Blog posts tagged with 'schools'

One of the questions that we get asked every daily is "How much do your plastic folding tables cost?" On the one hand this is a very simple question to answer; on the other it is actually quite difficult.

It is simple because we, of course, sell plastic folding tables; as a result we have set pricing for our wide selection of NES Reliable Plastic Folding Tables. So then why is it also difficult? The difficulty comes when you choose to dig deeper into the specifics of the plastic folding table that you are looking to buy. Plastic Folding Tables range in price from about $30.00 all the way up to $330.00+, depending on a variety of factors including size, quality, brand, and which supplier you buy from. To take size out of the equation we will focus on the always popular 6-ft Rectangle Plastic Folding Tables. While many 6-ft Rectangle Plastic Folding Tables initially appear to be the same, there are three main differences that come into play to effect price which are quality, distribution, and brand.

Quality vs Price

The Quality of plastic tables sold currently varies dramatically. Some offer 6-ft Rectangle Plastic Folding Tables that are only capable of holding 250lbs evenly distributed across the top of the table, while others are capable of holding 1000lbs or more (including our 6-ft NES Reliable Rectangular Plastic Folding Tables). In terms of quality, the tables being sold by the vast majority of big box retailers (consumer-focused) simply do not compare to those being offered by companies that focus on Business to Business sales. The big box stores mainly focus on giving you the least expensive product possible, resulting in the lower weight rating. Many of these products will work very well for consumers looking for an inexpensive table that they will use once or twice a year for household parties and events. If you are planning to use the table more often however, you might want to consider the value being offered by a product at a similar or slightly higher price point. You also want to be cautious that you are really comparing two equal tables, especially if the price difference between them is low.

So what of the $180.00 6-ft Rectangular Plastic Tables?

The 6-ft Rectangles that cost $180.00 are normally so expensive because they are sold through distribution. Yes, some will have higher weight ratings, and some will have special features to help improve their value proposition but some have neither. A great example of a large business built on distribution is National Public Seating. If you choose to purchase a National Public Seating product, you don’t buy directly from them. Instead you will buy from one of their retail partners. This has pros and cons. The pro is that you can generally find someone in your immediate area that carries their product. As a result you may be able to pick up the product the very same day, or the next day. This can make purchasing their table very convenient, especially if you are in a jam and need the product quickly. The con is that their price is likely higher because of the double mark-up. The double mark-up occurs because National Public Seating needs to make money on the product sale and the retailer needs to make money on the product sale.

Branding: Marketing Dollars at Work

The final cost factor is Brand. It is fair to say that most well-known brands command a premium over their unbranded or lesser known brand counter parts (had a Coke/Pepsi lately?). Both Coke and Pepsi are able to command higher prices because they are a known commodity compared to many of their competitors. As a result when they sell at a higher price point many people are happy to pay it because they have known quality behind the brand. When you buy a Coca-Cola or Pepsi, you know exactly what you are getting but the same is generally not true for small brands or store branded products since you likely have not dealt with them before.

So the next time you are looking to purchase a plastic folding table consider what goes into the cost. While some costs may be justified to you, others may not be. Some may prefer distribution over brand, while others will prefer quality over distribution. If you are looking for pricing on plastic folding tables that offer excellent value please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Since I started working at National Event Supply in 2010, we've shipped products across Canada and the United States. We've shipped tables and chairs to Nunavut in the North, and Aruba in the South. We've shipped dinnerware and cutlery to Vancouver, BC and St. John's Newfoundland. Most of the time, there are no problems. The products arrive on time, with no damage. On other occasions, products are lost or are damaged in transit.

When we find out that products are damaged in transit, we typically file a claim with the shipping company. As part of the claims process, the shipping company will refer to the bill of lading. If the customer has signed the bill of lading and has not indicated that there was any damage, the shipping company will typically deny the claim, as there was no damage indicated. This is why skids that ship from our warehouse in Toronto now have stickers on them that read "Inspect for Damage Before Accepting". But what should you be looking for?

4 Things to Look for Before Signing for your Order

Is the plastic skid wrap still intact?

National Event Supply wraps all skids in plastic wrap. For orders coming out of our Mississauga warehouse, we use a black wrap. Indianapolis and Vancouver both use clear wrap. The wrap should be tightly pulled around the products, and there should not be any tears or rips.

Is the pallet damaged?

If the pallet is falling apart or has noticeable damage, take a closer look at the whole skid. It could be that the skid was damaged while it was being loaded or unloaded at the shippers' depots.

