A special customer service note from the owner: Our goal at Optimum Choices is superior customer service
that cannot be matched. We always
put your pet's holistic needs first.
As the world's largest
retailer of the revolutionary holistic
product,
BioPreparation, our expertise and products are very much in demand. Some days, we literally only ship emergency overnight orders
to
save a life (see
IMHA).
Unfortunately, this extends the processing time of our regularly scheduled orders, so we apologize
in advance. We know you would want this extra special attention if it were
your pet's life. We treat all pets as if they were a member of our family.
Internet-placed orders are processed first.
Because of the high demand, manually placed telephone orders
could take up to 7 business days to process. Current time to process
Internet orders is:4-6 days +
2-3 days for Priority Mail shipping = 9 total business days to receive your
order.
Normal shipping is done by U.S.P.S. mail (2-3 days delivery but not
guaranteed). If you have a critically ill pet,
please be sure you consider the other three emergency shipping options
below.
Priority Mail and Express Mail are cheaper
but we have found the U.S.P.S. to be unreliable when compared
to Federal Express.
Normal Shipping: We ship all orders
(Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. territories and
International, including P.O. Boxes ) by
U.S.P.S.
mail which usually takes
2-3 days for delivery (in the Continental U.S.). If you need faster service,
choose the other shipping
options below in our shopping cart.
Optimum Choices will assume liability for all
orders under $500 for loss or damage. We will routinely insure all orders over
$500 and ALL International orders regardless of value, unless specifically requested not to do so by the customer (to save
costs). The customer is then liable for all uninsured orders.
$7.50 for first bottle/$1 each additional bottle. Some items and International
orders higher.
Expedited USPS Mail Shipping Option: We will ship
your order by U.S.P.S. mail within the next business day, if possible, after receipt of
payment. If this is not possible, we will deduct the $7.00 surcharge.
Expedited Priority Mail Shipping: $14.50 for first bottle
Emergency Overnight Express Mail Shipping Option: We
will ship your order by U.S.P.S. Express Mail the same day
if possible (must be received before 3:00 PM Mountain Time) or by the end of the next business day, after receipt of
payment. If this is not possible, there
will be no extra $30.00 surcharge. This surcharge is in addition
to the normal shipping charges above.
Express Mail is cheaper than Federal Express but not as reliable
(sometimes delivered the second day).
Use Express Mail at your own risk. Keep this in mind if you have a critical pet
emergency.
Emergency Overnight Express Mail Shipping: $39.50 for
first bottle
Emergency Overnight Federal Express Shipping Option:
If your order is received and paid for by 3:00 PM Mountain Time,
we
will ship your order the same day by Federal Express
Standard Overnight (delivered by 3:00 PM the next business day). If this is not possible, there
will be no extra surcharge. Federal Express First Overnight (by 9:00 AM) and Federal Express
Priority Overnight (by 10:30 AM) options are also available if
needed for an increased cost. Please specify which service in the Special
Instructions box of the shopping cart, otherwise we will use
Standard Overnight (by 3:00 PM).
Emergency Overnight Federal Express Shipping: $59.50 for first
bottle
Canadian Orders—whenever
possible, BioSuperfood/BioPreparation Canadian orders will be
shipped from our associate's office (BioAge, LLC) in Ontario,
Canada. This avoids any Customs delays and saves the customer
International postage. If you do not mind receiving beginning
instructions and any other pertinent literature sent by e-mail,
then select the Canadian shipping option. Please
allow extra delivery time.
International Orders (other than
Canada) sent by insured Priority Mail (6-10 days)—$35.50 for the first bottle/jar
(for example, BioSuperfood, BioPreparation, Seacure) and $1.00
for each additional bottle/jar. Shipping for NingXia Red juice
bottles are more. We will routinely insure all orders (included
in shipping charge) unless specifically requested not to do so by the customer (to save
costs). The customer is then liable for all uninsured orders. In some
areas, insurance is not available. In these cases, Optimum
Choices will work to find an equitable solution or may choose
not to ship at all, unless the customer assumes all risk.
We will gladly send International orders by First Class Mail (to
save you money). We have found First Class Mail to be very
unpredictable, unreliable, non-traceable and uninsurable.
Therefore for First Class Mail, the recipient assumes all
liability for lost or damaged packages. Select the
International shipping option in our shopping cart (which will
calculate the Priority Mail rate) but enter "First Class Mail"
in the Special Instructions box on the second page of our
shopping cart. Your e-mail order confirmation will still show
the Priority Mail rate but we will adjust the shipping charges
downward BEFORE your credit card is actually charged.
We can also send by Express Mail (6-10 days, $48.50
for first bottle) or Federal Express (3-8 days, $99.50 for
first bottle)
depending on the country. Shipping price includes insurance.
Send us your address and we can tell you what are your options
and costs.
$35.50 for first bottle/ $1 each additional bottle. Some items higher.
Why are your shipping charges so expensive?
We have compared U.P.S., Federal Express Ground, DHL and the U.S.P.S. and
the U.S. Postal Service is the least expensive shipping method possible. We
used to ship the cheaper First Class Mail service but the Post Office would
lose or damage about 1-2 shipments per month. Whenever we complained to the
Postmaster they asked if we had a tracking or insurance claim number.
