Making Products More Accessible Using Sliding Scale on GrownBy

GrownBy supports sliding scale/tiers. Read on to learn more about how to set up your standard/a la carte products and shares for sliding scale purchasing. We have a video about making CSA Shares more accessible here. In this article, we will use the terms tiers and sliding scale interchangeably.

What is a sliding scale?

Sliding scale pricing is a form of mutual aid that recognizes that price is a barrier to access. Sliding scale pricing generally relies on the customer to self-determine what price level is appropriate for them. Using a sliding scale can ensure that the food you sell is priced inclusively for those struggling to access farm food. Some farms set up sliding scales where the upper income shares directly fund the lower income shares. Other farms might cover the price discrepancy with donations or grants.

Communicating about your Sliding Scale

Naming Products that will be Sold by Sliding Scale

Sliding Scale for Shares

Using Share Templates, you can set-up sliding scale options for subscriptions, too. Templates are for products that are the same but which have some attribute that is different like price.

To read a thorough description of templates and how to use them, read this article. Once you have templates setup, customers will see the individual product names at checkout like this:

However, in the public-facing distribution report (Sign-in sheets), even though one share is at Standard Price and one share is at Sustainer Price, it looks like this:

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Sliding scale for a la carte items

You can use buying options to set your various prices for each product. In the product editing screen, add as many buying options as you have price levels. You can choose to append “Sliding Scale” or similar language to the product name, the description, or the buying options themselves. We recommend adding “sliding scale” to the buying option names so that it is very clear why there is a range of prices for the same product.

Here is what the product editing screen looks like:

The shop view looks like this:

Still have questions? We have answers. Email GrownBy support directly at support@grownby.app, or schedule a one-on-one call with one of our team members. A real human with farming experience will get back to you as soon as possible!