Our system works like this: Shareholders who want to pay in installments
contact us, and we tell them that whatever schedule works for them is OK.
We make it clear that we want to be farmers, not bankers, and that we won't
send them reminders or statements. They put in writing what they want to
do, and send it to us with whatever deposit they can afford. When we get
this we send them a reciept stating what they've paid so far, what they
owe, and the schedule they've said they'll keep. We do our bookkeeping on
Excel and we just keep track of when they make payments--it's almost always
when they've said they will. We usually have about 20 shares each year who
choose this option, and we haven't had any problems with it.
In terms of the unit system that was in GFM this month-- my take on it is
that it only works if you're dealing with really large amounts of produce.
You need to harvest enough so that those coming at the end of the pick-up
don't end up with 12 units of beans, or whatever. They seemed to be
picking a lot to cover themselves, and then marketing the extras. I think
it's rare to find market outlets for your extras. It can damage your
reputation to market stuff that's been picked over or that's been sitting
around for a while, so be careful with the extras--make sure the quality is
good if you're going to market them instead of donate them, which I think
is more of the norm.
Last year we started offering choices to our shareholders--choose 2 of
broccoli, cauliflower, red cabbage, green cabbage, or choose two kinds of
herbs, or two bunches of 5 different kinds of greens. This is a similar
idea but we've found that we don't need to pick tons extra in order for
everyone to get their first choice. Because the items are so similar,
someone may end up with broccoli instead of cauliflower but it's not as
much of a drag for that last shareholder as it would be to end up with 12
lbs of beans, which I could imagine happening if we went to units. So on a
small scale (we have about 50 shares), the "choices" option seems like a
good way to offer variety and customized shares without making other
compromises.
Good luck!
Jen,
who this season is hoping for 1/2 inch of gentle rain on Monday and
Thursday nights