Oh hey there, frenz. So, we have terminated the Philadelphia Delivery Option. There are some major changes in the works for this company (and in my life) and I (Charlie) am just running out of dang time! Also, let’s say that delivering in Philly for a few hours each day is a liiiiiiiiittle maddening. Props to the delivery lifers.

When I started doing deliveries, there was kind of a confluence of things going down that made this a no-brainer (maybe). 1) The Pandemic. Our business felt precarious, having just bought a butt ton of coffee for the future that hadn’t included Covid until it did, and frankly we were worried about other how other people’s financial security was looking. If there was a way to cut down costs for customers in town that wasn’t going to wreck our most bottom of bottom line or a farmer’s bottom line, and help us get through 100’s of lbs of coffee, we wanted to hack it and do that. 2) We were already driving down to Fishtown, CC, and South Philly, plus we lived in NW Philly and have a many a bud in West Philly. It felt like if I was already delivering to those shops or traveling those routes, why not make a few stops in-between? I guess it worked, though, because a lot of you took us up on that. Which was really amazing.

Here’s the thing: I think despite surges in Omicron across the board, barring any unforeseen “shit,” we miiiiiiiiiiight be out of the super wild phase of the pandemic and maybe just maybe moving into the “endemic” phase. Which, ps, bums me out, because I wish we, as a country and maybe as a world, could’ve actually addressed this thing and did the thing that needed to be done the first time around. But that’s another post and I’m not a public health expert. Ultimately, I think this is a great time to stand by your markets and cafes, throw money to them for their services, and buy some beans from them if you haven’t already been doing so. And there are some twists and turns for this company up ahead that need my FULL mouse-in-a-wheel brain tuned into. I’ll let ya know more soon.

And while the mere thought of figuring out which 1,000 streets are blocked off in Fishtown or Kensington or whether I should park illegally to walk a coffee to a house that seems to be at a corner of a MC Esher-style one way street that has no actual entrance, is making me want to hide under my covers and cry, I WOULD BE REMISS IF I DIDN’T CONSIDER ALL OF THE POSITIVE HUMAN CONNECTIONS I HAD WHILE DRIVING YOU’S COFFEE. I don’t take sales for granted. This company doesn’t exist without you; it would be me, some coffee, and a few bags with really weird thoughts scribbled on them. But the opportunity to meet everyone in Philly, wave hello, and chew the fat all this time has been amazing. Honestly, I had the luxury of not feeling isolated during the darkest days of the pandemic because I got to talk with so many awesome people regularly. I have you and the deliveries to thank for that, too, and it meant/means a lot to me.

SOOOOOO, TO YOU, MY SILLYZ FROM PHILLY (as my aunt Vi used to call me and my brothers), in lieu of driving you coffee, I’d love to offer you THE 14TH STREET SPECIAL: a shipping discount. TYPE “215DOOD” INTO THE DISCOUNT AREA TO GET $2.15 OFF OF SHIPPING. It’s good until 2/15 and ONLY FOR PHILADELPHIA ADDRESSES (there has to be some benefit to living in this wild ass place, lol).

Much love and a decent amount of coffee,
charlie
btc