[OGD] Re: orchids Digest V1 #20 - Hoosier's auctions

In response to Gareth Wills' comments on our final sales:

What I find atrocious is his misrepresentation of the terms and 
conditions of Hoosier Orchid Company's final sales, and the 
implications of dishonesty and gouging behind that misrepresentation.

Anyone who has been a customer of our company knows our reputation 
for honesty and standing behind our plants.  If he'd bothered to 
check he would have found that the terms of sale he cites - less the 
"as is, where is" part - have been in our catalogs since 1990!  Yet 
our customers know that we always stood behind our products, and our 
reputation was very important to us.  We replaced plants and/or 
returned money with no questions asked, sometimes months and years 
after the case.  Now that we're leaving the business we are not able 
to offer to replace or accept return of a plant, so they have to be 
sold "as is, where is" with no returns.  In a month Hoosier Orchid 
Company won't be around to "back your purchase" even though we would 
like to be.  We're honest people trying to sell one of the finest and 
most comprehensive collections ever offered, however I can't warrant 
that every single plant has the right label or doesn't have some 
fungal spotting.  But it's not junk we're selling here: it never has been.

We are closing our business ourselves, on our own terms.  We have 
designed the sales ourselves to be as equitable and dignified as 
possible.  No one to our knowledge has liquidated an orchid nursery 
like this before.  We had 26,500 plants to sell (excluding flasks) 
before 12/1/08 when a tenant is scheduled to take rental possession 
of our facilities.  The sealed-bid auctions accounted for 48% of 
those plants and the first week of individual plant sales moved 
around 50% of the remainder.  And despite what some have said about 
our pricing, most of the plants we're selling will not be offered 
again and are selling for dimes on the dollar.

We're trying to be fair to everyone - including us - and that 
includes trying to find some equitable way to charge for the shipping 
of the plants.  The $300 minimum has disappointed a lot of people, 
but we've got a lot of plants to sell and ship.  We figured a time 
and expense charge was fair.  As Gareth notes, we're charging actual 
shipping cost, then adding time and a box charge.  The $25 box charge 
is for a large "coffin" box, approximately 24"x16"x42", which  would 
hold a large number of most of our plants.  The medium and small box 
charges are $15 and $7.50 respectively.  The box charge covers all 
the other expenses of packing (tape, shredded paper, peanuts, 
shipping documents) other than the labor (cleaning, wrapping, 
checking labels, .  I think we've underestimated the labor we've 
charged out already and there's certainly no minimum.  We charged one 
customer 10 minutes for an order.  And although we're well behind 
with the shipping right now we have not heard any complaints from 
actual customers with experience of these procedures, either about 
the plants or shipping.

Gareth, you say you have "no problems with Hoosier or the 
Rhodehamels" but then you use a lot of loaded terms like "slapped", 
"ridiculous", "crashing down", "more auction-like prices" and so 
on.  Your tone is one of outrage.  I am very grateful to all our 
customers over the years, and want to thank you especially for what I 
assume from your message is your long-time patronage (although I can 
find no record of your ever purchasing from us, or even contacting us 
with any questions or concerns).  It always seems to be easier to 
snipe from the sidelines or tear down than to do something 
productive.  I believe our business has been productive over the 
years: providing fine plants, helping with ex situ conservation, 
growing quality plants from seed, offering great service, sharing 
knowledge, being a good citizen in the orchid world.

Come January I will be starting a new career in a completely 
unrelated industry.  Nonsense like Gareth is spewing is one reason I 
think I'll be glad to be out of the orchid business.

Cheers,

William A. Rhodehamel
Hoosier Orchid Company
8440 West 82nd Street
Indianapolis, IN  46278-1062  USA
317 291-6269, 888 291-6269
Fax: 317 291-8949
www.hoosierorchid.com

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