Shipping Rates Update

We use the US Postal Service for all our shipping. (Go USPS!) A couple of weeks ago, you may have noticed that they raised their rates - we've had to change our shipping rates accordingly.

What's the main change? For the US? Nothing - the rates stayed similar enough that if you live in the United States, shipping costs the same as it ever did. If you live outside the US and love our lollipops, read on!

Outside the US, it turns out that a lot of our additional package shipping costs have actually fallen. The cost to ship the first pack of lollipops has risen a bit, but if you buy more than one pack at a time, you shouldn't notice any difference. In fact, order enough of them and you might be paying less than you would have before. :)

And, if you live in Mexico? We've figured out that it makes sense for Mexico to have its own shipping rates. (I think we've only ever shipped one package to Mexico, but that's no reason to overcharge any future orders.)

Here are the nitty-gritty details:

Orders within the United States:

• The shipping & handling rates haven’t changed
• Lollipop collections (such as Adventurer’s Pack) cost $3.50 shipping & handling for the first one, $1.50 for each additional
• Lollipops by the dozen (such as Black Pepper Melon) cost $5 shipping & handling for the first one, $2 for each additional

Orders to Canada:

• Lollipop collections (such as Celebration Time) cost $5 shipping & handling for the first one, $1 for each additional
• Lollipops by the dozen (such as Root Beer Float) cost $5.50 shipping & handling for the first one, $2 for each additional

Orders to Mexico:

• Lollipop collections (such as Spice Rack) cost $8 shipping & handling for the first one, $1 for each additional
• Lollipops by the dozen (such as Nutmeg Crème) cost $9 shipping & handling for the first one, $2 for each additional

Orders everywhere else worldwide:

• Lollipop collections (such as Fruit Basket) cost $10 shipping & handling for the first one, $1 for each additional
• Lollipops by the dozen (such as Triple Berry) cost $11 shipping & handling for the first one, $2 for each additional

The bottom line is, it’s more economical to ship multiple bags of candy, especially if you’re an international customer. The additional postage is for incremental increases to the package weight makes it relatively inexpensive to add more candy to your order.

So what are you waiting for? Buy some charming candy today, because you deserve a ten minute treat :-)

Eye Candy: Hipster Star Wars

photo from wooszoo's etsy shop

I am totally in love with hipster Star Wars (and other movies) characters. Particularly outdoor-style Chewy.

Valentine's Day

photo by Becca Bond Photography

This is just a heads up that you have slightly less than 2 weeks to order your Valentine's Day lollipops. If you want hearts, you can go for our Sweet Valentine collection. If you want HOT NEON PINK, may I suggest our Bubble Gum lollipops? Or, you know, just head over to our Etsy shop to get your favorite flavor! We're easy that way.

(Psst.... This might be the time to point out that we still have a few Greatest Hits lollipop collections for sale for 25% off.)

Fluevog Shoes, Calgary Edition

Fluevog shoes are awesome. Just in case you didn't know. :) This is a picture of their Calgary store.

photo provided by Fluevog

In their Calgary store, they have a vending machine full of unique products you wouldn't normally find in a vending machine. Including, down in that lower right hand corner, our Adventurer's Pack lollipops!

photo provided by Fluevog

If you're in Calgary, I'd encourage you to check it out. (You can see their short blog post about us here.)

Watermelon-Basil, OMG

photo by Kevin Keeker

One surprise break-out hit of the December craft season was Watermelon-Basil. It sold on par with Salted Caramel, and that just doesn't happen. So, is Watermelon-Basil the next Salted Caramel? Only time will tell!

Sunday in the Lollipop Mines

photo by Susan Dziadosz

Susan's in the kitchen (aka the lollipop mines, sometimes shortened to the mines). Guess which flavors will be back in stock soon?

Eye Candy: Skiing Seattle

Seattle got a pretty major (for it) snowstorm this week. (And honestly, freezing rain on top of snow that's melted and re-frozen and then gotten more snow on top of it? Is pretty terrible no matter where you live. Let alone some place with big hills and little snow-clearing equipment.) YouTube user amnesiakdotcom made this awesome video of skiing through the streets and set it to USE's Emerald City. The last 30 seconds of the video are the best.

Good Customer Service

It’s January and we are stocking up on supplies for 2012; among them, food coloring. I ordered a bunch of colors from a vendor we hadn’t ordered from before: Cook’s Dream (although their site logo also says UltimateBaker.com, which is a little confusing…)

My order shipped really quickly but had one error. A bottle of Electric Purple was mislabeled with a Gold sticker dot on its lid. Someone understandably grabbed this bottle when intending to pack the Gold coloring I ordered.

photo by Susan Dziadosz

I contacted Customer service and offered to send back this bottle in exchange for the correct one. To my delight, they said not to bother sending this one back, and that they’d ship out the bottle of Gold color right away.

That’s pretty much customer service on par with Zappo’s and Nordstrom. Thanks, Cook’s Dream!