Hi composters!
We’re excited to announce that we will soon be replacing a bunch of the software we use with a single integrated platform! StopSuite is an all-in-one platform designed specifically for community compost companies like ours. It’ll replace our current routing, billing, and reminder email systems, and will greatly improve our ability to respond quickly and accurately to customer service requests. StopSuite will not only make our work more efficient, but will also scale with our growing membership way better than our existing systems would have!
What this means for our members
When we launch our new platform, you will be prompted to visit our member dashboard, giving you access to features that many of you have been asking us to implement for years:
- Text message reminders, in addition to or instead of email reminders.
- More transparent and hands-on billing, including easy card updates (no more waiting for us to answer your emails!)
- The option to easily switch to ACH billing instead of credit/debit cards, keeping more of your membership fee moving through the local economy instead of enriching financial institutions. (Depressing fact: we currently spend more on credit card fees than we spend washing all of your buckets!)
- The ability to instantly skip service days, request extra buckets, or add an extra pickup.
- The option to check your driver’s progress, and get text or email confirmations when your bucket gets swapped.
- Easily purchase gift certificates for your friends and family.
- Simpler referrals: save money on your own service while promoting Little Green Bucket through the “give $10, get $10” option.
More features we might enable in the future include:
- Food waste diversion statistics: a running tally of how many pounds of food you’ve diverted from the landfill, and the benefit to our environment.
- A cool merch store for all your Little Green Bucket swag needs. Bumper stickers? Pet bandanas? T-shirts? Let us know in the comments what swag you’d like to see!
What this means for spring compost deliveries
We always try to finish our spring and fall deliveries of bags of finished compost by the equinox (March 20th, this spring). StopSuite will streamline the logistics of these deliveries, which we’re very excited about, but the timing of the launch is also crowding our delivery window. We’re hoping to start our deliveries by March 4th, which will give us just enough time to finish by the equinox. As soon as it launches, you’ll be able to use your new dashboard to opt in to receive your bag, and we’ll also send you a few email reminders.
What happens next
We’ll be working hard behind the scenes for the next month, and hope to launch our StopSuite portal in late February or early March. The only thing you need to do is keep an eye on your email, and be patient with any hiccups that arise – we’ll send you a link to your StopSuite dashboard when it’s ready!
Update (3/1/2023)
We’re almost there! On March 1st we sent two of our three drivers out in the field with the new app, and it was wildly successful. On March 2nd we’ll be meeting to do a final review of the data migration, and if all goes well we’ll make the leap. Look for an announcement in your inbox any day now…