frustrated with shipping into Canada

I have been on the phone for hours today, trying to order Volkman seed from the states.
I can get it here in Canada but it is twice the price, plus shipping.

the store I usually order it from never answers their phone, and are a 40 minute drive. they don't stock the larger 20lb bags, and have to place a special order, but can not guarantee the order will be filled....a distribution problem
so I phoned many different stores in the U.S. their pricing is half the price, but shipping costs three times as much as the product....I am going no where fast.
Volkman is located in California, and because I am on the east coast, shipping costs are high.
even if a store in NYC that carries it might be better, shipping may not cost that much as I am not far, maybe a 4 hour drive.
Most if not all the stores I spoke with complained about distribution. they order bags and only receive 1, leaving the rest on b/o until a further date to be filled.

some stores suggested I get a U.S address so they can ship it there, then have it sent here....I've never done that before and not entirely sure how that works.
it sounds complicated,every where I turn I am hitting road blocks... why is it so darn difficult???

I love their product but if it's going to be a hassle, I guess I'll have to choose another type of seed.
the seed I'm looking for is for my cockatiels, and finches.
I prefer to buy the large 20lb bags at a cost savings.

any body have any suggestions?

I feed Kaylor of Colorado Sweet Harvest and the Goldenfeast Blends... The Goldenfeast is more expensive, but it also has a lot more ingredients in it, and smells great! (IMO) The bulk bags weigh 32lbs though...

GOLDENFEAST by MY SAFE BIRD STORE



I've also fed Sleek & Sassy in the past (years ago) which also comes in bulk bags of 20 and 40 lbs.

I called them today... My Safe Bird store, they were out of stock on the cockatiel & finch seed in that size.(volkman)

As for sweet harvest I'll look into that, I can probably get it in Canada, but costs and shipping seem to be killers, especially when I go thru a 20lb bag fairly quickly, so savings is very important, but so is the health of my birds!!...kind of frustrating
thanks Monica

I have the opposite problem with Tropican High performance parrot sticks. Valentino's breeder feeds this pellet to the babies. She also used Tropican hand rearing formula I had to use also. The only place I can find the special Tropican High performance parrot sticks (this is not the normal maintenance pellet) is on Amazon in 20 pound bags. 20 pounds! This takes up a quarter of my freezer because it takes a WHILE for me to go though 20 pounds of pellet for one parrot.

I believe Tropican is a Canadian product so I have the opposite problem as you with getting your Volkman. Because of the huge hassle of my Tropican problem I have been expermenting with different pellets for Valentino. I have no problem getting a hold of the Harrisons so that one is staying. I have bought a small bag of the TOP's and the day I put some into the pellet bowl Valentino went over and took one bit it and PATOOIE! He spit it out and took some of the TOP's and began to pitch them out of the bowl like they were poison.

Ummm...what to do??? I then took some Tropican AND mostly the TOP's and pulverized them into powder for his night time feeding ritual of warm wet formula made with adult pellets. Valentino has been eating the formula so I then began to put the pellet back into his pellet bowl. Now there are three pellets in his bowl. First to be eaten is the Harrisons then the Tropican and last the TOP. It is my hope to eventually discontinue the Tropican or maybe when he is fully grown I can switch to the everyday maintenance ones that are easier to find.

Valentino's breeder has no problem buying the 20 pound bags because she has lots of birds to feed but I only have the one parrot and would not feed high performance pellet to a 8 year old Noble macaw. In honesty the Tropican pellet and hand rearing formula taste so much better than the TOP's. I have eaten every pellet and tried every formula I feed Valentino myself. Tropican also smells better than TOP's.

Which is the better pellet? Top's or Tropican. What about Harrisons? *sigh* I have not tried pulverizing the Harrison's yet. It is a more expensive pellet so I would rather pulverize the TOP's or the Tropican.

I am sorry I totally went off subject here. I wonder if by my getting a hold of your seed and sending it from here to Canada would be cost effective for you? I would be willing to do it because hell we have to help out a bird lover just the same. Can I not a store owner just send you up 20 pounds of a seed and make it though customs without it flagged as terrorism? LOL

(crap I probably just flagged myself with that sentence)

you would think they could...
we could both look into the costs, maybe we could help each other.

