How it works
The basics (2023 version)
Members buy a box of fruit and veg, and/or seasonal specials when available, from our online shop (via Facebook or here), which is "open" from Monday night to Saturday night.
Based on the number of boxes ordered, one of our members puts in an order to our organic wholesale supplier, Back to Eden, on Sunday evening.
The fruit and vegetables are delivered to a local Randwick community centre.
Everyone who has ordered a box goes to the centre on Monday evening between 5.30-6.15 pm (or Tuesday if Monday was a public holiday) to help out with the divvy. One of our members is rostered on as a co-ordinator to open up and close the venue, but everything else (ticking off what's been delivered, dividing up the bulk produce into boxes for collection, cleaning up and moving the boxes outside to be picked up after the venue is closed) is done by those present.
You can order as often or as infrequently as you like and you're welcome to trial a box a few times before joining to see if it's a set-up that suits you.
We are not a business or service, but a group run by its members on a completely volunteer basis. Everyone who becomes a member helps out in some way. There are also specific jobs (ordering, monitoring) that are rotated between members and reshuffled every 6 months. More info here.
We understand that not everyone can contribute the same amount all the time, but we do expect everyone who joins the group to make a positive contribution to keeping it going, however big or small.
How much does it cost?
Box of fruit and vegetables: $45 (+ credit card processing fee).
Membership: $40 (+ credit card processing fee) per year, running October to October. Memberships bought from July onwards run until October the next year and are charged pro-rata.
Trial boxes: you can buy up to 3 trial boxes without becoming a member if you'd like to try it out.
What's in the box?
The fruit and vegetables are selected by the weekly orderer from a list provided by our supplier. What's in the box depends on what's available and what's good value, but always aims at a mixture of fruit & vegetables and a balanced variety of types of fruit and vegetables – see pictures of some past boxes in our gallery to get an idea,
or full details of the weekly box are regularly posted on our Facebook timeline.
We rotate the ordering job between members and any member is very welcome to have a go at ordering. Often you'll get varieties you don't see in the shop and sometimes you might even get something you don't recognise! It's a good way of trying new things and using fruit & veg outside of your normal comfort zone.
How big is the box?
The wholesale price of the organic fruit and vegetables is about the same (or less) than the retail price of NON-organic fruit and vegetables. So you would normally get at least the same amount of fruit and veg as you would for $39 at a regular greengrocer or supermarket, and much, much more of course than $39-worth of retail-price organic fruit and vegetables.
As per above, see our gallery for examples of actual boxes to get an idea, or full details of the weekly box are regularly posted on our Facebook timeline.
Do I need to bring my own box?
No. We share out the fruit and vegetables into laundry baskets and then re-pack the fruit and veg into the boxes they came in. You're welcome to bring your own bags, trolleys, panniers to take your fruit and veg in. All of our "rubbish" needs to be taken away with us off-site, so please ask if you can take an empty box home with you.
Where does my money go?
The group is run by its members on a volunteer basis - all money received for the weekly order is spent on the weekly fruit and veg box, with a small fee going to the Hub. Membership fees are spent on the general running costs of the group, such as public liability insurance, paper bags, website hosting, etc. All money is held in a group account and all transactions need to be co-signed.
When you pay for your box, your details are handled by the credit card-processing facility Square, not by Facebook.