strategies?

[Jen Wernegreen]

hi all, 

I'm sure nobody in our co-op ever intended to disrespect Tracy.   I know this group is NOT composed of rude, disorganized people... we just happen to be a small co-op, and therefore often struggle to meet the $1,000 minimum.   It's a simple numbers game.  If we were twice our current size, this wouldn't be an issue.  

I think a good brainstorm is in order.      I'll jot down some ideas below.  (Please know these ideas are just food for thought - intended to start the brainstorm process!)

1) Spread the word and expand our co-op through NEW MEMBERS. 

- Word of mouth to friends.  [I must say, I have friends who feed their dogs a raw diet.  I have no idea where they get their food.  I should invite them to join our co-op!!]

- Word of dog park members.  [Overlapping with the 'word of mouth to friends'.... The paws4ever dog park is very close to the current delivery point...This would be a great community to make aware of the co-op!] 

- Word of mouth to vets.  [My vet marvels at the health of my dogs, including their amazing coats and teeth.  She always asks what I feed, I answer (ground tripe, etc), and she asks where I get this food.  I say "hare today."  But really, I should be giving her info about the co-op!]  

2) Encourage our CURRENT MEMBERS to order through the co-op, by REDUCING THE COST OF DRIVING to the delivery point. 

- I think it's fair to say, what motivates this co-op is the saving on shipping.  (If it's not fair to say that, please correct me!) For those of us who live far from the delivery point, the cost/benefit often doesn't balance out.  That is, it's cheaper to have the box(es) shipped to our homes, compared to driving. 

-  As one possible solution, we could formalize pick-up partnerships.   There has been some discussion of finding buddies in the co-op, to pick up each other's orders.  Maybe formalizing this will help.   

- Consider adding a delivery point at some more central location, to maximize participation of existing members.   (I'm not saying I endorse that approach; it's just an idea for discussion.)  

3) Ask Tracy for her customer data. 

- There must be plenty of people who are ordering from Hare-today in the Mebane area, or across the triangle, but are completely unaware of the Triangle co-op.  If Tracy wants co-ops to succeed, why shouldn't she give us the email addresses of those customers, so that we can ask them to join the co-op, if they want to?  Just a thought. 

4) Regardless of all the above.... Order ONLY when we're certain the $1K minimum is met!

- From Tracy's emails, whatever happens, this co-op can't risk placing an order below $1K.  Ever!  

- An easy solution would be an internal deadline, where we could tally up the order amounts.  If our order exceeds $1K, then we can proceed to order from Hare-Today.  If it doesn't exceed $1k, then we won't order.  With this approach, nobody logs in to hare-today under the co-op login, until we know for sure that the minimum order will be met. 

-  We might drop this internal tally, once our orders are consistently above $1K. 

I, for one, will pledge to order through the co-op (rather than as an individual).  To make this cost-effective, I'll need to team up with folks living near NW Durham (or who drive by NW Durham on their way to picking up food). 

I'm hoping folks will respond to the above ideas, and better yet, voice entirely new ideas that will help our co-op remain viable. 

with best wishes, 

Jen W. 

4719 West Hills Drive

Durham NC  27705

On Sun, Apr 8, 2012 at 11:37 AM, Patricia Koontz <pbko...@earthlink.net> wrote:

To members of the coop: I wrote this several days ago and forgot to send it. It will be a repeat of some info that I already sent but I think it bears repeating.

 

Regards,

Trish

 

 

We finally met our $1,000 order total yesterday. I’ll let you know when the shipping will occur.

 

More importantly, Tracy, owner of Hare-Today, let me know today that she does not want to work with our coop any longer because we do not get our orders finished in a timely way. Many times, we do not meet our $1000 minimum of goods ordered in the 4 day window of time that is set up each quarter.  Coop members lag and drag and then finally pony up with an order or order increase. She says that no other coop but ours has this problem. Our orders are strung out across a big timeframe despite the pre-arranged 4 day order period and this causes her a lot of trouble because of many reasons (see her comments below). It has been an ongoing issue with Triangle Raw Coop in the last few years and it is very frustrating for Tracy, who has to plan for and then fill the order. Note: If she stops taking our coop orders then we would each have to order separately and have our order shipped to our own home – we would not get the shipping discount which is really important to me.

 

The members of the coop must decide if we are willing to do a better job at respecting the coop process with Hare-Today. There were several email reminders about the order timeline (as there have been in the past when other people have served as the organizer) but that has not worked to solve the problem. How can we, as a group, be more responsible and respectful with our ordering? Be aware that though we may make new commitments, Tracy may still not wish to give us another chance. She has plenty of business and our crummy treatment of her has driven her to the point of canceling her agreement with the coop. I’m not sure she feels she can trust us to keep our word any longer.

 

Trish

 

Copy of Tracy’s email to me:

 

Hi Trish,

 

It is not "not wanting to deal with the group" but this co op does this every time an order opens. They cant meet the minimums and I had addressed this with Jenn when she was still doing this in Oct of 2011. 

 

I usually have 3 or 4 other co op orders going at a time and also all my regular orders. Logistically trying to keep inventory figured and supplies need is hard enough and then when the co op says the order will open March 30th to April 2 and now it is the 5th and the minimums have not even been met. It messes me up.  I have freezers packed with food to be shipped and cant ship it because the orders are still opened and I have no idea when or if someone else is going to order to get the total up to where it needs to be. This jams up my freezer space.

I can not do the reduced shipping until the minimum is met as I have certain weights that must be met with UPS to get the discounted shipping rates.

 

I honestly don't know what the answer is for this particular group. Seems people are not vey organized and if they truly wanted this food they would order in the time frame specified. I actually feel it is rude of people to assume I will wait on them to decide to order or not.  I always try to communicate well and to be courteous to my costumers but I don't feel the courtesy is returned with this group.

I am willing to keep this order open till Sat at midnight.  This is almost 1 week longer that what I was told. If after that the minimums are not met The food that has been processed will be shipped to other people and I will refund the payments to the people that placed the orders and delete the exiting orders. 

 

Tracy

 

[Alice Hall]

do you all know about A PLACE FOR PAWS in ohio?

when i had dogs i ordered from them.

they're were great and may do big, coop orders.

i don't know but may be worth your asking.

http://www.aplaceforpaws.com/about-us/about-us/our-philosophy.html

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