Write Us!
We welcome your comments and give each one attention and serious consideration. Send them to customer.comments@willystreet.coop or fill out a Customer Comment form in the Owner Resources area. Each month a small selection is printed in the Reader; publication does not necessarily indicate an endorsement of views stated in a customer’s original comment. Many more comments can be found in the commons or in the binder near Customer Service. Thank you!
Returning Paper Bags
Q: Earlier this year we were able to return our Coop paper bags for reuse at local food pantries. Are you still doing that? I have a number I could drop off. If you are, do you also accept paper bags from other stores?
Thank you.
A: Thanks for reaching out and asking! Yes!! Please feel free to stop in our stores and drop off paper bags (not plastic please) from any business that you have. Our local food pantries would love to make use of them! The drop-off location is by our food pantry donation section at each stores; which is very close in proximity to our Customer Service desks. If you don’t see where to place them in store, please feel free to ask Customer Service staff, and they will direct you. Thanks for helping our local neighbors; appreciate it! Best, Kristina Kuhaupt, Customer Experience Manager
Soybean Oil
Q: Can you tell me what kind of soybean oil you use for dishes prepared at Willy St? (Soy, as you probably know, is mostly genetically modified.)
Thanks very much for your answer!
A: The soybean oil in our Deli and Bakery products is not a direct ingredient that we use. So we don’t use soybean oil directly. This ingredient shows up mostly as a result of using Earth Balance as a butter replacement for vegan products. Earth Balance uses non-gmo soybean oil in all of their products. There are also a few other products we use from Tofutti that also use non-gmo soy. Let me know if you are looking at a specific item and I can look into it for you. Best regards, Nicholas OConnor, Prepared Foods & Cheese Category Manager
Bread Changes
Q: Hi! Love all the changes you’ve made to Willy West and all the new products you now carry; however, I do miss having Angelic Bakehouse breads on the shelf. Going forward, are you only going to carry it in the frozen bread section?
A: Thanks for reaching out with your question regarding Angelic Bakehouse bread. I’m happy to hear that you like the changes we made in our bread area! When we made these changes in the bread section, we decided to introduce the freezer due to customers requesting that we keep certain varieties of bread frozen. All of the bread that is currently stocked in the freezer is actually delivered to us frozen.
Prior to the freezer, we would pull the bread the night before we stocked it and let it thaw. Before the bread was stocked, we would sticker it with an expiration date. Once the bread expired we would loss out the remaining loaves that didn’t sell.
Even though we would only try to put out what we would sell, inevitably we would end up with expired bread. We eventually came to realize that most of our customers were asking for frozen loaves of bread from our back stock, rather than buying what was on the shelf. With that said, we ended up with more and more expired bread that was already thawed and dated. Since it was clear to us that most of our customers preferred to purchase their bread frozen, we decided to retail them that way.
Having our bread sold in the freezer has resulted in zero product waste and less labor for us having to thaw the bread each night. That being said, we will probably continue to try and sell them frozen for the foreseeable future.
I appreciate your feedback with preferring that your bread is already thawed when purchased. My apologies that we are no longer offering that as an option. I hope through my explanation you’re able to understand our reasoning for why we went in this direction. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions. Thanks! -Dave Andrews, Grocery Manager—West
Bulk Concerns
Q: I have been shopping bulk at Willy Street and other coops for 25 years. I have noticed serious decline in the WSC bulk department, even before COVID. Almost every time I have bulk items on my list, something (for which I brought a container) non-perishable is out of stock. Lately, there’s never anyone around and I have to bug someone in grocery or the front desk to find a bulk person; usually I just don’t bother and go home with an empty container. Last time I wanted maple syrup, one of the dispensers was broken, and the other gave the barest trickle. I went to the front desk, they called someone in bulk, and they opened the nonfunctioning dispenser. We eventually got my jar filled. That was months ago.
Yesterday, I had 4 bulk items on my list. The first, citric acid, was fine. The second, ground cloves, was nearly impossible since it is a clumpy item. It took me forever to shake the bulk container and to shake the funnel enough to get the product in my jar. The third was cornstarch. Which comes in a container the same size as the cloves. The container holds about 3 purchases worth of cornstarch. I just dumped what was left in my jar, which was less than half full. Since there is never anyone in bulk, I just left the empty container on the shelf like That Guy I hate to be.
I almost cried when I got to my fourth item, maple syrup. It was on sale. Great! Not great, since one dispenser didn’t allow even a trickle out. The other dispenser had a broken handle, but allowed a very slow trickle, IF you opened the top to let the air above the syrup pressurize (whose idea was these non-functioning containers?). My arm was so tired holding the jar but I was determined to fill my jar. So it has been known for at least several months that the containers are non-functional, but the product was put on sale? Does the bulk manager shop in the bulk aisle? Sure doesn’t seem like it. I am dreading the big bulk sales.
A: I am so sorry that you have had poor experiences in Bulk. I want to thank you for reaching out to share your experiences with us, it is appreciated and helpful for us as we manage the resources we have available (Time, Money, Labor, etc) and allocate them to departments.
A bad experience for us is not acceptable and is never excused. I do want to share with you some logistics and decisions we have to make for you to have an understanding on how and why we do things certain ways. Although it will not negate your experience, hopefully a peak behind the curtain will help somewhat.
In general, every retailer has seen a decline (in resources) over the last 25 years that affect the business in some way. As much as we do not wish to, we are still a part of the game called capitalism. As decades have passed the tug of war between gross margin, cost of goods, cost of labor, and sales continues on. This almost always results in logistics and labor being crunched. We do not have the same resources we once had as bulk sales decrease every year. I have been in manufacturing and retail for the last 27 years, and every year it is do more with less. And that is simply the way America has been. I assure you it has been just as distressing for everyone in the industry as it is for our customers. We work as hard as we can, but I am truly sorry we have failed you.
In regards to items being out, some of that is us. But, although COVID is over, the reality is the holes and gaps in manufacturing, farming, and distribution centers are still there. Although much better than the pandemic, we weekly have dozens of products in all categories that are experiencing short- or long-term out-of-stocks. And as those cycle back in, new ones are waiting to take their place. Crop failures increase every year also. This leads to a veritable butterfly effect of products that are not available, or that the next year are not available. I have a mainstay brand (20 items) that were not available for 14 months due to a factory burning down.
You are correct, some of those bulk spices can be difficult to pour given their powdered form. Leaving an empty jar is completely acceptable and you should not feel bad. Between stocking, receiving product, back-stocking product, ordering, and other duties the Bulk clerk/buyer will never be able to wholly be just in the Bulk aisle. Although their duties move them about they return to the aisle as often as possible for stocking and we sweep up about every 15-20 minutes due to the dust, spillage from people shopping.
I do apologize for the maple syrup. It can always crystallize so easily in the nozzle. We try to clear it as much as we can, but it can be difficult when the jar is not empty. As for the broken maple syrup container, that is actually the second broken handle and the fourth broken syrup jar. I do apologize but I’ve had a bit of a time keeping up with how many times the handles or the entire jar has been shattered. I have another set on order with some backups with a (hopefully) heavier duty handle.
Again, I realize none of this is an excuse, or fixes your experience. I am deeply sorry that we have let you down. I simply wanted to make sure you had some information from me. If you have any follow up questions or comments please feel free to email me back. Thank you, Jason Zabinski, Grocery Manager—East
