To the Community,
For the past bunch of weeks, I have been doing shifts at the Co-op, assembling people’s emailed orders. It’s been fun. There’s a great sense of camaraderie between volunteers and the amazing Co-op staff, and it’s been good to feel useful. I’ve also learned a lot about the amazing variety the Co-op offers in its small space — things I never knew were there!
For those of you who use the service, though, there are a few things you could do that would make all of our lives better. You would get exactly what you want, without calls or texts on a Saturday morning, and we could more quickly and efficiently fill the orders with less frustration.
If possible, structure your order the way the store’s laid out — for instance, start with coffee, drinks, move on to frozen food/dairy/eggs, etc.
Try to group like items together. It’s difficult when you’re in produce to have to backtrack to ice cream. The store is small, we’re trying to be socially distant — you get the picture. Though we do get our steps in.
Be clear about your level of flexibility on each item. I find people to be incredibly specific about some things. That’s fine — if you really don’t want anything but Mrs. Paul’s fish sticks in the 8 oz. package, that’s helpful to know. If there’s a substitution that’s ok, please list it. On the other hand, on a very specific list last week, I then had “a thing of orange juice.” Not helpful — what size? What pulp quantity? Brand? Please don’t make us guess. Similarly, ground beef comes in various grades: please specify. There are a million kinds of chips...
And most importantly, if you’ve placed an order, please answer your phone so we can ask questions, if we need to, and tell you when it’s ready!
Anything you can do to make this process easier helps you, the store, the staff, and the volunteers.
Thanks for reading. Happy (home) shopping.
Susan Smythe
Swarthmore
