Question about shipping,,

[stevers]

Hey All,
Quick question about shipping from Berea and Craft Supplies. How long do either of them take? Do they offer Priority Mail at little or no extra cost. I like priority mail becouse it only takes 2 or 3 days to arive. And its cheap, or free.
Also, do they ship fairly quickly? Next day or at least 48 hours.
Reason I ask all this is becouse I ordered from PSI twice and was not impressed. The first one was ok. Priority mail, like I asked, took 5 days from the time I ordered. But the second time they scewed everything up. Shipped UPS ground (after I asked spicificly for priority mail) so it took 13 days. I lost two nice long weekends that I could have been turning. Plus they back ordered some super blanks, that I still have'nt recieved. When I placed the order, it said that they were in stock. I never would have ordered them if i'd known how long it would take. Very disapointed.
So much for quick question huh?
Thanks in advance
Close to bed time, ill check in tomarrow night,
Steve

 

[mrcook4570]

Certain supplies can be shipped only by ground methods.

 

[alamocdc]

Steve, your first problem was ordering from PSI. I'm not slamming PSI... I turn a number of PSI pens. You just fell into the same trap I did when I first got started. If you want a PSI anything, get it from Woodturningz. It will be cheaper and unless they have to order it, it will be there in a few days. CSUSA does offer Priority Mail, but you used to have to ask for it. Again some things must come OOPS. Can't answer for Bberea b/c I get all my "B" stuff from AS (and they used USPS PM).

 

[Mikey]

Anything ordered from Craft Supplies should get to you within a few days since you are fairly close. I have ordered from Craft Supplies using both UPS and Priority mail and both have almost reached me in the same amount of time. (under a week, max) The priority mail was more expensive since I ordered balnks and there was some weight there. ($13 IIRC)

Berea ships out pretty quick, so if you order early, you may get your stuff shipped out same day, which would put delivery during the same week if you order early enough.

 

[wayneis]

Most all Companies offer Priority Mail and ship quickly. BB at AS ships usually next day. CS, I
ve had several orders that went out the day the I placed the order or the next day after.

Wayne

 

[fuzzydog]

Steve

When I saw that your address was Bullhead City I thought why dosen't he drive to Yuma and deal with BB personally. Than I remembered that I spent about 4 hours trying to find BB's place and never did.

I have always had good luck with PSI on most things but when things have been wrong a phone call made it right and in the mail. I alway try the Honey verses Vinager the 1st time and have only had to go to vinager once.

 

[HuskyDriver]

I wouldn't order from PSI again even if it meant I had to stop turning pens. I've never in my life had such bad customer service. Thats my 2 cents worth. I'll shut up now

 

[GBusardo]

Huskey, I am guessing you don't have Verizon DSL?? [xx(] Talk about bad CS. Anyway, I have ordered a few things from PSI and have yet to have a problem. I sent them an email to send me a free brochure and I had it in my mail box in two days. I live in New Jersey and have placed orders ordered from PSI, WOODPRO, Amazon, CSI, Steebar, Arizona Silhoutte, Woodcraft, Rockler and probably a dozen others. I have yet to have any kind of real problems. All orders seem to come within a week. My favorite is probably Steebar, mostly because they ship from New Jersey. Each of the companies I mentioned have a product or a service I seem to like about them. I guess I have just been lucky.
Gary

 

[challagan]

I am new to this whole gig, however I have learned quickly that PSI is slow as molasses. I have ordered from CSUSA, Woodturnings and Pens of Color and all were very qick. Woodturnings is my first choice for wood and PSI penkits, and they ship immediately. Pens of Color has given me great service as well.

