Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Doofy · Nov 18, 2008, 08:19 PM

So, my usual toothpaste supplier has decided to move production to Poland and can no longer guarantee that it's veggie. Problem.

After a little research, I hit upon the ideal paste - Tom's of Maine SLS-free fluoride whitening.

Can I find it in the UK? No. Silly hippies who stock Tom's are overly-hippie and don't carry the fluoride stuff. Which I need, else my teeth are going to fall out.

So, off to international.drugstore.com
Product in stock, sorted. £3.66 each. I'll have ten. To save you guys getting the calculators out, that's £36.60.

Hit "checkout". £80 ish (couple of quid over - I forget exact amount).
Over £40 shipping on 10 5.2 oz tubes of toothpaste. WTF?!?

Do unemployed naked Brazilian supermodels deliver it by hand or something? Buy 20 tubes and you get a free F150?

IIRC, a year ago it didn't cost much more than that to ship a bleedin' guitar over.

brassplayersrock² · Nov 18, 2008, 08:34 PM

I use that stuff. It's good. I also use their deodorant. It's good as well.

£40 for shipping though is a bit extreme.

dcmacdaddy · Nov 18, 2008, 08:52 PM

It's gotta be some sort of excise/VAT tax in addition to the shipping fees. I ordered some small items from Art Lebedev studios--the maker of the Optimus OLED keyboard--and spent almost twice as much on shipping as I did on the cost of the items. A big part of that was a VAT the Russians charged me but the overall fees were shocking to me.

But there is no place on the continent you can buy this stuff?

brassplayersrock² · Nov 18, 2008, 08:57 PM

it's also made in the usa i believe, so to keep their profit, they must charge what they get charged for them to receive the goods, and then add their own shipping. double the shipping for the customer.

iMOTOR · Nov 18, 2008, 09:02 PM

Fluoride free toothpaste isn’t going to make your teeth fall out.

Doofy · Nov 18, 2008, 09:06 PM

So, just went back to the site to grab a breakdown. The price per tube is now £2.92.

Items: £29.20
Customs: £0.00
Shipping: £40.97
VAT: £5.90

Total: 76.07

Doofy · Nov 18, 2008, 09:09 PM

Originally Posted by dcmacdaddy

But there is no place on the continent you can buy this stuff?

I wouldn't know where to start. :shrug:

I know there's some awesome Italian stuff which blows the Tom's away, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. I'd use that if I could.

Originally Posted by iMOTOR

Fluoride free toothpaste isn’t going to make your teeth fall out.

No. But it won't prevent my teeth's natural tendency to fall out (I'm British, remember

). Dentist says I need fluoride, so I get fluoride.

iMOTOR · Nov 18, 2008, 09:14 PM

The dentist says you need fluoride, or the dentist says everybody needs fluoride?

Doofy · Nov 18, 2008, 09:16 PM

Originally Posted by iMOTOR

The dentist says you need fluoride, or the dentist says everybody needs fluoride?

Me specifically - I don't pay him to tell me what everyone else needs.

iMOTOR · Nov 18, 2008, 09:22 PM

The overly-hippies are British, right? Do their teeth fall out?

Doofy · Nov 18, 2008, 09:32 PM

Originally Posted by iMOTOR

The overly-hippies are British, right? Do their teeth fall out?

I don't know - I haven't asked them.

I suspect that they view cake as the work of the evil capitalism corporations (or something like that) and live on lentils and dock leaves. Whereas I'm not giving up chocolate cake for anyone. Thus, I'm probably more in need of fluoride than they are.

Doofy · Nov 18, 2008, 09:36 PM

Interesting thing with the price drop though.

£3.66 earlier.
I lowered quantity from 10 to 4 to try to find the best shipping price point.
Then I left it an hour.
Went back to the site, the price is now £2.92 and it's in red.

I wonder if it's taking note of my actions and actually haggling with me? If so, it's doing it on IP addy rather than cookie as I'm using across two browsers at the moment. I'll have to try that again at some other stores.

iMOTOR · Nov 18, 2008, 09:53 PM

Originally Posted by Doofy

I don't know - I haven't asked them.

