It probably has to do with figuring in time or shipping expenses.

WAY back a decade ago when I started mailing away for plants the place which impresses me the most was from Oregon. Their stuff arrived intact and took me awhile to free from its fortified cardboard prison.

As with many other things it seems the rest of the world has caught up (or passed em).

First respect to you toronado.

Both shipments were from the same state, Oregon. One shipped at cost of shipping, the other more than doubled the cost of shipping. The one that shipped at cost packed it better and build a wood frame in the box to prevent it from being crushed. The one that more than doubled shipping costs did nothing of the sort. Both companies have to have people do the packing, and have associated cost of cardboard etc. Yet the one that had a much lower shipping cost from the same state, not too far away, did a much better job at with no ridiculous overcharge of their customer (me).

So you have a company (Greer Gardens) with excellent selection, and many rarities, shipping from the same state for less than half the cost, and doing a much better job of it at that.

Some people may not mind being gouged, and profiteering. I am not one of them however.

Arktrees

Oh, I was just referring to the one I knew by Oregon. I can see the confusion.

I think the market has just changed or caught up and passed em.

My line of work is furniture. The big stores that have survived the economic crunch are WAY more competitive that a decade back.

How far back do large mailorder specialty nurseries go? I started in 02 and it seems there are many many good choices now compared to then. Maybe just because google and gw help folks find them.

I just shipped 15 lbs of evergreens to the east cost for $5 via UPS. Thats equivilant to (2) 2 gallon plants and (1) 1 gallon plant.

I feel your thoughts as that same company has this whole page about shipping that goes on to use the shipping industry as the scape goat. Thats why it bothers me more than anything. The whole scam to buy 4 plants is annoying too.

Without wishing to defend the unnamed-but-everyone-knows-which-one nursery's shipping costs, the rates charged are based on a number of factors.

Greer Gardens, for example, offers a 10% discount for orders picked up. Factor that in and the true shipping rate for FedEx ground is 38% of the order total - pretty close to average. Large volume shippers can also negotiate rates with the big two carriers. Then there are differences in labor costs, packaging materials, etc. Any mail order dependent nursery which really does gouge on shipping rates - and there are few to none that actually do this - would shortly find itself out of business.

More and more nurseries seem to be shipping via USPS. The cost is much less and the Postal Service has (finally) instituted real tracking for all packages. One west coast shipper commented just last week that they're experiencing fewer damage problems with USPS as well.

15 lbs. from WI to the East Coast for $5??! That's not even the minimum UPS rate.

2:1 ratio.

2+:1 RATIO!

2+:1 RATIO!

2+:1 RATIO!

2+:1 RATIO!

2+:1 RATIO!

2+ to %$#^#$ 1 RATIO!!!!!!!!!!!

ZERO EXCUSE FOR THAT!!!!

Tree I got from Greer Gardens was better packed using more materials (meaning more material and labor costs), heavier, and shipping followed what is show in the link I provided. Also price of the Greer tree WAS NOT out of line. Good quality and expected price. About the same as local, except this was a RARE dogwood that I would not be able to get otherwise. There was NO extra charges. Just the plant, and the cost of shipping which was actually slightly less than indicated by the linked shipping calculator. While the other subject, the plant was $49 (on the high side to begin with), then shipping was $60+ That's over 122%, not an excuse laden 38%. #$*&^y*&%*$& R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S!!!!!!

As for staying in business, I'm sure such wonderful treatment and them losing money on every sale is why so many on here know EXACTLY who I have been referring to. THAT FACT ALONE SPEAKS VERY LOUDLY! Plus the fact that they are increasingly selling $#!^, and acting as though it your fault shows they are getting entirely too full of themselves.

Profiteering. Plain and simple. I use to deal in computer components allot, and learned about, and learned to recognize profiteering on shipping very quickly. Looks like a duck. Quacks like a duck. Smells like a duck. $#!^$ on you like a duck. It's a duck!

As stated, some may not mind being gouged, and profiteering, but I am not one of them. So I started this thread so that the people on this forum can properly educate themselves and force offending parties to deal with their own bull$#!^.

I will stay away from them, thank you.

Arktrees

Side note that I have neglected to mention. Greer offered without any prompting to try to acquire a smaller size that they did not have. They did not have to do this, and in the end, I bought what they already had, since it was hard to come by to begin with.

Arktrees

aka, you have to have an account. Yes if you just went into to UPS to ship there might be a min. Not sure what it is.

I wanted to compare apps to apps, assuming they have an account.

Like Arktrees, I bought a $50 4' hard to find maple and shipping was $60+. I was not happy, but they were the only seller I could find to order from. I looked for a year, too.

Their selection is quite simply humongous and sometimes, if you want it bad enough and you can only find it one place with a huge mark up, you just suck it up and pay through the nose to get it.

However, if my 4 footer looked like that aesculus posted in a different recent topic, I would be livid. That pic alone will probably be enough to prevent me from ordering from them again. In this information age, you better mind your business practices because the whole world is watching.

John

I certainly had no intention of casting Greer Gardens in any sort of negative light. Their selection is fantastic, the quality of the plants they send out is superb, and the packing is always meticulous. Sent on a Monday, a shipment from them arrives at my door on the following Saturday using Fedex ground - can't beat that for a cross country trip.

As for the Nameless Nursery, they have obviously tried to standardize plant production and shipping to a high degree by limiting containers to three sizes, employing shipping containers adapted to those sizes, and not removing the plants from the containers they've been growing in. This last practice probably does add considerable weight. I really have no idea if their shipping charges are excessive. They certainly are greater than most West Coast nurseries, but that may or may not be due to gouging or profiteering. It's also an entirely separate issue from poor quality control in the plants sent out - nothing can do more damage quicker to a mailorder nursery than that.