Farmer Terms & Conditions

1. GrainKit’s role and the assigned driver

GrainKit currently runs a small, human-coordinated pilot. We receive your request and delivery fee, review the route and request details, coordinate a possible assignment, pass along practical coordination information, update the delivery status, and administer the current confirmation, issue-review, refund, and rating flows.

The driver assigned to a request is an independently operating driver or hauler who operates separately from GrainKit and coordinates pickup, transport, and drop-off with you. GrainKit’s assignment of a driver is a pilot coordination step; it is not a promise about the legal relationship between you, the driver, or GrainKit. These terms do not say that GrainKit, a driver, a vehicle, or an operation is licensed, insured, bonded, permitted, or legally or regulatory compliant. They do not decide whether anyone is a carrier, broker, contractor, employee, agent, or another legal category.

Calling this a pilot description does not mean the arrangement has no legal significance or sits outside transportation rules. Any separate agreement, regulatory analysis, authorization, insurance arrangement, or other review required for a paid delivery service must be handled separately.

2. What submitting a request means

Before checkout, you provide the item category and description, quantity, pickup and drop-off locations, estimated one-way distance, preferred delivery window, your name, and at least one contact method. You also confirm that the items have already been purchased and are ready for pickup, read and accepted these terms, and that the request is satisfactory at purchase.

Submitting the form saves a request and sends you to Stripe to pay the delivery fee shown for the distance tier. That fee is for delivery only; GrainKit does not sell the seed, fertilizer, feed, or other supplies through this request. Payment places the request in the pilot’s scheduling-review queue. It does not book an instant delivery, guarantee that a driver will be available, or guarantee a delivery date.

The current tiers are: up to 14 miles — $200; 15–20 miles — $300; 21–27 miles — $400; 28–34 miles — $500; 35–41 miles — $600; 42–48 miles — $700; 49–55 miles — $800; and 56–62 miles — $900. The tiers are based on roughly $14.50 per mile with a $200 minimum and round up to keep checkout simple. Requests beyond 62 miles need a custom quote. The current FOUNDINGFARM promotion, if shown and applied at checkout, is temporary and is not part of the standard pricing terms.

3. Before assignment, assignment, and communications

Not yet assigned: A request can show as Requested while GrainKit reviews it and works on availability. At this stage no driver has been lined up, and your payment is not evidence that a driver accepted the load. We generally follow up directly, usually within 1–2 business days, but timing and availability are not guaranteed. Your private status link can show whether the request is requested, assigned, in progress, delivered, or canceled.

Assigned: Assignment means GrainKit has lined up a driver for the request and moved it to the assigned stage. In the current workflow, assignment is tied to a driver who accepted the Trucker Terms & Conditions and whose required documents were reviewed by a person and marked “Verified.” That label is an internal workflow status, not a promise that a document is legally valid or that the driver, vehicle, or operation satisfies every requirement.

When an assignment is made, GrainKit may send you the driver’s name, phone or email, vehicle type, route details, quoted fee, and timing information. The assigned driver may receive your name, phone or email, pickup and drop-off information, load and timing details, pickup instructions, and a private driver-view link. This is the practical information needed to coordinate a handoff, not an invitation to use the information for another purpose.

The current pilot does not provide in-app chat or an SMS system. GrainKit coordinates through the contact details you provide, direct follow-up, and operational email when an email address is available. If timing or load details change, reply to a GrainKit email or contact GrainKit at hello@grainkit.online. The farmer status page shows status only and does not show driver contact or vehicle details.

4. Operational information and driver documents

GrainKit uses your request information to review and coordinate the load. The current flow may share the farmer’s name and contact method, pickup and drop-off locations, pickup contact or role, item and quantity details, preferred window, distance tier, and relevant status or confirmation information with the assigned driver and the people coordinating the pilot.

Drivers submit a driver’s license, current proof of insurance, and vehicle registration through the separate driver-interest flow. Those files and limited file details such as filename and content type are kept in private file storage for the founder’s human review before assignment. They are not displayed in the public farmer or driver views. The current review is not automated OCR, a background check, an insurance-company lookup, or an automated legal-validity or compliance determination. See the Privacy Policy for the broader description of access, use, retention, and deletion requests.

5. Driver cancellation and delivery completion

If a driver accepts a request and then cancels, the current workflow is to notify you and refund the paid delivery fee in full, subject to Stripe completing the refund. A payment made for a request is not a promise that delivery will occur.

GrainKit’s current internal workflow moves a delivery through Assigned, In progress, and Delivered. When the delivery is marked delivered, the farmer receives or can use the delivery-status link and is asked to complete the existing delivery confirmation step.

Two confirmations are part of the current flow:

• At purchase: before payment, you check that the delivery request is satisfactory at purchase. This confirms the request and fee details you are submitting; it does not confirm that a future delivery has already happened.
• At delivery: after the delivery is marked complete, you either confirm that the goods arrived as expected or report an issue. If you see damage, a shortage, a wrong item, or another problem, do not confirm the delivery as satisfactory; describe the issue in the delivery confirmation step instead.

When you have confirmed the request satisfactory at purchase and the delivery satisfactory at delivery, the current workflow sets the farmer-side no-refund lock and treats the order as final. This does not remove a refund that GrainKit is separately required or chooses to process, such as the current full-refund path for a driver cancellation.

6. Delivery issues, the 48-hour window, and private review

You may initiate a delivery issue through the farmer delivery-confirmation flow if the delivery was marked complete but something is wrong. The issue must be filed within 48 hours after the delivery is marked delivered and before you confirm the delivery satisfactory, whichever happens first. Your satisfactory confirmation closes the issue window immediately. If the 48-hour window expires first, the current issue-reporting flow closes.

A farmer-initiated issue is reviewed privately by GrainKit Support/Review. While an issue is open, the driver payout and the farmer-side payment finalization remain on a mutual funds hold. Ratings are paused and cannot be used to settle or replace the issue.

After private review, possible outcomes under the current internal flow include releasing the driver payout (which still requires the existing manual payout step), refunding the farmer through Stripe while keeping the driver payout held, or recording a partial resolution with no automatic money movement. The outcome depends on the review; these terms do not promise a particular result. Driver payouts are currently manual record-keeping, such as a Zelle or Venmo payment, rather than an automated payment from this site.

7. Cargo damage, loss, and grain spoilage

Once a driver accepts the request, the driver is responsible for the load until it is delivered. GrainKit is not responsible for damage or loss that happens while goods are in the driver’s care. Do not confirm the delivery satisfactory if you see damage or another delivery problem; report it while the issue window is open.

Grain spoilage exclusion: GrainKit and the driver are not responsible for spoilage or quality loss caused by the natural condition of the grain, weather, temperature changes, moisture, or other factors outside direct physical damage during transport. Farmers are responsible for the condition of the grain when it is loaded. Spoilage caused by the grain’s own state or external conditions is excluded from claims.

8. Public ratings

After the delivery confirmation and the issue-review window close, the farmer and the assigned driver may each submit one 1–5 star rating and an optional short public comment about the other party. A submitted rating cannot be edited in the current flow. Ratings and comments may appear in public reputation summaries.

Ratings are unavailable while an issue is open and do not replace, resolve, or affect the private dispute review. GrainKit may hide a rating or comment that is abusive or inappropriate. A hidden rating remains in the internal record but does not appear publicly or affect the public average.