First up this week, let’s look at a little scheduling for the Thanksgiving holiday coming up. Since no one really wants to get a Harvest Box full of yams and cranberries after Thanksgiving, we consolidate all of our deliveries into Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday the week of Thanksgiving. This also allows our hard working team to enjoy a few days off with their family and amigos. So please make the following notes for Thanksgiving week.
Monday Deliveries/Pick-Ups: No change for all greater ABQ, Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Las Cruces orders.
Tuesday Deliveries/Pick-Ups: All orders as usual. Please note this will be the ONLY daytime East of the river deliveries for ABQ.
Wednesday Deliveries: No change, but please note this will be the ONLY day for Westside daytime delivery.
Thursday Deliveries: ABQ Night Deliveries will be made on Tuesday Night. Whole Foods pick-up will be Monday.
Friday Deliveries: All ABQ deliveries will move to Tuesday. All Santa Fe deliveries will be made on Monday.
Saturday Deliveries: Please move your orders to Tuesday/Wednesday deliveries.
Please make note of all these days. We will have a wonderful week of traditional Thanksgiving foods and would love to help keep you out of the craziness at the grocery stores. We will have the menu posted earlier than usual to help you make arrangements for your planning.
Now onto another reminder about the change in our free delivery structure that will begin on Monday 11/17. All orders, both pick-up and delivery, will remain free for order at/above $35. For all orders less than $35, there will be a $4 delivery charge. This will be across the board for all pick-up and delivery members.
I cannot stress this enough, but this is not a move to nickel and dime our members. This is a move to remain viable financially for years to come. We lose money on smaller orders and cannot afford to continue that system.
I had a member write to me that they cannot take the increase and they have to quit being a member. I hate seeing anyone leave, but I would rather a handful of members leave than for me to write a newsletter saying that we have to quit being a farm. I am a firm believer that we have to protect the herd above and beyond all else. Which means that we might have to make decisions that hurt some individuals. Again, I do not like seeing that, but our herd will continue to prosper.
I also would like to encourage any of you to head into the dreaded grocery store if you feel that our prices, service and quality are not a good value. We do not raise our prices to give you “free” delivery. We are able to offer our free delivery through efficiencies of our business model and through your support of buying more items for your kitchen and home. We have been fine-tuning this for 11 years and we have come to a really positive spot I think. And this is by no accident. We are very deliberate with what we do and the changes we make.
Lastly, I would like to point out that through your financial support of the farm, you not only are supporting our food, but our business model as well.
I feel that we have built a farm and a business that our members should be proud to be a part of. (Don’t end sentences with a preposition kids.) All of our employees get a free medium Harvest Box a week. We have health and dental coverage. And our pay scale ratio from top to bottom is 3:1, meaning that no one makes more than 3 times our lowest salary. Compare that to CVS at 422:1. My point is that we are not trying to just do well in the fields, but we want to be a business that you feel good about supporting. And we want to be around for the long haul.
Thanks for all you do for the farm.
Farmer Monte