[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by Ccass

As you say, I guess we'll have to wait and see. However, we can take the pessimistic 'guilty until proven innocent' approach or take a positive stance. Generally, there's been a bit of a pessimistic view taken of our hobby as of late. Not so much because of the merger. Maybe because of the economy? Maybe we're all just getting old and a little cranky? ;) I don't know the reasons but I submit that there is an awful lot in our hobby to be both happy and thankful about. I see no reason for the pessimism and rather I DO see problems that can be caused by the pessimism.

Currently, you now have not one but two recently competitive owners, actively listening and responding to customer's concerns.

I'd take the optimistic approach for now. :)

I've noticed it too and I'm with you there Chris. Granted, we all can get pessimistic about things from time to time. I certainly do but generally speaking, I make a concious effort to be a 'glass half full' kind of guy. I love the fact that I can browse a catalog and get anything from a clip nut to a trunk pan for a 50 year old Pontiac.

[nhpontiac72]

Well said Chris. We add 500 plus new products each year to our catalog. It is amazing the parts that are currently available compared to twenty years ago.The parts car from yesterday is now a viable restoration project mainly due to the abundance of reproduction parts available. Granted not all parts available are good quality. Ames tries to educate the customer through extensive catalog notes and giving options by carrying multiple quality levels for a part when available. In some cases we note in our catalog use as a last resort. Not many if any companies would do this and discourage a sale. We are end users as well and know how important it is knowing what to expect when the part arrives at your door. Many times Customers have told us that the part wasn't as bad as we described it. I guess we may be over critical:) Through our manufacturing company we are are doing new 100% correct reproductions of low quality parts currently on the market. A couple examples are the nylon vent tube connectors, the throttle return springs, the washer bottle caps just to name a few. I know Chris at Max Performance is also doing the same refining the quality of parts available. We both have manufacturers that are top notch. We won't settle. It's not uncommon for us to go back and forth several times before approving a final sample. Unfortunately not all manufacturers practice this.

[nhpontiac72]

6TEE8GTO Thank you for your input. We are looking into Shipworks and also USPS. USPS has stepped it up offering tracking and honoring damage claims. In the past this was a big an issue for us. It is definitely time to revisit our options. Again thanks for the suggestions.

[Held for Ransom]

nhpontiac, why am I getting a certificate error when I visit the Ames site?

[Ccass]

Originally Posted by Held for Ransom

nhpontiac, why am I getting a certificate error when I visit the Ames site?

HFR, you are a seasoned pro on these forums. Why are you asking a sponsor about a technical problem with the forums? ;)

There's several topics that cover this problem and several others. When we moved the forums, it caused a few problems. At the same time, we lost DM_FAN as our Technical administrator. We're in the process of contracting with a new Admin to solve a few glitches that we can't. Give us another week or so.

[Held for Ransom]

Chris, the problem I mentioned has nothing to do with this site but rather Ames Performance's site. Their security certificate is off, out of date or something. Which is why I addressed Kevin.

[nhpontiac72]

Held for Ransom I checked with our IT guy certificates on and up to date. Have you tried different links? If you are still experiencing problems please call us and talk to Jim Treat he is our IT person.

[Ccass]

Originally Posted by Held for Ransom

Chris, the problem I mentioned has nothing to do with this site but rather Ames Performance's site. Their security certificate is off, out of date or something. Which is why I addressed Kevin.

So sorry. :( Doing a lot of speed reading lately.

[6TEE8GTO]

Originally Posted by nhpontiac72

6TEE8GTO Thank you for your input. We are looking into Shipworks and also USPS. USPS has stepped it up offering tracking and honoring damage claims. In the past this was a big an issue for us. It is definitely time to revisit our options. Again thanks for the suggestions.

You are most welcome! If you don't see your webstore software listed as compatible with shipworks, they offer a generic module that can be configured with almost any ecommerce software. Hope it works out for you, it could prove to be a nice addition to your business. :)

[6 Grrrs]

Originally Posted by 6TEE8GTO

It's probably somewhat off-topic, but it is worth mentioning. Our FedEx rep took my wife and I out to dinner and wanted to know why our volume has dropped like a rock with them, and I told her straight-up: You guys have shot yourselves in the foot with this "demensional weight" thing and you might want to re-think this policy. We are able to save our customers and ourselves a lot of money with USPS. We went from filling a full FedEx truck every day to only a 1/4 full, and now USPS sends TWO trucks to our dock daily, plus we are getting a better discount on our commercial USPS rates due to the high volume. Hopefully this is happening to them on a national scale and they decide to change this cash-grab policy they decided to force on businesses...

I work (17 years) in the postal and shipping business (I'm in the Service Dept, not Sales). Our core business is postage meters and mailroom equipment, so I know the USPS pretty well. We offer multi carrier shipping systems and software packages as well as high end full logistics packages.

