By:
(Feb 10, 2011)
I do resourcing and recipe formulation for Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain in Brooklyn, NY. When I received an email on 12/7/10 from Local Harvest, alerting me to free shipping on oranges from The Orange Shop, I leapt at the chance to be able to feature them at our soda fountain and placed an order for Page oranges and Citra navels. On 12/22, I called The Orange Shop to find out where my order might be and was told they were showing as "out for delivery (on a truck)." On 12/26, after four phonecalls to The Orange Shop, they told me they'd send another box, gratis. I received the replacement box in about a week. The first box, thought lost, was delivered on 1/4/11! Needless to say, the oranges were not in very good shape. The next order I placed came in a timely fashion. But my most recent order was, once again, delayed. I placed one order on 1/12 and one on 1/19. The order placed on 1/12 arrived on 2/1. The order placed on 1/19 arrived on 2/6. That's a Sunday. What carrier delivers on a Sunday?? The Page oranges in the delivery we received on 2/6 are past their prime and I've thrown several rotten ones away. It's a shame because these are spectacular oranges and the orange syrup (for sodas) we're making from them is great! The Citra navels we got were, likewise, incredible. But it's too bad that the shipping methods being used by The Orange Shop denigrate this great citrus.
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We actually had a nice conversation over the phone, and we recommended a Honey Tangerine/Temple combination for the spring blend at the store. It's clear that the first package shipped was delayed, which of course means that the fruit would have been in poor condition. Everything's good when it leaves our packinghouse, of course, but after it leaves we're at the mercy of the delivery services. We use both the Post Office and Fedex. From mid-January on, we can only ship through the Post Office once a week through our Coop, The Florida Gift Fruit Shippers Association. So, to get packages there sooner, we leaned more heavily on Fedex. Come to find out, if Fedex makes a delivery, they always leave the package at the door, no matter what. The Post Office, on the other hand, won't leave the package if there's no one home to receive it. Well, we shipped a bunch of Honeybells up north via Fedex until we figured out that a lot of the packages were left in the snow, and the fruit froze solid. The New York City general vicinity, including Brooklyn, had more snow this year than any other year in the history of weather records. So, we had no choice other than to go back to the Post Office route, which slowed down delivery, but the fruit arrived in better condition. I also checked the statistics. A little over 97% of our packages we shipped this year arrived in good condition, on time, and with no issues. The 3% that didn't is more than usual -- the average is more like 1.5%. The reason is clear -- we've been shipping perishable fruit into the teeth of the worst winter on record. The fact that so many of them made it OK is a tribute to the Fedex and the Post Office both, really. We would of course prefer that every package arrived in perfect condition, but that's not very likely. So, when there are problems, we promptly replace the fruit, or the entire package, as quickly as possible. Many thanks. Pete Spyke, Owner