We appreciate your patience, flexibility and understanding as orders skyrocket.

At AltGrocer we know you might be used to getting what you want, when you want it - and we love being a part of that. It's how we challenge ourselves to be better this month than we were the month before. With the current situation though, as people trade freedom for safety, convenience for caution and desire for necessity, we are reminded that life is not about stuff. It's about people.

At the moment, we are experiencing an extreme surge in orders, the likes of which we've never seen and may never see again. With people reluctant to venture outdoors, they've rightly turned to online services like our own to make the purchases that give themselves, their family members and their friends a little comfort. Initially, we didn't know how long the wave would last, so quantities were wide open. Later, we attempted to impose limits on orders so that the inventory we had access to would be enough to go around.

Suffice it to say, we're in it for the long haul now and there will not be any overnight resolution to what we are facing as a society. We implore you to dig deep and put others' needs on par with your own. Please do not attempt to circumvent purchase limits. Please don't get upset with our staff members if they have to inform you of missing products in your order. Know that we may ask you to reduce quantities or accept substitutions. Know that the inventory lists we base our availability on are so volatile right now that our suppliers sometimes have no idea if they have 5 of something, or 5000.

We'll get through this. Let's help each other out and use the humanity we all have inside to not let this situation get the better of us. Above all, let's learn from this and take it with us moving forward.

Take care out there.

William Ford

the Alternative Grocer