Are there any dents or indentations on any of the boxes?

Take a look at the boxes on the skid. If there are holes or a corner is bashed in, then the skid may have been damaged in transit.

Is the skid leaning to one side, or does it look like it could topple over?

If the contents have shifted during shipping, there is a chance that the products within may be damaged.

Click to enlarge pictures.

What to Do if Your Order Arrives Damaged

If you discover that your order is potentially damaged in the course of your inspection, here is what you should do:

Take pictures of the damage while the driver is there. If you can take pictures of the skid on the truck that's even better.

This allows us to show the carrier that the product was damaged while they were responsible for it. It is important that the pictures of the skid are taken before the skid is broken down.

Write down on the Bill of Lading the exact damage that you have discovered and that you will be filing a claim

Be as specific as possible. If the corner is bashed in on the box that is third from the bottom, write that down. The more detail that we can give the shipping company claims department the better. Write down all the damage that you document with pictures.

Don't use the damaged product. Leave it in its box.

If the product is damaged, then you cannot use it. Let us know so that we can get replacement product out to you. Also, make sure that you keep the damaged product in its box at your facility so that if the claims adjuster wants to inspect it he can. If you return the product to us, the claims adjuster can dismiss the claim

Let us know and we will start the claims procedure.

The sooner you email or call us and let us know about the damage, the sooner we can get the ball rolling on the claims process. We'll need the photos that you have taken so we can give them to the shipping company and we'll need to know what happened when the shipping company arrived with your product.

As I wrote earlier, most of the time nothing goes wrong, the products arrive on time and in pristine condition. For those times that they don't however, it is important that you know what you're signing for. It's important to "Inspect for Damage Before Accepting".

We opened our warehouse in Indianapolis last year in the early spring and with the Douglass group helping our sales efforts from their Indianapolis head office, we have slowly been building our success in the US Midwest market. While the Douglass group have direct sales staff covering Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, Kentucky and West Virginia, we often ship to many other nearby states.

Now, less than 18 months later, we are growing our Canada/US presence once again. We have been thinking about this for quite a while now and had considered starting earlier this year but were concerned with everything that was happening in Europe. Now 6 months later, not much has changed in Europe (the economy is still as shaky as before) but we have decided it was time to bite the bullet and start warehousing some of our best-selling NES Reliable Plastic Folding Tables, plastic folding chairs and NES Wood Folding Tables in Vancouver.

We regularly get calls from across western Canada and in particular, BC and Alberta. While we get great shipping rates and ship coast to coast across Canada as well as into the far north (and of course throughout the US), shipping from Toronto usually takes a week and many of our western Canada Customers often need the product today or tomorrow. We provide same day and next day service throughout the Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal corridor and have felt this type of responsiveness was also needed for Vancouver and lower mainland area. Shipping to Calgary and Edmonton will be just 2 days (versus the 3 to 5 days it takes from Toronto).

What products will NES be warehousing in Vancouver?

We are starting off with a range of our best-selling NES Reliable Plastic folding tables and folding chairs as well as our most popular NES Wood folding tables. Over time we hope to expand the range to offer most of what we have available in Toronto as far as tables and chairs are concerned and later in 2013 we would like start stocking our popular Quadrato, Ovali and Hotelier dinnerware lines, our porcelain platters and bowls and some of our best-selling cutlery lines.

Our first shipments are arriving into the Locher Evers warehouse with the following expected schedule:

August 3rd

• 6ft and 8ft NES Reliable Rectangular Plastic Folding Tables
• 60 inch NES Reliable Round Plastic Folding Tables
• Tall NES Reliable Round Plastic Folding Cocktail Table

August 8th

• NES Wood Folding Tables, 4ft, 6ft and 8ft folding Banquet tables
• NES Wood Folding Tables, 48 inch, 60 inch and 72 inch round folding tables

August 9th

• NES Reliable White Wedding-Style Resin Folding Chairs (and Black)
• NES Folding Chair Carts

August 10th

• NES Reliable Series 3000 Plastic Folding Chairs in Black on Black, White on White, Grey on Grey, and Burgundy on Grey (additional colours will come later in the fall)
• 72 inch NES Reliable Round Blow Mold Folding Tables

Since we’re doing business with some very large companies in the movement of our products, these arrival date may slip a little. If there is something you are interested in picking up right away, give us a call and we can give you the latest information on when it is expected to arrive into the warehouse.

Where is the warehouse located?

