August’s Feedback Responses

Request that we carry:

More PlantStrong products

Response:

I will look into more Plantstrong items.

-Forrest, Center Store Manager

Comment:

The email and application are not clear: ” Proof of annual income below 2.5X of the Federal Poverty Level (The current level is $36,450 of individual annual income. ” Is $36,450 the cut off or 2.5 x “the current level” ($36,450) = $91,125 ??? It seems an email of clarification to the membership is needed.

Email Response:

“Hi JA, We received your question on the suggestion box form regarding income qualifications for the new Community Discount Program. The current Federal Poverty Level is $14,580 and 2.5x that brings the current total to $36,450. We can make some slight adjustments to our application and website to make this more clear. Thank you”

-Vince M, Marketing Manager

Comment:

Just trying to better understand the new community discount program. It seems like it removes the financial incentive to become a Co-op member if you don’t qualify for the new program, since you will not get any discount just for being a member. Is that correct? Thanks.

Email Response:

“Hi Moreen, Thank you for your question of clarification on the new Community Discount Program. The new Program does not remove any of the financial incentives that there are for becoming a Member. All Members will still be able to utilize our Owner Rewards program, receive discounts on our Owner Extras and receive Patronage Refunds when allocated by the Board during profitable years. Some people have also been asking about the 5% surcharge that used to be applied to Non-Member shoppers which may also be the financial incentive/discount that you are referring to. However, this surcharge is something that was discontinued several years ago. Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions. Take care”

-Vince M, Marketing Manager

Comment:

I am disappointed that you are ending the senior discount of 5% Oct 1st. Some of your prices are higher than High Priced Nugget Market. Ex: Amys Margarita pizza, COOP charges $12.99 Nugget in South Davis charges $11.49 as of today and not on sale. You should take care of your customers who have helped build the COOP over the years. You can’t be high priced and remover all your small incentives. Shopping at the COOP for over 30 years, saddens me that I may have to reevaluate how I shop for my groceries.

Email Response:

“Hi, I appreciate you reaching out and voicing your concern and I am sorry to hear that you disagree with the decision. If you have not already, I encourage you to read the link for our webpage here as it explains the decision a bit more. Seniors who are eligible for the Community Discount based on income or enrollment in several different programs will not only be eligible for the discount, but will receive an even larger discount in addition to thousands of others around our community who will now be eligible for a discount as well. The new Program also does not remove any of the financial incentives that are associated with Membership. All Members will still be able to utilize our Owner Rewards program, receive discounts on our Owner Extras and receive Patronage Refunds when allocated by the Board during profitable years.

In today’s day and age with rampant inflation and rising cost of living, we are trying to do what we can to ensure that everyone in our community has the chance to afford shopping here. Having a program that can provide that for many who feel they cannot afford to shop here, including eligible Seniors, aims to make our store more accessible for the community as a whole which is a priority in our Ends statement.

As far as our prices, we are happy to provide many cost competitive options while still facing the reality of being a single community-owned store competing with larger corporate competitors. We stay as up-to-date as possible with our competitors’ pricing, including Nugget’s, and do often have more lower priced options than people realize but there will always be room for that not to be the case when comparing an organization with the buying power of 16 locations vs. our single location.

We understand that this is a big decision and neither the store staff or Board of Directors take it lightly. We hope that you understand that this decision comes from a place of staying true to our roots and Ends statement to provide “Access to healthful, local and high-quality food” and will see the value of continuing to support your local co-op as it furthers that mission. I am happy to address any additional questions or concerns that you have. Cooperatively”

-Vince M, Marketing Manager

Request that we carry:

Overnight pads with wings

Response:

The ones we used to carry got discontinued unfortunately. We do have a “ultra extra pad w/wings” by Natracare that can be used overnight, it just doesn’t say overnight on the box. We are working to find overnight pads with wings specifically though.

-Rayvyn, Wellness Manager

Comment:

Please indicate whether the peaches offered are either “cling” or “free stone.” It does make a huge difference.

