Get $5 off a new order-mail my styros back!

[msjinkzd]

If you mail me my styros back, I will give you $5 off the next order! Don't put them in a landfill, send them back to me~! :D

send them slow and cheap!

[coach_z]

great idea!

[fish-n-chips]

+1 with what coach said. Do I count since I ordered from you on Friday?:evil_lol: :worthy:. I am bowing to you after all? LOL.

[msjinkzd]

absolutely!! Anyoen who has them laying around from a previous or future shipment. I just would rather them not get tossed as they dont' really go bad :)

[fish-n-chips]

Ms.J.........Eco warrior and friend of all "wet pets". Great idea Rachel!

[myswtsins]

I have saved ALL the styro anyone ever sends me, I even steal it from friends and family who try to throw it out! :D If you want it back because you need it (or to save you some cash) I will send it back but I will use it too...someday when I ship fish.

[Mgamer20o0]

lol they should all do to the styro what i do when sending you packages......

[msjinkzd]

oh mg, lets hope not!

[Juice]

Such a good idea, I'll have to remember that for the future..my mom already snagged this shipments styro for her ebay stuff

[mjordan29]

quick question... why send them back to you. you mentioned so they dont go in land fills but im not sure that being benificial to you, your business, or this whole goin green thing.

i have no clue what you pay for styrofoam but the way i view it is this...

most people ship the box of fish and dont ask for the box back.

yes you might spend a few bucks on buying new boxes but the person getting the box can either re-use it or toss it out in a land fill. if he re-uses it, like me, then its all for the better. if he doesnt its not a big deal because what your proposing is that you ship it back... cost around 5 bucks, and then you discount them 5 bucks. the net gain for the buyer is 0. for you its negative 5.

shipping a box costs gas..... you pay the shipper and then all of a sudden instead of goin in a land fill, there shipping an empty box half way across the US.

unless yoou pay 5 bucks for styrofoam per box you might reconsider.

just trying to help :grinno:
jordan

[msjinkzd]

I could just start charging a box fee (or additional shipping) to cover purchasing them. I already do styros and heat packs for free, but lose money all winter long. Most people who get them, don't ship and won't need them. I do. If someone is willing to send them back for me to send out again, why not? I can easily spend 8-10 hours a week making my own styros or spend about $5 a box in purchasing them. If someone is will to send them back for what it costs me to buy them, why not reuse them?

[theemon]

on this note, have u ever went to right-aid and asked for there stro containers? people with insulin get it shipped in stro boxes, this old lady i know collects them ALL from her building for me, i get about 10 a month.
also my lfs gives away huge stro boxes for free, i just cut them down to size.
all these ways are free, just trying to help out

[XanAvaloni]

Love the concept but gotta say mjordan is right about the execution. Paying to send air across country is more energy-consumptive than landfilling a biodegradable (cardboard) and recyclable (styrofoam/plastic) resource.

The idea should be to encourage sending the box forward, not back. Maybe offer a discount of $1/box received on next order out. If I have received 3 shipments from you (which in fact is close to accurate) I say on next order "Please give $3 off for previous boxes recycled."

It can be that casual, or as formal as "I used 1 box to send plants to A, one to send endlers to B, and 1 to send a birthday present (china teacup) to my sister" and you knock $3 off the total cost of order.

Seems to me it could be minimal paperwork/documentation on anybody's part, yours or the customers. I imagine you have a good mental running total on how many orders you've sent to anybody here. Maybe not precise to the item but in general: if I ask for $17 off and you remember sending me stuff 5 times you can require documentation as noted above. Should be easy enough to find in Marketplace ratings if a neutral umpire is required.

Just a thought. :)

[theemon]

xan, shes doing it to get the strofoam back. ++ theres no real good way to keep track of thousands of people and orders

[msjinkzd]

and when I get them back, I reuse them. I am not going to give discounts for someone doing something they should be anyway-reusing a resource unless it also benefits me.

