Posts filed under 'Pet Crates Direct News'
There are several Midwest dog crates series that have been discontinued – so grab them while stock is still available because once they’re gone, they’re gone!
Stock remains on some sizes in the following series:
better buy home training series 1000
better buy home training & travel series 1200
canine camper soft side dog crates series 1700
life stages ultima triple door series 1600ul
starter series 1100
I am in the process of expanding my dog crate offerings to be sure that my customers have a wide variety of styles, strengths and finishes from which to choose. For starters, this will include professional, heavy-duty Suitcase Crates by Precision Pet Products as well as their Great Crates which are available in two finish choices. Expect new soft crates, kennels, dog houses and more in the near future.
Check Pet Crates Direct home page and the daily dog blog often as new products will be highlighted as they become available.
As always, customer feedback is appreciated. If you have recommendations for crate features or styles not currently offered, please let me know and I’ll do my best to accommodate.
and in closing…a word about the economy
Every customer is important to Pet Crates Direct and the value of each is amplified in these hard economic times. With most of us making purchases more thoughtfully, I am grateful to each of you who entrust me with your pet product purchase. Your continued patronage is keeping our “mom and pop” operation alive in the midst of economic turmoil. Thank You!
Lori
February 5th, 2009
Pet Crates Direct is now offering pet portraits by DNA – our resident artist. Danielle will create an extraordinary graphite likeness of your pet from a photo. Pet portraits make wonderful gifts and look great with a mat and frame. Danielle is offering two sizes including a standard 4″ x 6″ photo size for easy framing and the popular artist trading card size of 2.5″ x 3.5″. You can find pricing and additional on the pet portraits page.
I call DNA (Danielle Armbruster) our “resident artist” because she is actually my daughter, though it has been many years since she actually resided with me. Not unlike other young, creative types, Danielle discovered long ago that a “traditional” job does not suite her personality. And like many aspiring artists, this means that she frequently has trouble making ends meet. She has sold a number of her paintings and is working hard to find galleries and/or shows in which she might showcase her work and gain further exposure.Danielle is completely self-taught, having begun her endeavors at a very young age. She won her first art competition at age 10 and hopes that she might find art school in her future. Knowing that she is talented and quick with graphite(the medium with which she has the most experience) I encouraged her to consider adding pet portraits as a viable source of additional income. She astounds me with her life-like portrayals and I am sure that should you commission her for your pet’s portrait, you will be astounded, too. You will not find an artist more appreciate of your purchase and support as she undertakes transforming her natural talents into her livelihood.
November 26th, 2008
With the state of the economy, I suppose I should not be surprised that costs are rising. Midwest dog crates have seen three price increases since the first of the year. I cut my already low margins on some items with the April price increase in an attempt to keep my selling prices to customers from rising too much. Unfortunately, there is no room to slice my margins with this latest July increase and still be profitable, so I will need to increase my selling prices when the most recently announced pricing takes effect. Expect to see increased retail pricing on the website within 2-4 weeks. If you anticipate needing a crate (or any Midwest product) in the near future, purchase now and you’ll likely save yourself 10%-15%.
Pet Dreams, the manufacturer of the Cratewear Dog Crate Covers, also recently announced a significant price increase. Those prices are set to increase August 1st so I’ll be adjusting selling prices to customers on those as well.
Let’s hope that a “changing of the guard” with the November election will usher in an era of relief and stabilize our failing economy. We need a strong dollar to keep our import costs down (since it’s an unfortunate reality that our country would rather import products than manufacture them ourselves).
Lori
July 17th, 2008
The new year usually brings with it new vendor pricing and 2008 is no exception. The majority of our Midwest Homes for Pets product line will see price increases. I will adjust prices on Pet Crates Direct in the coming weeks to compensate for the higher product costs. I will continue to keep my margins low which should result in my prices remaining among the most reasonable on the web. If you are anticipating the need for a dog crate or chain link kennel in the near future, order now before the price increase has been implemented and save yourself $$.
January 2nd, 2008
Pet Dreams, the supplier of the classic and plush dog cratewear cover sets, presently has many items on backorder. I suppose this is an indication of the popularity of these dog crate covers as there seems to be a continuing problem with item availability, often resulting in extended backorder situations. While selling them so quickly as to not be able to keep up with stock is good for the manufacturer, it tends to put a crimp in my efforts to provide customers with timely delivery of orders and communications in regards to backorders. I attempt to keep the dog crate cover pages up-to-date as to item availability but find it a frustrating process as I often do not know about another item being short until I have attempted to have customer orders delivered. I apologize to customers who have been affected by this and appreciate your understanding in regards to situations that might arise which are out of my control. In the meantime, if there is a particular size/color that you desire which is on backorder you might want to order and wait as orders in-house will be filled before new orders and at this rate new inventory arrivals might only go as far as filling all of the backorders.
