[Midair]

I thought that I’d take a moment to pass on and highlight some issues that have become increasingly annoying (and expensive) to me. I live in north central Ontario and there are, unfortunately, no hobby shops within more than 200 kilometers of my home. Consequently, when I need hobby supplies I’m usually forced to purchase them through mail order distributors. This was not a problem in the past, but recently, within the last year or so, I find that distributors don’t take enough care to package my orders in an appropriately sized box. By that I mean that the shipping boxes are far too large for the products being shipped. Case in point – my last order from Tower Hobbies consisted of numerous small unbreakable items that would have fit into a box the size of one cigarette package. The box in which the items were shipped was approximately 30 or 40 times that large. Much of our shipping fees are based on parcel size and weight so I ended up paying considerably more for shipping than was necessary. This was not the first time that this had happened. When I e-mailed Tower Hobbies to request they take more care in this area, all I received was an auto response that did not address the issue. I then complained to their alternate e-mail contact address, but have not received a response; that was three months ago.

Another problem that I encountered was with Hobby Lobby’s shipping practices. At the beginning of December ’05, I ordered some hobby products from them. Not all the items that I ordered were in stock, consequently Hobby Lobby almost immediately shipped what they had and shipped the remaining order just days later. I confirmed with them that the second order did not include U.S. postage, but did include an international shipping fee. So, I ended up paying postage, international shipping and a customs brokerage fee on the first parcel and international shipping and a customs brokerage fee on the second parcel. The extra fees for the second parcel considerably increased the cost to me, of the order. Had Hobby Lobby taken the time to inquire whether the shipping arrangements were suitable to me, I would have requested that they delay the order until all items were available – but they did not. So, word of caution: if you order form Hobby Lobby, ensure that you specify your preferred shipping arrangements. By the way, the items from Hobby Lobby also where packaged in far too large a box.

I am hoping that by highlighting these problems, more modelers who may experience similar situations, will be encouraged to take hobby products distributors to task to provide us with a better service.

Peter

[ronm]

Hint: Buy Canadian! (if possible)

I use several Canadian mail-order houses, with great satisfaction! I have not found it necessay to order from the U.S.

[Vulcan1]

Peter,
It irks me on the same problem you have been going through. Since there is only a small differance in the dollar now I do most of my shopping on this side of the line. It gets rid of the hassle of the extra shipping and expense's. To me you have to look close at the price's and availability and then make your decision. My last order to the US was with Tower and it was 9 days. I purchased a flight pack from Hobby Wholesale and the shipping was free and 2 working days for delivery. I can not complain as I expected with our mail a lot longer.
I don't usually advertize for dealers but this was an example and I think if you spend a bit of time on your pc you will find the cost versus the rest of the garbage might in the long run save you some money.
Just remember we are in the Great White North and we are only a fart in a wind storm to them.
John

[2thelmt]

Never had a problem with Hobby Wholesale!
Even my wife was treated great by them at X-Mas time...order here in two days.

[Jollidude]

I buy (and sell) from time to time (okay, a lot !) on both RC Canada and RC Universe. I've found lately with increasing shipping costs that buying new or used from the US isn't worth the effort unless it is something fairly rare or a really, really good price. I still watch the for sale ads on RCU, but rarely do I buy these days. I find much better deals and much fewer headaches by shopping in Canada. I also like to help keep the local hobby shops in business too. I share my RC spending dollars about equally between Maritime Hobbies in Halifax, RC Wings and Wheels in Mahone Bay and Great Hobbies in PEI. All have exceptional sales and service!

Cheers!

Jollidude

[aceplant00]

Can't beat the pricing at www.hobbywholesale.com or greathobbies.com. Hobby Wholesale ships most things free and they know what they sell which is a big plus instaed of an order taker that has no clue.

[green@3D]

All correct points. I rarely ship anything from the US. IT IS CHEAPER TO BUY FROM CANADIAN HOBBY SHOPS. and service is generally better. Try it you will like it

(ex tower hobbies supporter)

[Midair]

Thank you all for reading or reading and responding to my rant. Generally, you have stated and recommended what I already knew and practice; namely, keep the Canadian dollar in Canada. Rest assured I do so whenever possible – my VISA number is well known to the likes of Great Hobbies, Hobby Hobby, Hobby Wholesale and others and I never drive by Barrie without stopping in at Ideal Hobbies (and lets face it, who can drop into a shop and not buy something ). However, these hobby shops do not always carry the items that I sometimes require. For example, try to purchase a gold plated 1.5mm bullet connector or 70 amp Jeti speed controller or a throttle arm for a 20 year old OS .90 engine from any of the aforementioned shops or distributors – I have not been able to find them. These are but a few examples of the many small, and sometimes not so small, items that I could not get from a Canadian shop or distributor and frankly it becomes time consuming to search each and every possible Canadian site looking for that one special or not so common item. More often than not, if I go to the Tower Hobbies website, they have what I need. When I do go to a U.S. distributor, I usually pick-up additional items simply to make the order worthwhile – one stop shopping. Furthermore, I rank the Tower Hobbies site as one of the finest websites available to our hobby; it’s easy to navigate, each item is usually accompanied by a picture or photo (important to me) and technical description, I know instantly whether or not an item is in stock and I have the ability to collect and store a personal shopping list for future action. In Canada, Great Hobbies has come a long way and vastly improved their site by incorporating many of the features that I enjoy, but it’s still not quite on par with Tower. Other Canadian distributors could learn much from the Tower set-up.

When I require a hobby item, I always go to Canadian sites or shops first and then stray south of the border only when I cannot find what I need. I don’t do it to save money, I do it to purchase what I need. Speaking of dollar savings – items purchased in the U.S. would not be less expensive than purchasing them here, even if our dollars were on par. By the time you add international shipping, a customs brokerage fee, and PST (items ordered in Canada, out-of-province only reflect GST) the cost of the item is considerably higher.

The point of my original submission was not to debate U.S. versus Canadian hobby shops and distributors, but the manner in which my (our) items are shipped, regardless of origin. To advise avoiding U.S. purchases to solve the problem is not a valid argument - this does not solve the problem, it only masks or ignores it. The fix is to let distributors know that they should take more care when shipping our hobby items and then take steps to implement a solution.

Wow…I need to get off of the computer and into the workshop

Cheers,

Peter

[voyager_663rd]

Regarding box sizes, I've found that sometimes the bigger the box, the less it costs to ship.

The reason is that larger boxes fall into a parcel category whereas the smaller box stays in the first class (or at least, not parcel) category.

I've got a friend in PA U.S.A. who wanted some tea that they couldn't get there (at a reasonable price).

I originally boxed up 3 72-bag boxes for them. Found the price to send that parcel was wayyyyyy too much (this was 2 yr ago and don't remember how much) so I didn't send it. They really wanted the tea so I did some homework.

Later, I boxed up 12 72-bag boxes and it was less than the 3 box parcel to ship it to Penn. It fell into a different mailing category.

Your BIGGGGG box was probably cheaper to ship than a suitably-sized smaller one.

[Midair]

Hi Voyager:

I hadn't considered that, but given your experience there may be some validity to your explanation

Thanks,

Peter