Response:
Cling is the early variety of peaches and now they are all freestone . So beginning of the season is when it is clinging.
-Christina, Produce Manager

Comment:

For all Gluten-free intolerant, celiac, & sensitive, allergic folks: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE move all GF flours ABOVE all wheat flours in baking aisle or to a separate section. I cannot touch or purchase these gluten free items due to wheat flour all over the shelves. Thank you for the consideration.

Email Response:

“Hi, Thank you for your suggestion. I will move the Gluten Free flours above the wheat flours asap. I apologize for this oversight and how it may have negatively impacted your shopping trip. Please reach out if there is anything else I could help you with.”

-Forrest, Center Store Manager

Comment:

Regarding the new discount program: 1) Since the stated purpose is to address access to food, why does the discount extend to things like alcohol? 2). Why are all students included in the program, regardless of income, but all seniors are not?

Email Response:

“Hi, Thank you for reaching out with your questions regarding our upcoming changes to the Community Discount Program. Below I have a couple of responses to the questions that you posed: In regards to the discount program including alcohol, this is consistent with the current discount programs that we offer. While the focus is definitely on food, and we anticipate discount holders will use the discount to apply mainly to food purchases, we do not want to limit grocery purchases in our store. The restrictions that we have in place for the discount are either for legal purposes (such as Member equity, tax, and CRV) or because of outside vendor purchases (such as newspapers, stamps, and event tickets) The decision to include college students in the discount is based on the staggering number of students that face food insecurity, but may lack the other necessary documentation to show proof of qualification. For context, the most recent data we have shows that 10.2% of US households face food insecurity. For Seniors over the age of 60, 7.1% of them face food insecurity while 44% of UC Davis Students face food insecurity. This was no doubt a difficult decision, but one that we feel was necessary to best address this alarming statistic. Feel free to let me know if you have any additional questions. Thank you”

-Vince M, Marketing Manager

Request that we carry:

More natural wines! I <3 Dewey’s wine

Email Response:

“Greetings, Thank you for your suggestion regarding natural wines, and thank you for supporting the Davis Food Co-op. I will reach out to our vendors regarding Dewey’s Wines. We carry some great natural wines from Broc Cellars, Amy Atwood Selections and Field Recordings to name a few.”

-Katie, Beer, Wine, & Spirits Specialist

Request that we carry:

-Bulk Organic Humingbird beans

-Bulk Organic Cranberry beans

-Plant-based sausages that isn’t beyond brand

Thank you!

Response:

We will take a look and see if we can get those bulk items.

-Mike H, Center Store Specialist

Request that we carry:

Saavy Naturals orange vanilla hand sanitizer

Response:

This line looks great! I will look further into it and see what I can do.

-Rayvyn, Wellness Manager

Comment:

Hello to My Co-op Managers. Two things. First ,Thank you so much for the little pamphlet “31 Days of Vegetables” – it has been so useful this summer. Second, Suggestion: Do not totally discard the Senior Discount. I believe it might be a costly change in revenue due to less interest on the part of Seniors to shop at the Co-Op. Do what other locales do, like the North Coast. Up there all the larger locally based stores give Senior Discounts on certain days of the week. So we would have a Senior Discount on Tuesdays only.

-All the best

Email Response:

“Hi, Thank you for reaching out to us via the online suggestion box form, we are happy to hear that the 31 Days of Veggies guide has been useful! We also appreciate the feedback about the Senior Discount. While we understand that this is a big change, we think it will have an enormous impact for thousands of needs-based shoppers in and around Davis, including our most vulnerable Seniors who qualify. So far we have been met with a vast majority of support for the upcoming changes which signals to us that we will hopefully still be retaining Senior shoppers who want to continue supporting our co-op. With that said, we will definitely continue monitoring the change when it takes place and will look to see what we can do to show appreciation for our Senior shoppers outside of the traditional Senior Discount Program. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions or additional comments. Take care.”

-Vince M, Marketing Manager