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As a general tip: Just assume that nobody wants to senselessly waste perfectly fine food, because it mostly is true! Throwing away goods in totally acceptable state hurts the people who have to do it, so the employees are on your side most of the time anyways. For the higher-ups, who maybe don’t need to face the direct act of wasting, you can always take the detour to talk about money. Every ingredient and product that gets thrown away costs the business money, so why just waste it? On top of that, disposal of garbage is expensive, too! If the store decides to cooperate with you, they can even save money, because you take away a good part of what would have been waste before. Also, if the store wants you to, you can tell everyone that they participate and how amazing this is! That this progressive business understands its role in modern society and doesn’t shy away from taking responsibility to help stop the waste (or something like that…).
A lot of times you will meet managers, who like the idea of foodsharing but say, that they don't throw away anything, that they already cooperate with a food bank or that they will give you a call in case there is something to pick up. These are definitely good points and you should react in an appreciative manner, but still try to get them to cooperate with you on a regular basis, if you have the feeling, that it would be worth it. Here are some examples of how to deal with the before-mentioned situations:
"We don't throw away anything."
"It's great that you are aware of the problem and don't waste food on a regular basis! But maybe our definitions of 'nothing' vary, because,you know, we'd also come by for two tomatoes and if there's really nothing to save, we are not disappointed but rather glad that you manage your business so well. How about we just try out a tiny cooperation, where we come by once a week for example and see how it goes? Like I said, you have nothing to lose and if there's really nothing to pick up we are even happier."
"We give everything to the food bank."
"It's great that you are aware of the problem and already donate the surplus to the food bank! But does the food bank really takes everything? What about already expired products or food where the cold chain was slightly broken? We consider a lot more food as edible as the food bank does and there are probably some products, that we would gladly save, which are rejected by them. And if there's really nothing to save, we are not disappointed but rather happy that you manage your business so well. How about we just try out a tiny cooperation, where we come by once a week for example and see how it goes? Like I said, you have nothing to lose and if there's really nothing to pick up we are even happier."
"We will give you a call in case something can be picked up."
"That is very nice of you, but we know that running a business is stressful at times and that one can easily forget about giving a call, especially when it is a new arrangement. For us it is way more secure to just come by and see, if we can save some food and if there's really nothing to save, we are not disappointed but rather glad that you manage your business so well. How about we just try out a tiny cooperation, where we come by once a week for example and see how it goes? Like I said, you have nothing to lose and if there's really nothing to pick up we are even happier."
How to maintain the cooperation?
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