Write Us!
We welcome your comments and give each one attention and serious consideration. Send them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or fill out a Customer Comment form in the Owner Resources Area at any of our stores. Each month a small selection is printed in the Reader; publication does not necessarily indicate an endorsement of views stated in a customer’s original comment. Many more comments can be found in the commons or in the binder near Customer Service. Thank you!
Emailed Receipts
Q: Hi, I thought I had signed up for receipts to to be emailed to me but haven't received one yet. How can this set this up for future purchases? Thank you!
A: Thank you for reaching out about your emailed receipts! You are currently signed up to receive them. The most common reason as to why you may not be seeing them is that they are being sent to your spam folder. If you still aren't able to find them there, it could be the operating system, browser and/or device that you are using. Let me know if you are unable to find them in your spam and I can see if I am able to assist you further.
Have a great day! -Rosalyn Murphy, Owner Records Administrator
Grind-Your-Own Nut Butter
Q: Hello, I’m writing on behalf of a friend who is a Co-op member. He needs to cut down on sugar and salt. Do you have in the store a machine where people can grind their own portion of either peanut or almond butter, and without added salt? (I believe these types of machines weren’t used in many places during the COVID public health emergency.) Thanks so much!!
A: We did bring back the peanut and almond grinders. Both of the machines in the East Bulk aisle use salt-free nuts. I too am so glad we have it back; it is one of my favorite peanut butters! Thanks for writing in. Have a fantastic day! -Amanda Ikens, Owner Resources Coordinator
Meat Suppliers
Q: Hi. I was having a recent conversation with a friend regarding sustainable and humanely sourced beef, pork, poultry, etc. I generally purchase most of my meats from Willy St. and do so because of the coop’s mission related to sustainable and humane practices. Can you point me towards some of the primary partners the coop uses for sourcing meat. I’m just wanting to learn a bit more about the sources, farms, and overall supply chain. Thank you.
A: Thank you for reaching out inquiring about our meat suppliers. I’ll give you the run-down of the main suppliers we work with, and you can let me know if you have any further questions! Our primary beef supplier is Wisconsin Meadows Grass-Fed Beef Cooperative, based out of Viroqua, Wisconsin. It is a cooperative, so they have farmers all across the state of Wisconsin that they work with. The animals are 100% grass-fed, antibiotic- and hormone-free. We also get a small amount of pork from Wisconsin Meadows, mostly sold at our east side location.
Our primary pork supplier is Fox Heritage/Willow Creek Farms, based out of Prairie Du Sac. Their animals are raised on several Amish farms near Prairie Du Sac, and the processing is done at their facility in town. They have pasture access year-round, and are fed corn and soybeans. They are also antibiotic-free. We carry the Willow Creek line, which is purebred Berkshire, as well as the Fox Heritage line, which comes from a variety of breeds.
Our primary chicken supplier is Bell & Evans, based out of Fredricksburg, Pennsylvania. We carry certified organic, and all-natural lines of their chicken, which are antibiotic and hormone-free. The animals are never crated or caged. Their processing methods are innovative in the commercial poultry industry. We are not able to work with a local chicken farmer as our primary supplier, as there isn’t one in the state that can fulfill our volume requirements. We have begun working with a certified-organic chicken farmer from Walworth, WI called Alden Hills Organics, and are excited to continue to build on that relationship in 2023.
I hope you found this information helpful, and please let me know if there’s any other questions you have.
Have a great day! Nick Heitman Meat & Seafood Category Manager
Names
Q: I have spoken to staff in the store and submitted comments about this issue multiple times, so I will try to make it brief this time.
I avoid going to the coop (my partner does most coop runs) because I HATE having the front-end worker butcher my name (which I experience as a microaggression). I don’t blame them—this is not a training issue—even though my name is 100% phonetically spelled. I blame management.
It has been explained to me that staff need to verify the owners that go with the number. Yes, of course. However, so far no one has explained to me how the current system is better than the front-end staff asking the customer for the names on the account. This is not only better for us, your customers with non-European names. It is also more secure, because I could just say “yes” when they ask if it’s for “John and Caitlyn.”
I would like someone to explain to me why this practice continues, or explain why it is somehow better than asking the customer to say the names.
A: 12/8/22 First Response: Hello, Thank you for your email and reaching out. I have brought this to the attention of our General Manager and we have started the discussions on this topic. We feel another conversation is warranted with other leaders, and a potential change in our process/practice will be discussed next week. I will follow up with you in the near future on our discussions.
In cooperation, Kristina Kuhaupt Customer Experience Director
A: 12/15/22 Second Response: Good Morning, Thanks for your patience during this process. Our leadership team met yesterday and we discussed your customer comment and how we can best serve all customers that go through our checkout lanes. After thoughtful consideration, we agree with your proposal. We want all aspects of our customer experience to be welcoming and this is a change that we can implement in the near future with upcoming staff training and explanation for the change. Our timeline is to have all staff trained by the beginning of February 2023 across all three stores. This checkout process has been the same for many years and your comment let us reevaluate the purpose for our processes—thank you! We are excited to bring about this change; it will feel new for staff that have been a part of the Co-op for many years, so patience on the process is appreciated. Feel free to reach out with any questions.
In cooperation, Kristina Kuhaupt, Customer Experience Manager
Cash Discount
Q: A few retail stores offer a discount for paying with cash. I’m curious what the costs are to the Co-Op, and thus we owners, of using debit and or credit cards. I often stop at the ATM so that I have cash to pay for my purchases under the belief that it saves us money. I’d support a discount for using cash.
