Catalogs are now open for DCO Cycle 102!
See How To Order for more tips on ordering.
Click Shop in the main menu to go to the Foodclub ordering site (foodclub.org/driftless_cooption).
Questions? Email info@driftless.coop.
Catalogs are now open for DCO Cycle 100!
See How To Order for more tips on ordering.
Click Shop in the main menu to go to the Foodclub ordering site (foodclub.org/driftless_cooption).
Questions? Email info@driftless.coop.
Catalogs are now open for DCO Cycle 99!
Updates & Reminders
Steering Committee May 15 Meeting Minutes
The DCO Steering Committee met on May 15. Topics discussed included shared effort jobs, membership meeting this summer, and the sustainability/future of DCO. Please take a look at the minutes if you have not done so already. Minutes were sent to members via Foodclub on May 19 and posted on our blog: Steering Committee Meeting Minutes – May 15, 2019.
See How To Order for more tips on ordering.
Click Shop in the main menu to go to the Foodclub ordering site (foodclub.org/driftless_cooption).
Questions? Email info@driftless.coop.
Steering Committee Meeting Minutes – May 15, 2019
In Attendance: Mary B., Rice S., Ann A., Susan M., Angie B.
We reviewed Shared Effort Jobs needing to be filled which are all in the area of administrative tasks. Currently there is a need for the following: 1) General administration –Vendor Worksheet, basic parts of Foodclub, and has access to all the Gmail accounts. Create the new cycle tabs in the Vendor Worksheet, populate yearly summary financial sheet, add new vendors/products, do basic catalog updates on Foodclub, send emails from Foodclub, adjust member orders, give credits to member accounts, backup for archiving/opening catalogs, etc; 2) Cycle Co-Coordinator – Assisting Laila, tracking orders throughout the cycle; 3) Processing Member Payments – currently being done by Mary; needs to be passed on to someone else to lighten the load Mary has been carrying; 4) CPW Catalog Updates – Currently done by Angie; needs to be passed on to someone else to lighten the load Angie has been carrying.; 5) Early Cashier – Or there was a suggestion that the cashiering job could be done by one person with hours from 1:30-5:00/5:30 pm. Will discuss with Gail, current Late Cashier.
Mary contacted several people that we identified at the last meeting as potential members to take on admin roles, but has not made contact yet. Rice mentioned that Gavin had inquired; Rice will talk with him about taking on the CPW Catalog Updates.
Upcoming Shared Effort Substitute Needs:
• Laila – Mary will do Invoice Processing for this cycle.
• Angie – Gone for much of June cycle; need someone to do CPW Order Processing – Angie will ask Faith; and CPW Catalog Updates – perhaps Gavin or Angie thinks there will be very few produce updates, so could be skipped in June.
Bag Reduction Project – Would be great to get a committee together to take this on. Would be helpful to have someone from repack on the committee an also someone who sews.
Food Stamps – Rice had been contacted by KJ about her working on getting DCO to be able to accept Food Stamps. We will ask KJ to see if she is willing to do the research and then report back to the Steering Committee to assess what needs to be done and how it would affect current systems/workload.
Mountain Rose Herbs – Need a process for updating the catalog. Ann will ask KJ for ideas of how this might be done. Also, we will no longer be contacting members to verify that they are okay with the price of their MRH items before ordering; members need to check the MRH catalog price before ordering and there is a pop-up box to this affect that comes up when ordering in Foodclub. Rice contacted Polly to let her know she doesn’t need to do this any longer; this will allow the order to go in sooner and hopefully help to have the MRH order get here in time for pick-up.
There is an issue with prices not updating during invoice processing, even when box has been checked. Need more information on which catalogs do and don’t update. Ann will ask KJ for info.
Membership Meeting – Planning to have an all-member meeting this summer. Rice will send-out a survey to SC for choosing a date, probably in July. We need to clearly express to members the current state of DCO. Need to think about what we want/need from members other than completing tasks.Susan offered to create a graphic representation of the cycle process showing each shared effort job, person responsible, hours it takes, trained subs, etc. to help members see the bigger picture of what goes into each cycle.
Future of DCO Discussion – Burnout among a few people doing a large share of work persists. We are still in dire need of more people to take on some Admin tasks. We are questioning if the current form of DCO is sustainable in light of the fact that there are not enough people willing to take on more responsibility. There is a lot of complexity in the current system. Packaged software (Foodclub) has allowed for a broader selection of products and made some things easier to administer while increasing complexity and creating a need for skilled computer work. Also, complexity increases with so many different people doing small pieces of the whole; requires a lot of communication between vendors/members/admin. There are some admin tasks that are only known by 1 person; so in addition to needing more members to take on open admin jobs, we need people to cross-train so we have substitutes for all work. We had brainstorming session to consider ways to reduce work/complexity:To reduce work/complexity we could consider: 1) ways to scale back on products or # of catalogs; 2) ordering less often from some catalogs – comments that this could be somewhat confusing; 3) not using Foodclub – although, who is going to create a different system?; 4) not doing splits, only full cases; 5) Uploading catalogs in full and allowing ordering of any products – strong opposition to this; 6) People paying higher rate for not working – this would do nothing to help get the work done as we need MORE people doing the work not less. The end result of any change would need to be a reduction in total ADMINISTRATIVE work hours for a DCO cycle.
We also did an exercise of asking ourselves, “What would you do if DCO did not exist? What would you miss? Would it leave a void and how would you fill it?” We found this to be interesting and useful. We agreed that it would be a good exercise to ask this at the Member Meeting.
A printable Doc of these minutes can be found HERE.
