Why most “Alive Arrival Guarantees” fall short

[cdemoss01]

I got the “ Terrance Howard” Grammarly add-on this black Friday…maybe Ill try it out

I would help but I'm a kid

 

[Doctorgori]

I would help but I'm a kid

That only means you are smarter and cant read cursive

 

[cdemoss01]

That only means you are smarter and cant read cursive

I actually can read cursive

 

[fish farmer]

I know it is an idealistic losing battle, but this is why I do what I can to patronize the brick and mortar stores within a 90-minute drive of me. One of these days, mail order is going to be our only option though.

I pretty much have 3 stores within that driving distance, closest is a Petco, furthest is a reef only store which is small and may not be open, does maintenence contracts, went in there once around 2018.

The store an hour away I went to last year, bought some snails at $10 a piece.

I can be at better stores 3 to 5 hours away.

 

[Reef By Steele]

That is why we do not charge shipping on replacements. Yes EVERY REPLACEMENT WE MAKE EQUALS AT BEST A BREAK EVEN. But most equal an actual loss. We cannot offer more than a live arrival as we sell pods and phyto, so really hard to prove, but shipping eats up most of our margin the first shipment. We did implement an exception for super high and low temps. This exception is that the customer can select styrofoam shipping and have full replacement, but those who do not must pay shipping. Styrofoam boxes are extremely expensive, and we charge a portion of actual price. We have nearly 100% success without, but shipping g ground to Phoenix in summer or Montana in winter, pretty tough. There are packing options to help, but honestly in summer, ice packs last 24 hours tops, not the shippers fault, and unreasonable to respond to the shipper that the ice bag was warm 3 days later. Yet our policy replaces that order if temps lower than 90 or above 30 with no expectation of shipping fees. Above 90 or below 30 we still replace product, but charge shipping if styrofoam shipping wasn’t selected or replace free if shipped in styrofoam.

We could ship all in styrofoam, but at $10-40 per box, we would have to raise our prices considerably. For us, we believe that you should only pay for what you need. That allows us to operate at 22% lower prices than our competitors and still provide high quality products.

I learned this managing a furniture store. FREE DELIVERY isn’t free it is included in the price. Now a fish or coral retailer doesn’t have that option, as their product really has to be shipped overnight (uhm how do they get here from Australia etc) but really yes too much stress for ground 3 day delivery. So a very small box with the greatest discounts available is $50 overnight. For us a box that holds 2 gallons easily runs over $100.

My online fish source gives 15 days on all but what are considered expert. I have had nearly 100% success from them. And they are extremely price competitive. I have had varied success with coral shipments even without delays. However most of the issues are what grows on the coral or comes in with it during QT. Would love to find a coral vendor that gives me a product without flat worms, hair or bubble algae, etc after a few days in a very sterile QT.

 

[Doctorgori]

That is why we do not charge shipping on replacements. Yes EVERY REPLACEMENT WE MAKE EQUALS AT BEST A BREAK EVEN. But most equal an actual loss. We cannot offer more than a live arrival as we sell pods and phyto, so really hard to prove, but shipping eats up most of our margin the first shipment.

Commendable, the more successful your business model is, the better for the rest of us
I wish coral and livestock merchants would cover their own screwups, but by separating the shipping cost from the product they can appear to guarantee the product but not cover the actual entire cost shelled out by the consumer…

Its a financial shell game: “Live arrival guarantee” is not equal to recuperating the customers merchandise acquisition cost

 

[Reef By Steele]

Commendable, the more successful your business model is, the better for the rest of us
I wish coral and livestock merchants would cover their own screwups, but by separating the shipping cost from the product they can appear to guarantee the product but not cover the actual entire cost shelled out by the consumer…

Its a financial shell game: “Live arrival guarantee” is not equal to recuperating the customers merchandise acquisition cost

This can be true. I don’t feel bad about my fish source. Their prices are more than competitive and I have had excellent luck with them.

 

[fish farmer]

That is why we do not charge shipping on replacements. Yes EVERY REPLACEMENT WE MAKE EQUALS AT BEST A BREAK EVEN. But most equal an actual loss. We cannot offer more than a live arrival as we sell pods and phyto, so really hard to prove, but shipping eats up most of our margin the first shipment. We did implement an exception for super high and low temps. This exception is that the customer can select styrofoam shipping and have full replacement, but those who do not must pay shipping. Styrofoam boxes are extremely expensive, and we charge a portion of actual price. We have nearly 100% success without, but shipping g ground to Phoenix in summer or Montana in winter, pretty tough. There are packing options to help, but honestly in summer, ice packs last 24 hours tops, not the shippers fault, and unreasonable to respond to the shipper that the ice bag was warm 3 days later. Yet our policy replaces that order if temps lower than 90 or above 30 with no expectation of shipping fees. Above 90 or below 30 we still replace product, but charge shipping if styrofoam shipping wasn’t selected or replace free if shipped in styrofoam.

