B&H not shipping chemicals anymore?

[wy2l]

Just verified... B&H not shipping developer of any kind. Other companies do ship developer.
My business mill move to another company.

 

[mesantacruz]

1). Blame an event more than 20 years ago, which by the way was a passenger plane.

2) we elected.... Their words.

3) all my business taken elsewhere.

4) won't buy from them even if they do ship later on. No hard feelings... Just feel very disrespected for such a blatant falsehood.

Buainess is business, and as such should be open, I'd it was not viable for them to continue shipping, perhaps at a loss, then they should be forthright about it.

 

[Born2Late]

Henceforth I shall refer to the vendor in question as B&S, something they richly deserve.

 

[bdial]

FWIW, according to the Kodak Xtol MSDS, shipping is "Not regulated for all modes of transportation".
Additionally, Kodak has a website for shipping info at www.kodak.com/go/ship which has full details.

It's not as though companies like Freestyle are in a position to thwart shipping regulations, and they do have warnings on some items that are subject to restrictions. Based on this small example, it certainly seems like B&H is making this into an excuse for simply getting out of the darkroom chem business. If that's the case, it would be nice if they would just provide a straight answer.

 

[daleeman]

B&H went union. I bet the winers complained they were getting poisened in the shipping dept and forced them to stop shipping chemicals.

 

[mshchem]

Eastman Kodak Company sells movie film chemicals 5 day free shipping on $1000 or more any where in the US.
maybe time to stock up on Metol
KODAK ELON Developing Agent / 55 lb drum 8218240 1 ea. $1,779.63, You could make S**t Load of D-23 with that. Probably would need a hopper car full of sodium sulfite.
Best Mike

 

[removed account4]

seems like B+H isn't the last place in the USA to sell
photo chemicals. they can be purchased through vendors
on amazon ( and amazon prime means free 2nd day shipping )
or companies directly ( like sprint through their website ) or
through other retailers like freestyle or adorama, or raw chems through
artcraft &c.

not sure what the big problem is other than to gripe about
unions or how film photographers are being slighted, there are alternatives

 

[mshchem]

It seems awfully strange that Adorama and B&H have the same (at first glance) list of banned chemicals. They both will ship Kodak Rapid Selenium toner, Dektol 1G, Kodak Fixer 1 G. But no D-76 or XTOL?? So weird?

 

[skorpiius]

B&H went union. I bet the winers complained they were getting poisened in the shipping dept and forced them to stop shipping chemicals.

I'm sure workers complaining about the contents of sealed boxes didn't force the company to change their entire shipping policy, but hey don't let any opportunity to complain about union workers pass by.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

The way they have had problems with mistreating employees, I very much doubt a complaint from them would cause B&H to take action on their shipping policy. I think what they have communicated is bullshit, and they won't have any of my business either. What a bunch of malarkey.

 

[peter k.]

FYI: Freestyle is offering free shipping until Nov 30th using promo code ACNFREE

 

[bascom49]

Economics rule all.
If I were to speculate some accountant figured out that they were not meeting profit margins shipping liquid chemistry compared to other products. It is not difficult to make enough purchases to qualify for free shipping. It probably has a lot to do with weight of liquid products, so rather than disclude free shipping on the heavier items it is easier to disclude an entire category of inventory.

No matter how you look at it it is incredibly short sighted to dismiss your customer base this way. Holding out a 'Store pickup option' as a carrot is an eight pound sledge hammer hit to the head.

 

[Wayne]

B&H went union. I bet the winers complained they were getting poisened in the shipping dept and forced them to stop shipping chemicals.

These charges sound Trumped up.

 

[Born2Late]

Economics rule all.
If I were to speculate some accountant figured out that they were not meeting profit margins shipping liquid chemistry compared to other products. It is not difficult to make enough purchases to qualify for free shipping. It probably has a lot to do with weight of liquid products, so rather than disclude free shipping on the heavier items it is easier to disclude an entire category of inventory.

No matter how you look at it it is incredibly short sighted to dismiss your customer base this way. Holding out a 'Store pickup option' as a carrot is an eight pound sledge hammer hit to the head.

It isn't just liquid developers

 

[Born2Late]

It may just be my imagination, but it looks like a lot more of their darkroom chemicals are now listed as special order.

 

[Sal Santamaura]

FYI: Freestyle is offering free shipping until Nov 30th using promo code ACNFREE

Only on orders of $150 or more.

 

[pentaxuser]

These charges sound Trumped up.

