I have a scoop “grain” shovel and a sleigh push shovel for moving snow. I mostly use the scoop shovel since you can’t throw snow with a sleigh shovel. Roy was here from Haines, America on his way to Florida and a new hip. He and Brenda got stuck here with us in Juneau for several days during a 4 foot dump of snow. He helped me shovel off the roof, and both of our shovels broke in the process. We repaired them, but I knew I’d better get another set because winter is just starting.
Every store in town was sold out of shovels. Home Depot said maybe they’d get some in at the end of the week, but they weren’t sure. So I thought I’d better airfreight some down from Anchorage, as another foot of snow was on the way. I found Home Depot there had plenty, so I asked my nieces and nephews and Peace Corps friend Roxanne in Anchorage if they could pick them up for me and get them to Alaska Air Cargo, and all said yes. Since there’s minimum freight charges for freight (e.g., you get charged for 50 lbs whether you send a pound or 50 lbs), I thought I’d put a post on Facebook and Craigslist saying I was going to bring some shovels down and see if anyone else was interested so we all could share the freight charges and make the freight cost per shovel manageable. I looked on Alaska Air Cargo’s freight cost estimator, and, as best I could, guessed what the costs might be based on shovel size and weight. The sleigh shovels were $50 at Home Depot, to which I added $25 in freight cost, and the scoop shovels were $44, to which I added $16, so the totals would be round numbers of $75 and $60. Hopefully I wouldn’t lose my shirt on this.
I put the posts out and the phone started ringing. Immediately. Whenever I post for something like this, I clearly state to call me, and many today just can’t. They’ll send me a message. Which I don’t respond to, because I’ve found over the years that many of those that message don’t follow through. Some people tried messaging first, but then started calling when I didn’t respond, while others followed the directions and called straight away. In 20 minutes I had orders for 22 sleigh shovels and 5 scoop shovels. I took the posts down as soon as I could – while I was still on the phone with the last caller. I did not expect there to be that many, that quickly, and I didn’t know if the Anchorage family could handle so many shovels in their vehicles, etc.
I put my order in to Home Depot for the shovels, along with a roll of Gorilla Tape to tape shovels together if necessary. The kids could get the shovels right then (Sunday) but couldn’t deliver to air cargo the next day til after work. Roxanne, who just retired, said “I’m Retired”, and said she could get the shovels right now and take them to air cargo the next morning. She won.
She called the next morning from the terminal to say that the agent said if I shipped “General” freight, that it might be 5 to 10 days for it to get on a jet from Anchorage to Juneau. Huh? I’ve shipped moose meat from Bethel to Anchorage to Juneau, and it has beaten me home! How could it be this long? Then I figured – must be others doing what I’m doing. The agent said if I shipped “Priority” it SHOULD go out sooner, but could also get bumped. Again, huh??? Why is the fee 30% more and might not matter?
Roxanne then asked for a manager. Roxanne told the manager she was shipping the shovels to me and a bunch of other Juneauites desparate for them – and not to a business. We needed to get down the shovels down here as we already had 4 feet of snow and another foot was on the way. That was all it took! The manager was originally from Juneau! So I paid the Priority rate for the shipment and hoped for the best.
I’d taken everyone’s name and phone number down and told people to expect the shovels Monday night or Tuesday morning, depending on if flights made it in, etc. We got another foot of snow on Monday, but the shovels made it in on the morning flight on Tuesday. Bless that manager! I’d put chains all around on the truck tires and plowed the driveway so I could leave for the airport. Then I texted the group and said I’d be at airfreight in about 45 minutes if they wanted to get their shovels there, or they could pick them up at our house on Douglas Island when I returned, and took off. It took the full 45 minutes to get to the airport, as I only travel at 30 mph max with chains on, and I ended up taking off the front chains as soon as I got over the bridge into town, as tires on all four chains was too much on the mostly snow free Egan highway to the airport.
When I got to air freight, it was a mob scene. All the head-in parking was full, and now there were trucks parallel parked on either side of the roadway in front of the freight office. I thought, crap! Everyone is here picking up freight like me, and there is going to be a line out the door. But when I got inside, there was no line. Just one other customer. As I waited with my agent to pull up my order, a man came in and asked, “Are you Mark?” “Yep”, I said. Then it hit me: all those people lined up along the road were there to get their shovels! All but one of them beat me to the airport.
I paid for the freight and pretty soon, people were helping me open the boxes and then throwing cash at me or taking down my venmo information until I finally took a breath and realized I better start keeping track of all this. I stopped handing out shovels for a second until I got everyones name and their order and marked down if they gave me cash or venmo. Within a few minutes, everyone had their shovels and it was like it was Christmas and I was Kris Kringle. People seemed so relieved.
When I got home, I contacted those who wanted to get their shovels at the house. They, too, showed up within minutes. Pretty soon, all the shovels were gone, except for one I delivered today to a woman who didn’t dare drive her little car out the snow covered North Douglas highway.
I added up the cost of the shovels and the freight. I collected $1,320 for shovels and an additional $614 for freight. My freight charges were only $600, so I thought- crap, I’ve got a surplus of $14. I sort of felt guilty about having $14 extra dollars. But WAIT! The gorilla tape was $12! I can live with a $2 surplus. Which, of course, won’t be at all once I compensate Roxanne with some kind of gift, as she’d never take money.
The most gratifying part of the whole thing was that one of the new shovel owners sent me a message later thanking me for getting the shovels down here, and especially thanking me for not taking advantage of the situation and gouging people with the cost of the shovels. Nice.
Now, time to get back to the shoveling.
