David Hendley on tue 1 apr 08
First of all, wooden spoons: I've found that if you just want
generic (made in China, naturally) wooden spoons, the local
"dollar store" often has the best price. I once spent a day
going around the huge Dallas Market Center (hundreds of
wholesale dealers) and never found any "wholesale"
woodenware for less than the retail dollar store prices.
Aftosa's shipping charges: I, too, was appalled and shocked
earlier this year when I was ordering some things on-line
and then the shipping charges were added. Something on
the order of $27 for a 3-pound package. This included the
$3.95 "service charge" they tack on every order, but it was
still ridiculous. I was so put off I canceled the order, and
made a mental note to call and ask them about it.
Well, it slipped my mind, but a few weeks later I got an
e-mail from them saying they were offering the items I
wanted for 25% off. I figured, what-the-heck, that will pay
for the excessive shipping charges, and ordered on-line.
The surprise was, when I received the package with
invoice enclosed, the actual shipping charge was significantly
less than what the website said it would be.
So, my advice, if you want to buy from them, is to call
and talk to someone about shipping charges, to see what
it will really end up being.
My advice to Aftosa is to somehow re-work their website
so way-high, out-of-line shipping charges don't show up
on people's orders. I'm sure they are losing business
because of it.
David Hendley
Maydelle, Texas
david(at)farmpots(dot)com
http://www.farmpots.com
----- Original Message -----
>I found these small wooden spoons that I need
> to go with some of my pots:
>
> http://www.aftosa.com/smallspoon.html
>
> Does anyone know of another source for these?
> The price per spoon is not too bad, but
> Aftosa's shipping charges are.
KATHI LESUEUR on wed 2 apr 08
On Apr 2, 2008, at 12:31 AM, David Hendley wrote:
>
> Aftosa's shipping charges: I, too, was appalled and shocked
> earlier this year when I was ordering some things on-line
> and then the shipping charges were added. Something on
> the order of $27 for a 3-pound package. This included the
> $3.95 "service charge" they tack on every order, but it was
> still ridiculous. I was so put off I canceled the order, and
> made a mental note to call and ask them about it.
>
> Well, it slipped my mind, but a few weeks later I got an
> e-mail from them saying they were offering the items I
> wanted for 25% off. I figured, what-the-heck, that will pay
> for the excessive shipping charges, and ordered on-line.
> The surprise was, when I received the package with
> invoice enclosed, the actual shipping charge was significantly
> less than what the website said it would be.>>>
My guess is that Aftosa is trying to make money (and lots of it) on
their shipping charges. They are big enough to have an account that
gives them discounts from retail. My local UPS store wanted me to
ship through them rather than through my account so I took two boxes
in and had them tell me what the shipping charges would be to send
them to one of my wholesale accounts. One box shipped through them
was $34. Both boxes shipped on my account-$36.
I recently shipped an 8 lb. box to Florida from Michigan. The charge
was about $10. Artists buying from Aftosa should demand that the
charges they are billed reflect the actual costs to Aftosa.
Kathi
>
>
Jennifer Boyer on wed 2 apr 08
I happen to have received a shipment from Aftosa recently.
The box had a handling charge of 3.95 and a shipping charge of 12.29
for a total of 16.24, the amount listed in the checkout window and
on the receipt.
I went to the UPS website and this box would have cost 10.05 to send.
I resent having a 2.25 surcharge on the shipping as well as the 3.95
packing charge!
I'm not surprised that, though, that the website spits out inaccurate
shipping charges on occasion. That must be a heard estimate to
automate...
Jennifer, looking for another source of cruet spouts.....
>
> Aftosa's shipping charges: I, too, was appalled and shocked
> earlier this year when I was ordering some things on-line
> and then the shipping charges were added. Something on
> the order of $27 for a 3-pound package. This included the
> $3.95 "service charge" they tack on every order, but it was
> still ridiculous. I was so put off I canceled the order, and
> made a mental note to call and ask them about it.
>
> Well, it slipped my mind, but a few weeks later I got an
> e-mail from them saying they were offering the items I
> wanted for 25% off. I figured, what-the-heck, that will pay
> for the excessive shipping charges, and ordered on-line.
> The surprise was, when I received the package with
> invoice enclosed, the actual shipping charge was significantly
> less than what the website said it would be.
>
***************************
Jennifer Boyer
Thistle Hill Pottery
Montpelier, VT
http://thistlehillpottery.com
http://jboyerdesign.com
http://artisanshand.com
***************************
Neal O'Briant on thu 3 apr 08
A list member wrote me directly to suggest asking Aftosa
what it would cost to mail the spoons instead of having
them shipped via UPS. Although I did not get a direct
answer when I wrote, Aftosa did respond that its
shipping charge estimator on its website is out of
whack (I'm paraphrasing)--that it calculates a minimum
weight for each item to come up with the charge and
that shipping charges are usually less than what the
website quotes.
I'm planning on looking around locally this weekend
to see if I can find something suitable. I may try to
make some spoons out of clay. I had an idea of throwing
them off the hump--sort of like a small spout--then
making the bowl by pressing one end into a metal spoon.
I thought also of trying to pull some spoon shapes like
pulling a handle.
So, the bottom line is that if you just need a dozen
wooden spoons, Aftosa's shipping charge probably won't
be as bad ($12.22) as it looks on the website. And
people who place larger orders with Aftosa will likely
be pleased that the shipping charge isn't as high as
what was quoted.
Neal O'Briant
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