Lisa at Home Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 I'm just wondering how your experiences have been, overall. I have attempted to participate in the club nearest me (the one United Natural put me in) and the coordinator is absolutely not interested in doing the work to allow anyone else in her group. At this point, I doubt that I could work with her at all, as I feel her poor character would probably mess up any business transactions.:banghead: I'm just wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar to this, and whether United Natural was able to rectify the situation. I've sent an e-mail to them, but have not yet heard back. I hope this isn't a common issue! ~Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 I have been in our local club off and on - our size was limited to the space available at the local American Legion Hall to set out 50ish orders! We needed space to sort items - and each member had a couple feet of a table on which we would place items they ordered - usually cases of stuff - so we were simply limited by ROOM. Our club was mostly organic and health stuff - and went to by case only so one cold not just order one jar of an interesting item to try it. I dropped out. Much stuff was cheaper at the local stores, anyway (but then I am in a large market - not everywhere has access to 6 - 8 grocery stores etc.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 I have been in two different clubs with them. I started with them about 13 years ago, back when they were Blooming Prairie, a co op in which we had equity. Well, Blooming Prairie convinced people to let them be bought out by United Natural Foods and we got our equity out of it. Well, the benefits really dwindled after UNF bought them out. (Whole Foods has a place on the board.) I have found that the prices have really gone up. I can get many of the items cheaper at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods than I could with the co op even buying things in bulk. Well, both of our co ops closed because members kept dropping out. They kept raising prices and adding other charges and raising the minimums. There are some things that I am having trouble finding and I miss our co op, but I just couldn't justify the cost anymore. One of the clubs we had was open to new members. Another one was more or less closed to people not in our homeschooling group. They didn't want people who didn't have a connection with this community to join because they found that many wanted to just order and not do the work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in CA Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 I am currently in one and have been for about two years. The prices ARE more expensive than you will find at Trader Joes, but Trader Joes doesn't carry everything either, so there are always things I need to order. I buy my bulk wheat from them. You can also buy bulk corn, beans, rice, etc. I also get my progesterone through them as our health food store here does not carry it and stores online will not sell it to Californians. :001_huh: Our group is rather small, so there are some months when we don't meet the $1000 minimum. That is always a bummer. But, so far, I have had no problems whatsoever with the ladies running ours. They've been great! So, Margaret in CO...would I be helping my co-op leader by putting our items in numerical order? Like items #2345 then #2346? I always put them in order by catalog page as she never gave me specific instructions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 The funny thing for us is that the prices are even higher than Whole Food's prices. That was a shocker. Also, we were told that we were going to get charged for missing a delivery due to unmet minimums. That was the final straw to close our co op. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa at Home Posted October 9, 2008 Author Share Posted October 9, 2008 Why does UNF even allow it? I don't even have the option of starting my own club because I'm within 55 miles of another club. By the way, they aren't accepting *any* new clubs at this time anyway! I find it odd that the coordinator e-mailed me only after I was forced to e-mail UNF TWO times. I'm scared to do business through this woman, and I feel like I don't trust her. Maybe I would do better to buy bulk through my local (regionally branded)whole foods type store? I don't have a Trader Joes within 2-3 hours drive.:glare: I appreciate your perpsective. Thanks! ~Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doran Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 I've been a member of a local UNFI group for over five years here. It started with a group of friends and a young couple as coordinators. The ease of using the club, over the years, has depended greatly on the organizational capacity of the coordinator(s). Our group was "closed" (or at least, not actively advertised) for those early years, but only because we weren't ready to handle a larger size group. Now, it's pretty much open for new members and - surprise! - has grown to the point that we get an additional 13% discount above the listed prices. Finally, all the time I've put in has made it worthwhile. I don't know that UNFI can do anything about your bum coordinator, but you might let them know that, despite your attempts to join the group they've referred you to, the coordinator is not allowing that to happen. At least they might be able to suggest another group to try. In the end, until the group is large enough to merit additional discounts and specials, there may not be a big enough savings to make it worth the effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa at Home Posted October 9, 2008 Author Share Posted October 9, 2008 I sent UNF an e-mail about the coordinator, and asked for contact info for another group. UNF did not respond to my e-mail, but miraculously (NOT!) the missing coordinator responded. Like I said, at this point, I have concerns about working with her. I may just buy bulk (large, full case quantities) from my brick and mortar coop (that buys from UNF), or full case quantities from my regionally branded whole foods type store. From what I can understand, the local UNF group is pretty small. Thanks! ~Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carpe Diem Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Our club has around $5000.00 or more a month. We order on the website and then our coordinator enters our orders. We can buy just one or a whole case. There isn't a fee, just a small shipping price around a buck. To get the catalogs we pay $12.00 I've found that items are much cheaper ordered here then at our local brick and mortar co-op. Except if an item is on sale, then it is more likely cheaper at the co-op, but not always. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doran Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Our club has around $5000.00 or more a month. We order on the website and then our coordinator enters our orders. We can buy just one or a whole case. There isn't a fee, just a small shipping price around a buck. To get the catalogs we pay $12.00 I've found that items are much cheaper ordered here then at our local brick and mortar co-op. Except if an item is on sale, then it is more likely cheaper at the co-op, but not always. HTH Your club sounds similar to ours. So,your no fee comment interests me. We pay our coordinator $10.00 per order (yes each member!) to cover the time she has to put in on cleaning up the orders each month (figuring out which split cases need fewer or more, which have to be dropped, who didn't get an item that should have come in and is therefore due a credit, which items have to be returned, etc.). It probably amounts to around $100/month for the coordinator. Members who order less than $100 worth of product pay a 10% fee rather than $10.00. The coordinator also shows up at EVERY delivery, meets the driver at 6:00 am, prints out all the invoices, brings the plastic bags for bulk items, etc. Her fee is earned, in my opinion! I'm curious about who coordinates your club, and how the work load is distributed in such a way as to not require one person to work a lot more than everyone else for no "pay". Do you rotate coordinators? Our shipping/gas surcharge is, currently, $1.50 per order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doran Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 As co-ordinator, I don't pay dues, nor UNFI's markup, nor the shipping. We take wholesale price and add 12%--that includes the 5% that UNFI tacks on due to the fact we're no longer a storefront. It's not a huge amount for me--about $50 a month. One good thing--I set the dates for pickup, so can work it around OUR schedule! :D I also get the freebie sample box, but those don't come all that often. We don't do split cases except through individual's orders. We had one member, with only one child, that split everything! It was causing hours of extra work, so I finally said no. MY family has no problem going through entire cases... :D We do TONS of splits (ton being relative, of course) of everything from refrigerated and frozen goods to non-perishables. That's the best part about the new online ordering capbilities -- the whole group can see what's available to split and how many are needed to fill the case. We chime in, or not, as desired. That's where the coodinator comes in, tweaking those cases in the end and ordering the appropriate number of full cases, or deleting an item if it doesn't fill. It's made the whole thing much more appealing to everyone and has, I believe, attracted new members. But, it does require someone's time, so I can see why you'd not be interested unless the compensation factor changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 We are in a local group. The woman in charge is sweet and organized, so it has been great. She doesn't charge a dime. We do have a small group. The prices on some non-food items are excellent, but I can do better on many of the food prices at TJ, the grocery store, or even WF! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sticer Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 I found the prices higher on some items and comprobable on others. The fuel surcharge often makes it more expensive. I still like to by in bulk so I don't have to run to the store all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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