Hey, I have a question for y’all. I visited Granpas Orchard online, and they have a lot of trees that I’d like. So, for grins, I put a few trees in their shopping cart, just to see what their shipping charges run. I put a couple trees in the cart, selected UPS shipping, and my zip code, and the shipping fees were $46?!?! I live in NE KY, about 350mi from their location in west MI.
That is outrageous for just a few trees. So, I thought well, lemme check how many 6 trees cost, and it was $54 for shipping. They might be the highest of any site I’ve visited.
Have they always had high shipping fees? There are some trees that I’d really like to have, but I’m not paying that much to ship them. That’s the cost of two trees.
I notice they sell nice thick caliper trees, at relatively low prices, so I wonder if they’re making it up in mailing them out. Anyone have any experience with their products? Good rootball, feathered, etc?
Yes that’s high for shipping. That’s a pet peave of mine too. You have to look at the overall cost including trees, shipping , and handling. Low shipping costs always catch my attention but if the shipping is low but the prices are high then it’s a wash. I like when a company provides free shipping when you reach a certain amount of spending. For instance, order over $75 ship free.
Subdood, I ran into the same issue a couple of weeks ago getting quoted $46 to ship one pear tree. I emailed Grandpa’s and was told, as a small operation, they had no control over shipping cost. I ordered a few pears 2 years ago from them and did not pay nearly that much. I currently have a 6 tree order now with Raintree and the shipping is like $30. It’s a shame, Grandpa’s does offer a quality product, they need to find another shipper.
Yeah, it’s too bad, maybe if they just used USPS, their fees would drop, IDK… I have a preliminary order with Cummins for just 4 trees, and they’re only charging about $23, but when I added a stone fruit like a peach or apricot, it jumps up to $30. Don’t know why that is, is it because stone fruit have to be shipped differently?
I also am about to order 4 trees from Bay Laurel, and they charge $28 min or $6.50/tree east of the Miss. Very reasonable considering its about a 2k distance.
I understand they won’t ship after the first of March, so I hope the ground won’t be frozen that early. But, it’s been a pretty warm winter, so I ought to be able to get them in the ground next month.
I’ve got several trees from Grandpa’s in the past. I seem to remember all of them being larger than normal. The biggest tree I’ve ever received bare root in the mail was a Kaga plum from them. When I stop and think about it, their trees have consistently had the largest root system from nurseries I’ve ordered from.
Grandpa’s delivers the best trees I ever saw, I agree. Also the best packed too, I guess you have to pay for it. Also it was a breeze writing them what happened when my White Gold Cherry just died after leafing out. It did, it just wilted and died. They replaced it for free, the next season and it’s a gorgeous tree. Third leaf now.
Too bad about the shipping, maybe it will be better next year? That is high. It might be because of the size of the trees?
I planted trees here from Bay Laurel, you should be fine. They butcher the roots, but trees are otherwise nice from them.
I ordered 21 apple trees from them in 2015 but I went and picked them up so I do not know what shipping would have been. I picked them up because of the way they chop them up to ship and I was planting tall spindle so I wanted all the branches to stay intact, when I arrived to pick them up that was not the case and they had all the branches pulled up like you would get a christmas tree wrapped and tied. They were all a mess of broken branches.
They do have a very thought out and nice website though.
All of the trees are doing well but I lost one about 2 months after planting they replaced it no problem.
Needless to say, I won’t do business with them again.
Last year I ordered three trees from Grandpa’s - shipping was $95.73. Shipping to Alaska is generally pricey, but I never paid that much anywhere else. One tree was a wrong variety which won’t ripen here (Grandpa refunded), and the other died within a couple months, so my shipping cost was really for one tree. No, didn’t order from them this year.
@mamuang recommended that I check out Schlabach’s nursery catalog and I just got my catalog today. Their shipping is very reasonable. See attached. Fruit tree prices are reasonable too. Apple trees $16, peach/pear $18. So you can get 3 apple trees shipped for $25 ($15 shipping and $10 box charge) which is the cheapest shipping I’ve found so far. I can’t speak for the quality of the trees as I haven’t ordered from them yet.
