With the ADA contest deadline past and folks gearing up for being inside more as winter is nigh you may have noticed more and more posts where others are doing some tank clearing in order to change aquascapes and are giving away plants for a little more then the price of shipping. Being one that is giving plants away I've noticed certain things that well, frankly are annoying.
In no particular order and with in a attempt to be at least mildly humorous...
<sarcasim>
Shipping costs: The majority of folks in the US ship via USPS Priority Mail. It cost $3.85 for the first 1 lb anywhere in the US. So why do people charge $5? I no longer count how many people that accuse me of profiteering saying I am making a whopping $1.15 per order. Lets take an honest look at costs.
$5.00 Sent to shipper via PayPal
-$0.15 PayPal charges 2.9% of the total
-$0.30 PayPal also charges 0.30 per transaction, be it 0.01 or 99999.99
=$4.55
-$3.85 Priority Mail Shipping Charge
=$0.70
Of the 70 cents the shipper needs to have certain supplies on hand, namely Paper towels and Ziploc type bags as well as paper and ink for the printer to print mailing labels and fuel costs to get to/from post office. So in the end the Shipper walks away with maybe 30 cents. Time and effort is not factored in as it's a hobby and if I was not willing to spend the time I would not offer the plants. For the sake of argument, lets say I send out 10 boxes at a time. That's $3.00, not exactly get rich quick material.
Will you ship to (insert foreign country here)? If the post says " I live in East Timor and will only ship to others in East Timor" than by golly, no I'm not shipping to Canada. Why is this you ask. The reasons are many: a. Shipping live plants across borders may be illegal. b. PayPal charges yet even more to convert from your currency to mine. c. Shipping costs are exponentially higher d. shipping times are exponentially longer e. it's a pain in the @ss to fill out all those customs papers f. there is a good chance your plants will be "disposed of properly" by the authorities. (Picture a gov't contractor in a clean suit tossing the plants into an incinerator)
Please send ALL of it to me as I have started a 10gal tank and need to fill it. That's one of my favorites, cause IF one took the time to look at the amounts being given away one would see that ALL the plants offered would fill a 10gal leaving no room for water or fish or snails or substrate. That request goes hand in hand with….
My tank has X wpg and Y water conditions, can you tell me if your plants will work, and where should I put them with Q mix of plants? No offense folks but I'm giving away plants, not designing your aquascape. There is TONS of info on this as well as other boards that describe what the plant needs, where it will fit in your overall design and if it will even fit in your tank. There are books that also have this info. Do some research, you might learn something.
Payment: When the shipper says "PayPal only" it does not mean "PayPal for everyone but you". No, I don't take checks. Money Orders, your first born or Food Stamps. Also this echeck thing that PayPal offers is not really acceptable, it takes 4-5 business days for the funds to clear and by then most of us offering plants up have already shipped and take the risk that your $5 echeck may bounce. Yeah I know it's only $5 and the money is not the point, but for those of us turn around and pay the shipping from PayPal it adds an extra layer of complexity.
I know you said you will ship on Xday but my lights are not here yet or the tank has no water yet or anything like that, so will you ship to me some other time please? All I can say here is "if you are not ready then wtf are you asking for plants!!"
Hopefully I've done a fine job at this point of offending everyone that makes me wonder why the heck I even bother offering plants instead of tossing them on the compost heap and you have seen the error of your ways.
</sarcasim>
For those of you that offer up plants, I hope you too found this funny.
Lastly for those of you that don't make it a chore to offer free plants, I THANK YOU!!
In no particular order and with in a attempt to be at least mildly humorous...
<sarcasim>
Shipping costs: The majority of folks in the US ship via USPS Priority Mail. It cost $3.85 for the first 1 lb anywhere in the US. So why do people charge $5? I no longer count how many people that accuse me of profiteering saying I am making a whopping $1.15 per order. Lets take an honest look at costs.
$5.00 Sent to shipper via PayPal
-$0.15 PayPal charges 2.9% of the total
-$0.30 PayPal also charges 0.30 per transaction, be it 0.01 or 99999.99
=$4.55
-$3.85 Priority Mail Shipping Charge
=$0.70
Of the 70 cents the shipper needs to have certain supplies on hand, namely Paper towels and Ziploc type bags as well as paper and ink for the printer to print mailing labels and fuel costs to get to/from post office. So in the end the Shipper walks away with maybe 30 cents. Time and effort is not factored in as it's a hobby and if I was not willing to spend the time I would not offer the plants. For the sake of argument, lets say I send out 10 boxes at a time. That's $3.00, not exactly get rich quick material.
Will you ship to (insert foreign country here)? If the post says " I live in East Timor and will only ship to others in East Timor" than by golly, no I'm not shipping to Canada. Why is this you ask. The reasons are many: a. Shipping live plants across borders may be illegal. b. PayPal charges yet even more to convert from your currency to mine. c. Shipping costs are exponentially higher d. shipping times are exponentially longer e. it's a pain in the @ss to fill out all those customs papers f. there is a good chance your plants will be "disposed of properly" by the authorities. (Picture a gov't contractor in a clean suit tossing the plants into an incinerator)
Please send ALL of it to me as I have started a 10gal tank and need to fill it. That's one of my favorites, cause IF one took the time to look at the amounts being given away one would see that ALL the plants offered would fill a 10gal leaving no room for water or fish or snails or substrate. That request goes hand in hand with….
My tank has X wpg and Y water conditions, can you tell me if your plants will work, and where should I put them with Q mix of plants? No offense folks but I'm giving away plants, not designing your aquascape. There is TONS of info on this as well as other boards that describe what the plant needs, where it will fit in your overall design and if it will even fit in your tank. There are books that also have this info. Do some research, you might learn something.
Payment: When the shipper says "PayPal only" it does not mean "PayPal for everyone but you". No, I don't take checks. Money Orders, your first born or Food Stamps. Also this echeck thing that PayPal offers is not really acceptable, it takes 4-5 business days for the funds to clear and by then most of us offering plants up have already shipped and take the risk that your $5 echeck may bounce. Yeah I know it's only $5 and the money is not the point, but for those of us turn around and pay the shipping from PayPal it adds an extra layer of complexity.
I know you said you will ship on Xday but my lights are not here yet or the tank has no water yet or anything like that, so will you ship to me some other time please? All I can say here is "if you are not ready then wtf are you asking for plants!!"
Hopefully I've done a fine job at this point of offending everyone that makes me wonder why the heck I even bother offering plants instead of tossing them on the compost heap and you have seen the error of your ways.
</sarcasim>
For those of you that offer up plants, I hope you too found this funny.
Lastly for those of you that don't make it a chore to offer free plants, I THANK YOU!!