What about volunteering?
Please view our volunteer page for more information on volunteering. Volunteering is central to the group's existence. We now require that all members MUST volunteer at least once per calendar year to be eligible to place orders with the group. We need volunteers every month to help on pickup day, to drive and pick-up from vendors, and to do some of the administrative tasks. We need people who can manage to lift 40 pounds to help move cases and help people load up their cars. If you can't lift 40 pounds - we also need non-lifting people to double/triple check the invoices and items as they go out, in order to avoid errors. Triple-checking orders is a necessary practice when we are dealing with large amounts and to correct/identify mistakes omissions at the pick-up site. Mistakes can be made and people (usually Kasie) end up being stuck with paying for them. Having someone double and then triple check orders protects everyone.

How do I get a username and password to gain access to member pages?
After you join the Yahoo! group, you are e-mailed a Welcome Message that gives you your username and password, provides you with critical information on the group's policies and details the ordering process. You must be a member of the Yahoo! group to get this information. To join the group, please visit our join page. If you have misplaced your copy of the Welcome Message, it is available for download or viewing through the Yahoo! site here.

Where do I get help understanding how to order online, how to use PayPal or not use PayPal?
We now have a SFRAW User's Guide available in PDF format. It is available on our download page and at the Yahoo Groups site. You must be a SFRAW member to access the document. To become a member, please go to here. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed, please download a free copy of this software here. This software install will allow for you to open and read PDF documents.

Is there anything I need to do before placing my first order?
After you join the Yahoo! Group list, and have entered your information into the Contacts database, you are ready to place an order.

To make ordering as easy as can be, we highly recommend that you register with PayPal about 7 days before placing your first order. We use PayPal's shopping cart and collect payments for orders using PayPal's military-grade, safe and secure payment system.

You will want to sign-up for a volunteer job when you place your first order. To review the different jobs available - please see our volunteer page.

When can I place an order?
Orders are placed and picked-up monthly. Orders are placed from the 13-21st of every month to be picked-up on the 3rd Thursday of the following month. You'll want to pay close attention to our ordering and pick-up schedules, as well as pay attention to e-mails about changes in ordering dates and pick-up schedules on our e-mail list. Orders can be placed only during our specified order periods, and must be picked-up on our specified pick-up dates.

I might not make it to pick-up my order, can you store it for me, deliver or ship it to me?
We do not store, ship or deliver orders. The pick-up time frame is between 1PM-6PM on the pick-up day. If you cannot make it to a pick-up date during this time, please do not place an order. However, if something comes up and you cannot make it to pick-up your order after you've already placed it - contact Kasie immediately. Kasie will try her best to cancel the order and refund your money. You may also contact the list to make arrangements with other members to pick-up your order and hold it for you. Otherwise, you should try to sell your order to other members via the list before the pick-up date, if it is too late to cancel for a refund. If you forget to pick up your order and the meat spoils, you will have to pay for it.

How do I place an order?
Ordering is easy! Simply visit our Order pages, and use the shopping cart buttons to place and pay for your order. If you absolutely cannot/will not place an order using the shopping cart or PayPal, you can e-mail Kasie to discuss other options.

Since some items are not available when others are, you may not see shopping cart buttons for all the items every time you go to place an order. Only items with a shopping cart button are available when you go to place an order. If you have any questions about an items availability, just ask Kasie about it.

Can I pay by check, money order or cash?
We no longer take checks, cash or money orders and request that all members order through the website shopping cart. Here, you can pay via credit card, e-check or PayPal direct transfer.

The reason why we do this is that if everyone uses the shopping cart system, it is much easier for me to keep track of all the orders, for your order to be accounted for properly, better for me for accounting purposes and makes it easier for your order to be sorted correctly and quickly by the volunteers on the pick-up day.

However, if you absolutely cannot/will not place an order using the shopping cart system, you can e-mail Kasie to discuss other options.

Does everything get delivered on the same day?
Yes, everything is delivered and picked-up on the same day each month (the 3rd Thursday). Please refer to our calendar for order and pick-up dates for the coming year.

Where do we pick-up the orders?
Unless otherwise noted, all of the items must be picked up at Amal's house in the Marina district in San Francisco. Remember, the pick-up time frame is 1PM-6PM on the 3rd Thursday of the month (unless otherwise noted).

