Re: [SG] Catalog Shipping Charges

        I had thought it better to stay out of this one, but being a nursery who
ships it is hard to ignore. There are some pretty hard judgements out there
and strong opinions without a whole lot of knowledge to back it up. Perhaps
I can help just a bit with some background.
        First of all catalogs and shipping plants is usually more of a courtesy
than a profit maker. A name builder for the nursery. Many of the nurseries
who finally build a good trade base drop the catalog bit soon as they can.
I am a small one man nursery. My first mailout of catalogs will cost me
around $5,000. I only send to those who specifically request one or to one
who has ordered within the past two years. Very focused to hold down
expenses. This is money out of my pocket before the first order is received
for the season. There is well over $60,000 worth of plants in inventory
that had to be paid for by my trying to guess what would be of interest to
each individual who reads a catalog or walks through the nursery. I paid
for those before anyone placed an order. You only get from around March
through July to make it each year. (My three months spent writing and
editing the catalog are not included here... I seldom get paid directly for
my time)
        I am now on my 3rd method of trying to find some way that is fair to all
in pricing shipping. This year it is a minimum on the first $40 of plants
and then $1per plant. The plants I ship come from the display area and are
fully mature blooming size plants. I try to leave a bit of medium around
the roots and that stuff weighs heavy if there is any moisture at all. If I
shipped to west of the Rockies I would have to thoroughly wash and remove
all medium before packing on each individual plant.
        When receiving an order I take it to the display area and pull the plants.
Then they are carried to the shipping area. Medium is shaken off of each
plant and the roots are placed in a baggie and rubber banded with label.
Then they are wrapped individually in newspaper or peanuts. Arranged in a
box. Box sealed and label written. Then they are taken to the PO for
priority mailing. UPS will pick them up but on their scheduled days and are
more expensive. Average time (not counting the paperwork afterwards) is
about 25 minutes for a $40 order..... Larger orders take up to an hour
each. If you came to the nursery I would simply carry your plants to your
car. Boxes I try to scrounge, peanuts and newspaper I save to use as
shipping materials.
        I order from many different nurseries each year myself. One I like this
year has only small specialty items such as gingers and Arisaema. Their up
front shipping and handling charge is $30 no matter how little or how much
you order and all the items are very light weight stuff.  Heronswood is one
of the highest in charges, but you know what..... I have seen someone
already state they will order from them as they have plants the individual
wants. So do I. Perhaps we all just like to grumble about costs... I do the
same. I do not want to pay more than I have to to obtain a plant. But then
that plant is seldom to never available locally. If I drove all over this
area within a 50 mile radius to seek out a plant how much do you think all
that would have cost me in time, gas, etc?
        It only took me 14 years to become this overnight success in the nursery
business and I need to get back to it so enough of this rambling. Just a
bit of background from a nursery owner who feels he owes it to his
customers to ship as not everyone can come here and pick out that plant
he/she can not live without this season.
        Gene Bush     Southern Indiana    Zone 6a     Munchkin Nursery
          around the woods - around the world
genebush@otherside.com     http://www.munchkinnursery.com



----------
> From: Marge Talt <mtalt@CLARK.NET>
> Subject: Re: [SG] Catalog Shipping Charges
> Date: Thursday, February 18, 1999 3:57 AM
>
> I can identify with the feelings expressed about shipping charges and
noted
> the same about Roslyn...but, I do feel like speaking up a bit here on
> shipping charges, in general.
>
> Plant Delights and some others make no bones about the fact that
"shipping"
> charges also include handling and more nurseries ought to note this.  The
> handling part has to be taken into consideration.  It takes a human a
> considerable time to either dig a plant or pull a plant, clean it up,
wrap
> it, pack it and deal with the paperwork...and this does not count the
> actual cost of the packing materials, which aren't free.  Nurseries are
in
> business to make a profit and they have to pay their employees wages,
taxes
> and what not...so a person's time has to be paid for somehow.  Even if
the
> nursery is a one man band, it's not fair to expect a person to work for
> nothing ;-)
>
> UPS isn't cheap, either.  I don't sell plants, but I ship a lot of them
all
> over the country to net buddies every spring and fall.  And I can tell
you
> that UPS is not cheap by a long shot.  Priority mail works for small
boxes,
> but not for big ones.  I also imagine that most nurseries have a deal
with
> UPS so UPS comes and picks up at the nursery on a regular schedule during
> shipping season...can't imagine them carting all those boxes to the
nearest
> P.O. or UPS for shipping.
>
> Figuring out what to charge for shipping is a rather delicate balancing
> act, I should think.  Unless you deal with each order - pack it and weigh
> it and know what the charge for actual shipping for that order is and
then
> tell the customer so they can decide if they want to pay it, you really
> have to do some kind of averaging, I should think.  Otherwise the
> bookeeping would be a nightmare.  If you've got more than 10 customers, I
> don't see how you could deal with anything but a percentage of the order
or
> a per plant amount.  As Tony Avent says in his catalog - shipping is not
a
> money making item...most just hope to break even there and not lose
money.
>
> I'm in no way making excuses for outrageous "shipping" costs - and I
think
> Roslyn is pretty much in that category, based on what other nurseries
> around the country charge, but I do think we have to cut some slack in
most
> cases.
>
> When I order from the other side of country, I know I'm going to pay more
> because it costs more to send 2nd day air and that's the only way a plant
> is going to have a really good chance...ground just takes too long.  So,
I
> resign myself to that if I want that particular plant from that
particular
> source...and, if you think about a $6.00 or even $8.00 plant and figure
> another 30%, the plant is still pretty reasonable, IMO, if it's going to
be
> good sized and healthy and properly named to start out with.
>
> Just my 2cents FWIW
>
> Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
> mtalt@clark.net
> Editor:  Gardening in Shade
> current article: Mailorder Nurseries - On and Off Line, Part 6,
Forestfarm
> Nursery
> http://suite101.com/welcome.cfm/222
> All garden topics welcome page:
> http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/3425#top5
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