Pay As You Go: A Rant

Last night I was sitting at my computer, collecting up the requests from the six CSA customers who wanted a box packed for them instead of picking out their own vegetables. Some of these people are choosing not to come into the same space with other people and some just can't get here in time to feel like they will have good choices with the market style system. All the Brussels sprouts will be gone.  

Our Winter CSA is a mellow affair, with no bells and whistles. No fancy payment system (members bring their check on the first day, or the next one if they forget, and put it in the box on the table), no newsletter, no customization with a software package.  We, the farmers, decide what days the CSA will happen, based on our desire to have some time off and also on the way the weather is going.  Customers pay for eight weeks, up front.

This is a low-key and somewhat traditional version of the CSA model.  The traditional parts are that payment comes in a lump at the beginning and the farmer is responsible for the fairness of the system. We are trusted to make sure that people will get vegetables in a reliable and equitable manner. There are no prices. Everything is basically the same in value because we say it is -- a head of lettuce, a half pint of garlic, a quart of sweet potatoes. The transactional nature of the exchange is very different from going to the grocery store.

So there I was, doing my little handmade chart, saving some sweet potatoes and lettuce and spinach etc. for someone who sent me a pleasant note.  And then a message from Harvie pops up on my screen, full of enthusiasm and an ode to the joys of Pay As You Go.

Harvie is the business that manages our data for our full season CSA. When we first joined up with them, 12 years ago, it was called Small Farm Central. A perfect name for what they did -- they collected up the small farms and they did the hard work of keeping track of money and names and orders. It was a system that gave us what we really needed.  About five years ago, the founder decided that he could do more for farmers and he began to develop a platform that promoted farm businesses in new and innovative ways. He was devoted to finding ways for farms to make more money. 

Over time, he has come to the conclusion that the CSA is no longer the answer. The answer is an online marketplace where the customer gets what the customer wants, by choosing her vegetables and by paying in accessible increments. On the face of it, this makes perfect sense.  But it takes away the premise that people want to support their farm. It turns it right back into a trip to the store, but using your computer. Their new revelation is that customers don't want to pay up front, they want to pay as they go. They have figured out that people like to be able to quit. And that the farm would really do better with a steady stream of income than with the upfront infusion of cash in the middle of winter.

Oh, I was so mad. I totally understand their position. They have become a business that is excited about planning the routes for people who are doing home delivery. They have drunk the Koolaid and they are pushing us all down the Amazon chute. In fact, they said it outright -- they want to give farmers the same advantages so that we can compete with Amazon.

So of course I wrote a letter. Before I sent it, I read it to Rebecca who was coming into this whole conversation without much context. After I read it, she said, what do you think will change? Nothing. Then why are you writing it? To register my protest. Don't you think you should send it to someone who can create change instead of just your customer representative? Your rep can't do anything and doesn't care. I took her advice and rewrote the letter, with a little less snark and vitriol, and sent it to the founder of the company. We have been working with his company since he started. He knows who we are. He doesn't need us anymore and he doesn't truly care what we think anymore. But it did feel better to send it to the boss.  This is why it is good to have Rebecca, our business school grad, as my editor. 

I do know that the CSA model is a niche, it is not for everyone and it is probably fading away. But I still believe with all my heart that this is not a one-way street. The farmer does not have to provide every single thing, even though that is what people have come to expect. The CSA member still has a role, supporting the farm. It's not just a shopping trip, it's a relationship.  At the end of my letter I said that every long lasting business (and we are starting our 60th season) understands that its most valuable resource is its relationships.  I doubt that Simon, the Harvie mastermind, will actually internalize that because he is on the Amazon train already, but he should.  I told him that I hope there is still room for the pragmatic idealists who believe in CSA as a viable model for relationships.

In fact, I believe that this model could work for lots of different businesses, not just farmers.  The Vietnamese owners of the haircut place could have a community supported business that would make it possible for them to weather covid.  A haircut is something that can have a very flexible price. If a customer pays for a whole year, or six months, up front, the business owners can make their own choices about what is safe for themselves and their clients.  The clients are guaranteed a visit a month. If they don't go, they forfeit that month. It's their job to make the appointment. Loyalty would be rewarded as member-customers get their first choice of whatever services they require. 

Anyway, the idea that businesses should just make everything easy and painless and cheap is just so one-sided.  The customer has a role to play too, when it comes to supporting small high quality businesses (who are good to their employees, who care about the environment, who take the long view on relationships) that rely on mostly the same people. We don't all have to be like Amazon.