EARTHPOD - ARE YOU HAPPY?

[grantos]

ARE YOU HAPPY WITH EARTHPOD SERVICE, ESPECIALLY DELIVERY OF PURCHASES? :confused:

[Rev]

Id like to see what people think but unless you vote you cant see...

[waterdragon]

i voted, having ordered before and had no probs.

[gomaos]

same here

[macro]

I mean no offence grantos, but from someone with two posts, this post seems a bit aggressive. If you look around on this and other local boards(which you quite likely may have done) Adrian (Earthpod) is quite active in the community and the topic has very recently been discussed elsewhere.

I have no personal interest in Earthpod, but my experience have been good to say the least.

[ 11. May 2004, 23:29: Message edited by: macro ]

[grantos]

the question simply asks whether or not people are happy with the service of earthpod. i thought i had worded the question well enough as not to polarise my belief on this iussue, and therefore encouraging dichotomised responses of either yes or no, with no bias from my apparent thoughts. no where have i mentioned that the service is bad, nor have i said it is good! you have assumed that i said it was bad for some reason (maybe you are projecting your own beliefs onto my own [even though i didnt mention them]). i am sorry if you, or others, especially Adrian, feel the question was aggressive. This was not my intention :)peace in these times

[nabraxas]

grantos--- geezer, it's not so much the question that was aggressive as the fact you felt the need to ask it. maybe?

[gerbil]

If you go over to the ethno aus. boards, adrian explains what is going on.

thread, unfortunately titled, 'earthpod sux'.

[grantos]

thank you gerbil, your constructive comment will help me, as opposed to the other comments which reflect that 'someone' takes things a little too personal. thanks again gerbil i will look at this other posting (which i obviously was unaware of).

[Torsten]

I get more complaint e-mails about earthpod than about SAB. I usually explain the problems adrian is having and ask people to be more patient. Grantos contacted me several weeks ago and I explained the situation to him and asked him to get in touch with adrian again. Adrian did not respond even though this was AFTER he had apparently sorted out his problems (I've been keeping an eye on the EA tread too).

Most people contact me after several months (and many e-mails) of trying to get in touch with adrian. It takes a fair bit for people to finally turn to the site host in desperation. In fact we don't even host earthpod anymore, but still have a link on our homepage which some people regard as SAB having some responsibility for customers trusting earthpod.

This is a difficult issue. As I have outlined in the EA thread, there are plenty of reasons for people to complain and for vendors not to sort thigns out at a moments notice. But there is a certain line even with Oz ethnobot vendors where they need to be accountable for money that has been sent to them. For technical reasons (BAS/TAX) this should be at a maximum of 3 months. Personally i believe that depending on the type of problem that 3 months is too long.

I know from the way grantos e-mailed me his complaint that he is aware of the special situation with australian vendors, and that he is patient. In fact, I am surprised that he approached this topic as calmy as he did. The idiot who started the thread at EA is in stark contrast to the way grantos has dealt with this. We have to make sure to separate reasonable customer complaints from unreasonable ones.

Complaints about earthpod have not just happened over the last few weeks or months, but for all except the first year of earthpod operations. I know Adrian is extremely honest and trustworthy, but this doesn't help his disillusioned customers much. Well, it does, as I can allay many of their fears of being ripped off etc, but it still doesn't solve the problem.

As far as this poll is concerned, I think it is a good way to see what the situation really is. In discussion threads youw ill always get more negative people than positives, so these are often skewed. A poll is simple and anonymous. The results speak for themselves. I hope that a lot more people will vote. In fact i hope that everyone who has bought from earthpod in the last year or two will vote, as this is the only way to get a good representation of the situation, rather than just getting people from the last few weeks.

The only problem I have with the poll is that you can't see the results without voting. This may force some people to vote even though they have not made any purchases. Grantos, maybe you can still unlock the poll for open access (don't know, never tried it).

[mescalito]

...or have a third choice.

"I have never ordered from Earthpod before,and would like to see the results,as I'm ordering for the first time and don't have spare cash to throw away 'cause I'm on a pension to look after my partner"

That would've helped.

Sorry,but I am the 3 month waiter and disappointed to say the least.

A confirmation of postal address 6 weeks after parting with my beer money puts a little strain on things and it is MY money until it's exchanged for something.

[inpsyght]

.

[mesq]

what are the general ethno issues in oz ??

