shipping from BPS, cabelas and tacklewarehouse

[21farms]

i live in california and get my tacklewarehouse orders the very next day, usually by 10am. i placed an order with cabelas sunday morning, and here it is wednesday, and my order status is still "in process" even though everything is in stock. BPS is even worse...items will be listed as "in stock" but my orders won't even leave their warehouse for 4-6 days! worse, BPS uses "smart ship" where they give it to fedex for one leg of the journey and then fedex gives it to the post office for the actual delivery...ugh. i wouldn't even shop with them except that people keep giving me BPS gift cards for my birthdays and christmas and as appreciation gifts.

1) can anyone who has worked at a large retailer explain why in the world it takes so long to pack and ship an order when TW can do it in an hour or so?

2) how can i tactfully let it be known that i prefer TW giftcards instead of BPS giftcards?

[KCL655321]

A couple years ago, I was ordering a bunch of stuff from Cabela's & TW & I compared order numbers & Cabela's shipped more orders in a week or two than TW did in total up to that point. Moving that amount of volume, even when you're as big as BPS/Cabela's, is gonna take longer than TW to get shipped out. Although they're starting to get on the "too long to ship" list for me, with 3 business days being the average time to ship these days. One positive for me is I live about 6-7 hours from their main distribution center, so I get my stuff within 1-2 days when they do get it shipped out.

I still buy from Cabela's from time to time when I find something in their Bargain Cave, but TW/BTD/THUT have pretty much taken over as my fishing sites I order from 95% of the time. BPS with their crappy Fedex/USPS shipping has gotten maybe one order in the last two years from me & I don't expect that to change anytime soon.

[MondayMonkey]

I used to avoid Cabelas at all cost solely based on their "shipping is based on item price tiers" higher priced items higher shipping. I don't know if they still do that but it's soured me on ordering from them. It helps that there are 2 Cabelas stores within 2 hours of me though I can always go in and get what I need the gas costing the same as shipping would.

[njbasscat]

TW, Hi's, Tackle Trap, Monster Tackle, and THUT get all of my business now. The shipping is faster and usually free and the customer service is way better. They also carry gear that BPS and Cabelas don't. I had my wife spread the word to our families about getting me TW gift cards instead of BPS or Cabelas cards.

[Finnz922]

Man, I wish I lived in California, I ordered something on Friday and it's not here yet. Not that that is a long time but I think the difference is where you live not where you buy. Although there are some instances where it can get a little ridiculous I'm sure.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

I ordered from Cabelas an Okuma Helios reel Friday 15th 5:30pm, was told it would be the 25th when I would get it, it arrived yesterday 20th 9:30am. Thats good for me & free shipping, no complaints.

I ordered 2 rod tip sections from St Croix the 15th, I was told they would be here Wed the 20th, they havent been delivered yet. Though in the past I sent in a broken rod and had replacement back in 5 days.

[kadas1]

i live in california and get my tacklewarehouse orders the very next day, usually by 10am. i placed an order with cabelas sunday morning, and here it is wednesday, and my order status is still "in process" even though everything is in stock. BPS is even worse...items will be listed as "in stock" but my orders won't even leave their warehouse for 4-6 days! worse, BPS uses "smart ship" where they give it to fedex for one leg of the journey and then fedex gives it to the post office for the actual delivery...ugh. i wouldn't even shop with them except that people keep giving me BPS gift cards for my birthdays and christmas and as appreciation gifts.

1) can anyone who has worked at a large retailer explain why in the world it takes so long to pack and ship an order when TW can do it in an hour or so?

2) how can i tactfully let it be known that i prefer TW giftcards instead of BPS giftcards?

I just tell everyone that if you want to get me gift card please get it from tw

[21farms]

I think the difference is where you live not where you buy

actually, i wasn't complaining about how long it takes during shipping...i was really talking about the ridiculous amount of time it takes for cabelas or BPS from the time i place my order to when they actually pick and pack my order in preparation for shipping. for example, i placed my cabelas order sunday morning and i finally get a notice wednesday evening that my order has shipped...three whole business days to "process" my order? really? all it was was two spools of fishing line and three crankbaits. i've actually visited TW's retail store which is attached to their warehouse. i can kinda peek in and see the warehouse...it's huge. the TT crew did a little article on their operation...very impressive. i really think the big boys (cabelas and BPS) are gonna have to shape up if they don't want to keep losing business to the likes of TW.

[toddmc]

TW shipping is awesome. The others are slow at best. They better step it up or be surpassed. I live in Socal and I get my TW orders for free the next day also. It's hard not to use them even though Last Chance Tackle is on the way to Diamond Valley Lake. I told my family to make sure they give Tackle Warehouse gift cards only. It sucks to have cards from Bass Pro when they don't have what you want.

[Finnz922]

I think the difference is where you live not where you buy

actually, i wasn't complaining about how long it takes during shipping...i was really talking about the ridiculous amount of time it takes for cabelas or BPS from the time i place my order to when they actually pick and pack my order in preparation for shipping. for example, i placed my cabelas order sunday morning and i finally get a notice wednesday evening that my order has shipped...three whole business days to "process" my order? really? all it was was two spools of fishing line and three crankbaits. i've actually visited TW's retail store which is attached to their warehouse. i can kinda peek in and see the warehouse...it's huge. the TT crew did a little article on their operation...very impressive. i really think the big boys (cabelas and BPS) are gonna have to shape up if they don't want to keep losing business to the likes of TW.

Damn that sucks. and sorry for the misunderstanding. I just placed an order with TackleTrap and had my email open at the same time. When I hit submit within a split second I received a confirmatin email from them. Great service as always.

[Seph]

I don't know why you are surprised that the 'big boys' take longer. Cabelas and Basspro are old catalog companies (remember the old 'allow 4-6 weeks for delivery' mantra?) that grew into huge destination retail locations and are now embracing the internet as another avenue of business.
Tacklewarehouse is built for internet retail. They only support their one physical location---not 50+...their whole business model is internet retail...they better be the fastest.

BPS and Cabelas are retail businesses that do internet orders...
Tacklewarehouse is an internet business that offers one retail option...

[21farms]

seph, what you assert may be correct for cabelas but not about bass pro shops. i was ordering from BPS via mail order from way back in the 1970s as did most fishermen i knew since BPS only had the one store back then. catalog sales via phone and mail was their primary business; their retail stores are a much more recent phenomenon. catalog orders continue to ship from separate warehousing facilities, not from their retail stores.

in any event, i used up the last of my BPS gift cards and placed an order wednesday morning...i just an email from BPS saying that my order has been packed and is shipping today

[SLM]

In 1980 it took about fourteen days for a BPS order to arrive from MO to CA starting the day you dropped your order form in the mailbox.

TW uses Golden State Overnight for their western states shipping. GSO is very reliable and fast--we use them in state gummint.

[Heronimo]

I order from Cabela's just as often as from TW. I'm in NJ. TW products usually arrive in 3-5 business days after order is placed. Cabelas products usually arrive in 5-8 business days after order is placed. I made the mistake of ordering two products from BPS on March 13. As of today, I still haven't received it. That's 11 business days and counting. The tracking link that they email to you doesn't work either, so you have to manually type in the tracking number on the USPS website to see where your item is. As of March 15, USPS has received the electronic shipping info. That's it.

Not ordering from BPS ever again. Their prices are not great, their shipping prices are not great and their shipping process does not impress.

[tH3_Guy]

Its not always best just being close to TW, then we got taxes

Just order my TW order yesterday morning before 11 AM. Its in my hands as I type this