I ordered three bottles of olive oil from Calio Groves.  Two bottles of Olio Santo (17oz/500ml size) and one bottle of V.G. Buck California Mediterranean Extra Virgin Olive Oil (16oz/475ml size) -- a Certification Seal winner by the California Olive Oil Council and medal recipient at the Los Angeles County Fair.  I asked Trish to recommend an olive oil that might be somewhat similar to the Olio Santo that Amy might like to try.  She recommended the V.G. Buck "CalMed."  I can confirm that shipping charges are never listed at any time during the ordering process, nor are they reported soon after an order is placed.  I know the "ballpark" charge because I spoke with Trish earlier about it, however, I wonder how many people would be willing to place an order without this type of information?  Or, perhaps a better question would be, how many consumers would be interested in making a purchase from Calio Groves, however, would not do so because shipping charges are, for the most part, unknown throughout the ordering process?

I am delighted that Caliogroves.com emailed an order receipt:

Qty  Part No  Name                                     Options  Price   Total 
 ---  -------  ---------------------------------------  -------  ------  ------ 
   1  vgmed16  v.g. buck cal/med extra virgin oil 16oz            $7.19   $7.19 
   2     olio17   olio santo extra virgin 17oz                           $11.99  $23.98 

Sub Total     : $31.17
Shipping Type : 
Shipping      :  $0.00
Tax           :  $0.00
Total         : $31.17

Notice that shipping is listed as $0.00.  I am not expecting the shipping charges to equal $0.00.  Were I a customer who had placed an order and was not aware of Calio Groves shipping charge policy, however, I would a) likely be delighted to see a shipping charge of $0.00, and b) become irritate when I later see a charge for shipping when either my order arrives or when I receive my credit card statement.

Before I sent in the order, I wondered about the shelf life of olive oil, so I sent in a "comment" in the comment area on the order form (and used the maximum allowable number of characters.  My comment was "Hi Trish, Good talking to you on the phone.  Here is my order.  I'm assuming that olive oil has a fairly long shelf life, no?  Let me know please. Thx."

In addition, I sent an email to Trish just to cover the bases:

Hi Trish,

I just sent in an order for some olive oil.  A couple of bottles of Olio Santo and one bottle of VG Buck CalMed.  I have a question about shelf life.  How long will these items stay good unopened?  I'll ask my wife how quickly she goes through a bottle of olive oil.

Best regards,

Bruce
 

Luis Castillo RBI Watch (Through September 7, 2000)

Number of Hits......Batting Average......Number of RBI......Runs Scored
......159.......................346............................13........................87

Luis went 0-4 as the Marlins got thumped again by the Astros 7-3.  He leadoff the first inning by strucking out swinging.  In the third inning, he ended the inning by hitting into a fielder's choice with a man on first base.  In the fifth inning, with one out and no one on base, Luis grounded out to first base.  In the seventh inning, with the bases empty, he flied out to left to end the inning.   (These data are from ESPN.com)