[Torsten]

Originally posted by Mesqualero:

what are the general ethno issues in oz ??

I posted an explanation of this at EA a couple of weeks ago. Basically it revolves around turnover. Overseas suppliers run items in much larger batches and as we all know the profitability comes with larger scale. So, if the costs are covered by 15 items, then someone doing 10 items a week may be making a loss while someone doing 100 items per week is raking it in. This is obviously different for every item and may range from 0 to infinite.

In Oz we simply don't have the volume to make ethnobot supply economical for the supplier.

This leaves two options:

1) increase prices and lose your customers to cheaper overseas suppliers

2) keep prices the same and reduce your costs.

E-mail contact is possibly the most time consuming aspect of running an ethnobot business, and while it is all exciting and social for the first year or two, it soon becomes tedious and draining.

At SAB we have counteracted this by automating much of our ordering process and really in 99% of cases there is simply no need for ANY e-mail contact. Everyone wants to be in that 1% though and hence ethnobot supplier inboxes are always chock full of people who want 'special treatment'.

My opinion is that as long as operations are within the parameters set out in the terms of trade then e-mail is a waste of time and an unnecessary burden of costs for the supplier (and hence the consumer). So yes, I ignore most customer mails that will answer themselves anyway (when they get their parcel in the mail). However (and this is important), if there are problems beyond the terms of trade then the vendor is obliged and legally required to act.

The real problem though is to differentiate between the 99% and the 1% as the mail comes in. if the customer supplies all relevant data such as name, date of order, method of payment and possibly a copy of the order, then this can be followed up quickly and will often get an immediate reply (if outside the terms of trade). however, if we get mails asking "where is my order" without a name, date or anything else on it, then they get ignored. While many e-mails fall somewhere between these two extremes, about 50% are actually exactly like these extremes (yes, we get several such useless messages every day).

New vendors will often have a lot of energy to deal with all these issues better than someone who has done it for a year or 4 and it seems this is the situation adrian is in. he had the energy to do it for the first 12 months, but has since then failed to put in place a system that is sustainable. The threads discussing earthpod should not be seen as a means to damage earthpod, but should give Adrian an indication that something is seriously wrong and that this is not just technical problems.

And yes, I agree that the poll shoud have been specific about the time of ordering, as there is little doubt about the excellence of earthpod in the past, but there are certainly serious issues over the least few months.

[Torsten]

Yawn - and another two complaints about earthpod, requesting I should remove them from the SAB homepage. Adrian, get your shit together ....please....this is getting embarrassing.

[DreamingNagual]

A simple solution would be for Earthpod to put a message on the site Reading,

Earthpod is no longer taking New Orders,

or something similar for at least untill the backlog is cleared!

[planthelper]

i never ordered from adrian so i can't vote...

adrian is a super cool guy,

extreemly knowlegable and easy to go with!

but if he's obviously off line, and never come's here, he should hand his mod position,

to somebody else.

how about we get an active member as mod at the corroberee.

ed, t st, darcy, are flowing thru my mind!

member's i ask your opinion.

...naturaly i would prefere that,

adrian can put all the stuff behind him, and show up more often...

[mescalito]

A simple response to the community that supports you and this thread would do.

[Torsten]

planthelper, you read my mind re the mod position (I was just talking to darklight about this today). Ed & tantra are already mods.... and yes, darcy is an obvious choice. I will discuss that with him.

[grantos]

well i suppose this thread has sorted itself out now...except all we need is input from one more person. both planthelper and mojorisin have made sensible comments that hopefully will be adopted/accepted by Adrian (for the ebnefit of everyone with current or possible future links with earhtpod).

hooroo

[Adrian]

EARTHPOD- ARE YOU HAPPY?

No, I'm not happy.

I'm embarrassed, disappointed, frustrated, ashamed and overall I'm VERY, VERY SORRY!

To the customers and to the members of the community I'd like to sincerely apologise (especially to Torsten who has stood up and by me all this time) for my lack of and lessening commitment.

As some of you may have read in the thread on EBA, I have honestly had a lot of things go wrong, however I need to in control of my attitude and motivation (lack thereof) , poor plant harvest yields, servers, computers etc are just up to luck (experience and $ probably helps too).

It's saddening, depressing seeing the EARTHPOD sux discussion, because the ideas behind EARTHPOD are something that I really believe in and want to work.

