I've been thinking about service and how people are treated by people we give our money to. This all comes about from an e-mail responce I received from an indy yarn merchant who dyes her own stuff. I inquired if my order had shipped yet as I had heard nothing from her and wanted to drool over my yarn. The responce to it was vaguely insulting. I was told the shop wasn't McDonald's (for those who know me they understand that is probably one of my layers of hell), and she said the website says shipping in 7-14 days. The site does in fact say this if the yarn is not in stock. I don't care about the length of time it takes to ship; I want the fact that I have given you money acknoledged. I responded saying that I was jealous of her talents that she is able to make a product that is so well known out of her living room. I understand how being a small company that responding to e-mails can be difficult, but I also know I'm not the only one who hasn't ever received responses back from this company. A LYS tried to sell this yarn and after writing an essay about the stores philosophy never heard back. I placed a large order for me on Sunday from this store because I didn't know if another retailer would carry the yarn I wanted to order as Christmas presents. I haven't received confirmation of my order and I know that I won't. I will not stop using the wonderful handdyed sock yarn. (It truely is some of the best that is available.) I will though order it over the phone from the nice lady who wrote a thank you on her businss card.
On the other end of the spectrum is Pureknits a LYS in New Jersey who has an online store. It is where I bought my Brooklyn Handspun and later my wool wash (I'm running low on shampoo it was time to upgrade). She keeps in contact at every step of the ordering process with confirmations, e-mails about shipping, and when the order arrives there are handwritten thank you notes. It is this reason that I continually go to her site looking for new yarn. It is similar reasons that I go and shop on etsy so much. I am connected with handcrafters (sock yarn!!!) who acknowledge me. I also today ordered two books that I couldn't get in my area from a store in NY. As soon as the order was placed more or less I had a note from the store owner thanking me and telling me the merchandise was in stock and how it would be shipped. That is all I really look for a thank you for your hard earned money, I do, I do not have this in stock, here is when you will get it. I have waited a month for yarn because I knew that they were dyed to order when the orders came in. I was just told it will be 3-5 weeks as they needed to get the yarn and dye. If you go above and beyond you'll just receive more business sooner than otherwise would happen.
Currently on TV: Nothing listening to the birds