We get a lot of compliments on our packaging and shipping and so we thought we would write a blog about this. What actually happens after you pay for your order?
When we get an order at Luna Roaches we get notified via email and our Phones which means we are immediately aware that you've ordered. I print out the orders and hang them on a board in my office. When Chris comes in he takes a quick look to see if the size of the order requires him to sort out roaches and put them in a separate bin the night prior to shipping. It's not that easy to hand pick 300 Roaches (and yes we hand pick every single Roach to make sure you only get healthy & good looking animals) in the mornings when you have a variety of other orders to fill but we'll write another blog about that process at a later time.
Once we get the order ready to go, I put together the shipping box with all that it requires. Chris goes into the Barn and brings me the box like this one back (It contains packaging paper so our Roaches have a softened ride and it's dampens any bumps they may occur during transit - 1 package of Water Crystals - 1 package of Dry Food - the packaging slip with your order and of course your Roaches!) :
I take everything out of the box and double check the order to make sure the Roaches are the ordered size and that I didn't forget anything like "Hold for pickup which requires some extra stickers. We add food and water crystals to make sure the roaches have immediate access to either after their journey since we don't know if the recipient has fresh fruits and veggies handy, we send a little something along to hold them over until they do.
By the way, we decided to make our own vented boxes. Since we're a two people operation and are still a tiny business we have the luxury to do these things. We've looked into the prices of purchasing vented boxes but to be honest, the cost is atrocious and we didn't want to have to up our prices to offset that cost so that is why you get home made shipping boxes!
But back on topic! Once I quality check everything I have to tie the business card to our Organza bag. If you ordered from our Site you get one, if you ordered off eBay you get another one as well that states it's cheaper to purchase at our own site since we don't occur fees there ;)
I do love how pretty they look though..
After that all the fun stuff begins and my Office begins to look like a Tornado is going through it. I have to put all the tons of stickers on the box since this appears to be the only way the post office does NOT leave the package in the full sun upon delivery.
Once everything is taped up (and I've gotten over the feeling of being a full fledged sticker artist!) it's onto the scale! We always round up because the label still has to go on the box. So in this case we know to purchase postage for 8 oz...
and print the shipping label...
It gets cut to size and taped to the box and voila - ready to go to the post office. If you ordered from us on eBay than this is it since everything is automated. If you ordered from lunaroaches.com I have to make sure to add the tracking number manually and notify the customer that their shipping is on their way.
And this is where Chris swoops back into my office to pick up all the finished boxes to take them to the post office!
My office is a wreck and my shipping shelf looks like Defcon 1 ;)
Sometimes we also get local orders and make arrangements with the Customers to meet in town to deliver their Roaches! We love the opportunity to also sell locally because that means we don't have to put our Bugs through the shipping process.
And as to shipping, we repeat this the following days every Monday through Thursday! We don't have a glamorous process or machines to sort our roaches or package. It's us handpicking every single roach for your order, it's us cutting holes in boxes and gluing screen to make vented boxes, it's us putting a load of stickers onto the shipping boxes and putting everything together and there is nothing we'd rather do! Also there is something so satisfying being able to click "Order fulfilled".
And last not but least, we try to get your feedback after we get notified that your order arrived to assure your Roaches made it through the Transit okay and that you are happy with your purchase and said process. So if you're happy let us know! If you're not satisfied, let us know and we'll make you happy! We promised ourselves at the very beginning of all of this that we provide you the shopping experience that we would want if we were our own customers!
Mel & Chris Adams
Luna Roaches
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