Corey

 

[stevers]

Thanks for the replies,
Stan, I know about certain items going ground only, finishes etc.
Billy, go ahead and slam PSI. Like Husky Driver said, worst CS i'v had in a while. The only person I could ever get on the phone sounded like I was just an inconveinence. She had an " I hate my job " attitude.
The first several kits and supplies I ordered were from Wood Craft and Rockler. I like them for other stuff too. You know, just woodworking supplies in general. Thats a big part of why I started with them, I was in their files already. Now that I'v shoped around, I see that they are not competitive on pricing. Most likely becouse pens are only a small part of what they sell. They are both fast to ship and Wood Craft automaticly ships reasonably sized orders USPS PM. Rockler can be had for a small fee.
Half of the companies you all mentioned, i'v have'nt even heard of yet. I have recieved a catalog from Berea. Still waiting on Craft Supplies.
I would like to try to keep my focus on as few diff manufactures as I can for now. I know, good luck with that. Fewer mandral variations and bushings to get confused over.
Thanks for all your helpfull replies, I got the info I was after. As you can probebly tell, i'm not the most patient person on earth, heck not in my house for that matter.
Steve

 

[Rifleman1776]

Originally posted by HuskyDriver
<br />I wouldn't order from PSI again even if it meant I had to stop turning pens. I've never in my life had such bad customer service. Thats my 2 cents worth. I'll shut up now

My experience with PSI is that they are dedicated to good customer service. They will take a loss to make a customer happy. As for who will ship how. I'm amazed someone would ask here first instead of going directly to the company in question and asking. Most have toll free phone numbers. I guess it's the American way, we need everything yesterday.

 

[stevers]

Frank,
The thing is, companies will say a lot of things to get a person to order from them. The best place I know of to get the truth is from the people who do the ordering and have the product shipped to them.
It's nice that your happy with PSI, but I most likely wont use them again. I guess i'v become bitter, but I tend to be a first impresion kind of guy. There are just too many choises out there to not be 100% satisfied.
Steve

 

[GaWoodworker]

I agree about ordering from woodturningz.com. When I order from them, I usually have my order by the third day. Most of the time, they have shipped my order on the same day I place the order.

 

[LanceD]

The thing i look at is that not every company carries everything. You have to make the best out of it. I had a package from PSI take over three weeks to arrive. It wasn't their fault, they shipped it out within three days. UPS dropped the ball. Twice in that time frame my package was sent to a different destination and was left at the loading dock by mistake. I've had very good customer service from AS and CSUSA And and not to forget Woodturningz. Like Frank said most all of those companies have toll free numbers and their just a phone call away. If a person quits dealing with a company because of a shipping problem and sooner or later you may have an issue with another company and you quit dealing with them also pretty soon you wont't be buying from anyone.
This is just my .02 cents worth.
Lance

 

[GaWoodworker]

I'm amazed someone would ask here first instead of going directly to the company in question and asking. Most have toll free phone numbers. I guess it's the American way, we need everything yesterday.

I disagree. Customers who use a company are a much more reliable source of information than the claims a company makes about themselves. A penturner's message board is a great resource for founding out the real life experiences turners have had with companies.

 

[stevers]

I spose your right Lance, but if it can be had somewhere else,,,,,, for less,,,,,, well, if I were to need something only PSI had , I spose i'd have no other choise.
Steve

(Edit) But remember, it wasnt all the shipping issue. It was the attitude as well.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Like Lance said, not every company carries everything. I don't usually buy pen kits from PSI because they don't state the type of plating. They do gurantee but I want to know what I'm getting up front. I had a problem with a defective mini-chuck. They took back four before a non-defective one was finally found in their stock. They wanted me to be satisified and they lost money on that deal. They also learned to get tough with the Chinese manufacturer to assure better QC. I but some things from them, some other things from others. That's the way free enterprise works.

 

[knottyharry]

Steve,
If you like the PSI kits....then talk to Ryan or Fritz at Woodturningz. They sell all the PSI stuff plus some of the others. It comes priority mail, and has never taken over 3 days from midwest, to east coast.
Harry

 

[stevers]

Thanks all,
I appreciate all the input and ideas. My son sent me a package from Oregon via PM, he shipped it Wednesday and I got it Saturday. I love Priority Mail. Its very reasonable as far as the cost goes, and pretty darned fast.

Thanks again for the help,
Steve