We could ship all in styrofoam, but at $10-40 per box, we would have to raise our prices considerably. For us, we believe that you should only pay for what you need. That allows us to operate at 22% lower prices than our competitors and still provide high quality products.

I learned this managing a furniture store. FREE DELIVERY isn’t free it is included in the price. Now a fish or coral retailer doesn’t have that option, as their product really has to be shipped overnight (uhm how do they get here from Australia etc) but really yes too much stress for ground 3 day delivery. So a very small box with the greatest discounts available is $50 overnight. For us a box that holds 2 gallons easily runs over $100.

My online fish source gives 15 days on all but what are considered expert. I have had nearly 100% success from them. And they are extremely price competitive. I have had varied success with coral shipments even without delays. However most of the issues are what grows on the coral or comes in with it during QT. Would love to find a coral vendor that gives me a product without flat worms, hair or bubble algae, etc after a few days in a very sterile QT.

Is their any incentive to have customers ship Styrofoam boxes back for reuse if that could offset shipping costs?

In my field of fish culture, many times we were reusing our egg shippers which were a unique design and pre Covid were $15 a box. We currently scrounge for similar containers since the only company that supplies them is poorly run and won't pick up the phone or return emails.

 

[Reef By Steele]

Is their any incentive to have customers ship Styrofoam boxes back for reuse if that could offset shipping costs?

In my field of fish culture, many times we were reusing our egg shippers which were a unique design and pre Covid were $15 a box. We currently scrounge for similar containers since the only company that supplies them is poorly run and won't pick up the phone or return emails.

Great idea. We may try to implement. Number one would be conservation/recycle. I can see us offering a call tag (prepaid return shipping) and a future discount for those who use it. Would help save the environment, possible reduce cost depending on the shipping costs. Our smaller boxes are not too bad, but our larger boxes are over $20. Even if we paid shipping and then gave a discount for the difference in replacement we would be helping reuse, reduce and recycle. We try to utilize everything that comes in (packing etc) I know it doesn’t look as fresh and professional al as buying little air packs, but keeps the material out of a landfill for at least one more cycle. @ Ocean_Queenie loves the brown paper we get and uses it a lot. I will research whether we can purchase the return label and void if not used. Issue is the recipient has to be willing to drop at post office or UPS. USPS probably the cheapest and delays won’t cause major concerns with an empty box which is a major reason we cannot use them for outgoing without concern. Great idea, we will investigate and see if we can make it work. Currently we are trying to make our box charge cover 50% of the cost to encourage use during extreme temps. Maybe a buy back would allow us to recover more, yet benefit the customer willing to take an extra step and actually save them $ through the process. For us, anything that can help us keep costs down to keep our prices the lowest possible without impacting quality.

 

[Oldreefer44]

Understand from a business perspective but it seems that it is always the fish you wanted most that is the one that didn't make it. I had some live rock delivered the other day that was loose in a garbage bag inside of a much bigger Styrofoam box. Was no longer live rock so much as live reef rubble. I stop using those types of vendors. Unfortunately I have credits at several of them.

 

[fish farmer]

Great idea. We may try to implement. Number one would be conservation/recycle. I can see us offering a call tag (prepaid return shipping) and a future discount for those who use it. Would help save the environment, possible reduce cost depending on the shipping costs. Our smaller boxes are not too bad, but our larger boxes are over $20. Even if we paid shipping and then gave a discount for the difference in replacement we would be helping reuse, reduce and recycle. We try to utilize everything that comes in (packing etc) I know it doesn’t look as fresh and professional al as buying little air packs, but keeps the material out of a landfill for at least one more cycle. @ Ocean_Queenie loves the brown paper we get and uses it a lot. I will research whether we can purchase the return label and void if not used. Issue is the recipient has to be willing to drop at post office or UPS. USPS probably the cheapest and delays won’t cause major concerns with an empty box which is a major reason we cannot use them for outgoing without concern. Great idea, we will investigate and see if we can make it work. Currently we are trying to make our box charge cover 50% of the cost to encourage use during extreme temps. Maybe a buy back would allow us to recover more, yet benefit the customer willing to take an extra step and actually save them $ through the process. For us, anything that can help us keep costs down to keep our prices the lowest possible without impacting quality.

That was the thoughts I had, prepaid return usps, store credit for the box. I feel for frequent customers, even a little credit can be worth it.

Over the years I've seen the box go from solid styro, to styro panels and now to wrapped foil.

I would always save the solid ones to repurpose. I'm a frugal New Englander, I know the value of a good box.