Giveaway started 8/1/2011 – ended 8/18/2011 at Midnight

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CCBerries : Authentic Gourmet Ingredients, Taste the Amazing Difference

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We have a winner in our chocolate covered strawberry giveaway:
Edgardo F,  of  Colorado.  (Currently deployed in Afghanistan)
Congratulations Edgardo (stay safe) 

3 ways to enter

1) Enter Online (Below)
2) One automatic entry per shipped order at ccberries.com
3) Tell friends about this giveaway. (details below)

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View all decorations

View Classic Strawberries

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Terms and Conditions

Eligible:
US residents, 18 years of age or older. Employees of CCB Radiance/CCBerries, their families (and the members of their immediate families,and/or households), SAS affiliates, or suppliers are ineligible to participate or win. Subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Void where prohibited.

Entry:
Three methods:
1) Online using the form on this page, one entry per person, email address or IP address.
2) Automatic entry for each order shipped between August/01/2011 and August/18/2011
3) Tell your friends and family about this giveaway, if they enter your email address or twitter user name in the “How did you hear about our giveaway?” field you’ll be entered again. (If you tell people to enter your twitter ID you’ll have to follow @ccberries on Twitter so we can notify you). One referral per entry. How you tell your friends about us is up to you: Twitter, Facebook, Renting a blimp, use your imagination, but don’t spam or break the law..

Notification:

Winner will be randomly selected and will be notified by email and/or phone on or before August/31/2011. The winner will forfeit any prize or prize certificate not claimed within forty-five (45) days of winning.

Prize:

Prize consists of a single use discount code for a $50 discount off of product(s) with chocolate covered strawberries ordered online, discount code is valid for a single order and can not be split between orders, not valid with any other discount codes or on phone or fax orders. Discount does not apply to shipping costs or or other handling fees.

There is no substitution, transfer, or cash equivalent for prizes, the prizes are expressly limited to the item listed above and does not include taxes, or any other expenses. Other restrictions may apply.

Privacy:
None of the data collected will be sold, rented, given or otherwise transferred to a third party.
The phone number entered above will only be used in the event of verification of a winning entry. Email addresses will be added to our customer newsletter system which you can later opt out of. Feedback data may be used in our testimonial section (without your last name) but has no effect on giveaway.

Odds of winning are dependent on the number of entries received.

Entries found to be submitted fraudulently will be removed. This includes but is not limited to: computer generated entries, entries with false/non-working phone numbers or email addresses, entries from outside the United States, entries by people under 18 or with invalid city, state or zip codes.

Entry deadline: as described above by Midnight August/18/2011 Eastern.

Colored paper boxes:

Having an event where standard white boxes would look out of place? Coordinating the box color and ribbon with the rest of the events color scheme makes thing look more finished and professional.
Colored boxes
http://www.papermart.com/Product%20Pages/Product.aspx?GroupID=5484&SubGroupID=5485&ParentGroupID=18990#5485
http://www.uline.com/BL_5602/Gift-Boxes

Clear boxes
http://www.papermart.com/Product%20Pages/Product.aspx?GroupID=16493&SubGroupID=16494&ParentGroupID=18998#16494

I’ve worked with the clear boxes before and while they are not difficult to assemble, they are a lot more time consuming than the paper versions because the plastic wants to flatten back out . Creasing the box along the two folds that arrive flat will help the box go together quicker and look square-er (is square-er ever a word?)

Remember that the boxes don’t have to be square, sometimes a different style box will fit better with the event theme.

Chinese style takeout boxes
http://www.papermart.com/Product%20Pages/Product.aspx?GroupID=20794&SubGroupID=16233&ParentGroupID=18991#16233
One of the options you’ll never get with commercially prepared individual gift boxes is decorative shred inside the box. The quickest way to describe shred is it’s most common use: “Easter baskets”. Some but not all shred is made of food contact, choosing the right color will make the individually boxed berries look even better. Most gift boxes have a plain white interior, commercially prepared boxes have to add a lot of foam to protect the berry in transit, but since you don’t have to worry about UPS or FedEx you can do without the foam, but that leaves the box a little empty. No box is going to perfectly fit every strawberry, so the box needs to be bigger and the shred makes the bigger box not look empty. Only a tiny bit of shred is needed to make the box look much better, it sometimes comes packed very tightly, so you may need to pull it apart to get the best effect.