Obviously, we did not since First Class service offered neither. The
Postmaster's response was, "If you are a business and you want more reliable
service then use (pay more for) Priority Mail with tracking, insurance and
our free boxes."
Since we switched to Priority Mail with tracking, the lost and damaged
packages have dropped to about 1 every 6-8 months.
The U.S.P.S. provides free Priority Mail cardboard boxes included in their
postage price. When shipping First Class Mail, we have to purchase
bubble-padded envelopes for $1.40 each to protect your order. This adds to
the First Class postage costs below. The Postmaster also told us these
lightweight padded envelopes have a tendency to fly off their conveyor belts
and get lost or stuck in their machinery, thus contributing to our lost or
damaged packages above.
But who is going to pay for that one lost package? Suppose a
customer ordered a BioSuperfood-f3 Starter Pack worth $333.75 and the
package never showed up. Do we make the customer pay another $333.75 for a
second shipment? Hardly! Will the Post Office pay a claim if the package was
not insured (insuring every package increases your Shipping & Handling
charge)? Never! So, in order to provide good customer service, Optimum
Choices must mail out a duplicate $333.75 order at no charge to the
disappointed customer. Who pays for that cost? Like all businesses, we must
factor those losses into our Shipping & Handling costs for every customer,
so we spread out the loss over the total volume of orders per year and
purchase transit insurance.
Why is your total Shipping & Handling charge more than
the postage on my package?
The Shipping & Handling charge is comprised of two parts: Shipping +
Handling. Together they cover ALL our business costs to send out packages,
not just the postage to send out your individual package. Priority Mail
shipping charges for a 1 pound or under package (1-5 bottles) is $4.95. On
top of that postage we have to account for the cost of the self-adhesive
label, the laser printer toner and the gas or mileage it takes to take the
package to the Post Office. Using $0.55/mile (IRS business mileage
deduction) for a 10-mile roundtrip to the Post office, those cost total
$5.70. If we do not mail the package ourselves and utilize a fulfillment
house or drop ship service, they charge us a $5.00 per package service fee
in addition to the postage. Any way you calculate it, it costs us
$9.95-10.65 to mail out one bottle of BSF/BP not including our labor costs.
So, we are LOSING money every time we send out one bottle and only charge
$9.50 Shipping & Handling. In order to keep things simple, we average out
the above costs so that we might end up behind on single bottle orders but
come out ahead on multiple bottle orders. But those are not the ONLY costs involved.
Optimum Choices is not large enough
yet to pay a full time packing person $10/hour just to pack boxes. A
trained Customer Service Agent can process 4 existing client orders per hour
or 2 new customer orders per hour. So,
we hire and train Customer Service Agents at $15-20/hour to not only process
and pack orders but also to handle customer service issues and product
support. Our labor costs are $5-10 per package to process your order, stuff
bottles into a box for mailing and answer product support questions.
Can you ship it cheaper?
Yes, if a customer requests a cheaper shipping rate, we will ship their
package by First Class Mail or Parcel Post. Please specify which service you
would like in the Special Instructions box of our shopping cart. You will be
charged the postage rate + $2.00 for the box, label and tape + $5.00
handling fee. The
customer then assumes all liability for lost or damaged packages after
Optimum Choices delivers the package to our local Post Office. There is no
tracking for First Class Mail or Parcel Post service.
How come other companies offer cheaper
shipping and even free shipping promotions? The typical retail markup on consumer goods is 100-500%. With this
profit margin, businesses can afford to subsidize shipping costs, offer free
shipping promotions during the holidays, have buy-one-get-one-free sales,
run buy-2-get-second-one-50%-off sales, etc. (eyeglasses, movie concessions
and drug markups are 1,000-30,000%). Because we offer high-quality, truly
holistic products that work (unlike generic supplements which typically do
not work for everyone), our profit margin is less than 50%. As a business,
we must recover ALL our shipping costs for orders, not just the postage for
your package. Our actual cost for shipping one bottle is a minimum of $9.85
(postage, materials cost, drop-ship labor fee, insurance), so by only
charging $9.50 shipping & handling for the first bottle, the customer is
already getting a discounted shipping & handling rate.
Why does it take 1-3 days to process an order?
Optimum Choices is the largest e-tailer, distributor and reseller of
BioPreparation in the world. We even sell more bottles than the
manufacturer. Because of the incredible demand
for our holistic products (because they
work like nothing else), our business is growing exponentially. Because
of this increasing order volume and the long time it takes to educate people
on this new holistic paradigm (stop supplementing symptoms and use
whole food products), it can take 1-3
days to process an order. Telephone orders (more manual process and less
automation than online orders) take longer to process and are more prone to
mistakes. You can help us decrease order processing times by placing your
order online. Telephone orders can take up to one week to process. Thank you
for your patience as we meet all our clients' needs.
Nothing on this website has been evaluated by the FDA. This information
is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Please
see a qualified healthcare practitioner for any disease or illness.
always
put your pet's holistic needs first.
As the world's largest
retailer of the revolutionary holistic
product, 