It seems that I've been unintentionally been sabotaging my chances of restoring and building EARTHPOD to a reputable and profitable (by which I mean in regards to the community and environment) venture.

Instead of crapping on about all my depressing issues, I thought I should share my 'last ditch attempt' plans with you.

Firstly I am working on getting the few (~6) backlogged orders out ASAP, and I don't think there is any need to display a note on the site as there just are NO customers and haven't really been any for months.

T st, Mescal, Grant etc

I have not forgotten you and I am really sorry that I have not sent these things out already (it's almost beyond an apology I know) I am printing up lables now.

Just in case anyone is unsure or hasn't read Torsten's posts EARTHPOD is NOT a large scale operation.

I'm all alone in this, I am a sole trader (no, not a soul trader

under the name of EARTHPOD and I DON'T employ anyone else (I wish).

I DON'T drive a fancy car and wine & dine, infact I have no car.

(I just thought I'd mention it cause the website seems to have given a different impression to some, {why??)

Anyhow...

As I am just now 21, I have been offered a 'New Start' and through this opportunity I am applying to get proper business training (through the NEIS program) so that I conduct business with confidence and full support.

During & after which I intend to make up for all the mistakes I have made and make a decent contribution to this community.

I have a heap of work ahead of me, many e-mails (a few unopened letter bombs and I'm starting to believe that I can get through it all.

I thank you guys for your patients and support and please believe me when I say I'm trying (...oops that's an opening

Wish me luck (I think I may need it).

Kind Regards,

Adrian

P.S I actually voted incorrectly, I should have voted NO *I feel that the recent delivery times have been terrible, however there are always extra goodies which takes the sting out of the wait.

Hopefully some time soon, near when I can place a guarantee on delivery times for most if not all products, I would like to sell EARTHPOD SUX T-Shirts

On the Front: EARTHPOD SUX!

On the Back: ...but it doesn't need to

On the Tag: 100% Hemp, Do NOT wash, Do NOT toke dry, Made in Cyberspace

(or something to that effect

Ronny Simulacrum already has his order in

[Torsten]

Hey Adrian - good to see you here.

I wonder if this is a phase everyone goes through with a small and unprofitable business or whether this is unique to this community. There are so many ethical concerns that weigh into running an ethnobot business that it really doesn't compare with other businesses all that well and maybe we need to simply accept that as traders and adjust accordingly.

My point is that these businesses take a LOT of personal energy to keep going and at some stages in our lives we simply don't have that energy to spare. When in 2001 I had a nervous breakdown from a convergence of personal emotional and physical problems as well as business and community issues, we simply closed SAB retail for a few months until I got my strength back. I don't think it hurt the business all that much and certainly less than if we continued to the point of collapse (both our own and the business).

When we reopened we limited our range to what we had previously learnt to be popular until we had found our feet again. Smaller range, less work and consistent profits (even if low) make for better motivation and things just grow from there.

I've always been against people just selling the top 10 items as this reduces the ability for other traders to offset their excessive costs of maintaining a large range (for those who don't realise - in rough terms, 90% of our turnover is derived from 10% of our products, while the other 90% run at a loss). However, in your case I think no one would mind as you have certainly done your bit for promoting diversity over the years. Maybe just get back to basics for a while. That's what NEIS will teach you anyway.

I think the overwhelming attitude here is that earthpod was great for quite a while and has collapsed over the last few months. But most importantly, you never ripped anyone off and even if someone is pissed about the delays, you have no legacy like LER or other dodgy operators.

What I am trying to say is that I don't think you will have any problems making a comeback with earthpod when you are ready.

Most ethnobot businesses undergo some sort of transformation after a year or three and i think this is your time...

[DreamingNagual]

Miss-post!

[ 18. May 2004, 04:15: Message edited by: MOJORISIN ]

[Torsten]

and you'll need a flagship product.... I'll have one of those t-shirts thanks :D

[DreamingNagual]

Adrien, Thankyou for replying to this thread!

Apology Accepted

Quote.. "and I don't think there is any need to display a note on the site as there just are NO customers and haven't really been any for months."

No Offence,... but cant you see why?..Seems a lot of prospective customers are interested but are or have been turned away by lack of service, and or general word of mouth talk about Earthpods Current lag in service!

I Want a T-Shirt 2...If not I want a Blowup pig!

Its the only thing that will redeem my trust!