Shred
http://www.papermart.com/Product%20Pages/Product.aspx?GroupID=19007

Another option is plastic (or paper) gift bags, gift bags take less time to assemble and can be tied or taped shut.
Gift bags
http://www.papermart.com/Product%20Pages/Product.aspx?GroupID=14802&SubGroupID=14803&ParentGroupID=18876#14803

What if you want a totally custom color?
You need to remember that the box manufactures make their money by setting up the equipment and letting it run for a long time, every time they change colors all the equipment needs to be cleaned and that can be a very time consuming process. Custom boxes are ordered in a minimum quantity of 500 boxes and can take 6 to 8 weeks to produce, always remember that while 500 may seem like a big number to you: it is actually a tiny number for them (if you act like a diva they will drop you in a second as they make the real money on big commercial orders and a 500 box order may not even cover the time needed to set up the order). Another thing to remember that these boxes will be traveling (unassembled) through UPS/FedEx and some are bound to get scratched; no box order is 100% usable.
http://usbox.com/Boxes/Colored-1-Piece-Gift-Boxes/1LV-P
http://usbox.com/Boxes/Colored-1-Piece-TuckGift-Boxes/1LV
http://usbox.com/Boxes/Colored-2-Piece-Lock-Corner-Boxes/1LV

Assembly:
Every style of box goes together differently, and until you have the boxes in hand you can’t really see the steps needed. Some boxes, such as the clear ones above, take a lot more time to assemble. On the upside the boxes can be assembled days or weeks ahead of time. Assembling the boxes will always take much more time than you estimate. Assemble them well ahead of time and store them in a huge moving box or even  fresh garbage bags.

Ribbons or stickers:
It really depends on the look you are after, a gold foil label(sticker), is going to go on much quicker than the time needed to cut and tie a ribbon. Another ribbon option is stretch loops or even a bow with an adhesive backing.

Tips on ribbons:
Until you know what style bow you’ll be tying you will not know how long to cut the ribbon. Once you know the ribbon length. One trick we’ve used is to cut a piece of cardboard to match that length, then you can quickly unroll the ribbon onto the cardboard and cut the ribbon along the edges of the cardboard to get the proper length ribbon. Cutting the ribbon well ahead of time and taping it to the center of the bottom of the box really saves a lot of time during final assembly. The tape keeps the ribbon from sliding around while it is being tied and keeps it in place after it is tied as well.

Pre-assembly of the box, pre-stuffing the shred and pre-taping the ribbon will help speed the final assembly and help make the event a success. Waiting till the last minute to do all the assembly is just asking for trouble.

A better way to do individually boxed chocolate strawberries

Occasionally people want to order individually boxed chocolate covered strawberries for weddings or parties. The problem is while they look pretty all sealed up: a lot of packaging has to be used to make sure the berry arrives in perfect condition, the berries need to be packed so they can not move in any direction, and all that packaging does not look as spectacular as it could and only one color box is offered.

Things working against the best possible individually boxed strawberry:

1)Internal packaging: we  have to make sure the berry can’t move in any direction, things can get rough in the UPS/FedEx planes and trucks,  that is a lot of extra packaging & would be most of what the recipient sees when they open the small box.

2)All that extra packaging costs more, foam suppliers actually charge partially by the piece so 12 sets of individual foam pieces cost a lot  more than one set of foam for a dozen berries. Box suppliers also charge by the piece so the foam and boxes cost a lot more.

3)Shipment size, when berries are individually boxed they actually take up more space than if they are in one common box, since FedEx and UPS charge extra for larger sized shipments: individual berries actually cost more to ship.

The prettiest box would have minimal internal packaging (foam) so the person opening the box can actually see the berry, (rather than foam),  you’d also be able to select the color of the box (even if it’s pink polka-dots) to match your event.

There is a very simple solution. Order the berries in bulk and drop them in the little boxes yourself.

This actually ends up being much less expensive, much prettier, and you get to choose a box color & style. Some styles of boxes can’t be used to ship berries but would look much better on a decorated table.

Another option is to put the berries in individual gift bags, they are a lot quicker to pack than the boxes and can look very pretty.

The box size that works best for a single berry is about 3x3x3.. but more on that next time.

Next time we’ll suggest some vendors and packing methods, as well as some hints for making the packing go faster.

