Attn. MANN LAKE shoppers

[Grant]

I ordered 400, unassembled, select medium frames at $67.50 per hundred with free shipping. They weighed a ton. I was grateful.

With this discussion going on, I went to their catalog to check their pricing on paid shipping. They don't list select frames but did list the commercial grade, unassembled frames at 66 cents each in units of 100.

Seems like I got my shipping for free (?)

Grant
Jackson, MO

[green2btree]

I ordered and received some un-assembled deeps from them recently. I went to put some together last night and found that they will not go together. The cuts are 3/16" of an inch off on some of the pieces. I could trim, I guess but I will be left with a 3/16" gap when stacking hive bodies and gaps in the joins themselves. I am going to call Mann Lake and see what they are willing to do.

JC

[Risky Beesness]

I just ordered and received my 1st two hives from Mann Lake. I priced the same equipment from several different major suppliers. They were about $20 cheaper than Mann Lake but around $175 shipping on a $500 order. Mann Lake offered free shipping. It was 5 packages for a total of 178 lbs.

I place the order on Sun 1/2 and received it on Fri 1/7. They mistakenly shipped it to my billing address instead of my shipping address. I notified them on 1/5, and they were able to change the delivery location with UPS, It was delivered to the correct address on the original delivery date.

[green2btree]

Update: After e-mailing them a couple of pictures of the box joints on the hives that wouldn't fit together, Mann Lake replaced the miss-cut hive bodies for me free of charge. The new ones are just fine.

JC

[jip]

Yup, same thing happened on my last order. Replacements were good.
Also, going to ship two economy bee suits to them tomorrow for replacement. The zipper handle broke off.

[adam@azapiaries]

I got a quote via email from Mann lake for 2000 sheets of unwaxed deep foundation. When they were justifying being $0.05 higher than Dadant they said that I needed to remember that they would ship it for free. I called the next day (Friday)and placed the order. They called today and said that the free shipping did not apply for unwaxed foundation! When I asked why, they said that "it actualy costs more to produce unwaxed than waxed". I asked what that had to do with shipping and why then do they charge a lot more for the waxed foundation. He said it was because of the process and said that it would cost me $250 to ship. Does this sound confusing? Has any on else had this problem? Needless to say, I canceled the order and ordered from Dadant.

[KevinR]

I ordered 200 sheets of waxed ritecell.. It was free shipping. Placed order on last Tuesday, got it by Friday.

I've never ordered unwaxed, but I don't know why it costs more than waxed. Unless, they don't do the waxing.

*shrugs*

[adam@azapiaries]

I don't know why either,especialy when they emailed a quote that included free shipping. Sounds like bait and switch. I buy thousands of dollars of supplies each year, but I'm betting it wont be from them any more. Adam

[jim lyon]

Not really sure why Mann Lake continues to play these games. I suggest you have them price items to you first with the "free" shipping and then with their best cash price plus their best shipping rate and see which is better. Just placed a large woodenware order with Dadants and got a good price and incredible freight rate for delivery directly out of Polson.

[fat/beeman]

I have bought from them in past but I tend to shop best prices and try to get free shipping.wooden ware is heavy so I buy at end of season or buy a pallet of stock some times its#2or#3
I be cheap======thrifty
Don

[ACBEES]

waxed foundation should cost more to ship because of the extra weight. It should cost more to make because of the cost of waxing. Unwaxed foundation costs less to make and weighs less. Therefore Mann Lake was blowing smoke up your dress. I buy my foundation from Pierco. If I buy unwaxed they charge me less for both the foundation and the shipping. My experience with Mann Lake is cheap price means cheap quality. Bought a large bee smoker from them, after the first week the hinge broke on the top. Bought an extractor from them. The reel was messed up and would not take a medium pierco frame. Had to cut the frame notches so the pierco frames would fit. Then when spinning, sometimes frames would fly out. A lot of the equipment they sell is made off shore and is poor quality. Their stainless steel is so thin you can almost read a paper through it.

[NorthernIllinoisPlumber]

I placed an order on Sunday via the computer, arrived today. I compared prices to others and they seemed about the same.

[Solomon Parker]

If you are conscious of such things, another item to take into account when ordering from Mann Lake is that they are employee owned.

[Solomon Parker]

Their stainless steel is so thin you can almost read a paper through it.

That's a bit over the line.

[TheCompound]

I just ordered materials for my first two hives from Mann Lake. I was going to order most of the items from Dadant, but the shipping charges were going to be crazy! I found similar prices on items from both (unassembled supers/frames) so I ordered from Mann Lake and save over $100 in shipping.

I ordered late in the day on Friday via their website and everything was delivered the following Tuesday (during a blizzard no less!) Everything looked good with the exception of a corner being broken on one 6-5/8 super side panel. I emailed them today for a replacement. Provided they send one promptly, I'm very happy with my purchase.

[TheCompound]

I also ordered two screened bottom boards and some foundation from Dadnt at the same time. They're charging me $39.48 in shipping based on an item weight of 39.5 lbs. That seems unreasonably high to me. I received an email saying that the items should be delivered on 2/3/11 (two days later than Mann Lake) and that the weight of the items totaled 38.7 lbs. However, if I click on the link and look at the actual UPS package tracking info, UPS has the weight at 26.9 lbs. That's a pretty big weight descrepency. Especially since Dadant is charging based on weight.

Has anyone else run into this?

[TheCompound]

Mann Lake sent the replacement board and I received it the next day. Still haven't received the original order from Dadant, but the UPS site says it should be delivered today. Very impressed with Mann Lakes shipping via Spee-Dee delivery!

[HONEYDEW]

Still great customer service, ordered 4 large items 2 where in stock 2 back ordered and instead of waiting till everything got in they shipped them to me as they got them and didn't charge me till they shipped, and still got it all within 3 weeks..

[Sundance]

Spee-Dee delivery is a huge plus for those of us
in the upper midwest. Fast...... and less money
than the brown guys.

If you are ever in the Hackensack Minnesota area,
their operation is impressive. And nestled in a fantastic
area to vacation.

I only wish they handled Jester Bees - EZ Nuc boxes
and not those awful cardboard ones.

[DeeAnna]

"...That's a pretty big weight descrepency...."

You ordered some lightweight, but fairly bulky items, which probably incurred a "dimensional weight" charge. --DeeAnna