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A man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship

thehustle.co

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Re: A man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship

#71

Post by nine_k »

ashtonkem wrote: post #49
momokoko wrote: post #6

> Parker did some work around town, scrounged together $3k, and began taking a state-subsidized ferry to Juneau, where he bought Costco inventory to resell in Gustavus at a small markup. > As the store grew, Parker and his father launched their own freight company, purchased the town’s gasoline station, and bought two of their own ships — a $300k “insurance policy” that gave Parker tighter control over the supply cha…

Occasionally ships can be had for extremely cheap when the former owner cannot afford the maintenance on it. It's more common with small pleasure craft, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear about small cargo ships being occasionally abandoned up there.

Indeed: even if you get a ship for free, the crew is not free. Unless you're a certified captain already, you probably can't just operate the ship yourself. Also, now you have to pay for maintenance, fuel, mooring, loading and unloading cargo, etc. I suspect that $3k is not sufficient to start and sustain such an operation, so some steps are clearly missing.

(Can't help but remember Grim Fandango, where a similar transition between a small-time sales agent and a ship owner is made by writing "one year later" across the screen.)

Re: A man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship

#72

Post by jerry1979 »

joncp wrote: post #10

The scarcity of flour, especially bread flour piques my curiosity. I haven't heard about anyone eating vastly more bread than before the quarantine. It's just that everyone is making it at home instead of buying it with meals at restaurants. One would expect the flour not being shipped to the restaurants would be redirected into the retail supply chain but that doesn't appear to be the case. The only explanations I c…

Businesses may have trouble mixing commercial and consumer lines of flour. Commercial kitchens may get large bags of flour delivered, and the system in place supports those kitchens on a lean inventory basis. Grocery stores may not feel comfortable stocking flour packaged for commercial kitchens. Selling 20 pound white-box-looking flour does not look attractive in grocery stores.

Re: A man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship

#73

Post by sandworm101 »

koyote wrote: post #61
Scoundreller wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rural Croatia too, except it’s a truck that comes to all of the villages 3x/week with staple items. Plays ridiculously stereotypical Croatian music through a loudspeaker to announce his arrival. And then a meat truck once a week and a fish truck more irregularly. Took requests as well. I think of it like villages having Amazon Prime starting in the late 90s.

That's interesting! I would have thought Croatia to be small enough to not need such a system; i.e. supermarkets not further than half an hour drive away. Or is it just a matter of convenience?

>> I would have thought Croatia to be small enough to not need such a system; i.e. supermarkets not further than half an hour drive away.

I still think about the UK. I cannot imagine anywhere in the UK being more than an hour or two from anywhere else.

Re: A man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship

#75

Post by gshdg »

koyote wrote: post #61
Scoundreller wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rural Croatia too, except it’s a truck that comes to all of the villages 3x/week with staple items. Plays ridiculously stereotypical Croatian music through a loudspeaker to announce his arrival. And then a meat truck once a week and a fish truck more irregularly. Took requests as well. I think of it like villages having Amazon Prime starting in the late 90s.

That's interesting! I would have thought Croatia to be small enough to not need such a system; i.e. supermarkets not further than half an hour drive away. Or is it just a matter of convenience?

In densely populated areas like much of Europe, a half hour drive is considered a pretty meaningful distance. Plus a lot fewer people have cars than in the US.

Re: A man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship

#76

Post by EE84M3i »

dx87 wrote: post #5

That's actually how a lot of businesses in rural parts of Alaska work, even places that don't require a boat or plane to access. My dad lives right off the highway in a small town in Alaska, and the closest thing to a grocery store is an old airplane hanger that one of the locals runs a general store out of. The owner makes weekly trips to Costco, which is ~4 hours away, and buys as much as they can fit into a big U-…

What causes a town not large enough to support a grocery store to have a U-Haul rental?

Re: A man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship

#77

Post by jefftk »

madengr wrote: post #36
joncp wrote: post #10

The scarcity of flour, especially bread flour piques my curiosity. I haven't heard about anyone eating vastly more bread than before the quarantine. It's just that everyone is making it at home instead of buying it with meals at restaurants. One would expect the flour not being shipped to the restaurants would be redirected into the retail supply chain but that doesn't appear to be the case. The only explanations I c…

Flour isn’t the problem now, it’s yeast. Fortunately my mother in law traded us a few packs for an old iMac, so my daughter can now make pizza dough. Joking aside, we did give her an iMac, but you can’t find yeast anywhere.

I've been buying instant yeast at a restaurant supply store for $5/lb, decanting into 8oz Mason jars, and selling it to neighbors. Something like 5lb so far.

Re: A man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship

#78

Post by jefftk »

notyourday wrote: post #56
chii wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i find it hard to believe that restaurants pay more than retail for the same goods.

You can create an account on most of the restaurant supply services and place pre-paid orders. You would be shocked at the pricing ( there would be a minimum order value as well )

I've been placing orders with a specialty restaurant supplier here in Boston, and the prices are generally equal or better than retail. Including delivery! As long as we're up for eating the minimum quantity it's a good deal.

Re: A man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship

#79

Post by gkanai »

Scoundreller wrote: post #25
dx87 wrote: post #5

That's actually how a lot of businesses in rural parts of Alaska work, even places that don't require a boat or plane to access. My dad lives right off the highway in a small town in Alaska, and the closest thing to a grocery store is an old airplane hanger that one of the locals runs a general store out of. The owner makes weekly trips to Costco, which is ~4 hours away, and buys as much as they can fit into a big U-…

Rural Croatia too, except it’s a truck that comes to all of the villages 3x/week with staple items. Plays ridiculously stereotypical Croatian music through a loudspeaker to announce his arrival. And then a meat truck once a week and a fish truck more irregularly. Took requests as well. I think of it like villages having Amazon Prime starting in the late 90s.

Rural Italy also has the fish truck that comes 2X/week. They'll stop by pre-determined spaces for scheduled times so those who want fish know to be there at the scheduled time.

Re: A man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship

#80

Post by jefftk »

joncp wrote: post #10

The scarcity of flour, especially bread flour piques my curiosity. I haven't heard about anyone eating vastly more bread than before the quarantine. It's just that everyone is making it at home instead of buying it with meals at restaurants. One would expect the flour not being shipped to the restaurants would be redirected into the retail supply chain but that doesn't appear to be the case. The only explanations I c…

Commerical 50lb bags of AP or bread flour are still easy to get here in Boston. I organized a group buy to hit the minimum order for a supplier https://www.jefftk.com/p/organizing-a-group-buy-of-flour
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