We are warehousing our product with our strategic partner Locher Evers International and their sister company Westcon Terminals. The warehouse is conveniently located in the Annacis Business Park at the following address. This is located at the Alex Fraser Bridge and highway #91 with quick and easy on and off access.

456 Humber Place,
Annacis Business Park
New Westminster, BC
V3M 6A5

How do you order from the New Vancouver Warehouse?

The same as you always do, you can send us an email, call us at 905-795-1667 or toll free at 800-827-8953, or fill out one of our contact forms on our website and we would be pleased to help you. We already have well established relationships with national carriers for shipping and we’ll be able to provide you with even more cost effective shipping options now that we can ship from Vancouver to BC, Alberta and Washington State. For Saskatchewan and Manitoba, we’ll figure out which shipping options (Vancouver or Toronto) are the most cost effective.

Can I pick-up at the Warehouse?

Absolutely, we just need 24 hours notice so we can have the warehouse pull your order and get it ready for pick-up the next day in the afternoon. For larger orders, we’ll need to know the type of vehicle you’re picking up with so we can either have the skid of tables/chairs shrink wrapped or ready for hand loading. Rush pick-ups can also be accommodated but hopefully your customers aren’t always leaving changes to the last minute.

A question we frequently get asked is how to tell the difference between a good quality plastic folding chair and one that can't handle the rigours of the rental industry.

One of the best ways to figure out if you are buying a good quality plastic/poly folding chair is to take a firm hold of the seat back with your hands and to give it a twist. The seat should have some give and flex under the pressure as you twist the seat back. If it feels too rigid, there is a good possibility the chair you have selected has too much recycled plastic in it and will therefore be ‘brittle’ and very susceptible to breaking under many different conditions. Breakage will occur when the weather in the northern parts of the US and Canada gets colder or when the chairs are handled a little more roughly.

Since we often cannot wait until winter sets in to check to see how the sample chair performs in sub-zero weather, you can perform a quick and easy test on a sample chair. The hammer test is the easiest way to make sure that they chairs you are looking at use virgin plastic. I must admit I have to give credit to one of our customers, Parkland Party & Equipment Rentals in Red Deer, Alberta for telling me about this particular test. All you need is a typical 16 ounce hammer and the sample plastic folding chair you wish to test for long term durability. Give the back of the seat on your sample plastic folding chair a few whacks with the hammer. If your sample poly folding chair breaks, you know it isn’t a good long-term buy.

If you are looking for a cost effective, lightweight, but durable and reliable chair that will support the majority of people that attend weddings, concerts, parties, business meetings and the like, then our NES RELIABLE Plastic Folding Chairs are the ideal solution. These chairs have been stress tested to support a 225lb drop test from 6 inches above the chair and do not fail. In addition, they contain only virgin plastic with a high tensile steel frame that will provide many years of use and enjoyment for your business. In addition, our NES RELIABLE Plastic Folding Chairs come with a 2 year material and manufacturing defect warranty. These have been an excellent performing chairs for all our customers.

We are currently stocking 7 main colours: Black seat and back on a Black frame, White on White, Burgundy on Grey. Grey on Grey, Tan on Tan, Brown on Tan and Slate Blue on Grey.

It's been a busy day here at the National Event Supply warehouse. We took delivery of our first container early this morning and we're just starting to empty our second container this afternoon. It's great to finally have the products that everyone is looking for.

Our first container was a mixture of Plastic Folding Tables and Plastic Folding Chairs. We've managed to replenish our supply of Burgundy on Grey Plastic Folding Chairs as well as increase our stock of Black on Black Plastic Folding Chairs to help us get through the summer. In addition, we brought in some 5-ft NES Reliable Rectangular Plastic Folding Tables, allowing us to add it to our regular price list of available items.

Our second container arrived earlier this afternoon. It was filled with 5-ft round, 6-ft rectangular, and 8-ft rectangular plastic folding tables. Unfortunately, we only brought in 120, 5-ft round tables on this container. This means that after filling our back-orders we will have 1 or 2 tables left. We are getting more 5-ft round tables in early August, so if you are interested in the tables and can wait, please drop us a line and we will put your request into our backorder file.

That's it for today. The warehouse team is resting up for one last container this month. Tomorrow we'll be adding more Plastic Folding Chairs to add to our inventory. This last container will be the ninth container of products that we have received this month. We should have another two or three containers in the coming weeks filled with resin Chiavari chairs, porcelain, and cutlery.