I would first like to thank all those of you who subscribe to our newsletter who have already returned your answered survey to us. We appreciate your time and the efforts you have made to help us help you! For those of you who would like to help us out by taking our survey, simply subscribe to our newsletter by going to our store home page (www.ellenhutson.com) and scrolling to the bottom. Add your email address and a few details in the boxes provided and you will be added to our list. Or you can send an email to us at [email protected] titled "SURVEY NEEDED" and we will be able to forward the survey to your email address. For all those who do take the time to complete the survey you will receive a special coupon code as our way of thanking you for your help.
Your input has been invaluable and I am now in the middle of wrapping my head around the technology that needs to be changed behind the scenes to adjust our shipping costs. I have already figured out the Domestic Shipping Rate changes, but have yet to be able to wrap my mind around the International Rates. As I shared in a follow-up email to our newsletter list, I am determined to do my best for all of our customers. It costs us SO much to ship packages, especially out of the country. Employee time, filling out customs forms, requesting and refunding shipping charges, as well as actual postage fees - it all adds up SO quickly. I have researched many different shipping methods, and wanted to share with you the primary reason we still continue to use USPS. The cost of purchasing boxes is enormous - it costs at least $1.00 for most boxes and goes upwards from there. Many boxes cost well over $2.00, with many of the box providers adding shipping charges on top of that. USPS is the only shipping service that provides us wtih boxes free of charge. Add in tissue paper and the other packing supplies, employee time, and... shipping is extremely expensive. We have tried so hard to keep our rates reasonable. Being a small business it saddens me to tell you that we wouldn't be in business if we provided free shipping/handling on small orders. I wish we could! Value is something that is so important to me as well, and I never want to take advantage of you, my customers.
BUT I am thrilled to tell you that we are going to be making some changes. Following are the shipping/handling breakdowns I hope that we can support and stay in business:
- Domestic Order merchandise totals up to $25.00 will be $4.95
- Domestic Order merchandise totals between $25.01-50.00 will be $6.25
- Domestic Order merchandise totals between $50.01-75.00 will be $7.50
- Domestic Order merchandise totals between $75.01-150 will be $8.80
- Domestic Order merchandise totals over $150.00 will be FREE
Our store may be closed off and on over the next couple of days for maintenance. I am not certain how this will affect your shopping carts and so I just wanted to warn you that this will be happening within the next two days. The moment I have this task complete I will once again notify you via our newsletter list, as well as here in the CLASSroom.
Thank you once again for your patience and support! Without you we would not have a business! Your support is what allows me to compensate the women who work so hard to educate you in the CLASSroom, pack your boxes and answer your phonecalls. WE appreciate you!
Sincerely,
Ellen
