What a month this month has been! Like everyone, TOPUP TRUCK had to adapt to the new rules, thinking up ways to keep on trading within the necessary restrictions and we had to change our operational model TWICE in a month. We have had to maintain a sense of perspective and gratitude, look after ourselves with TOPUP TRUCK Wellness Wednesdays, and otherwise work like loons, coming up with new systems and packing orders non-stop!!
So, what did we learn?
We have amazing customers! We realllly appreciated everyone making the effort to tell us what they wanted in advance (despite us changing the form a few times!)
It was a LOT of work! It took about 20 person-hours per week to prep orders for 3 days of floating around...
How to cultivate a sense of resilience under pressure (through meditation)
We had to compromise on being packaging-free - Alas we needed to use new paper bags for the dried goods but they were at least recyclable and compostable and we did manage to up-cycle some pre-loved bags found on OLIO to group the orders
That a lot of people find pre-ordering preferable - insofar as we don't run out of what you need and it removes some of the uncertainty and unfamiliarity of shopping by weight
While we love the spontaneity of buying on the spot, we know some of you like to guarantee your oats, oil or raisins and may not have the time to hang out at the float. So, though it's not required any more, we're going to keep the option to pre-order to collect at the float :) If you'd like to take advantage of this, once a booking has been made for your street, complete the pre-order form before 5pm on a Thursday eve. (We cannot be flexible on this cutoff as this is the only time we will be in Re:Store to pack the orders).
Tier 2, here we come!