I’ll send in my first order in a day or two.
Their trees are fine. I ordered from them a few times. No issue. One time I did not like the way part of the roots was chopped off. I called them. They shipped me a new one and tell me to keep the original one. That’s how I have two Satsuma plums.
The only inconvenience is that they don’t have a website. Orders by mail and contact by phone.
Trees of antiquity has very nice trees, I don’t recall the shipping cost. Adams County has very nice trees as well and I believe 5 or more ships free, however you really have to order early in the season from them, they sell out fast.
I agree with that- ToA is probably my favorite, though I’ve never ordered apples from them (I don’t think they have much on dwarfing rootstocks). Arboreum would be close based on the tree size and selection, but communications and shipping timing are a bit rougher. Adams and Grandpas, along with DWN are the next tier (all very good).
The last time I ordered from Grandpa’s was fall 2013. Shipping was $23 for 2 trees (nice, well branched “2 year, extra large grade”). But, I think most shipping has gone up since then.
That’s what I thought when I saw the price- they must be sending some nice big trees. If they are just passing the shipping costs along (and it wouldn’t surprise me if they are), then there isn’t a built-in incentive for them to butcher the trees.
Wow, I really like the fact you do not do anything small!
Mosher is the major supplier of trees to Grandpa’s. so they could have came from Mosher that way. Who also supplies Adams when they run low. Although Adams creates most of it’s own trees. I was often thinking of a group order and just going to Mosher directly. Minimum 50 trees, in lots of ten.
Shipping is starting to become out of control. With direct experience from running an E-Commerce company, it seems like USPS, UPS and FedEx dictate at any given time that prices are going up, and you either absorb it or pass it along. UPS changed their shipping model last year for anything over 48" is now an extra $10.50 fee. It used to be 56". So you order something 50" long that used to cost $10 to ship, now will cost $10, plus the added $10.50 oversized fee. As a seller, taking an extra $10.50 off the top hurts. Luckily we don’t ship many of those longer items, but I know one company that is in panic mode as most of there products are over the 48" mark.
Some companies may not have acted updating their shipping rates, but once they crunch the numbers are realize their UPS account has doubled they will have to adjust things.
Mosers nursery and Grandpa’s Orchard are one in the same, one is for commercial sales and the other is for backyard Orchards that buy smaller quantities.
Grandpas orchard is actually a home based operation using the trees from their nursery .
At this point I have no plan to buy anymore trees. Well I do plan on buying about 4 more for my cottage but not till 2018, and Grandpa’s doesn’t carry any of them. I want to add trees, just my own hybrids. I have three growing right now. These hybrids should meet all my needs. If I need more breeding stock I can use grafts to add it to existing trees.
Hi, this is Teresa and I work with Grandpa’s Orchard. The answer from RIMike hits it right on the head. Our boxes are about 59" long, so the extra $10 that UPS is charging us is a cost we can’t absorb and have to pass on. Our only option would be to chop off another foot of the tree to make it fit a 47" box and buy all new boxes. We try to ship large trees and butchering a large tree to fit a short box is a disservice.
Unfortunately, we are not a high volume shipper so we can’t negotiate as good of a rate as some of our competitors. We try to keep our prices competitive also. Shipping is a problem that we’ll try to work on in the future, but unfortunately for this spring, we are stuck. We appreciate all of you who continue to order from Grandpa’s Orchard!
Thanks for the explanation Teresa, it’s great to have you participation in GF. You guys are offer quality trees at a reasonable price, hopefully you can find a way in the future to get the shipping cost down for small orders.
On a separate note, please pass on to Grandpa to consider offering the Glenglo peach to us non commercial grower folks, I believe it just came off patent. Many of us have been looking the purchase the variety cannot find it available, thanks.
We find shipping trees a costly endeavor as well. Not only for the reasons GOTeresa stated, but you will also get charged what is called “dimensional weight” on some boxes. Even though they may only weigh a few pounds you get charged as if they weigh a lot more.