Catalogs are now open for DCO Cycle 98!
Updates & Reminders
SnoPac – Last Chance to Order Frozen Items Until Fall
This cycle (98) is the last opportunity to order from SnoPac until fall. We do not order frozen items from them during the summer.
Organic Valley Trim Cheese and Pastured Butter Updates
See How To Order for more tips on ordering.
Click Shop in the main menu to go to the Foodclub ordering site (foodclub.org/driftless_cooption).
Questions? Email info@driftless.coop.
DCO – Steering Committee Meeting Minutes – April 17, 2019
In Attendance: Mary B., Bren D., Rice S., Ann A., Rochelle S., Angie B.
Follow-up on topics from previous meeting:
Recurring Issues that Create Extra Work (AKA Things that Need to be Solved NOW):
There are a number of administrative Shared Effort Roles Needing Capable Humans:
Tasks that need to be done:
Other:
Next Meeting:
The next Steering Committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, May 15th at 6pm at The Broadway House (603 E. Broadway, Viroqua). The agenda will include planning for a big member meeting mid-summer. There is a need for non-SC members to help with this. Any members interested in assisting are encouraged to attend. We also welcome any members interested in becoming part of the Steering Committee.
A printable Doc of these minutes can be found HERE.
Catalogs are now open for DCO cycle 97!
New product available: Soler Romero Olive Oil
This new olive oil can be found in the 04 Regional & Special catalog.
Soler Romero Olive Oil, Extra-virgin. USDA organic and early harvest. Produced on a single family farm in southern Spain.
$130 per case. 12ct x 500ml; Minimum order = 1 500ml
Sky Moon Imports
info@skymoonimports.com
Sky Moon Imports
SnoPac Frozen Foods Notice
Cycle 98 (NEXT cycle) will be the last opportunity to order from SnoPac until fall. So plan to get your frozen foods ordered in the next two cycles.
See How To Order for more tips on ordering.
Click Shop in the main menu to go to the Foodclub ordering site (foodclub.org/driftless_cooption).
Questions? Email info@driftless.coop.
Catalogs are now open for DCO cycle 96!
Note About Timing of CPW Catalog Updates for Fruit
The produce availability list from Coop Partners Warehouse (05 CPW) changes twice a week.
Please check back for updates to the Fruit category of this catalog!
See How To Order for more tips on ordering.
Click Shop in the main menu to go to the Foodclub ordering site (foodclub.org/driftless_cooption).
Questions? Email info@driftless.coop.
Hello, Co-Optioners. We have an important update on Natural Way Mills. For years we’ve had an ordering partner that bought large amounts from Natural Way for his business which helped keep our shipping costs low. He will not be ordering anymore, which means we will be charged the full price for the pallet delivery. This has been running around $92, regardless of how much we order, plus a $12 pallet charge. So the more product we order, the more that cost gets spread around. If we have a small order, it may mean that the final price you pay for some products may be double that of the catalog listing price.
Here is an estimate of what our shipping costs would be per pound for different total order weights, and an example of what the added shipping cost would be for an individual order item.
| Total DCO Order Weight | Shipping cost per LB | Example: Added cost to your order for a 5lb bag of flour |
| 200 | $0.52 | $2.60 |
| 300 | $0.35 | $1.73 |
| 400 | $0.26 | $1.30 |
| 500 | $0.21 | $1.04 |
For 2018, DCO averaged about 267 lbs ordered per month. But this last cycle we only had 150 lbs. We would like to boost our Natural Way order up a bit to get us into a more reasonable shipping rate. If we’re unable to, we will consider not ordering from that vendor every month.
What can you do to help? Check the Natural Way catalog first when you order. That catalog carries things like grains, flours, beans, seeds, salt, and sweeteners. You may already be buying some of the same products from other catalogs, but at a higher price. (For example, Gold ‘n White flour is .72/lb from Natural Way and $1.22/lb through the CPW catalog. Oats are .76/lb from Natural Way and range from $1.08-$1.75 per lb in other catalogs.) Also, if you know of any other people or businesses that would be interested in ordering bulk items like that alongside DCO to share the shipping, please have them contact us at info@driftless.coop.
Product Search Tip: Use the Product Search field at the top of the catalog page (just below the Source selection dropdown) to search across all catalogs and see the various options for a single product. Experiment with clicking the Literal Search box to get cleaner results.
Catalogs are now open for DCO cycle 95!
Update:
Natural Way Mills Shipping Cost Alert and Possible Change in Future Ordering
Natural Way Mills (NWM) shipping charges are based on the weight of the total order. Due to the loss of an ordering partner that previously bought large quantities and helped keep our shipping costs down, we will need to have larger orders to avoid high shipping costs. A message will be going out to members with more detail on this situation and possible impacts on our ability to order from NWM in the future.
For this cycle, you can help by checking the Natural Way Mills catalog first when you order (07 NWM). The catalog carries grains, flours, beans, seeds, salt, and sweeteners. You may already be buying some of the same products from other catalogs, but at a higher price. For example, Long Grain Brown Rice from NWM is $0.95/lb (25lb, 5lb min split), from Country Life it is $1.35/lb (50lb bag, 10lb min split), and from CPW it’s $1.91/lb (25lb, 5lb min split).
Product Search Tip: Use the Product Search field at the top of the catalog page (just below the Source selection dropdown) to search across all catalogs and see the various options for a single product. Experiment with clicking the Literal Search box to get cleaner results.
See How To Order for more tips on ordering.
Click Shop in the main menu to go to the Foodclub ordering site (foodclub.org/driftless_cooption).
Questions? Email info@driftless.coop.