Just goes to show we are not two nations divided by a common language

 

[Gerald C Koch]

IIRR there is as an exception to hazmat restrictions for many chemicals for small amounts one 1 pound or less. There is no restriction for 1# jars of sodium hydroxide for instance but there is for larger amounts. Interestingly you can have several 1# containers in the same shipment without restriction.

Perhaps the folks at B&H haven't read the regulations thoroughly. My guess is that B&H just interested in the chemicals market as it probably doesn't produce enough profit. Hazmat restrictions would be an easy excuse.

 

[peter k.]

Only on orders of $150 or more.

haaha,, ah,,, yes I just called to verify.. over $150 only... to California, Nevada or Arizona.. east coast and others can get a 10% discount... oh my... hahaha,,, hmmm.. well we still can purchase.. if where sucking air.

 

[mgb74]

Possibly the expectation is that this decision will drive "foot traffic" into the store?

Highly, highly unlikely. The number of their customers willing to drive in Manhattan to avoid shipping is minuscule.

OK to truck it in but NOT OK to truck it out? Not a convincing argument at all!

Very possible. The regs dealing with hazmat, especially given the bridges and tunnels necessary to reach Manhattan and Brooklyn (where I think their warehouse is) may be much easier for a specialized carrier than a mixed carrier like ups. There are special regs and exclusions. So, as an example, some/all tunnels restrict all hazmat materials. So as an example, an inbound truck can be properly marked and limited to only bridge traffic. But to require all outbound trucks to using just bridge access might be unreasonable. Looking at a map of Brooklyn NY will give you more insight into the potential issues.

This is obviously a commercial decision.

Nothing is obvious, unless you know all the facts, which none of us do. But in the end it probably is a commercial decision as if they were willing to absorb the additional cost and complexity, they could decide to do that. Certainly no profit oriented business would choose to restrict sales without some reason.

 

[Born2Late]

Highly, highly unlikely. The number of their customers willing to drive in Manhattan to avoid shipping is minuscule.



Very possible. The regs dealing with hazmat, especially given the bridges and tunnels necessary to reach Manhattan and Brooklyn (where I think their warehouse is) may be much easier for a specialized carrier than a mixed carrier like ups. There are special regs and exclusions. So, as an example, some/all tunnels restrict all hazmat materials. So as an example, an inbound truck can be properly marked and limited to only bridge traffic. But to require all outbound trucks to using just bridge access might be unreasonable. Looking at a map of Brooklyn NY will give you more insight into the potential issues.



Nothing is obvious, unless you know all the facts, which none of us do. But in the end it probably is a commercial decision as if they were willing to absorb the additional cost and complexity, they could decide to do that. Certainly no profit oriented business would choose to restrict sales without some reason.

So how do they receive these materials if they are restricted?

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I would rather drive to FreeStyle than B&H.

Well, lucky you who can. Some of us are on the other coast and don't have that option. That's why I check for stuff at B&H first because if they have it and will ship it, it ships faster and most of the time free. And that savings adds up when you're buying a fair amount of bulky/heavy consumables.

 

[Wayne]

IIRR there is as an exception to hazmat restrictions for many chemicals for small amounts one 1 pound or less. There is no restriction for 1# jars of sodium hydroxide for instance but there is for larger amounts. Interestingly you can have several 1# containers in the same shipment without restriction.

Perhaps the folks at B&H haven't read the regulations thoroughly. My guess is that B&H just interested in the chemicals market as it probably doesn't produce enough profit. Hazmat restrictions would be an easy excuse.

Hazmat is the easy excuse they have used for years. Honestly I don't know how they kept selling all these other chems for so many years after they ceased Ilfochrome shipping because of "hazmat".

 

[sepiareverb]

they really do ship UPS Ground. This arrived today.

 

[mgb74]

So how do they receive these materials if they are restricted?

Because there are far fewer inbound shipments, types of product can be bundled (i.e. all chems from one manufacturer in one shipment), trucks can be routed to an allowable bridge, and trucks can meet the specific transportation requirements (including exterior signage and listings of contents). Contrast that with the (presumably) many UPS trucks that go out every day with a wide variety of items. A truck may have 200 digicams on it but have to be rerouted for the 1 bottle of HC-110.

There are special shipping regs that impact B&H (and others shipping from Manhattan or Brooklyn) that don't impact Freestyle. B&H could find ways to deal with this (special shipping for hazmat, warehouse in New Jersey) but none of us know if that's economically justified. Bottom line, it sucks.