WINNIPEG — In September of last year, Lee Stewart ordered a $290 part.
The roller at the back of the swather was broken and he needed to replace a cone piece on the end.
Stewart had 300 acres of crop to swath on his farm near Miniota, Man., so he needed the part as soon as possible. He ordered it from an ag dealer in Shoal Lake, Man., and received it about a week later.
So, everything worked out, except one thing.
The cost of shipping the part from St. Brieux, Sask., to Shoal Lake, a distance of 450 kilometres was $1,812.41.
“I could have got a combine (delivered) from Saskatoon … for less money,” said Stewart, a grain producer with about 2,000 acres of land near Miniota, north of Virden.
Four months later, Stewart is still trying to sort out the cost of shipping the part, which is basically a cylindrical piece of black plastic.
Stewart contacted Shoal Lake Farm Equipment, a dealer in Shoal Lake, Man., around Sept. 20 and asked them to order the part from FreeForm Plastic Products, a manufacturer in St. Brieux, Sask.
Shoal Lake Farm Equipment ordered the cone, which arrived on Stewart’s farm about a week later.
“I got it. And then a week or two later, they (Shoal Lake) got the shipping bill for $1,800.”
Stewart forwarded emails to The Western Producer between Shoal Lake Farm Equipment and Loomis Express, the courier that delivered the part.
The emails show that Shoal Lake Farm Equipment repeatedly questioned the courier about the bill.
Lois Ostash, one of the owners of Shoal Lake Farm Equipment, said she wasn’t told about the $1,800 shipping cost until Loomis Express sent her the bill.
“We were never notified. I had no idea what the freight was until it landed on my door,” she said.
“I would have never of guessed in a million years. I could have shipped a tractor for that price.”
Loomis eventually reduced the cost by $470 because it had incorrectly weighed the part.
However, the cost of shipping the $290 part was still $1,343, though it should have been $150 to $200, Ostash said.
“And that would have been on the high side…. To me, it’s like somebody put an extra zero in there.”
The back and forth between Loomis Express and Shoal Lake Farm Equipment continued through the fall, but it went nowhere.
Eventually, Ostash paid the bill because Loomis was going to suspend her account.
However, she hasn’t given up.
Ostash is still pressing Loomis Express on the matter, arguing that Loomis’s charge for shipping an oversized part is unacceptable. She said other companies have shipped heavier and odd-shaped things to Shoal Lake Farm Equipment and the “freight is not out of line.”
Shoal Lake Farm Equipment has paid Loomis Express, but it passed on the bill to Stewart.
He doesn’t have an issue with Ostash, considering she battled with Loomis Express for months to resolve the issue.
“She’s one of the best parts people I’ve ever dealt with…. I’ve had such a good relationship with them (Shoal Lake),” Stewart said in late January.
“I don’t want it to be this awful situation … but how can I justify paying five times the part price, for shipping?”
Stewart recently contacted a lawyer and Loomis Express to discuss the bill.
The lawyer said Stewart has few legal options because the bill has been paid.
According to Stewart, a representative of Loomis Express told him that the matter is closed because the company already reduced the shipping cost by more than $400 and nothing more would be done.
The Western Producer contacted Loomis Express for comment, but didn’t receive a response by press time.
Stewart is still struggling to make sense of the freight bill because he finds it difficult to understand charging $1,300 to ship a 45-pound part 450 km.
If he knew the shipping cost in September, Stewart could have driven to St. Brieux and picked up the piece himself.
“I’m not a big farmer … (only) 2,000 acres,” he said.
“The past three years have been atrocious, just to get parts … but I never expected that (a $1,300 bill).”