I've heard from our multi carrier shipping customers that both UPS and FedEx went to the dimensional rating because they previously filled their trucks to size limit with small, lightweight packages and the trucks never meet the weight limit they are designed for. They want the trucks at max 'weight' capacity and this is how they will do it. So now it will cost more for a smaller lighter package thru these two carriers.

When I first saw the announcement, I thought they were just handing that business to USPS. With the USPS adding tracking and scanning to every letter carrier, they will do a better job delivering these small packages AND they don't add fuel surcharges or charge more for rural delivery. Also the USPS delivers on Saturday at no extra charge.

It is a big pain in the a$$ for folks who don't understand the USPS's Priority Flat Rate vs Priority and Retail vs Commercial Base or Commercial Plus pricing, but the USPS must have known the other carriers were going to do this at some point and has been preparing for this. The USPS will get much better at delivery (already leaps ahead of their package handling only a few years ago). Any shipper who is not using all available carriers seriously needs to look at their logistics and make changes.

[6TEE8GTO]

Originally Posted by 6 Grrrs

I work (17 years) in the postal and shipping business (I'm in the Service Dept, not Sales). Our core business is postage meters and mailroom equipment, so I know the USPS pretty well. We offer multi carrier shipping systems and software packages as well as high end full logistics packages.

I've heard from our multi carrier shipping customers that both UPS and FedEx went to the dimensional rating because they previously filled their trucks to size limit with small, lightweight packages and the trucks never meet the weight limit they are designed for. They want the trucks at max 'weight' capacity and this is how they will do it. So now it will cost more for a smaller lighter package thru these two carriers.

When I first saw the announcement, I thought they were just handing that business to USPS. With the USPS adding tracking and scanning to every letter carrier, they will do a better job delivering these small packages AND they don't add fuel surcharges or charge more for rural delivery. Also the USPS delivers on Saturday at no extra charge.

It is a big pain in the a$$ for folks who don't understand the USPS's Priority Flat Rate vs Priority and Retail vs Commercial Base or Commercial Plus pricing, but the USPS must have known the other carriers were going to do this at some point and has been preparing for this. The USPS will get much better at delivery (already leaps ahead of their package handling only a few years ago). Any shipper who is not using all available carriers seriously needs to look at their logistics and make changes.

It's good to be able to talk to other people in the business. What our rep told us was the opposite- that the reason they went with the new weight systems was because many shippers were putting small items in way too large of a box and taking up space in the trucks, so they went with this new system to "force businesses to pay better attention to the size of the package relative to the size of the items being put in them"

I think she could sell ice cubes to Eskimos...

As far as the USPS, we are fairly high volume (We do about 100 packages per day USPS) and they rarely screw up. We also provide "transit maps" to our customers that show estimated delivery times. USPS has been a nice addition to our offerings. Stamps.com also recently bought out Shipworks and have better commercial pricing than Express1 and Endicia, who both were options in the Shipworks interface. We ran into a little issue with labels not printing correctly and it was a minor issue with an update to the Elton printer drivers, and now we are making on average an extra .50 to $1 on small packages with the price to the customer staying below $6.00 per package... Shipworks is an excellent program, our warehouse people see the orders on a screen almost like a McDonald's and go line by line filling the orders. We have it programmed to tell them the bin location of the item if they don't already know where to find it, the system prints a packing slip and label and notifies the customer with the tracking and clears the shipment out of the PENDING status. We even have the carriers separated by priority, if it's a FedEx Express package it goes to the top and is highlighted for top priority. Great system for medium-large business...

[Paul Spotts]

What a lot of consumers do not realize is, companies loose money on small item purchases.
When you place an order, it is handled by several people who get paid. Sales person, book keeping and shipping personnel. If you break down the employee rate, the other overhead costs of the business (rent, mortgage, electric, heat, insurance, etc) and break all this down in time, small purchases are harmful in business. I studied this several years ago and changed my order minimum to $20.00 - and I'm 1 person doing all that work! I end up paying myself $4 an hour.
Many people that are getting something small, do not want to pay a lot, when in fact it costs the business to actually ship the product the same as, say, a $100 order.

As for Ames with quality, you won't find a better company in the Pointiac parts world. I've been around since day 1 in this hobby. Kevin has continued what Steve started with bringing in better items and actually testing them. Same with the Max Perf crew. What most people do not realize is to make a part OE - the tooling can be so out of reach in today's dollars, it isn't feasible to reproduce. OE made 10's of thousands of 1 item that had to fit in quick production/assembling - the repro market does not. So the same molds and stamps etc, can't be used in most cases. Its also not legal or safe to make some of the items like OE.

