Last Minute Call

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Last Minute Call was Originally Posted on March 26, 2012 by

I got a call this morning asking for my help. I gave up my heavily scheduled day to help.

Briefly, coffee farmers here are spraying their trees with a solution, and my friend negotiated great prices if we buy alot. We received the first half of the order (which we have already received money for), I was asked to help distribute it to those who ordered it. It was delivered as 2 pallets with many boxes. In some cases, a gallon of one solution is $95 and the other item is $55 a quart. We had, perhaps $30,000 of pre-ordered stuff to distribute in one day.

In the “gritting my teeth” department, my organization decided that they do not want to be on the hook for another $30,000 (the second half of the shipment) because they have not kicked butt to sell it. The trouble is the other half has al5ready been received and is being stored for us. Also, the Treasurer said that she was not going to write a check for the first delivery (which we were already distributing) until we guaranteed her that the group would not be responsible for paying for part 2. We said that is not possible not appropriate.

Whet we think is happening is that the person we were working with, who is on the Board of Directors of this volunteer organization, may not have discussed all the ins and outs with the board. I don’t know, but THIS was not the time to come up with objections.

It seems very easy to convince other farmers to spray and expect that we will be all but sold out of most product, if we get some help with advertising this. A good portion of this product went out the door today having been sold to only 65 farmers out of 600. The price we negotiated was significantly lower that the retail prices of stores nearby.

The guy holding the product for us has already paid the invoices and we are paying him back. He sells the productin his own store at more than we are paying and selling it for. Thus we want to save face with him having encouraged him to bring in a massive quantity on our behald. He is willing for us to pre-sell the product and pay him our cost as we pick it up.

Thus we will try our best to save face, even as the organization besmirches its own name.