ship to hawaii

frequent online shoppers know that shipping to the islands can be a frustrating experience from jacked up shipping rates to pad a company's bottom line to the exclusion of one million potential customers by some mainland businesses who simply refuse to ship to hawaii. shopping local is, of course, the best way to go but that's not always possible so when you simply must hit the internet click over to ship to hawaii which just may become your favorite online buddy.

an annual membership fee (from $20 for the average jane & joe to $150 for a big business) combined with an additional shipping fee gets you access to the company's california warehouse which will receive your order, bundle it up with the goodies of other savvy kama'aina, and dispatches all the packages via air freight to hawaii twice a week (ocean freight is also available for heavier items).

patience is a must and, while door to door delivery is available to the neighbor islands, oahu residents will have to drop by the courier office near the airport to pick up their package.

an online shipping calculator lets you estimate the potential cost savings so if a business offers reasonable s/h this is not always the ideal way to go, however ship to hawaii does open up the tantalizing prospect of all those free shipping offers that are typically restricted to the 48 states.

learn what inspired this brilliant idea over at midweek and remember to read all the fine print before you sign up.

{via smart magazine}

p.s. outrageous shipping charges are not the exclusive domain of the mainland to hawaii route and has been known to afflict orders going in the opposite direction across the pacific (ex: a recent order cost $2 to ship from hi to ca but the company charged me $8 - yikes!) so here's a little unsolicited advice to hi biz owners - get a scale (it is a business expense, after all), sign up for click-n-ship postage, stock up on flat rate boxes from usps, and make a note that packages under 13 ounces can be sent via first class mail.

studies show that i am not the only one who has abandoned many a shopping cart after being presented with excessive s/h fees at checkout. in fact, you may be surprised to learn that 6 out of 10 shoppers ditch their cart prior to completing their purchase. the number one reason? high shipping rates.

my baby our baby

because sometimes someone else captures your little one's rapturous moment with a noodle.

continuing on with more good things for your keiki, check out my baby our baby, a hawaii/sf-based internet start up that recently rolled out a community photo sharing service starring the little one in your life. the service was created by ray hernandez & beau lebens who combined their considerable tech experience after fielding repeated requests from friends and family to create slick websites for their new arrivals.

the result of all their hard work: my baby our baby - one part flickr, one part blog, and a cool shortcut to create a virtual scrapbook for parents (plus invited friends and 'ohana) to share photos snapped via the various forms of digital paraphernalia which have become so essential to modern life. everyone in your group can upload photos snapped on their camera or cell phone, jot down the back story of the moment, and parents can keep their peeps posted on all the latest firsts from baby hq.

and, if privacy is a concern, you'll be happy to learn that your baby book can be set up to be viewed by invitation-only. there's even a handy rss feed to alert everyone in your circle when there's a keiki update. you'll have a bit more time to spend with the wee center(s) of your attention (no more mass emails to your entire address book), and friends are given a chance to opt-in to digital peeks of life with baby (because, truth be told, your accountant may not be quite so enamored of learning every single cute-to-you wonder done by your little one).

the service is free and, eventually, ray & beau plan to extend mbob's offerings to include customized photo albums and other personalized goodies.

take a tour and tell your friends!

{via cheap places to eat in oahu hawaii - ray's sweetie's foodie blog}

virtual vacation

hopefully, the weather cooperates and we are at the beach this morning since the forecast looks rainy for the rest of the week. somewhere on the other side of the island, roxanne & her dog lexi are filming their morning stroll and sharing the beauty of hawaii & a few deep thoughts with the rest of the world. yep, the award winning beach walks with rox vlog is definitely a pleasant way to start the day . . . especially if you are far from the islands.

and, if you want to send some instant aloha spirit to homesick kama'aina or dreamy wanderers across the world, lovena from east coast tropics recently buzzed me about her new site hawaii e-cards stocked with local kine photographs that she has snapped around the islands.

get lost

in honor of lost going back on the air tonight, i thought other fans of the show may want to check out the lost virtual tour which maps out all the filming locations around oahu. we always have fun trying to identify the spots used whenever the production goes on location and the website is a nice resource to hit when you're stumped (ex: kate's iowa car chase in "born to run" was really shot at pearlridge).

kudos to the location scouts & production designer for being so imaginative & resourceful when the script calls for them to find and then transform someplace we all know into one of the many lost worlds featured on the show.

and if you really want to dig into the many layers of the show be sure to click over to the transmission, hawaii's very own lost podcast.

no. 1 - goodsearch

here's a way to be an online philanthropist without tapping into your bank account. one of the neatest search engines to pop up is goodsearch (powered by yahoo!) which donates 50% of their ad revenue to charity (about a penny per search). it may not sound like much but over time it does add up.

it's pretty easy to use. just go to their homepage, select a charity, and then goodsearch away. there are a number of hawaii organizations listed or, if you can't find your favorite, submit them for approval. in the name of research, you can even take a peek at the number of clicks and the amount raised for a specific charity. and to make life a bit easier, download goodsearch to your toolbar so it is always ready for your next search.