I'm with most of you and can't stand some of the parts out there. Its frustrating. We are also trying to restore/build better then ever before (for most people).
I'm currently building a 69 Firebird and half of the items I'm using are having issues.
That is also aftermarket race items as well - but that's another story.
I think many people are getting frustrated. The last person to want to hear it is the parts salesman - their hands are tied. But they are the ones the consumer wants to talk to.
I think I paid my body guy $800 to $1000 in labor to "fix" the new quarter panels as an example. The rear bumper didn't fit well, the rear spoiler needed 7 to 10 hours to make smooth and fix, the rear tail emblems where chromed to thick to allow the provided speed nuts to work, the cheaper emblem studs simply pulled off - and that's just the back of the car! I wish I had the manufactures of the items with me when installing the items! None of those items were made by Max or Ames, and some were US made, but gives you an idea what consumers "really" pay for the parts when labor is added in.
My body guy says it best - I expect problems and fix them. Its better then dealing with original rusted and unknown sheet metal, or searching for over priced NOS.

[tiacguy]

What a lot of consumers do not realize is, companies loose money on small item purchases.
When you place an order, it is handled by several people who get paid. Sales person, book keeping and shipping personnel. If you break down the employee rate, the other overhead costs of the business (rent, mortgage, electric, heat, insurance, etc) and break all this down in time, small purchases are harmful in business. I studied this several years ago and changed my order minimum to $20.00 - and I'm 1 person doing all that work! I end up paying myself $4 an hour.
Many people that are getting something small, do not want to pay a lot, when in fact it costs the business to actually ship the product the same as, say, a $100 order.

This is why there are so many vendors operating out of a small room in the basement beating you guys up LOL. They pull from the same suppliers,warehouses drop ship everything from a warehouse as close to the customer as possible and stock nothing and have little to no overhead. They operate on volume. Their glad for the small package customer. I can buy something from California and it arrives in two days from a warehouse in New York. I used Summit for all my racing parts for years. Now with the internet I havent bought from them in years. The bigger they became the higher their prices went. I use Bonehead performance a small business with better prices and free shipping. Contrary to belief bigger is not always better. Scott

[GT182]

What I don't like is paying for shipping by UPS or FedEx and end up with the USPS delivering it. Priority mail for small parts able to be shipped that way is fairer than being charged high rates. And you get the package faster seeing UPS and FedEx don't deliver on Saturdays.... but the Post Office does.

[67gtospud]

I have to agree that for the most part the shipping prices are just stupid. I put together an order of only trim clips that I need for my 67 GTO. Order total comes to about $155. $24 to ship is just stupid for a bunch of clips that could fit in a 6x6x6 box. I even called to see if they could cut the shipping cost down and they told me no.

I like ordering from Ames but this is an order they probably won't be getting. Such a shame a great company is tearing itself down because of its outdated shipping policies.

[GT182]

I've always said "shipping and handling" is a scam. No matter who does the "shipping and handling".

[Formulabruce]

UPS and Fed ex BOTH will deliver to a local post office to have your package delivered by a local Postal worker.
The USPS doesnt FLY, but UPS and fed ex DO, so you can, and will get RE Labeled Items delivered. UPS flies the express mail etc...
USPS priority and express boxes are free and delivered free, ordered online. Flat Rate Priority box seems best value now that each delivery unit has a scanner. These same delivery folks can and do Pick ups that are ready to ship and just need a scan. All ya need is a scale and a printer, and account with USPS.
I get UPS shipped items all the time with a USPS label on them generated at the local post office, when UPS dropped it there with many others.

[GT182]

Originally Posted by 6TEE8GTO

There may be some growing pains for them with the PY merger, as well as dealing with this collusion between FedEx and UPS. I would suggest they change their shipping model, or else people will look to other sources if they possibly can.... Not intending to step on any toes, it's just that I happen to be in this business (we do not sell automotive parts) and how you choose to price your shipping can have a tremendous impact on your business....

I as well as others have to agree on this. But here's one thing I've found out about FedEx and UPS. They are both now shipping and handing packages off to USPS to deliver for them. Shows up right in their Tracking. So why are suppliers even shipping with either one? Why not just ship with USPS for smaller parts that aren't so big and being shipped via UPS and FedEx now. One trip a day to the USPS should work to send these small packages of to customers. It could save both ends of the line a lot of grief and bickering about costs.

[Formulabruce]

Originally Posted by GT182

I as well as others have to agree on this. But here's one thing I've found out about FedEx and UPS. They are both now shipping and handing packages off to USPS to deliver for them. Shows up right in their Tracking. So why are suppliers even shipping with either one? Why not just ship with USPS for smaller parts that aren't so big and being shipped via UPS and FedEx now. One trip a day to the USPS should work to send these small packages of to customers. It could save both ends of the line a lot of grief and bickering about costs.

Did you read my post just above here?
UPS, FEDEX Got JETS.....its that simple...

[rohrt]

Just placed an online order. Plug wires and a couple small parts. I have to say the $18 shipping charge was shock.

I read through this whole post. If that is the price of keeping Pontiac parts available then it is what it is. I can't say I was very happy to not even see a shipping cost or any option until I placed the order.

I think Amazon Prime membership has spoiled me.