Jared and Brooke (see previous posts) are looking to up the local grass fed beef business here abouts. They have improved processing and packaging, which gives them some new options. They not only can sell smaller quantities at the farmer's markets, and so reach a wider audience, they can ship things to non-locals.

It's an interesting concept, and by no means novel.

According to the Center for Energy & Climate Solutions, shipping two 20 pound packages by overnight air -the most energy-intensive delivery mode -- still uses 40 percent less fuel than driving 20 miles round-trip to the mall or store or wherever you're going; ground shipping -- which is much more efficient than overnight air -- checks in at just one-tenth the energy used driving yourself.

This is from the outfit that does "fulfillment" for some of the biggest food shippers in the business, such as Amazon. The idea is that they do the warehouse, transportation, packing, and shipping part of the business, and do it so cheaply due to economies of scale that they can be less expensive than doing it yourself. They also sell all the of stuff you need to do it yourself, such as boxes, styrofoam coolers, bubble wrap and dry ice. They might as well do so since they already stock the stuff and have a fulfillment system going.

I can't see any reason that they should not do this. They do the local, slow food, yada yada thing already. They won't stop doing that. The farmer's market is fun and the local folks are enthusiastic supporters. They turn it into a party after the market day, with local musicians twanging away while folks try to meet and get together for the evening. They barbecue their own stuff to feed the crowd, and accept donations to cover the cost of the food and musicians (who need to eat too). Nobody's getting rich, but it's a good day and those have intangible value. Most of the labor is volunteer, so the out of pocket expenses are low.

My suggestion was that they do their own fulfillment. They already have the warehouse, and it seems that they could turn the transportation, packing, and shipping part into a revenue center rather than a cost center by offering those services to other locals. We have to drive 40 to 100 miles round trip to do much of anything since we are rural, and I suspect that others would welcome a well located local alternative.

What a curious inversion. Though a shipping business is all about remote delivery, the business itself is a local hack. In the day this was how things were done. It started with RFD - Rural Free Delivery - which brought mail to rural folks in a more timely fashion. Rather than having to go to town to send or receive mail, which they would often do only once a month or so due to the time and expense of the trip, the postal service did it for all of them. Mail order catalogs - dream books - connected rural people to the wider world. Now, the catalogs are online, and so are the rural producers. It's a natural thing for them to do direct sales from the farm gate. It's just not the postal service that offers the best method anymore. In this area it's probably UPS, mainly because they have the same drivers on this route for long periods, and they get to know all the nooks and crannies and peculiarities. If Gary isn't around (he's out in the pasture somewhere) just leave stuff with old Warren down by the road and it'll get to Gary in the end.