What other order and pick-up options are available to group members?
Members frequently help others in the same area with pick-ups, and sometimes there is even a chain -- for example, one person picks up orders for several people and takes them to San Rafael, then another person picks them up and takes them to Sonoma, where people further North or West pick up, etc. The only catch is, you need to work out this type of arrangement yourself with the people involved as we cannot facilitate these sorts of arrangements. The Contacts database includes the city where people live, making it easy to contact others to to help facilitate this kind of cooperation ahead of time. You can also email the list to find others in your area to make arrangements with.

How big are the cases? Do you sell by the pound?
We do not weigh product or sell product by the pound. All fresh/frozen case and packaged food weights are estimates only and listed weights are provided by our suppliers. We ONLY sell by the each - this means you get a case, bag, bottle, or whatever for a listed price. Many of the products we order come in an estimated 10 to 40-pound bag or box, though the range for cases sizes is varies from vendor and product. Items for some ground and trim products start at 5 lb. bags and go up from there. Again, there is no minimum order and you can order as much or as little as you need, but you must order by the case or bag size listed.

What if my order arrives and the weight is not even close to what I expected?
We do the best we can to represent the products listed in the shopping cart and pricelist as accurately as possible from the information we receive from our vendors. Some vendors are really good about delivering accurate and reliable weights - these are usually products that come packaged into what are called "chubs". However, since we only sell by the bag/box and not by the pound - the weights listed are only there to give you a general idea of what to expect when ordering, not a guarantee for a product's weight. However, sometimes product does arrive in quantities that are very different than what we expected/ordered. In these cases, members have to take home and pay the extra for additional weight or get a refund for product not delivered.

The actual weights for some products are printed on the case or bags by our vendors. If you order something and the actual printed weight is 12% over or under the estimated weight listed in our shopping cart/your invoice, you will receive a refund for the missing product or will be required to pay for additional weight delivered. We do not have a scale at the pick-up location (would need to be calibrated/certified/licensed by Weights and Measures), and unless you have one of these certified/calibrated scales at home then we do not honor weights you come up with at home. Weights listed on the boxes or bags by our vendors are the weights we go by for the 12% rule. If a weight is not printed/listed on the packaging for a product by one of our vendors when it is delivered, then the product is sold "as is" by the bag/box for the price listed on the wesbite.

Can I buy half a case or split a case?
Cases are sold by the each so you cannot directly buy a partial or split case, but all members are welcome to split cases with other members. We DO NOT get involved with case splits - this is something you arrange and organize on your own with other members.

To split a case, one member e-mails the list to ask if others want to split a case with them. If they get a response, they then make arrangements with the other member(s) privately on how they will split the case, who will pick it up, where they will do the actual splitting of the case, who will do the splitting and who will purchase the whole case. Then one person buys the whole case as part of their order though the website. The actual splitting of the case can take place on the pick-up day, or after one member picks-up the case to split elsewhere (at home, for example - if those splitting a case are neighbors). The actual splitting the case is the full responsibility of the members who arranged the split.

NOTE: The person doing the split must bring bags or other containers for all orders to be made out of the box. The group can not provide bags or boxes for splits. Volunteers, Amal and/or Kasie will not and do not get involved with, facilitate or manage split orders or cases - splits are a self-serve situation!

What if what I ordered does not arrive?
This happens every month to some extent, so be sure to have a back-up source for food in case something you order doesn't arrive or was out of stock from our vendors. We do not backorder product or re-order for future orders/next time. Please re-order through the website if you want to order the product for a future pick-up date. You will get a refund for any product not delivered. When you check-out at the pick-up, we make a notation on your invoice that the product did not arrive. This is why it is so important for us to keep your order invoice with these notations! If you do not leave the invoice at the pick-up, then we cannot send you a refund because we do not have a copy of what actually happened at the pick-up. We want to refund you and make things right - so be sure to leave your invoice at the pick-up after checking out. Refunds are credited back directly/electronically to whatever source you used to pay for the product originally (credit card, PayPal account, eCheck, etc.). Refunds are processed within 7-10 days after the pick-up date, though your bank or credit card company may take an additional 3-5 days to show the refund in your account.

