| About Bountiful Baskets Co-op
Bountiful Baskets is not a business. It is a group of people who work together for mutual benefit. We are up front and open about how things work. Our policies are as follows:
Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op is constantly growing to reach new areas through a large network of volunteers. We run at least every two weeks at each site. We are completely volunteer-run and make no profit. We have the following distribution sites and look forward to adding other distribution sites as volunteers are trained and ready to open them! Please see our home page for a complete listing of current sites. Cities marked with an * have 100% Organic sites available.
This is a Co-op
This is a grass roots, all volunteer, no contracts, no catch co-operative. Without volunteers this co-op wouldn't happen, so you will need to help as you are able. There are many opportunities to participate!
Reasons to Participate
- This is a great deal and you are helping others get a great deal, too. With the conventional produce offering, you get approximately $50 worth of grocery store-quality produce.
- This co-op encourages a healthier lifestyle.
- You meet great people!
How the Co-op works
As a group, we purchase items at deep discounts. Items are then distributed evenly among participants. Some details:
- Use this website to make monetary contributions toward the pools of money used to purchase product(s)
- Contribute the amount required for participation in each pool by the deadline(s) listed (see Contribution Timeline table on the homepage)
- Additional details specific to the item(s) contributed for are sent via email
- For produce baskets, we purchase from a warehouse that supplies produce to many local restaurants and grocery stores. This is the same produce you would get from a restaurant or store.
Basket contents
We get a variety of high-quality seasonal produce. We balance variety with seasonality in order to get the most appealing and cost-effective basket possible. We also choose to use local produce first when available, then regional produce (California, Utah, Colorado, Northern Mexico!) Items Not Picked Up during the 20 minute pick up window Will Be Donated to a local fire station.
We are unable to hold perishable items. Please arrive on-time!
Pickups
Each site has a 20 minute pickup window. Please see the "Pickup Times" table on the homepage for site pickup times. Bring a container to take your produce home in! Laundry baskets, coolers, grocery bags, and boxes work great. Perishable items that are not picked up are donated! Site Changes
Due to our size, we can no longer accomodate site changes of baskets and/or "other offers." Please plan on picking up your offerings (baskets, grains, produce cases, etc.) at the site you selected when you made your contribution. Volunteering Volunteers should be at co-op one (1) hour before distribution.
'Extra' produce
'Extras' are are those items that will not distribute to the whole co-op one more time (if there are 40 bags of carrots in a case and only 36 baskets, 4 bags of carrots would be "extra.") Extras of like value will be combined and distributed together. For instance, if in the example above there were 32 extra celery bunches then the extra celery and extra carrots would be combined and people would get either extra carrots or extra celery.
The methodology will be to spread the benefit to as many co-op participants as possible to keep things fair, with volunteers getting 1 or 2 additional items for volunteering.
Fees
There is a $1.50 fee for each separate transaction. This fee applies to all transactions, even those made within the same co-op cycle. Please note: we are unable to add items to a processed transaction.
There is a $3.00 First Time Basket fee for new participants. This need only be applied with the first basket(s) contributed for; it does not apply when selecting a new or different pickup site.
Returns
There are no returns. This is a co-op. We group together monetary contributions, purchase in the largest available package, and break it down to individual shares. There is no way for us to return 1/12th of 15 cases of vegetables, etc. Your money has been spent as we were directed to spend it and we can not return it.
Credits
Any credit due to unavailability of an item you made a contribution for will be returned to the payment instrument that you made your contribution with. This will be done within 2 weeks of the issue being submitted on a Volunteer Site Coordinator Database. If you have an issue you believe needs a credit please make sure your Volunteer Site Coordinator inputs your request into the Database.
Weights & Measures
The co-op is volunteer-run and many items are divided up by volunteers. The best effort is made to ensure accuracy, however weights and measures are not guaranteed accurate. Open Containers
Some products may be distributed in non-factory sealed containers.
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