First, find a delivery depot near you. Then, create an account on-line and place your order through our on-line market! The on-line market is updated on Fridays with foods available in the coming week. Orders may be placed between Saturday morning and Monday midnight each week for delivery the following Wednesday or Thursday (day depends on the area of delivery depot—see delivery depot list). Pick-up your order at your chosen delivery depot and enjoy your food!
Finding a Delivery Depot
Customer groceries are delivered once a week to neighbourhood delivery depots situated around Metro Vancouver. Each ‘delivery depot’ is a space offered by a fellow NOWBC’er who has volunteered to act as a host for their neighbourhood, and is usually the front porch or back porch or car port (or similar) of their home. Your delivery depot is where you will go to pick up your food each week so choose the one that is closest to where you live, work or play or that has a delivery on the day most suitable for you.
Go to our ‘Delivery Depots’ section to find the most convenient location for you and don’t forget to write down the depot number, you’ll need it when you register.
Creating an Account
Once you have chosen a delivery depot, you will need to create an account with us to order. Simply fill out the online “create an account” form available on our ‘On-line Farmers Market’ page and you are good to go!
We welcome co-op members and non-members to buy food:
NON-MEMBERS: Registration fees are currently being waived! There is usually a one-time $20 registration fee charged to new customers who are not co-op members that we request you pay with your first order. This registration fee is refundable within 30 days from your first order if the service doesn’t work out for you. Registration fees may also be applied toward a membership if you decide to become a member within 90 days of your first order. Note: your registration fee will be manually added to your account by one of our volunteer bookkeepers and show as a “previous balance” on the first or second invoice that arrives with your food (though will not show at the time of checkout).
BECOMING A MEMBER: Membership has benefits! Becoming a member requires a $90 investment (9 membership shares), which can be paid with weekly installments of just $10, and purchased right with your groceries by selecting in our “household and miscellaneous” section. The registration fee is waived for co-op members. If you paid the registration fee it can be put toward your membership if you choose to do so within 90 days of your first order. Membership is an investment and is fully refundable should you in future decide to redeem your shares. Membership dollars go toward increasing the selection of foods and producers in the on-line market. For more information, see our membership page.
Placing your Order
You can place orders whenever the on-line market is open (between Saturday morning and Monday at midnight). To place an order, login to our ‘On-line Farmers Market’, choose your groceries for the coming week and checkout.
There is no minimum order and you are not required to place an order every week. You also are not limited to just one order a week, so if you forget an item, go ahead and place another order!
Picking up your Order
Groceries are delivered to your depot on the same day each week. Your order will be available for you to pick up after your depot’s scheduled delivery time. For details of your depot’s delivery day and time go to our ‘Delivery Depots’ section.
When you arrive to pick up your order, you will find a number of boxes and a cooler containing that week’s food. These boxes contain the orders for everyone at your depot. They are packed to ensure the food travels well and remains cool, fresh and in one piece! As such, NOWBC does not separate orders out by customer (although at some depots a customer will volunteer to do this) but we do make sure items are individually bagged for you (i.e. if five people order apples, there will be five separate bags of apples). So bring a grocery bag, pull out your paper invoice (arrives with the food) and use this as your checklist to collect each of your items from the boxes of organic goodness.
Have fun with it! And when you get the chance, take the opportunity to meet your delivery depot host and/or other NOWBC participants as you pick up your groceries.
Paying for your Order
Payment is made to NOWBC and is appreciated on or before delivery day. You have three options for payment: set NOWBC (Neighbours Organic Weekly) up as a vendor in your credit union’s on-line bill payment system; use Interac Online (participating banks: BMO, RBC, ScotiaBank and TD-Canada Trust) by selecting this at the completion of your order; or leave a cheque in the plastic bag in the cooler when you collect your order. More details on payment options can be found in our questions section.