Call centers are used to take orders and for customer service in many large companies. Today I saw the following: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100530/pl_nm/us_usa_outsourcing  regarding call centers and customers being transferred outside the US. Basically the proposed law would require two new things:
1) that you get notified when your phone call  is transferred to a call center outside the USA and
2) that the company transferring the call outside the US to pay a fee.

While big business and special interest groups will fight this, we support this idea.

Companies using non-US based call centers affect us all, not just in jobs and taxes shipped overseas but in data security. Do you really want to give your credit card number, billing address and card security code to someone who makes a few dollars a day in a foreign call center?

A well designed web site (one that does not keep the credit card and security numbers) is actually more secure than anytime a person is involved. An outsourced call center, as used by many major corporations, is a huge security risk, as you never know who you are talking to, what their intentions are or even what country they are located in. You can’t even always tell by the accent as some companies are training their people to speak without a discernable accent and to identify themselves with American sounding names.

Some people may be saying “wait a minute the credit card information is being sent over the internet isn’t that a security problem”?  The truth of the matter is that every credit card transaction, whether it’s placed online, over the phone or in a department store, is transmitted over the internet at one time or another and in some cases multiple times, as the internet is used for authentication and the collection between the merchant, and the multiple  banks involved.   The biggest risk to internet security is the setup on the customers personal computer.

Things you can do to improve your personal online security:
1) when entering credit card information make sure the URL begins with “https” this is the secure “encrypted” connection that keeps your card information from being intercepted online.
2) Beware of “toolbars”, small tools that install functions on your browser as they bypass all normal security and can intercept and transmit your credit card information and other entries without your permission at any time: even when the URL is “https”. The toolbar installed may have nothing to do with shopping, anytime you install one you run the risk that it will self install a new version which can then transmit your credit card, email addresses, passwords, and address information without your consent. Toolbars are always a very bad idea.
3) Always keep your security software up to date and running.
4) A group of companies in the gift/flowers/strawberry industries have used their checkout process to sign customers up for a third party “savings” program, some customers have said they were signed up for those programs without their consent. While the big check off box may say something like “xxx discount program” the small print and end result is that the customers get signed up for a program that charges them every month for what seems to be little reward. The site that the customer places the order on actually passes the customers credit card information to the third party site.
How we handle things differently
1) We don’t employee any outside call centers (either inside or outside the US)
2) We don’t pass your credit card number to anyone except the bank
3) We don’t keep a copy of your credit card number, when you place your order we send it to the bank and it is not saved.

How to save

1. The final checkout screen (the ‘thank you’ screen) has a coupon code for strawberry and floral orders that you place the same day.  Think about your other gift needs:  a birthday or long delayed thank-you gift.. use the code on the final checkout page to send upscale gifts at a discount.
2. Combine your orders with others, your friends co-workers..  (one shipment to a single location) and you’ll save a lot over separate shipments
3. The 2, 4 and 8 dozen gift sets are packaged in one dozen boxes, do the math… we’ll wait.. yep that’s a huge savings (combine with #2)
4. When Possible avoid Saturday delivery, it’s a lot more expensive. (we don’t make money on shipping so if you want to go ahead)
5. The bulk rose shipments are also a great way to save money, just pick up your vases locally and save a ton, if you look around the house you probably already have a vase or two. (combine your rose needs with the other people you work with to get the deepest discount on long stem roses) . Again do the math.. look at the 100 rose package and divide by 8 (that will give you the price for a dozen roses… you’ll see it’s about an eighth of what some florists (local or online) will be selling roses for, that’s a huge savings.
6. Get your orders in early, our suppliers pass the rate increases on to us and there have been crop destroying freezing in Florida (Strawberries and Flowers) and South America (Flowers), they have agreed to honor the current pricing on the orders we have in-house when the rates go up
7. Join our newsletter, it always has the best coupons and discounts.
8. Don’t wait till the last minute, there is a limit to how much we can make and ship in a day, if you wait till the last minute we may be at capacity and not taking any more orders and you may end up shelling out a huge amount for something from someone else at the last minute.

It’s August 31^th and the current Facebook fan count is 171.

Invite your friends to join our Facebook fan page and on the day the fan count crosses 2010 we will post a link for a  30% off coupon. Please note that we are tracking only the CCBerries fan page not the CCBerries Facebook application page.

Limitations: coupon link will be posted for 48 hours, discount is for a single shipment with one dozen or less strawberries, can not be combined with other offers. Discount code must be added at the first step of checkout and can not be added at a later date. Can not be combined. Not valid for phone or fax orders. Limit one per customer.