What about parking?
As far as neighborhoods go, parking isn't too terrible at the pick-up location. Please pull into the driveway at Amal's house to pick-up your order or park on the street (legally). Please DO NOT block private driveways or double-park.

What if I am unhappy with the products I purchased or when I get home I realize I brought home the wrong items?
It is essential that you go through your order with a volunteer when you pick-up your order to verify that your order is correct. As a group, it is each individuals' ultimate responsibility to make sure their order is correct (both when placed and when picked-up).

Because nearly everything we sell is extremely perishable and we do not have cold storage available, all sales are final and we can not guarantee the freshness or integrity of the products after 6PM on pick-up day. If you are unhappy with the quality of an item, please let me know and I will try to determine if it is a normal attribute of the product (grass-fed beef is "gamey" and tripe is very smelly - this is normal, even if it may be unpleasant to deal with). If you are unhappy with a particular cut, all I can do is ask for a better cut for next time. If you think a product has gone bad when you come to pick it up (before 6PM) - I will happily refund you back or give you a replacement (if available). Once the product leaves the group pick-up location before 6PM on pick-up day, I cannot guarantee freshness.

So, be sure to check your order before you leave the group location (for correctness, quality and freshness) - this way I can be sure to remedy any problems on site as best as possible.

Are these wholesale prices or is there a mark-up?
There is a very small mark-up on most items to cover the cost of weight/price discrepancies when ordering from vendors and to help pay for things like this website/domain. No person (neither Amal nor Kasie) makes any money or a profit in running, organizing or administrating SFRAW. Volunteers can receive up to a 5% discount on their orders (when we can afford it).

Why is there a shipping/handling fee added to my order?
There is a 2.6% handling fee placed on all orders purchased through the website. This small, worthwhile fee enables us to process your payments securely online. 100% of this handling fee goes towards operating the website and processing orders, not to any people.

Do I have to pay taxes on my orders?
The majority of our products are sold tax-free. All human-grade, human-consumable food products are not taxed. All other products must be taxed. There is an 8.5% sales tax added to pet food products, supplements and books, which includes the Primal, Honest Kitchen, Know Better/Feline Future, Hare-Today, Brunty and Greentripe.com products. Tax will be added on to your order when you check-out when buying on the website.

What else should I know?
If you do not see something you want or need on the order pages, ask Kasie and she'll do her best to source whatever you need for you. If you ever have any questions about anything related to the group, contact Kasie directly.

How much meat will fit into my freezer?
If you have a large dog or multiple pets, its a good idea to invest in a separate freezer for the raw food. You can usually find used freezers for a good price on Craig's List or in your local newspaper's classified section.

To gauge how much meat you can fit into your freezer, please refer to the below guides. You'll need:
28 cu. ft. of freezer space for a whole beef carcass (500 lbs. of meat)
14 cu. ft. of freezer space for a half beef carcass (250 lbs. of meat)
7 c u. ft. of freezer space for a split-side beef carcass (125 lbs. of meat)

From a Texas Grass Fed Meats site, "To calculate your storage requirements, figure that 35 pounds of meat requires one cubic foot of freezer space."

Some of you might be surprised how little space so many pounds of meat can occupy. I'm always amazed how much we can cram into our freezer - of course, there isn't any room left for people food after stocking up on dog food! :) How much you can fit into a freezer also depends on how well you can pack it. If you wrap up items up into compact, smaller portions, you will be able to fit much more into your freezer.

Where can I learn more about feeding a raw or natural diet?
I have several recipes and meal plans available for download on our download page. I also recommend several excellent sources for information about feeding raw:

Click here for a list of books
Click here for a list of websites
Click here for a list of e-mail discussion lists

What happened to SmartGroups? Why are we a Yahoo! Groups now?
SmartGroups changed to Wanadoo Clubs. SmartGroups didn't have the "Special Announcement" option for e-mail settings, didn't notify list owners of critical and lengthy downtimes or changes (including the change to Wanadoo Clubs) and was not as reliable as Yahoo! Groups can be. On 5/5/04, I moved the list over to Yahoo! Groups and I hope our move to Yahoo! Groups will offer our list improved service and reliability.