Tag Archives: Businesses with Heart

Businesses with Heart: Chewy.com

This isn’t the post I originally had scheduled for this week but, that’s one of the great things about blogging (and retirement!) – I get to make my own schedule!😊 We are a multi-cat household and we’ve been purchasing all of our pet supplies online from Chewy.com for several years now. (We made the change shortly after moving into The Cabin four years ago.) I was tired of schlepping forty-pound boxes of cat litter around. Now, instead of a trip to PetSmart every two weeks, I place an online order with Chewy at the beginning of the month and a couple of days later our amazing FedEx delivery people arrive with a stack of boxes. I’d like to pause here and give a shout out to delivery drivers everywhere. Our Chewy order is easily 200 pounds each month. Even though it comes in multiple boxes, handling it can’t be fun. So, dear delivery drivers, I appreciate you!😘

What makes Chewy.com a business with heart? In short, their customer support. It’s easy to find examples of poor customer support on social media so I think when someone does an exceptional job, we should be willing to post that as well. (Side note: if you’ve never done customer support, it can be hard y’all. I spent most of my adult life in IT customer support. As much as I enjoyed what I did, there were also days where just tossing it all and moving to a shack in the mountains and living off the grid sounded like a wonderful idea.) Chewy’s prices are easily in line with any other places from which I have purchased pet supplies – and shipping is free with orders over $49. But, if there is a problem with your order, say you receive the wrong item or no longer need an item you purchased, Chewy will not only refund your money but they ask you to donate the item to a local animal shelter rather than return it.👍

I have a couple of examples of Chewy going over and above on their customer support. We have used Sentry brand calming collars for Delilah, our fourteen year old deaf cat, for many years. Delilah was, understandably, easily startled by pretty much everything. The calming collars release a pheromone that helps the cat relax and worked wonders for Delilah; she was always more relaxed (and stylish) when sporting her purple calming collar. However, Sentry has recently re-designed the clasp on their collars rendering them somewhat useless. (A calming collar that won’t stay on doesn’t work well.) I went on Chewy.com and wrote a review. In my review I stated that, up until the past few months, I would have given the collar five stars but that, due to the change in the clasp, I could only give it three. I wrote the review just to let others considering purchase know that yes, the product works, but that getting it to stay on is now problematic. I was greatly surprised to get an email from Chewy a couple of days later apologizing for my experience and refunding the cost of the collar. I was gobsmacked. Chewy is in no way responsible for the change to the Sentry collar, customer satisfaction is just that important to them.

Delilah napping in my lap

Delilah had pancreatitis in January of this year, spent four days in the hospital, and came home on special food. I created a profile for her on Chewy so I could order more of the prescription food for her. Sadly, Delilah’s health took another turn for the worse a couple of weeks ago and we made the difficult decision to have her euthanized. I contacted Chewy and let them know so they could remove any information regarding her from their system. (They’re good about sending out birthday cards, etc. to your pets.) I’ve seen various posts on social media about people receiving flowers from Chewy upon the death of their pets and…

The beautiful roses and vase pictured above arrived yesterday afternoon along with a sweet card from Lauren, the Chewy representative who responded to my email about Delilah. (Chewy sent a friend paintings of her pets based on the pictures she had used for them in their profiles.) Chewy is an amazing example of how to run a business. If you need pet supplies, in my opinion, there’s no better place to purchase them.

Friday Funnies

It’s amazing the things you can find when you’re waiting in line at the grocery store.😂 When I saw a can labeled “Liquid Death” I was expecting the contents to be some sort of uber-caffeinated energy drink but nope, it’s mountain water in a recyclable aluminum can.👍 (A sparkling water version was also available.) I’m a big fan of quirky and different so I was immediately hooked. “Murder your thirst.” Well played, marketing team! When I got to the car and read the rest of the can I discovered that Liquid Death also falls into my “businesses with heart” category because they donate 10% of the profits from every can sold to help kill plastic pollution which is a cause dear to my heart.

Happy Friday!🥳

Businesses with Heart: Who Gives A Crap

I know that title doesn’t make much sense at first glance. Maybe not even at second glance so, allow me to explain. For me, a “business with heart” is a business that devotes some part of its profit toward making the world a better place. I’ve decided that I will occasionally highlight one of those companies here in my blog. (And no, I’m not receiving any sort of compensation from these companies for doing so.) The first company I’d like to share is Who Gives A Crap.

I discovered Who Gives A Crap via a Facebook ad during the Great Toilet Paper Apocalypse of 2020. We were fortunate. We saw the handwriting on the wall a couple of days before the toilet paper and paper towels disappeared from shelves in the local area and purchased a multi-pack of each. (Just one multi-pack of each; not a lifetime supply.) It’s just Kenn and I at home so it’s relatively easy to make the paper products last. (On a side note, it took a pandemic and limited availability for me to learn just how many paper towels I was using and to implement steps to reduce that usage.) By the time I discovered Who Gives A Crap a limited selection of non-quality toilet paper was once again available in some stores but if I could purchase enough to last me the better part of a year online and have it delivered to my house, why not?

For my first purchase I selected the toilet paper made from 100% recycled paper; 48 rolls for $48. There were many things I fell in love with right away. As someone who does what I can to limit the amount of plastic I throw out I loved the fact that Who Gives A Crap uses ZERO plastic in their packaging. My shipment arrived in a cardboard box, each roll individually wrapped in paper. As someone who is all about color and sparkle, the sight that greeted me when I opened the box made my heart happy. Oh, and on orders over $25, shipping is carbon neutral which is another win in my book.

So, how well does the product work? Well, it gets the job done, LOL. The toilet paper is not as rough as others made from recycled paper that I’ve tried. I also like the fact that the double-length rolls are not not glued to the cardboard core so you get to use the whole thing. I’m not a fan of the fact that it has a tendency to pill and to not tear completely at the perforation.

Now that we’re down to the last few rolls, I placed a new order, this time upgrading to the 100% bamboo toilet paper. The bamboo paper is a little pricier at $52 for 48 rolls but, since it will last for a year or thereabouts, I have no complaints about the price. After testing one roll, I like it much better. The bamboo paper is softer, thicker, and tears cleanly at the perforation. It also doesn’t pill like the recycled paper. My only “complaint” is that my color-loving heart is saddened by the fact that the bamboo rolls are wrapped in white paper with black and gold patterns; no cheerful colors to brighten my day.

In addition to toilet paper, Who Gives A Crap also sells forest-friendly paper towels and facial tissue in addition to “Dream Cloths” which are listed as being a “reusable and washable paper towel alternative.” I tried the paper towels and while I liked them, I found them a bit pricey at $16 for 6 rolls. They also aren’t as wide as what I’m used to and I’ve gotten a bit spoiled by the “select-a size” sheets, a feature that is not available from Who Gives A Crap. I recently purchased 12 boxes of the forest-friendly facial tissue but haven’t tried them yet; I’m still waiting on the last box of my existing tissues to run out.

But, product aside, what is it that makes Who Gives A Crap a business with heart? The company donates 50% of their profits to help build toilets and improve sanitation in the developing world. FIFTY PERCENT y’all! That’s nothing to sneeze at. But, if you do sneeze, I’ll share my forest-friendly tissues with you. 😉

Until next time, happy trails and be sure to pass on any business with heart that you use.