While the discount code link will only be valid for 48 hours the delivery can be scheduled for any time between when the link is posted and the end of the year (12/31/2009). As normal we can only accept order and ship to addresses inside the USA (fresh fruit would be stopped by customs inspectors). Mixed gift boxes are included but pre-discounted gift sets of 2 or more dozen strawberries are not. This promotion expires 10/31/2009, if we have not reached 2010 fans by that date the offer is void.

New Product Deliveries Start 8/26
Exclusive Savings

Enter code “NL-Cheesecake” for 12% off of a single box of our new cheesecake stuffed chocolate covered strawberries. The first delivery date available for this new product is 8/26/09

Each strawberry is first stuffed with a delicious cheesecake filling, then hand dipped in tree gourmet chocolate and is finished off with a graham cracker crumb base. It’s our new top of the line premium gift.

Discount code must be entered at the first step of checkout and can not be entered at a later date, not valid for phone or fax orders or if you have canceled an order in the last 30 days. Can not be combined expires 08/31/2009. Pre-discounted gift sets of 2, 4 and 8 dozen strawberries not included.

Do you have some chocolate that has been knocked out of temper?, a little seazed up from steam, water, or other mishaps? Use it for baking: it will work fine and beats tossing it out. Chocolate used to bake a cake or used in frosting does not need to be in temper.

Cheesecake Filled Chocolate Covered Strawberries

We’ll be offering cheesecake stuffed chocolate covered strawberries starting very shortly, the picture above will be the one we’ll be using on the website when everything is in place. .. yes that’s a real strawberry and that’s real cheesecake in the center of the berry. Each berry is stuffed, dipped, and then  rolled in crushed graham crackers to provide a very special experience.

The first question we expect is how’d we get all the cheesecake inside the large long stem strawberries that we use.

• We don’t cut off the tops, the stems remain intact and are never separated from the berries.
• We don’t cut a big hole in the back of the strawberry to remove the core,

Both of the above methods would result in the berry breaking into big messy pieces when someone takes a bite. We’ve developed special tools for removing the core and filling the berry.

1)      Get the delivery address right: you’d be surprised how many people don’t take the simple step of double checking what they entered.

1. Example 1: A package was addressed to an address in Miami that would have been about 5 miles offshore (we caught this one before it happened and corrected it)
2. Example 2: Another problem shipment was the result of some sending the package to “21 Thunder Way” rather than “12 Thunder Way”.  (result= someone else ate her package)
3. Zip codes, a bad zip code will send the package to the wrong part of the state and may result in a several day delay in delivery (result=ruined package).
4. The delivery address is your responsibility, if you get it wrong there is not a lot we can do about it.

2)      Making sure someone is going to be home

1. We had one customer send a package to his mother in Arizona, she was out of town for three days.

3)      Apartments: FedEx/UPS will not always leave a package unattended,

1.  A package left at the door of an apartment may ‘disappear’.
2.  Shipping to a business address or making sure someone will be home is much better.

4)       Shipping at the last possible moment for Christmas (bad idea).

1. Everybody else has the same idea.. and each year FedEx/UPS get more packages then they can handle in a single day (one year FedEx got 12 million packages in one day when they could only handle 9 million)

 Best practices:

1)      Double check your delivery address,

1. Does it have all the needed bits, suite number, business name, correct name
2. “Grandma” is not the correct way to address a package.
3. An incorrect or incomplete delivery address is the leading cause of delivery problems.

2)      Will someone actually be home or are they off on vacation?

3)      When someone is not going to be home: The delivery address needs to be secure  .

1. FedEx/UPS will not leave a package that has a high chance of being stolen.

4)      Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, It’s best when you don’t wait till the last minute to ship. Each of these Holidays are peak times for FedEx/UPS, and the busier things get the more likely things are to go wrong.

1. Christmas: anytime in the two weeks before Christmas works, just avoid the last few shipping days before Christmas. People are much more likely to be home and you’ve avoided the Christmas overload that the carriers experience every year.
2. Mother’s Day: avoid scheduling a delivery for the Friday before Mother’s Day. Mom will just be glad you remembered.
3. Valentine’s Day: You’ll get more ‘points’ for early delivery, everybody in the US is shooting for delivery on Valentine’s, this leads to an overload at the carriers. Having your package delivered a few days earlier will let them be the center of attention.