Its mainly for those who DON"T have a use for them. For those folks, I want them back if they feel like doing it.

I know many folks have told me they just toss them. I get in tons of the large size fish boxes from my imports. Cutting them down is not time effective for me. I will just make my own or continue to get them back from those that are willing.



Non-Biodegradable

Styrofoam is non-biodegradable and non-recyclable. According to Washington University, Styrofoam takes 500 years to decompose; it cannot be recycled, so the Styrofoam cups dumped in landfills are there to stay. With enough Styrofoam cups produced each day to circle the earth if lined up end to end, the potential for major ecological impact is great.
Pollutants

Styrene leaches into foods and drinks served in Styrofoam containers, and according to the Earth Resource Foundation, the manufacture of Styrofoam releases large amounts of ozone into the atmosphere, causing respiratory and environmental issues. In addition, with billions of Styrofoam cups used yearly in convenience stores, restaurants and lunchrooms ending up in landfills, some cities have banned the use of Styrofoam.
Landfills

Styrofoam and Styrofoam products fill up 30 percent of our landfill space, and landfills are fast becoming full. A Recycling Revolution reports that packaging material makes up one-third of an average dump. The U.S. is the biggest trash producer in the world, filling America's landfills at an alarming rate. Five percent of the world's population generate 40 percent of the world's trash. On average, each one of us puts out about 5 pounds of trash a day. This adds up to about a ton of trash per person every year that eventually ends up in a landfill.


Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/159954-facts-about-landfill-styrofoam/#ixzz192HrudOx

I am not buying that the fuel used to send it back to me is worse than the potential of it taking 500 years or so to breakdown in a landfill. It may not be practical for everyone, but I will continue to offer a $5 discount for anyone who takes the time to mail them back to me.

Also, I have mailed out over 2000 boxes this year, I am not going to track what each customer does with their styros. People would take advantage of me anyway in order to get discounts. For me rigth now, its worth it to offer the discount. You are more than willing to not partake. Another thing, alot of times I get back the styros flat packed in a first class envelope. I have only gotten maybe 3 of the pre-formed styros back. For the most part, when I get those back, they are filled with something from the buyer.

Feel free to not take part in this should you disagree, but you have not convinced me at all that its a bad thing to offer. I guess I could jump in my car and drive 20 miles to the hardware store to by MORE styrofoam to make more styros or spend a day driving around town picking up styros from stores ;) See where am I going with this? I encourage people to send them first class, its cheap and it fulfills the purpose.

[msjinkzd]

on this note, have u ever went to right-aid and asked for there stro containers? people with insulin get it shipped in stro boxes, this old lady i know collects them ALL from her building for me, i get about 10 a month.
also my lfs gives away huge stro boxes for free, i just cut them down to size.
all these ways are free, just trying to help out


I do get styros from dr's office and drugstores as well. They are eager to spare teh room in their dumpster.




Also for reference, styro cost about $100 for 20 if you buy the good ones. That is often WITHOUT the cardboard and does not include the shipping charges. I use anywhere from 10-40 a week.

[The Zigman]

I try to re-use as many as possible..

I was going to do the same exact thing, but I dont ship that often...


...yet.

[theemon]

thats smart to have people "alot of times I get back the styros flat packed in a first class envelope." i bet its cheap to ship that way too

[msjinkzd]

It costs less than a dollar I believe or about there. Also, even with teh full styros, they can be shipped parcel post for a fraction of the cost.


Keep in mind, they are not being couriered so they are on trucks that are traveling anyway, lol.

[XanAvaloni]

ok, thanks for the clarification...I didn't get that you want JUST the styro pieces back, thought you meant with the box they were originally cut for. That makes more sense. :)

and likewise thanks for the data on styrofoam and recycling. Thought I head read someplace years back that they had found a way to break it down. Being young and not so politically aware in those days I did not realize this was probably some cynical bit of lying from a PR firm in the employ of D*P*nt. :)