MAY 2012

UK customers will be aware of the huge increase in Royal Mail postal charges.  Apart from all charges increasing many times the current rate of inflation, there are also some sneaky actions to further increase postal charges. Eg; Removing price bands in the "Packet" range and removing the insurance facility on "Standard Parcels"

Unfortunately this will have a serious impact on our postal costs. So I'm having to take measures to cover this, which are to increase the 10% + £1 formula to 10% + £1.50. Insurance is now automatically included for £100 goods value. Extra charge for insuring below £100 is now £5.00 and maximum  UK postage is capped at £29.95.  It's been very difficult to assess how the Royal Mail increases are going to pan out with the Meccano orders due to the variable value and weight of the parcels, so the changes I have made are there to cover all situations. However, in the light of experience, I'm hoping I can trim back some of the increases. In practice it may be possible to insure some parcels at a figure somewhere between £50 and £100 without charge, but decisions on that will be mine alone. Sorry!

JUNE 2011

The good news is;  AFTER MANY REQUESTS WE HAVE DECIDED TO REINSTATE THE SET 10s! The not so good news is we are now limiting their sales for UK COLLECTION ONLY. Very sorry, but sending these high value items abroad was time consuming and risky and UK shipping costs are going theough the roof. We are asking for a £100 cheque deposit, with the balance paid in cash on collection at either Dunmow or at meetings and exhibitions we are attending.

APRIL 2011

BULK PACKS ARE BACK! (With a difference)

We have re-introduced a bulk pack items on many fixings, standard parts and 2nd quality parts etc. More are being added all the time. This is primarily to reduce levels on items where we have built up large stocks over the years. The quantitity discounts vary from around 10% to 40%. For easier location they are not under a separate heading, but show as an option when you click on the item. Please note these bulk discounts are likely to be temporary only and when an item is down to sensible stock levels again, will be terminated. So take advantage now before they are gone! The discounts apply to mail order only, not at meetings, unless items are packeted as such.

"SPECIALS" 

You will have noticed this icon on the home page. This is a new facility for adding one offs, literature, other system etc. We have not added anything yet, as our current priority is identifying and adding bulk pack items. Hopefully by the end of the year a start will be made on the specials facility of which we have masses of interesting items to add.  

AUGUST 2010

In the hope of relieving the issue of frequently swiched off checkout, we are reluctantly dropping the built up No 10 outfits. We usually get a  few orders for these each time we re-open and because they are so time consuming to deal with, they are a primary cause of an excessive workload. We are also instituting a min/max order value of £5 and £500. This also to help us keep the checkout open longer and avoid the difficuly and risk with insuring expensive parcels, particularly overseas. Orders under £5 were taking a disproportionate amount of time to process. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.

I'm currently half way though reorganising/moving the stock into a more spacious location area which should make picking/restocking much easier.

NOVEMBER 15TH 2009

We have been making some big investments of late! Just had delivered a very large consignment of new fixings we comissioned in the late Summer. These consist of cheese head bolts and square nuts, both in brass and zinc finish. Standard washers in zinc and nickel. Compact washers in zinc and brass finish. And slotted grub screws in standard and short finishes. The latter is quite significant because we were previously dissatified with what was available to us and the new ones have been very carefully designed and specified.

In addition we have started building work here at Dunmow and when complete, will double storage space, improve loading/unloading. Also, new racking etc will improve stock control and streamline order processing. We are also investing in a new van in January to replace our life expired 23 year old Mercedes estate car. So hopefully no more M25 breakdowns on the way to or from Meccano meetings!