Terra's Kitchen's
Vessel Delivery FAQs
The TK Vessel
The Vessel will be delivered to your doorstep and remain chilled until 9:00 pm the day of delivery. (Under most weather conditions, it will even stay cold far into the next day!) The Vessel's outside surface may receive scuffs during transit, but its inside contents will remain pristine. Use the recessed handles to carry it inside for unloading.
The Vessel will be picked up from your doorstep the next business day after it was delivered. Check your delivery email or packing slip for your personal pickup schedule. (You can also log in to check your pickup date or edit pickup instructions.)
If FedEx delivered your vessel:
- Peel the shipping label off to reveal the return shipping label.
- Place your vessel back where it was delivered for pickup.
If UPS delivered your vessel:
- Simply place your vessel back where it was delivered for pickup.
- There’s no need to peel the label; the shipping label is also the return label.
Pro Tips:
- Consider using a tote bag to transport your food inside so you don't have to move it.
- Our ingredient containers are engineered to protect your food and they’re designed to stack easily together for an organized fridge.
- Check your vessel to make sure all food containers are removed before returning. We recommend reusing or recycling them after use.
- Leave the cooler ice packs inside the vessel and send them back for reuse.
How the Vessel and you make an impact
The Terra's Kitchen Vessel is the first reusable packaging of its kind. It is designed specifically to be sanitized and re-shipped many times. It may show a little wear and tear on the outside, but those battle scars are just evidence of the good it (and you) are doing in the world.
How is a reusable vessel good?
Traditionally, one-time use packaging has been used for sending food. Due to the costs of returning shipping materials, it was simply cheaper to have people keep the shipping box than ship it back. This process creates waste with every shipment and is incredibly inefficient.
The Terra's Kitchen model, on the other hand, invests in a shipping Vessel. While it is more expensive than a cardboard box, it can be used dozens, if not hundreds, of times. The economics make it worthwhile to return the Vessel and reuse it. Over time, the reusable option not only is a more green solution, it is a more economical one, too.
With a reusable Vessel, We are able to eliminate waste with every shipment. The more times a Vessel is used, the more it benefits the entire system. The quicker it is returned, sanitized and refurbished, the more money it saves.
No additional trucks
There are already multiple systems of delivery infrastructure working in our country. There are trucks driving through your neighborhood and delivering packages to a door near you every day. It would be incredibly wasteful to add additional trucks to the road and create needless food miles just so we could have our own trucks. This choice is demonstrative of our "Collaborative Commerce" model. Terra's Kitchen is built on the idea that the world works better when companies and individuals work together and focus on connection. Instead of investing in a new fleet of trucks, Terra's Kitchen invested in developing a Vessel that works well with existing systems.
Food not wasted
Food Waste is a huge ecological problem for our planet. The existing system for food distribution wastes almost one third of the usable food it produces. This has massive ecological and economic consequences:
- 25% of all fresh water consumed in the U.S. is used to produce food that is wasted.
- 300 million barrels of oil are used each year to produce food that is wasted.
- Almost all wasted food ends up rotting in landfills where it accounts for almost 15 percent of U.S. methane emissions.
- On average, every American family throws away $2,200 worth of food annually.
Source: http://www.foodwastestats.com
Using the super-efficient, on-demand Terra's Kitchen platform greatly reduces the amount of wasted food in three areas:
- The first place food is saved is during prep. All scraps & rinds are sent back to farms to be used as animal feed. For people unable to compost, ordering pre-cut, pre-prepared food is an incredibly responsible way to eat.
- The second way food is saved is in food portions. Terra's Kitchen only ships the needed portions at the desired time. This results in minimizing the food that goes bad in the fridge and the food that is scraped into the trash after a meal.
- The third is more systemic: By only creating and shipping food upon it being ordered, we remove the false demand that requires retailers to over-order. For every three sellable apples that make it to retail, one gets tossed due to damage or spoilage along the way. That waste is eliminated by pushing the retail point down the supply chain.
The TK Vessel
The Vessel will be delivered to your doorstep and remain chilled until 9:00 pm the day of delivery. (Under most weather conditions, it will even stay cold far into the next day!) The Vessel's outside surface may receive scuffs during transit, but its inside contents will remain pristine. Use the recessed handles to carry it inside for unloading.
The Vessel will be picked up from your doorstep EITHER the next business day after it was delivered - OR - the day of your next delivery. Check your delivery email or packing slip for your personal pickup schedule. (You can also log in to check your pickup date or edit pickup instructions.)
Pro Tip: The Vessel is filled with lots of tasty goodness and can be heavy. Please lift with care or consider using a tote bag to transport your food inside so you don't have to move it.
Pro Tip: Please make sure all food containers are removed and recycled after use. Leave all cold sources inside the Vessel and follow the directions below.
How the Vessel and you make an impact
The Terra's Kitchen Vessel is the first reusable packaging of its kind. It is designed specifically to be sanitized and re-shipped many times. It may show a little wear and tear on the outside, but those battle scars are just evidence of the good it (and you) are doing in the world.
How is a reusable vessel good?
Traditionally, one-time use packaging has been used for sending food. Due to the costs of returning shipping materials, it was simply cheaper to have people keep the shipping box than ship it back. This process creates waste with every shipment and is incredibly inefficient.
The Terra's Kitchen model, on the other hand, invests in a shipping Vessel. While it is more expensive than a cardboard box, it can be used dozens, if not hundreds, of times. The economics make it worthwhile to return the Vessel and reuse it. Over time, the reusable option not only is a more green solution, it is a more economical one, too.
With a reusable Vessel, We are able to eliminate waste with every shipment. The more times a Vessel is used, the more it benefits the entire system. The quicker it is returned, sanitized and refurbished, the more money it saves.
No additional trucks
There are already multiple systems of delivery infrastructure working in our country. There are trucks driving through your neighborhood and delivering packages to a door near you every day. It would be incredibly wasteful to add additional trucks to the road and create needless food miles just so we could have our own trucks. This choice is demonstrative of our "Collaborative Commerce" model. Terra's Kitchen is built on the idea that the world works better when companies and individuals work together and focus on connection. Instead of investing in a new fleet of trucks, Terra's Kitchen invested in developing a Vessel that works well with existing systems.
Food not wasted
Food Waste is a huge ecological problem for our planet. The existing system for food distribution wastes almost one third of the usable food it produces. This has massive ecological and economic consequences:
- 25% of all fresh water consumed in the U.S. is used to produce food that is wasted.
- 300 million barrels of oil are used each year to produce food that is wasted.
- Almost all wasted food ends up rotting in landfills where it accounts for almost 15 percent of U.S. methane emissions.
- On average, every American family throws away $2,200 worth of food annually.
Source: http://www.foodwastestats.com
Using the super-efficient, on-demand Terra's Kitchen platform greatly reduces the amount of wasted food in three areas:
- The first place food is saved is during prep. All scraps & rinds are sent back to farms to be used as animal feed. For people unable to compost, ordering pre-cut, pre-prepared food is an incredibly responsible way to eat.
- The second way food is saved is in food portions. Terra's Kitchen only ships the needed portions at the desired time. This results in minimizing the food that goes bad in the fridge and the food that is scraped into the trash after a meal.
- The third is more systemic: By only creating and shipping food upon it being ordered, we remove the false demand that requires retailers to over-order. For every three sellable apples that make it to retail, one gets tossed due to damage or spoilage along the way. That waste is eliminated by pushing the retail point down the supply chain.