Why our Bulldog Tools and Haws Watering Cans!
We had our orders of Bulldog tools and Haws watering cans arrive in November from the UK. We have also had our new catalogue mailout as well as Christmas orders, so the last few weeks have been super busy packing tools and watering cans.
I have been packing all sorts of tools like cultivator forks, bill hooks, topiary shears, rubber rakes, as well as forks and spades. I started thinking about what it takes to get these products from the UK to Australia. We started importing Bulldog Tools into Australia in 2005 and the Haws watering cans in 2008. We wanted to find a top quality garden product that we could add to our growing business and the Bulldog and Haws products were the perfect fit for Gardenware.
We have been selling our UK products for a while now and have learnt a lot about importing these products into Australia. We always breathe a sigh of relief when we are unpacking a container, as circumstances beyond our control sometimes can cause shipping delays.
Their journey here to us in Amamoor starts with a single email. That initial order email to either Bulldog or Haws gets the ball rolling on that container (that will eventually find its way to our storage yard). From the time that the order email is received to the actual pickup of the goods can vary between two to four weeks depending on how busy the Bulldog or Haws factories are. The forged Bulldog tools and Haws watering cans are expertly crafted by hand so if the factories are busy, there can be a wait!
Once the UK lets us know that the order has been packed, an email is sent to our freight forwarders to organise pick up and get those tools and watering cans on a ship headed to Australia! This journey can take six to eight weeks. When the container is close to arrival we receive a pre-alert email. This email tells us what day our container will be arriving in Brisbane. This is a very important email, as it is crucial to organise paperwork, transport and pay duty before the container arrives. Any delays can be quite costly as we have found out through experience.
It’s always an interesting day when the container arrives in our small country town. Unless customs has opened our container to inspect it, we use bolt cutters to break the seal on the container so the unpacking can begin! We use a forklift to unload pallets from the truck and store the majority of them undercover in our yard. The rest of the pallets are driven by forklift to our storage shed, cans and tools are unpacked and are now ready to be sent to their new homes.
The journey is not quite over for these products. As most of you know, we mail order all over Australia, so the final part of their journey is traveling via Australia Post or Toll to get to you. I sometimes have a laugh looking at our packed orders, as some of them look very interesting for sure!
