North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Christopher Mauchline" <mauch1@aol.com>]

I appreciate knowing more about how costs work for the nursery trade 
and its unfortunate that the nursery trade is being squeezed.

Unfortunately, this leaves me the "avid" gardener consumer in 
somewhat of a bind.  I found ordering mail-order a few years ago was 
relatively inexpensive, generally high-quality, and allowed me to get 
varieties or forms of plants I wouldn't otherwise have been able to 
get.  And when I bought my house a 2+ years ago, and in the first 
year did a great "planting" out (over $600 in nursery plants alone) 
the shipping costs were a small portion. But now that I want to "fill-
in" or try something new I'd pay $50 for a single tree.  I can get 
many things by scion exchange, but I'm "locked-out" of the newer 
patented varieties.  

Most local retail nurseries seem to cater to a very low common 
denominator.  And interesting varietal selection is almost nil.  
There is one mail-order/retail nursery an hour away that does carry 
some interesting varieties of apples and peaches, but not things like 
pluots.

Chris Mauchline
SE PA, zone 6

--- In nafex@egroups.com, john bunker <jbunker@p...> wrote:
> Some time ago there were a number of emails posted discussing 
shipping 
> charges of nursery stock.  There was some suggestion that shipping 
and 
> handling charges were excessive and may be used as a way of simply 
> making more money for the nurseries. 
> 
> As someone who owns (cooperatively with a number of other people) 
a  
> mail-order nursery, I thought I  might attempt to shed a little 
light on 
> the problems of shipping trees and why it might seem so expensive.
> 
> What you may not know is that it is hugely expensive to ship trees 
by
> UPS.  If it were simply a matter of weight, it would be pretty 
straight 
> forward, like most other products you might receive via mail-order. 
But 
> this is not the case.  UPS in essense does not want our business.  
They 
> want to send out small-medium sized regularly-shaped packages that 
are 
> easy to process at the shipping centers, fit easily in their trucks 
and 
> are are easy for the delivery men to carry.
> 
> What this means for nursery owners:
> 
> Bags v Boxes. We used to ship our trees in big bags, or wrapped in 
brown 
> paper.  The bags/paper are inexpensive and easy to use.  As of 
several 
> years ago, UPS now adds a surcharge of $5.00 per package if the  
package 
> is not a box.  That alone forces nurseries to buy boxes or pay an 
> additional $5 for every order.  We were paying about $1.00 per bag. 
Now 
> we pay $2.50-5.00 per box depending on size.
> 
> Addtional handling. UPS adds a $5.00 surcharge for every package 
over 
> 60" in length.  That includes virtually any order we might send.
> 
> Residential v Commericial destination.  UPS adds another $1.00 
surcharge 
> for any package sent to a "residential" address. That's most 
customers, 
> since it's those folk who tend to buy nursery stock.
> 
> Oversize 1.  If the combined lengths and widths (ie "girth") of a 
> package is more than 84" and less than 108" and less than 30lbs, 
then 
> the package is charged at 30 lbs, regardless of weight.  This means 
that 
> for most nurseries, even very light packages of one or two tree are 
> routinely being charged the 30 lb rate.
> 
> Oversize 2.  If the combined lengths and widths (ie "girth") of a 
> package is greater than 108" and less than 70 lbs, then the package 
is 
> charged at 70 lbs, regardless of weight.  This means that for most 
> nurseries, larger boxes -even those that are not heavy- are charged 
at 
> the 70 lb rate.
> 
> Combining the automatic bump up to higher rates with the forced 
expense 
> of using boxes and the unavoidable surcharges of $5.00-6.00 per 
pacakge, 
> you might be able to see why it looks as though you're being ripped 
off 
> when you buy a tree.  It is quite possible that if you buy one 
tree, the 
> actual costs of the packaging  combined with the shipping costs and 
> surcharges might easily exceed the cost of the tree itself, not 
even 
> including anything for the labor of processing the order and 
packing it 
> up.  
> 
> And, not only that, but these charges go up and up every year. As I 
> said, it appears that UPS is doing a lot to discourage nursery 
business.  
> 
> But, even so,  why not just figure each person's shipping charges 
on an 
> individual basis and charge them accordingly?  It sounds equitable, 
but 
> to do this for evey customer, with all the variables, would add 
even 
> more expense to every order.  Someone has to figure this out, and 
do the 
> paperwork involved in the billing. And, it's incredibly 
complicated. We 
> do everything we can to give our customers a simple -and fair- way 
of 
> figuring charges while at the same time not overcharging them. In 
the 
> process, we know some customers get charged slightly more than the 
> actual shipping expense and some, less.  However, every year we 
analyse 
> our figures and it always comes out about even. We're not making 
money 
> on shipping trees to our customers, and we're trying to be fair.
> 
> Perhaps this just sounds like a rationale for gouging customers 
with 
> excessive shipping/handling charges.  If so, so be it.  Perhaps 
there 
> are some companies who engage in such pratices.  But my guess is 
that 
> not many companies are getting rich on shipping.  It's particularly 
> complicated and expensive for anyone who ships trees.  I know of at 
> least two mail-order nurseries who called it quits this year. This 
is 
> not an easy business.
> 
> Sorry to be so long-winded, but perhaps this might help in the 
> discussion.  
> 
> John Bunker, Coordinator, Fedco Trees  Box 520 Waterville Me 04903


-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/0/_/423498/_/977325378/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->