I suspect that they view cake as the work of the evil capitalism corporations (or something like that

Perhaps, but I don’t think Mary Jane brownies would be problem.

It looks like shipping a box of toothpaste to Great Britain from 92007 is about $10.30. What flavor do you want?

Face Ache · Nov 18, 2008, 10:00 PM

I ordered something from Firebox.com the other week. Shipping from the UK to Australia was £32.

I went to the manufacturer's site this morning and noticed they want £185 to ship the same item the same way (via TNT couriers).

WTF?

Doofy · Nov 18, 2008, 10:01 PM

Originally Posted by iMOTOR

It looks like shipping a box of toothpaste to Great Britain from 92007 is about $10.30. What flavor do you want?

PM sent.

ghporter · Nov 18, 2008, 10:05 PM

Doofy, what happens if someone you know here in the States was to mail you a package of toothpaste? Would there be a duty on such a gift? Because I know for a fact that 50oz of toothpaste can't cost £40 to mail from here to there...

Edit: Your reply to iMotor was going out as my post was going in...

brassplayersrock² · Nov 18, 2008, 10:05 PM

is doofy on the secret santa list?

Doofy · 10:45 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

Doofy, what happens if someone you know here in the States was to mail you a package of toothpaste? Would there be a duty on such a gift?

Not sure - I'd have to look into it. AFAIK, duty hits at around the £25 mark. I'll have to check.

Edit: OK. Duty kicks in at about £36. That's ridiculous. And a pain in the neck for whoever sent it to me, since customs forms have to be filled in and all that malarkey. So thanks for the thought but it's not really worth it. Still, with the new price it makes a single tube about £7.60, which is still way less than the not-as-good alternative costs from the local store. I'm not going to quibble over a few quid on the shipping but it just stuck me as a bit of a rip-off that it was more than the actual cost of goods - I bought some Purrfect Fence yesterday and the shipping on that was only £80ish (even though it's 30 times heavier than those 10 paste tubes)!

analogika · Nov 19, 2008, 05:12 AM

Tom of Maine?

There's U.S. remakes of Tom of Finland?

You sure that's, uh, toothpaste?

Paco500 · Nov 19, 2008, 06:23 AM

There are some Whole Foods Markets in the UK- London definitely. They carry Tom's stuff in the US, so you could try them.

Doofy · Nov 19, 2008, 07:49 AM

Originally Posted by Paco500

There are some Whole Foods Markets in the UK- London definitely. They carry Tom's stuff in the US, so you could try them.

Yeah, yer problem with the whole foods places here is that they're too hippie - they think that just because you want veggie toothpaste you also want fluoride-free. It's all or nothing with these people (so it tends to be nothing - most of the stuff they carry is like brushing your teeth with plain water, and hey, that comes out of the tap for free). While there's plenty of places locally which stock Tom's, none carry the fluoride stuff. Pretty sure at this point that there's none of the product I want in the country.

Railroader · Nov 19, 2008, 08:58 AM

Can you buy just fluoride? When I was a kid, we had a well for our water and didn't get any fluoride from the water we drank, so the dentist recommended fluoride treatment from the drug store. Not bad stuff really, I think it was grape flavored.

ghporter · Nov 19, 2008, 09:03 AM

I put up with the faux hippies at the Whole Foods mothership store in Austin. That place is immense, and it actually attracts tourists. The real hippies in Austin tend to be a lot more sensible than the youngsters that go about acting like hippies and yet love their modern comforts and pleasures... Anyway, if it saves you a bunch of money in shipping, maybe you can put up with the WF long enough to get your toothpaste. The only thing you have to lose is control of your blood pressure.

badidea · 02:42 PM

Can someone enlighten me here?? Veggie toothpaste? Fluoride free?

I neither knew that toothpaste is usually for scavengers and that there would exist one without fluoride (isn't that the most important ingrediant)???

Doofy · Nov 19, 2008, 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by badidea

Can someone enlighten me here?? Veggie toothpaste? Flouride free?

Yep. In most toothpaste, the glycerine component is an animal by-product while in veggie toothpaste, they source it from plants.

As for the fluoride, I blame the hippies. Chemicals are bad, m'kay?

