Changes to our Home Delivery Program
A Note from Farmer Sam:
One of the things that always draws me back to farming is the giant puzzle. Figuring how beds will fit side by side with crop rotation year over year, shifting and balancing planting schedule in the rainy season, cramming flats and flats of new starts in the greenhouse in the busiest times during January and February, and allocating tractor work from bed shaping to transplanting in March and April to plant those flats and flats of starts. But small farming doesn’t end with what's on or in the ground, the less romantic side of growing includes late nights with spreadsheets, delivery van repairs, and 3:00 AM wake up calls for Saturday and Sunday markets. Being able to balance the finances, customer service, and HR along side transplants, compost and daily weather updates is part of the challenges and beauty of farming.
When my brother, dad and I first started Spade & Plow in 2015, we wanted to create a program that provided accessible, affordable, and clean produce to Santa Clara County. We saw the long-term need to preserve farmland in Santa Clara County and knew if we didn’t work towards Ag preservation, maybe no one else would either. We aimed to create an all-inclusive program where we would deliver to your home or office, for one set price. Including the delivery costs, growing costs, packing costs and packaging cost in the price of the produce. Our aim was to create a program where anyone could support local Ag while fitting in with busy lifestyles. In the coming years some costs increased, from the lease on our farmland to our worker’s comp, all cutting into an already shoe-string budget. We tried for a long time to stay true to our all-in-one model for ease and simplicity to the CSA members.
As we added on more pick up locations, hired delivery drivers, our costs have gone up. We’d spread those costs out on the produce itself, and began to realize that many of our pick-up location members were getting the short end of the stick. Pick-up location members were paying slightly more in produce costs to allocate for all the home delivery customers where our delivery costs were higher. In January of 2019 we decided to add on a $2.50 delivery fee to all new sign ups while grandfathering in members that signed up in 2018 or earlier. We knew the $2.50 delivery fee didn’t cover all of the costs associated with delivering to homes and offices, but added the delivery fee as a start so we could get a better idea of what our actual costs were. As we have now had a year to really look at the costs associated with delivering to individual locations, we have a truer idea of how much it costs us.
Our goal is still the same, to provide accessible, affordable and clean produce to the South Bay while preserving the precious farm land right here in Santa Clara County.
But in order to continue to do this work we must continue to conserve and sustain our bottom line as much as our soil. Starting on the week of February 17th we’ll be raising our delivery fee to $4.50 instead of $2.50, and will be applying it to all home or office deliveries regardless of sign-up date. Pick-up locations will continue to have no delivery fee or any additional fees. The price of the produce in the box will better reflect our actual cost to grow, harvest, and pack your box, while the delivery costs will be separate.
Making this decision to add and raise the delivery cost was not an easy one. The Spade & Plow crew is full of families and individuals living in the bay area, where a couple dollars a week makes a big difference over the course of a few months. We looked at other options, price-shopped to see what other CSA’s and food delivery services are doing, and ended up finding a delivery fee was the best way to go. We’re confident that our delivery fee is in line or cheaper than any other delivery service, and our whole team works very diligently to make sure we are delivering boxes as efficiently as possible. Our goal has never been to nickel and dime customers with hidden fees or make our margins in illusive ways, but to cover our costs, provide a sustainable living for our employees and members, and be as transparent as possible on how much it actually costs to grow food on the urban edge.
If this delivery fee does not fit into your budget, we encourage you to switch your box to one of our pick-up locations. We have added on a few new pick-up locations in the last few weeks in preparation for an additional delivery fee, and we are also looking to add on more pick-up locations. If you think your home or a local business could be a good fit, please reach out and we can go over more details.
As always, we greatly appreciate all of your individual support, patience and understanding as we figure this out together. Farming in the Bay Area is not easy by any description, but is so important on so many levels. And you, our CSA members, are the biggest part in making farming not only viable but thriving and setting an example for peri-urban areas all over the world. Thank you for helping us put together the small and big pieces in the ever changing puzzle.
If you have any questions at all, feel free to reach out to me directly at Sam@spadeandplow.com
