Green Home takes the shipping of its products and the impact that we have on the environment quite seriously. When you order from most companies, the product you receive has been shipped twice - once from the manufacturer to the warehouse, and then again from the warehouse to you - and in many cases three times as it is moved from warehouse to warehouse. Green Home's products are shipped directly. So although there can be an added environmental cost in having two shipments vs. one, Green Home's model often cancels out - or improves on - existing wasteful shipping processes. Although more than one package may go to you, we saved on multiple shipments having to arrive at a centralized warehouse, where they would perhaps sit on shelves and need to get thrown out, or sent back. Also, we strongly encourage our drop-shippers to use a minimum of packing materials, and always try to sell our products in as large a grouping as possible.

In addition, by using our vendors as virtual Green Home warehouses, we are able to:

• carry a far wider variety of products
• list and delist products much more easily and economically
• keep up with the latest innovations in green products and services
• utilize customer feedback mechanisms more easily to know what products to carry

GREEN HOME'S SHIPPING PHILOSOPHY

We acknowledge that multiple shipments can be a bit more awkward for you. However, we could never offer the selection we do, or learn what the consumer really wants, if we didn't start this way. Also, our business model is one of the few that has actually shown profitability on the Web. While we don't expect to stick with forever, it has served us well.

As we learn what our most popular items are, we are beginning to carry these in a centralized inventory. Soon, our vendor network will also allow us to find the most local source for a product you are seeking. This will allow you, our valued customer, to receive products shipped through a local outlet, saving shipping costs. This ZIP code lookup feature will soon also be able to route you to other local green services, as well as local retail establishments that supply green products.

Naturally, there is considerable debate on the subject of the environmental aspects of shipping multiple packages, and of simply buying things on line and having them shipped at all.

Learn more about the debate: Is Web Shopping Green?