I can get Tropican no problem, all the stores carry it, but I'd have to look into the tropican high performance parrot sticks, I don't think stores carry that, but can get it on line.

let me know if that would work for you, maybe we could help each other.
I do order my seed every 1.5-2 months so I would probably be ordering more than you do.
and my order would be much heavier(2 bags @ 20lb each)...anyways. let me know what your thoughts are, and you can pm me if you like

I will do that...this is my plan. I will see if I can find the Volkman locally here just to go in and buy them without having to order it on line (save on shipping it twice..once to me and once to you). I need to know the exact names of the seed blends though so I can shop around.

I will also visit my post office and ask what it would cost for me to ship 40 pounds to your location. I need to know what part of Canada you are in so I can investigate the shipping cost.

So....if I can buy it locally here in town and if shipping it to you is cost effective for you I would be willing to do it. So..investigating where I can get the seeds first and find out how much it would cost for me to ship 40 pounds to you..

MonicaMc said:

I feed Kaylor of Colorado Sweet Harvest and the Goldenfeast Blends... The Goldenfeast is more expensive, but it also has a lot more ingredients in it, and smells great! (IMO) The bulk bags weigh 32lbs though...

GOLDENFEAST by MY SAFE BIRD STORE



I've also fed Sleek & Sassy in the past (years ago) which also comes in bulk bags of 20 and 40 lbs.

Click to expand...

wow!, that seed is pricey, I'll keep looking, thanks for the suggestion

noblemacaw said:

I will do that...this is my plan. I will see if I can find the Volkman locally here just to go in and buy them without having to order it on line (save on shipping it twice..once to me and once to you). I need to know the exact names of the seed blends though so I can shop around.

I will also visit my post office and ask what it would cost for me to ship 40 pounds to your location. I need to know what part of Canada you are in so I can investigate the shipping cost.

So....if I can buy it locally here in town and if shipping it to you is cost effective for you I would be willing to do it. So..investigating where I can get the seeds first and find out how much it would cost for me to ship 40 pounds to you..

Click to expand...

ok got it, so I'll pm you with the info, and you can do the same if you need some soon.
do stores there carry the 20lb bags usually?

Shipping is going to be so expensive especially for a large package like that. The cheapest I found for shipping any sort of packages is USPS. UPS and FedEx are even more expensive and a total pain. That's horrible that you can't find it locally and that shipping it is ridiculous.

Crimson, you could probably save yourself a lot of searching by contacting the manufacturer, asking who their Canadian importer for Ontario is, contact the importer & ask who their stocking vendors are.....

Golden feast is getting more pricey and less quality as well, just like most seeds but they don't have room for a price increase IMO... I'd suggest looking into Higgins products as well you may find them around better and they have great mixes! Just trying to help Alittle I can't help much as I don't have the need to ship food I get it in bulk a mile away from my house:/

weco said:

Crimson, you could probably save yourself a lot of searching by contacting the manufacturer, asking who their Canadian importer for Ontario is, contact the importer & ask who their stocking vendors are.....

Click to expand...

Not a lot of stores carry this brand, and Volkman has decreased their distribution into Canada. many Canadian stores have stopped carrying this seed because of the distribution difficulties.
I stopped ordering it last year because it was so much of a headache.
However my birds LOVED this food, and they all did very well on it.
We'll see how it goes, I'm certainly not going to bash my head against the wall for this, but I would like to find it for a decent price, and not pay an arm and a leg for shipping.

so as usual I thought I would try on here and see if I could get some great suggestion, which I have
thanks for the help

Jtbirds said:

Golden feast is getting more pricey and less quality as well, just like most seeds but they don't have room for a price increase IMO... I'd suggest looking into Higgins products as well you may find them around better and they have great mixes! Just trying to help Alittle I can't help much as I don't have the need to ship food I get it in bulk a mile away from my house:/

Click to expand...

yes I looked at Higgins while I was on the phone with my safe bird store, I can't even recall what happened, I guess I was focusing on just getting volkmans....you know, like when you get a bee in your bonnet, anyways I'll keep that in mind if I can't find Volkmans.

Customcasket said:

Shipping is going to be so expensive especially for a large package like that. The cheapest I found for shipping any sort of packages is USPS. UPS and FedEx are even more expensive and a total pain. That's horrible that you can't find it locally and that shipping it is ridiculous.

Click to expand...

it is very frustrating, do you have any idea how fortunate you are to live in the States and virtually have everything at your fingertips?. you are quite lucky in my opinion.
Nothing wrong with Canada though, we just need to beef up our stock like the states does