For farm stands
You find out what you have on Tuesday. Sell it by Thursday.
Nobody plans a tomato glut. The window between knowing what you picked and watching it go soft is short, and it does not fit a normal online shop.
What’s breaking today
- What you have changes weekly with the weather, so a fixed catalogue is useless.
- Perishable stock means a slow week is a loss, not a carry-over.
- The CSA list lives in one spreadsheet and the market regulars live in another.
- Calling twenty people takes an evening you do not have.
How it goes instead
- 1
Batch it
Tuesday, once you know what came out of the field, add it with this week’s quantities.
- 2
Drop it
Open the drop for a two-day window, for pickup at the stand, and send the announcement with one tap. Everyone who opted in hears about it at once.
- 3
Sell it out
Orders close Thursday morning and you pack exactly what sold.
What matters most for you
Drops
A new drop each week, matched to what you actually harvested.
SMS broadcasts
Reaches everyone who opted in, in one go, in time for a short window.
Your customer list
The CSA list and the market regulars in one place.
Follow-ups
Nudge shareholders who have not collected.
Offers
A glut on Wednesday is one text to everyone who opted in, without setting up a drop.
We suggest Pro
A weekly text to a CSA list of a couple hundred people is around 800 to 900 messages a month — past Basic’s 300 and inside Pro’s 1,000. Pro also gets you a custom URL for the stand sign instead of a BatchDrop-assigned one. Basic is enough for a smaller list, roughly seventy people texted weekly, or a stand that only texts when there is a glut.
Questions
Can quantities change week to week?
Every drop is independent. Set this week’s quantities on this week’s drop; nothing carries over.
What about CSA shares specifically?
Set the share up as a product with a per-week quantity and run one drop per collection window.
Can I deliver instead of having people collect?
Drops are built around pickup: the drop page shows your pickup address, and the text customers get when their order is ready says it is ready for pickup. If you deliver, put the day and area in the drop’s description and arrange the drop-off yourself — BatchDrop does not handle delivery, routes, shipping, or carriers.
Can I text about a glut without opening a drop?
Yes. An offer is one text of up to 300 characters to everyone who has opted in — “Tomatoes, $2 a pound at the stand through Sunday.” It counts toward your monthly messages the way a broadcast does, and if it would go over what is left, it is refused before it starts.