August 3rd, 2007
I never imagined home renovations could be so distracting! My sister and I purchased an old farmhouse and have been renovating since March. This has somewhat distracted me from the website. With funds running low, our renovations have (at least for the present) nearly reached an end so I can get back on track with the business. In the coming weeks expect to see new product additions from Midwest (dog crates and pet beds) and Pet Dreams (dog crate covers and pet beds). I’m also considering aluminum dog crates from another supplier for those of you with pets that are difficult to contain.
Pet Crates Direct is celebrating three years online this week. We have had steady growth and appreciate each new customer who finds their way to us. Thanks for your patronage and the business many of you have sent our way by word-of-mouth. We pledge to continue our “mom and pop” level of customer service and keep our prices competitive with or less than the “big boys”.
As always, your feedback and input is appreciated. Email us anytime – lori@petcratesdirect.com
Lori
June 25th, 2007
I’d posted this on 3/13 and trying to moderate spam comments, inadvertently deleted it today
Customers I need your help…
Effective 3/13/07 dog crate replacement pans are non-returnable. Please be certain of the crate model and/or pan number that you need for your crate before ordering. The dog crate accessories page lists Midwest crates by model for ease of ordering replacement pans, divider panels and floor grids. Should you not find your crate model listed, you may contact Midwest directly at 1-800-428-8560. They will be happy to help you determine the correct pan number needed for your model. To order by pan number, enter the pan number (example: 10PAN) into the search field available from any page of the Pet Crates Direct website (located in the top blue header portion of page). Search, add to basket and continue to checkout.
Midwest dog crate replacement pans are intended for use with Midwest crates. If you do not have a Midwest crate, you should measure your crate (not the pan). Midwest does not make available a reference to pan size so having your pan measurements will not help. If you find a Midwest crate of the exact same dimensions as your crate, then feasibly ordering a pan for that particular Midwest crate should work. Please note, however, that I do not guarantee a fit to any crate other than those manufactured by Midwest.
The large number of customer pan returns as well as a higher than usual risk of damage in transit has prompted this policy change. I am hopeful this will encourage customers to do their due diligence before ordering pans. I have pan prices set low and would like to keep them low for your benefit. The costs associated with processing returns and dealing with damaged pans has prompted this return policy revision. I have opted to revise the pan policy rather than raise pan prices as I believe that it is possible to get the correct pan the first time with just a little more effort on your part before ordering.
Please note that I have also updated the returns policy to highlight other important information that was being overlooked by customers making returns.
I appreciate your understanding and cooperation in regards to this new policy.
March 26th, 2007
Usually the new year brings with it product price increases. This year I am happy to report that although some products will have small price increases, dog crate replacement pans have seen a significant price drop. So now you’ll pay more for shipping the pan than the pan itself in most cases. Unfortunately, cost of shipping them can be rather pricey due to box size and of course gound services are implementing their usual new year price increase.
Expect to see prices on chain link kennels increase in the coming weeks as well as the Better Buy Series Dog Crates. Get them now before I get around to changing the prices on the website.
January 4th, 2007
I recently became aware of the fact that both 48″ drop-pin dog crates ship oversize 3 due to box size. Models affected are Better Buy 1048 and Starter Series 1148. The same crates in fold & carry versions (models 1248 & 1648) ship oversize 2. The difference in shipping charges between the two is substantial – usually in the $50.00 range. So unless you are dead set on the drop-pin style, the fold and carry crates are by far the better buy when shipping cost is considered.
I suppose this will teach me to read the fine print. Fedex ground regulations indicate that any package over 130″ length/girth will ship oversize 3. The package for the models in question measure a total of 129.75″ length/girth so I had the website setup to calculate these as oversize 2. Noting that I was being charged more by fedex for the shipments than the website was calculating, I questioned why. What is not clearly noted in the regulations but in the fine print under fedex’s terms and conditions is the fact that fedex rounds measurements that are a fraction of an inch. The result is they bill a 129.75″ package as a 131″ package. I think it would be easy for them to indicate this on their size requirements page but they do not. I had to search long and hard to find the reference to the fact that measurements are rounded. Considering the fact that shipping cost differences between the two are significant ($30 upcharge for os 3 and billable weight goes to 90 lbs), I really think it inexcusable that a company this large does not make this information clear or readily available.
There – I’ll get off the soap box and will probably hear from my fedex rep. now 
October 23rd, 2006
We just got word that the manufacturer of Canine Cooler Pet Beds is moving their company headquarters and no product will be shipped between 8/18 and 9/6. Order now to avoid delay later. It’s hot and your pets will really appreciate it.
August 4th, 2006
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