be a bother.
At the risk of sounding brusque, let me say that we’re rather hard on customers who our site hosts have complaints about. We appreciate the folks who are dedicated to our cause and open their homes for the sake of a pickup location—including whatever added traffic and intrusion that brings into their lives and neighborhoods—and we will take it task if someone takes advantage of our site hosts.
Do you have extra food on the truck during delivery?
As a rule, we don’t. The food is preordered and pre-invoiced, and we want it that way in order to not be seen by local municipal and/or state authorities as vendors or solicitors, which implies a host of regulation we would rather not get involved in.