Does Marine Depot allow customer pick up of livestock?

[pbs911]

I am 15 minutes away from MD. I really appreciate the ability to order hardgoods over the phone and pick up a few hours later.

Can I do this with livestock? With my LR it had to be shipped, but I would like to see the livestock purchased.

[MarineDepot]

Hello,
Thanks for your inquiry.
Unfortunately, Marine Depot Live does not allow will call orders. Any livestock order must be shipped out. Marine Depot Live is also at a different location near LAX.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Marine Depot Customer Service.
http://www.marinedepot.com

[thaoctopus]

How about the store near LAX? I live in Redondo Beach, about 10min. from LAX and can drive to your OC store.

[MarineDepot]

For the time being, we do not have any livestock will calls at either our Anaheim or LAX warehouses. If and when this changes, we will post a sticky thead here to announce it.

[thaoctopus]

alright, one more question: If I live 10min. from LAX, would shipping be considerably less?

[golfish]

Originally posted by MarineDepot
For the time being, we do not have any livestock will calls at either our Anaheim or LAX warehouses.

This has to change. Its great to deal with MD but not allowing "will calls" pretty much leaves So Cal reefers high and dry. It makes more sense for me to to ask my LFS to get the stuff then to get it from you.

[thaoctopus]

I agree golfish. I understand that the landlord may frown upon visitors, but at least work with the locals with the shipping rates.

[GTR]

I was told by MDL that everything must ship Next Day Air even if ground service is the same as Next Day Air as it is in most of Southern California. They must own stock in Fed Ex.:D

Steve U

[JellyTheory]

On another note: It would be great if they allowed their customers to pick up drygoods on weekends. A year or two ago, they did. But for some reason they changed their policy. Maybe they got to big to care about the extra business on weekends. I need to get some VHO bulbs for my tank and would prefer not to pay even extra shipping because they are bulbs when I live 35 min away. But due to my work schedule it's almost impossible to pick stuff up on week days. I would figure they would have more than one employee taking orders on Saturdays that could spend 5 minutes away from the phone to give a customer their pre-payed for and pre-boxed order if we take the time to drive down there. Lord knows I spend enough money with you guys. It seems like there is no real benefit for living local and ordering all of my reef stuff from you guys.

Are you guys planning on changing this rule anytime soon?

-Chris

[MarineDepot]

It is hard to understand all the reasoning behind any given decision as there is always a lot of research and participation, but I would imagine the last thing any business would want to do is turn away business. Usually, the only times I have seen us do that is if a customer insults one of us, uses profanity, or tosses out a racial or sexual comment. Part of the reasoning MarineDepot does not do will-calls on the weekends is the direct opposite of what you have said. One of our business philosophies is if you can't do it right, don't do it. Without having at least a half staff, we could not do it right. Back when we were doing it, there were many instances where people waited 15 or 30 minutes or more. That was inconsistent with the rest of our business model. Furthermore, MarineDepot is also sensitive to employee needs. Many of us work 10-12 hour days. Working saturdays spell divorce. Believe me, I hate having to explain to anybody that we aren't open for will-calls on Saturday. However, after 50-55 hours of helping my customers, I'm gonna have to pick having Saturdays off :-).

[JellyTheory]

Thanks for responding. If I'm not mistaken, you guys already have employees working on Saturdays taking phone calls not more than 20 feet away from the pick up window. I just think it would be great customer service for your local customers (who are willing to drive down there) to let them pick up orders on weekends. The alternative for me, is taking off over a half days worth of work to fight traffic in the San Bernadino, Orange, and LA area to drive down there, pick up an order, and then drive to work. :( I'm sure I'm not the only one that would/could benefit from being to pick up orders on Saturdays (even MD would more than likely benefit due to more orders being placed). Other options are, I can pay to ship 3 72" bulbs 30 miles (don't forget the extra boxing fee) or find a place locally that is open on Saturdays and willing to overcharge me to buy it. :(

Just so there's no confusion, I have preferred to give my reefing business to Marine Depot in the past and plan on doing so in the future as well. I just think the no will-call on Saturdays policy stinks though. :(

-Chris

[MarineDepot]

No question on the policy stinking.

I just remembered something. There are no people from accounting and order processing in on Saturdays. More importantly, the warehouse is unstaffed and closed. The only folks that are in are CSRs for taking the phones.

Still, I do see this policy changing with time.

[JellyTheory]

Yeah, I kinda knew you guys ran a skeleton crew on Saturdays (good for the staff and their families :) ). I wouldn't expect to place an order and pick it up on Saturday. But, if an order were placed on a Friday (like right now :D ), paid for (with a CC), then boxed by the warehouse staff working right now, it could effectively be waiting by the pick up window for pick up on Saturday, signed by the recipient (to show it was picked up), and be done with. :) MD wouldn't have to employ any extra bodies on weekends because it would take less time than a smoking break to give the customer the goods and let them be on their way to take care of their weekend reefing project. ;) Hopefully the policy will be changed back (to what it once was) sometime soon. :D

Thanks for taking my thoughts into consideration.


-Chris