The following details the weekly order cycle:
Friday, Week 1:
9:00 PM Deadline for Producers to have product listed on the site for the upcoming Delivery Day.
Saturday, Week 1:
8:00 AM The Order Cycle opens and members can begin shopping!
Monday, Week 1:
5:00 PM Order Cycle closes. All products in customer shopping carts become final orders.
* Producers receive a final notice of their sales and have until Wednesday afternoon to prepare product for delivery.
Wednesday, Week 1:
Delivery Day!
10:00 AM Producers must have any variable weight items entered into the system.
1:00 PM Six Rivers staff/volunteers on hand at Six Rivers Market warehouse.
1:30-3:00 Producers deliver product.
3:30-6:00 Consumers pick-up product.
6:00-6:30 PM Clean-up
Process Repeats the next week.
 In other words…..
The basic idea behind the order cycle is that each producer is in charge of keeping product posted as it is available. Sincewe are dealing with small producers and fresh product, the product that is available each week will vary. That fact, combined withthe fact thatSix Rivers will simply facilitate the postingsand sales, rather than actually manage an entire “inventory” of product from all producers, brings the necessity of an “order cycle” into play. The feedback we’vereceived from consumer and producer members says that weekly order cycles are best, mostly for the sake of remembering it each week. So…..
- Producers have until Friday evening at 9:00 PM to have all products posted and listed that they would like to have sold by the next Wednesday. This means that the Producer must “add” each specific product, and in doing so, mark that product as, “yes, list this week” (this option is at the top of the “add” or “edit” product feature off of the Producer’s login page) or “no, don’t list this week.” Being able to list and unlist products enables the Producer to enter as many products as possible in their down time, so that come that Friday deadline, only a few minutes is spent online clicking “list” or “don’t list.”
- The Market Manager will then login Friday night to make any product changes “live” (making anything that Producers have indicated to “list” viewable by the public). She then “opens the order cycle” and sends an email to all cooperative members (consumers and producers) to announce that the cooperative is now open for shopping. She’ll also include an update of what’s available that week.
- All co-op members then have from early Saturday morning to 5:00 PM Monday evening to order from what is available from Producers’ listed products. During this time, during the “open order cycle,” all co-op members will see a new feature on their login page, their “shopping cart,” along with various links to search for product (by category, producer, new products, organic, etc.). When co-op members look at product from their login page, they will see an “add to cart” link next to each product listed. Co-op members select any products they’d like, and add them to their carts.
- The “order cycle” or open shopping period then closes Monday at 5:00 PM. Any products in carts at that time become final orders (there is no check out process with this software—maybe in the future?). Producers then receive an email notifying them of their sales.
- Producers then have between 5:00 PM Monday and Wednesday morning to harvest and package product for delivery (see Handbook for details).
- If Producers have any items with variable weights (such as a whole chicken or squash) those weights must be entered into the system by Noon on Tuesday (hopefully Producers will avoid variable weights as much as possible, but then keep tabs on these items during the order cycle and be ready to prepare these items first to meet the Tuesday deadline).
- Each Producer will be able to print lists of all product sold by Customer name or Product name from their login page. They also have pre-made labels for packaging each item which has sold, with customer name, product name, and producer name.
 Consumers can view their invoices Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning to pre-pay via Paypal or wait to pay by check at the time of pick-up.
- Producers will then deliver all sold Product to the yet-to-be determined central Sandpoint location Wednesday between 1:30 and 3:00 PM. Six Rivers Market will pay the Producer their total price, minus the co-op handling fee, as long as the co-op has the resources to pay immediately up front. If not, payment will be made by the next Monday after all customer payments have been received.
- Between 3-3:30 PM the Market manager and volunteers will finish sorting all products into individual customer orders.
- All co-op members who have purchased product can pick-up their orders between 3:30 and 6:00 PM or arrange for someone else to do so. We’d also encourage Producers living nearby each other to work together in delivering product on delivery day. (We hope to eventually have a delivery system in place, for picking up and delivering product, but perhaps an entrepreneur sort will develop that as a business and “sell” their services on the site!)Consumers must pay for their order total in full, by check or paypal. Their total will be the total price listed by the producer, plus a co-op handling fee and sales tax. (Six Rivers will be collecting and paying the tax).
- The process starts all over again Friday evening!
Yearly Closures: To be determined. |
