North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ray Kaminski <r-jkaminski@att.net>]

 This winter I thought I would update my orchard ladders as I have a 
6 foot and a 8 foot wooden ones.  I checked with the large fruit 
growers in the area to see what they used. All three of the larger 
ones used a ladder by Stokes.  I asked  why these are the ones they 
use and the reply was they have the public using them and they are a 
good dependable ladder. I checked on the Internet and found there are 
a number of tri-pod ladders available and mostly at the same price. 
They use primarily 6 foot ones as that is adequate for most trees in 
the modern orchard.  The prices ran from $139 to $179 for a 6 
foot.  Now for the sticker shock!  The shipping  cost to get that 
ladder home would cost $149. It has to go common carrier (truck) and 
this is what they get.  Tried a number of different ways to get the 
ladder shipped but to no avail. One thing I learned was that the 
price included  $40 for delivering the ladder to a private 
residence.  If i could have it delivered to a business they would 
deduct the $40.  No problem, as one of my friends has a business with 
a large parking lot so delivery was easy. After all was done the cost 
of the ladder to me was $230. Quite a difference when you can get a 
good standard 6 foot ladder from Home Depot  for about $60. Haven't 
used it yet as it has been around 40 degrees with strong North East 
winds each day but most of the snow is now almost gone.  Real spring 
is just around the corner, hopefully.  Ray
Zone 4-5 in North East Wisconsin.