A: Thank you for your inquiry! We have reviewed this option periodically and determined it was best to not offer a discount to Owners who pay with cash. This is because the cost to our Co-op to process a cash transaction compared to a debit/credit card transaction is greater as a percent of the sale itself. Thus, credit/debit card transactions are more cost effective than cash transactions. On average it costs 4-6% to process a cash transaction and the average cost for a transaction paid for with a debit or credit card is around 3%. These percentages include all fees, charges along with the cost of labor.
This is because it takes additional time to: count cash, reconcile and maintain cash on hand, cash transactions take longer at the register, there is an increased risk of theft, and the possibility of errors when counting the cash and giving back change. We are also charged fees from our bank to order cash and to send deposits of cash for deposit to our account.
For a small business with fewer transactions it may be preferable and cost effective to use cash since the cost would be lower than the fees for credit card transactions. At our level of sales/transactions the cost of cash transactions is greater than the fees charged for credit card transactions.
We thank you so much for your input and concern regarding the costs to run our Co-op! We have to continue to manage our costs carefully for us to be financially sustainable and appreciate your concern.
Best, Paige Wickline, Finance Director
Patchouli Smell
Q: I have noticed that all of the stores have a very strong aroma of patchouli. Is this being infused via the HVAC or other form of diffusion? The smell is so strong that I can even detect it through my mask and it sticks to my clothing. I have to remove my purchases from their packaging when I get home because the material stinks of patchouli. Given that many people are sensitive to scents, I am very disappointed that the co-op has this permeating the stores. I used to enjoy shopping at the co-op and now I try to get in and out of the store as soon as possible, even leaving things behind because I can’t deal with searching for them and spending more time in the smell. I would greatly appreciate the team’s consideration to remove all scented infusions in the store.
Q: Thanks for reaching out. I am sorry that you are smelling patchouli in our stores, I am not quite sure where this is coming from. I did validate with our maintenance department that we do not infuse our HVAC or other forms of ventilation with any oils or scents in general. I am wondering if the open soaps in our General Merchandiser are what you are smelling as you pass near that area? I do know we carry patchouli products in that section. As I go into each store this week I will continue to see if I smell those scents as you described other than in our soap for purchase section. Best, Kristina Kuhaupt, Customer Experience Manager
Panhandling
Q: My wife and I have been members of the Co-op for 16-18 years and feel blessed to have an organization of Willy St. caliber to purchase incredible life giving foods from.
I am writing today to learn if there may be solutions to pan handling my wife and I have both experienced while loading groceries in our cars at the north store and this week at the east store. We had made decision to go to east or west stores in light of our experiences at the northside store and now I experrienced it at the eastside store.
A: Thanks for reaching out about this issue! I hear your frustration; I too had this experience several times at our stores and understand how it feels. Please know, this has been an ongoing discussion throughout the years because we do acknowledge this as an issue. Many actions have been taken through these discussions, but unfortunately it has not deterred those who panhandle on our premises.
Our current practices are as follows: our Lead on Duty regularly walks the lot when they conduct a cart check and if they see a Pan Handler on our premise actively engaging a customer (sidewalks do not count because it is public property) they intervene and ask the panhandler to leave. In addition, any time a customer alerts our front desk about the situation a staff member goes out to the parking lot and addresses the situation and calls the police. However, when the police come, the pan handler is already gone because they know they will get caught. At our North store we had a security presence for several years, but that too did not deter the situation.
Going forward, I will be scheduling a meeting with our Store Site Directors and we will continue brainstorming ideas to continue to bridge the gap.
In cooperation, Kristina Kuhaupt, Customer Experience Manager
Vegan Cheeseballs
Q: There was once a time when I could find the whole food vegan cheese balls for sale in your cooler, pre-pared meal section. That time has passed. You sold a healthier and cheaper alternative to the highly processed and overpriced fake cheese. The past year or more however, I’ve been told you still sell them “sometimes” but to no avail. I hope you return them and keep them stocked for an affordable price like you once had. Thank you.
A: I too was a big fan of the almond cheese ball, but since we have closed the juice bar and ceased production of our almond milk we no longer have the almond pulp to create the lovely cheese ball. If you find a cheese ball or something similar to what we used to make, please let us know the brand name. I have not seen anything like what we used to make. Thanks for writing in and take the best care. Amanda Ikens, Owner Resources Coordinator
Oatmeal
Q: I miss oatmeal.
A: Hello! Thanks for letting me know that you miss oatmeal. You are not alone. I’ve gotten requests a number of times over the past year or so. I had hoped to bring oatmeal back when the weather got colder in the fall this year but unfortunatley we’ve been having trouble keeping the deli staffed and had to discontinue breakfast. We are really hoping to bring in more cooks soon and when we do I plan to offer oatmeal alongside our other breakfast hot bar options. Thank you for your patience while we work hard to get everything up and running again. Gratefully, Bob Smith, Willy East Deli Manager
Closed Account
Q: We just received the following email, but we have not lived in Madison for over 3 years. Do you know what this receipt is about? Can you please confirm that our account (or membership) is closed?
A: Thank you for reaching out about the status of your account. I am unable to see the receipt that you attached, but upon looking at your account it looks like it hasn’t been shopped on since February of 2020. Your account however, is still open. If you would like to close your account, please fill out and return the form that I have attached to this email. I have highlighted all sections that need your attention in yellow. Towards the bottom of the form you can choose whether you would like to receive a refund of the $91 you have invested in your account or if you would like to donate it to the co-op to use for charitable purposes. If you choose to get it refunded you will receive a check in the mail within 90 days of the request being made. The completed form can be returned to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or mailed back to:
Willy Street Co-op
Attn: ORA
1457 E Washington Ave
Madison, WI 53703
Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. Have a great day! Ros Murphy, Owner Records Administrator