Date: Sat, 7 Jan 2006 12:45:22 -0500
Reply-To: The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject: Re: Bus depot
In-Reply-To: <007501c61324$10817db0$8f6f0a0a@W05560>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> I like Go Westy (faster shipping since they are on the west
> coast), but Bus Depot has better prices.
> I like BD because they have a larger (amazing) selection of
> parts, but their order fulfillment speed is dreadfully slow.
> Whenever VC has what I want I order from them and pay taxes
> in CA, because they ship whatever I order the SAME DAY or at
> worst the next day. BD seems to wait 3-5 days minimum to put
> something in the mail. Nothing wrong with BD, they are just
> notoriously slow to ship.
We've made great strides in this area, thanks in part to a weekly employee
bonus that is tied directly to fast order fulfillment. These days we average
1-2 days to ship ground orders. Sometimes same-day on a slower week,
sometimes a bit longer on a busy one. (We're a small shop, so we can get
swamped sometimes. That's why we specify to allow 7-10 working day for
receipt of in-stock ground orders; while we don't usually need that long, it
gives us some "wiggle-room" during those periods.)
BUT... If you order via Expedited shipping, it gets "fast track" attention
and ships same-day if in stock (or next day if you order later in the day).
All Expedited orders go straight to the front of the line - the assumption
being that the customer needs the part in a hurry, so we should do our part.
Even if the item is out of stock, we'll often have a supplier drop-ship it
directly to you same-day, or have them FedEx the part to us so we can ship
it to you the next morning. We have had power outages and still packed
Expedited orders using flashlights to make sure they left the building on
time.
Often Expedited service hardly costs more than ground shipping (unless the
item is heavy or bulky), depending on the shipping level you choose. (There
are next-working-day, second-working-day, and third-working-day options; the
latter is rather inexpensive.) The extra cost is usually more than offset
by our generally lower prices and listmember discount (plus, in your case,
the fact that you'd save California sales tax). So you get date-guaranteed
delivery and still save money. Also, if you phone your Expedited order in,
we can also check availability while you wait, so you'll know immediately if
anything will be delayed. So this is worth considering if you need the part
quickly. Of course, on non-time-critical items, just save the extra bucks
and stick with ground.
- Ron Salmon
The Bus Depot, Inc.
www.busdepot.com
(215) 234-VWVW
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Toll-Free for Orders by PART # : 1-866-BUS-DEPOT
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