Doofy · Nov 19, 2008, 11:01 AM

Originally Posted by ghporter

I put up with the faux hippies at the Whole Foods mothership store in Austin. That place is immense, and it actually attracts tourists. The real hippies in Austin tend to be a lot more sensible than the youngsters that go about acting like hippies and yet love their modern comforts and pleasures... Anyway, if it saves you a bunch of money in shipping, maybe you can put up with the WF long enough to get your toothpaste. The only thing you have to lose is control of your blood pressure.

It's not the fact that I'd have to brave the smells and sounds of the hippies - it's that they don't carry the stuff in the first place. The UK is quite polarised in this respect - you either buy the mass market crap or you buy the "everything free" stuff... ...almost all places give no choice of being somewhere in-between.

Being a veggie who drives a 4x4, I get it from all sides when this "everything or nothing" mentality manifests itself... ...half the peeps say "eat some meat you pansy" and the other half say "stop killing the planet you murderer".

Doofy · Nov 19, 2008, 11:02 AM

Originally Posted by Railroader

Can you buy just fluoride?

Hmmm. Never thought of that. I'll have to look into it.

Jens Peter · Nov 19, 2008, 03:13 PM

Ah yes, tell me about ridicules shipping charges. Monday I bought a OLPC XO Laptop from Amazon.co.uk, it costs £275, and then £50 in shipping! From the UK to Denmark! I mean, if I was living on the other side of the planet, I guess it would be fair... But I ordered it anyway

Spheric Harlot · Nov 19, 2008, 03:29 PM

badidea · Nov 20, 2008, 03:55 AM

Originally Posted by Doofy

Yep. In most toothpaste, the glycerine component is an animal by-product while in veggie toothpaste, they source it from plants.

Oh I see but isn't that vegan?
Vegans are teh true hippies!

Or are you just an oral vegan and don't have a problem with leather products for example?

auto_immune · Nov 20, 2008, 05:36 AM

I wonder how many vegans eat their food from dishes and plates made of bone china?

Doofy · Nov 20, 2008, 06:37 AM

Originally Posted by badidea

Oh I see but isn't that vegan?
Vegans are teh true hippies!

Or are you just an oral vegan and don't have a problem with leather products for example?

I don't have a problem with leather. I don't have a problem with honey either. I have a problem with animal parts (except those still attached to a living woman) passing my lips.

brassplayersrock² · Nov 20, 2008, 09:31 AM

badidea: Or are you just an oral vegan and don't have a problem with leather products for example?

there's a sex joke in there somewhere.

nonhuman · Nov 20, 2008, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by Doofy

Me specifically - I don't pay him to tell me what everyone else needs.

Sure you do, isn't that the main function of the NHS?

Doofy · Nov 20, 2008, 11:37 AM

Originally Posted by nonhuman

Sure you do, isn't that the main function of the NHS?

My dentist is not NHS.
I don't pay any money into the NHS.

badidea · Nov 20, 2008, 12:14 PM

Originally Posted by brassplayersrock²

there's a sex joke in there somewhere.

Yes but just a tiny little smallish one!

angelmb · Nov 20, 2008, 02:31 PM

Originally Posted by Jens Peter

Ah yes, tell me about ridicules shipping charges. Monday I bought a OLPC XO Laptop from Amazon.co.uk, it costs £275, and then £50 in shipping! From the UK to Denmark! I mean, if I was living on the other side of the planet, I guess it would be fair... But I ordered it anyway

I concur, shipping charges prevent me for buying all the books I would like to. A month ago I bought eight books from several sellers linked to amazon (US & UK sites) due to the fact that some of the books were used books no longer available as new. So they had to be shipped individually, shipping charges were over $200 bucks, how came that?, because even those from the same seller came in several shipments, e.g. I was lucky enough to find a title I was looking for by a mere 0,1 pound sterling, since I bought two more books from the same seller I guessed it would not make a big difference to the shipping charges, but damnit, it was a individual shipment for every book and I ended paying 5 pounds sterling for that 0,1 UK pounds book

Moral: you better buy books from the very same source and pray to get just a single shipment.

Electronic Gadgets Guy · Nov 20, 2008, 03:24 PM

toothpaste? what's that? where I come from we use coal dust from the fireplace to clean our teeth!