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Frequently Asked Questions

About the produce boxes

  • To see what we are offering in each of the produce boxes check out the This Week's Box page.

  • It really depends! No two customers have the same needs. Some folks cook a few nights each week, some folks cook every night, some people love fruit, some people don't!

    Here are some tips!

    To see what we are offering in each of the produce boxes check out the This Week's Box page.

  • Create your own box by selecting items from our Grocery Add-Ons section. A $10.00 base fee is charged for orders under $40.00. When you order $40 to $60 worth of add-ons, the fee is reduced to $5. The fee is waived for orders $60.00 and greater. You can view the items you have ordered in the Subscriptions section of your account.

    You will receive an email 24 hours prior to your account update deadline listing your current box contents or notifying you that your custom box is currently empty. If you would like to change your order, please add items, change your box type or cancel your order, keeping the deadlines for these changes in mind.

  • We buy locally grown produce as often as possible, taking quality, value, and variety into consideration. During the summer and fall, a lot of the produce comes from Vermont and Massachusetts. During the peak of the local growing season (late July - August) 50% of the vegetables that we offer are locally grown. Because of a fairly short growing season and difficult growing conditions, the organic market in New England is limited. As we are a year-round service a large portion of our produce comes from California, Florida, and Georgia. Tropical fruit comes primarily from organic farms in Central and South America.

  • Because of lower operating costs, our prices tend to be very competitive compared to local stores. In addition, the produce is organic, and we bring it right to your door.

  • In general the produce does not stay in our possession for more than 48 hours. Produce is often delivered fresh from our suppliers on the day we deliver the produce to you. We order only what we need for each delivery day. Any leftovers at the end of the week are distributed amongst employees and donated to Food For Free.

  • We offer whatever is fresh and in season. To see what we are offering this week check out This Week's Box. To get an idea of the items that we offer overall, check the storage tips page.

  • All of the produce in the produce boxes is 100% USDA certified organic. It has been certified by independent organizations such as North East Organic Food Association (NOFA). Since October 2002, all organic produce sold in the US must meet stringent standards set, verified and regularly inspected by the USDA.

About our deliveries

  • After you've signed up for a weekly or every other week delivery schedule, you can cancel the service at any time. Just let us know by your cancellation deadline, if you want to cancel.

  • For nearly all of our deliveries there is NO fee. We charge a $5 fee for deliveries where parking/accessibility is very difficult and time consuming (e.g., certain buildings in the financial district), or for deliveries made above the third floor of a building.

  • For our complete service area, visit our Delivery Area page.

  • Nope! You know your neighborhood best, and we will leave your produce box wherever you specify (mailroom, vestibule, in a cooler on the porch, etc.). If you would like your box dropped off inside your front door, we are insured to accept keys and codes for gates, garages, apartments and homes, just like a cleaning service.

  • Most folks mail a copy of their key to our warehouse. To do this...

    • Securely tape the key to a piece of cardboard or heavy paper.
    • Wrap this in an additional piece of paper to protect the envelope.
    • Include the email address on your account and your new drop off instructions.
    • Put it in an envelope and send it to:
    • Boston Organics
      50 Terminal Street
      Building 2
      Suite 105
      Charlestown, MA 02129

    A single first-class stamp will suffice, unless you are mailing multiple keys.

    For security reasons, if you choose to, you can leave your return address off of the envelope. As long as you've included your email address we'll know who the key is from. We will let you know when the key has arrived here.

  • If you would like to leave a cooler out for us, your delivery driver will transfer as many items as possible from your new box into your cooler to help keep things fresh. If you choose to leave a cooler out, please leave a note on it that says "Boston Organics delivery" and leave some icepacks in there too.

  • It's up to you, but we strongly recommend leaving out a cooler for milk and cheese deliveries. If you choose to leave a cooler out, please let us know by emailing us at fleet@bostonorganics.com. Please leave a note on your cooler that says "Boston Organics delivery" and leave some icepacks in there too.

  • Yes! Our Office Fruit Boxes are very popular in the workplace. On the This Week's Box page you can see the contents of the Office Box and the rest of our boxes.

    If there are items your staff will not enjoy or might be too messy for your workplace (pineapples, mangoes, melons, etc.), please “Dislike” those items within your Produce Preferences.

  • Yes. If you're dissatisfied with any of your produce, service, or delivery, please let us know and we'll work things out for you. For more info, check our policies page.

  • We curate your box based on seasonality and availability, taking into consideration your Produce Preferences. While produce boxes are not fully customizable, if you have items in your Produce Preferences that are marked as “Dislike,” we will substitute those items for something else. How you’ve classified other items in your Produce Preferences will help us determine the best substitution from what’s available to us at the time.

    If you would like to select the contents of each week's order, the Custom Grocery Box gives you the flexibility to choose items from among our Grocery Add-Ons. A $10.00 base fee is charged for orders under $40.00. When you order $40 to $60 worth of add-ons, the fee is reduced to $5. The fee is waived for orders $60.00 and greater. You can view the items you have ordered in the Subscriptions section of your account.

  • We'll pick up the empty box when we bring your next produce delivery.

  • The reusable bins are an important part of our operation, so we ask that they always be returned on your delivery day. If you happen to forget, we do track the bins, but we don't automatically charge a fee if one isn't returned on the next immediate delivery day. Your scheduled box delivery will still be made to your usual delivery spot. In these instances, customers should leave both bins stacked in their delivery spot the morning of their next scheduled delivery for retrieval.

  • Most weeks we follow our normal, unchanging delivery schedule as posted on our website but there are a few weeks out of the year when we will modify our delivery schedule due to holidays falling on weekdays. We always have a special schedule Thanksgiving week, and depending on what day of the week holidays like Christmas or the Fourth of July fall on, those weeks may have special schedules as well. We notify our customers of any delivery schedule changes due to holidays for several weeks preceding via email, on our website, in our newsletter, and on Facebook and Twitter. And of course, you can always call or email us to ask us if the schedule is changing for a holiday, and how that affects cancellation and order deadlines!

  • We will notify customers by email, so please be sure that you have not unsubscribed from emergency notification and company updates.

Managing your account

About billing

  • When you go through the sign-up process you are transferred to a secure area of our host's server using secure server software (SSL). This means that the information that you send is coded so that only we can de-code the information to obtain your personal details. You will notice that the address will change from http:// to https:// indicating a secure server and that a padlock will appear at the bottom of the page or in your browser's menu.
    The "change your billing info" portion of our website is secure as well.

  • We accept American Express, Discover, Visa and MasterCard credit/debit cards, and Paypal.

  • Your payment method of choice will be billed within one business day of receiving your delivery.

  • If your payment method of choice declines payment, we will send you an email notifying you and your account will be placed on hold until a valid payment method is submitted and the outstanding invoice balance has been paid.

    To update your payment information, visit your Billing Information page.

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