Flow – Part III – Returns

By Julie Pottier-Brown, Operations Manager

Last week we left off explaining the flow of “stuff” – mostly coolers. Coolers get packed the morning of depot day with coolant and product, hitch a ride on a truck to the depot, serve the people, then get locked in the shed at end of night (except Marblehead’s coolers which are brought to the office.)

Tuesday is returns day. 

Skip, our Western Route Driver,  pulls into Stramski Way in Marblehead around 12:30, truck laden with all the goods from Western Massachusetts for that day. One and a half hours later, he leaves with the goods for Melrose – along with giant stacks of crates, buckets, berry flats and boxes to be returned to various farms. Included on his truck are the empty crates that Dennis, our Eastern Route Driver, transports from Salem to Marblehead. After the Melrose goods are dropped, Skip heads home with the empties from all three depots on his truck, which is once again full but quite a bit less heavy. Once done for the day, the truck is parked, waiting until the wee hours of Thursday morning to start. (Our weekly truck rental spans three days – Monday afternoon through Thursday evening.)

Skip has double duty on Thursday, sometimes visiting a farm twice. First he unloads the returns, then returns to pick up the food for the day. Drop, pick up, slide out of the way: It’s a game of tetris to load and unload, safely distributing the weight, as he goes.

Single use is not our jam and we get creative in figuring out what to do with any item not slated for return/reuse to the farm of origin. For example, certain farms will not reuse their containers, even if they are branded with their name. Some smaller growers will take any useful box and slap their own sticker on the outside.  (Yay!) Some boxes are useful for delivery.

(Pictured: GIANT plastic bags. These line cardboard bins that broccoli comes in – we negotiate a better price by not using 30 waxed boxes. Something like this will be offered on a “reduce/reuse/recycle” Facebook group. Several were given to a woman wanting them to cover her lawn furniture during the winter. Look like a good size for a drop cloth? Want one? We have 3 or 4 more…)

In this way, there is a constant juggle of materials. Remembering about that box of nicely folded onion bags from end of last season that need to go back to the farm now that the weather is cool. Weeding out the thrice or more used boxes that *may not* hold heavy produce a fourth or fifth time. Finding a home for some of the more unusual items.

Look forward to more corn, tomatoes, eggplant and peppers. Brussels sprouts tops and apples will be here very soon!

Thanks for supporting local, and choosing to do so with the Farm Direct Coop.

Julie