A Flint River Ranch News Feed

The Flint River Ranch official site has announced the company will be raising its prices effective October  15th, 2008. While we have very little flexibility in terms of working with the prices that Flint River Ranch sets, rest assured that we will continually strive to keep our operating costs and other expenses as minimal as possible in order to ensure that you continue to receive the absolute lowest prices on Flint River Ranch pet foods and treats.

The good news is that you can take advantage of current Flint River Ranch pricing through October 14th so make sure to get any needed pet food and treat orders in before the 15th. The even betters news is that current A+ Flint River Ranch customers will receive an automatic 5% discount when placing orders over $200 from now until October 15th, and customers new to Flint River Ranch will continue to receive up to 20% off your first order!

» Updated Flint River Ranch Pricing «

FRR

As far as why the prices for Flint River Ranch pet foods — and most all high-quality pet foods for that matter — have been and are continuing to increase, we’ll let Jay P. Margedant, President of Flint River Ranch, explain the recent developments in the pet food industry and Flint River specifically:

There is never a good time to tell your customers that you are about to change pricing, especially in the middle of all turmoil that is hitting this country and now the world. Flint River Ranch has endeavored to “ride-out” our continued increased costs over the last 6-9 months; however, this is no longer an option. We unfortunately need to make the announcement that on October 15th, 2008 Flint River Ranch will have to instigate a product price adjustment.

I’ve alerted your distributors earlier in the month and a number of emails have crossed my desk from them. Some understanding and supportive of the necessity of this adjustment; others somewhat negative in content, but all of them indicating the same concerns that we all feel about the price of food, energy, housing and our financial community challenges. Some of us have lost a major part of our investments and retirement funds; it is going to take some time to recover.

Flint River Ranch has been sensitive to all of the issues of this year and for the past several months we have done all we could to adjust our business processes, conserve our costs and withhold the previous increases that we have had to stabilize the price that you pay for your pets FRR products. Most everyone purchasing from Flint River Ranch fully understand that without a market adjustment, there would be no way to continue losing capital and we would be forced to close Flint River Ranch.

There are a number of challenges about this adjustment I wish to share. The factors surrounding the amount of the adjustment is not solely based on recent price increases on ingredients, but an accumulation of many price increases over the year and more recently the past 6 months that we have incurred.

Those who have followed Flint River Ranch over the years realize that we endeavor to remain conservative and keep our costs as low as possible. We have stocked 16 warehouses across the USA in order to maintain the smallest possible shipping regions. October 12th will be our 15th anniversary and during this time freight costs alone have more than tripled. It is not only our shipping costs, but every supplier’s costs in the movement of products have increased as well. Investments in automated and operational systems have helped reduce overhead and we have invested in long-term contracts to help lower ingredient costs.

However, the entire pet food industry, along with human product producers is faced with the same challenges. Who would believe that in our lifetime we would see a loaf of bread rise to over $3.50? Jim Flint can recall when Wonder Bread™ was 5 cents a 1 lb loaf. Some experts feel the ingredient market will remain high; others are looking for some downward adjustment in the future. We ride with the market and if we receive a downward trend, Flint River Ranch will also match this trend with reduced pricing.

There are many other factors to consider. About 10 days ago, 90% of the gas stations in Atlanta did not have gas. The other 10% were able to supply gas for only 3-4 hours a day. It was a real challenge to fill our cars. All of us are continually faced with on-going challenges. All will pass in time; as they say that markets bounce and adjust. We may never see the lower prices of a few years ago, but there will be favorable adjustments as it always happens. Hopefully, the US Dollar will get stronger and the United States will stop being the shopping center of the world.

While Flint River Ranch was not involved in the recent pet food crisis; it has forced many manufacturers to upgrade their ingredients to the US market thereby forcing a price increase and shortages on ingredients. Also regulatory agencies have also forced many brands to actually put in their bag what is written on the label.

Flint River Ranch continues our pledge for quality products with the finest ingredients. We also pledge to constantly monitor the industry and reduce price if we are able to do so. We truly appreciate your continued interest and support. We will constantly endeavor to do our part to the best of our ability. Thank you for your attention to this matter and your continued support of Flint River Ranch!

» Updated Flint River Ranch Pricing «

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In the spirit of celebrating the summer siesta as well our return to online operation after this past weekend’s server outage (more on this below), we’re excited to offer our customers a sizzling summer sale on Flint River Ranch dog and cat foods.  For one week only both new and current A+ FRR customers will receive an automatic 10% discount on all Flint River Ranch pet food and treats orders – no coupon code needed.

We want to thank you for your continued patronage of A+ Flint River Ranch, and we look forward to serving you for many years to come.  Thank you again, and please tell your friends and family about the Flint River Ranch Summer Sale — hurry, the FRR discount expires July 25th!

Web Server Outage Update

We also want to apologize to our customers for a server outage that rendered our Web site inaccessible over this past weekend (July 12th weekend) and earlier this week.  Our previous Web hosting service migrated our site to a new server platform earlier this month and unfortunately that server has created many more problems than it was intended to fix.  The server crashed on Friday and our host company has as of yet been unable to get the server back up and running.

The good news is that after much frustration and angst with our old hosting service, we’re now back up and running with a new and much improved Web hosting service, and we’re really excited about the improvements in performance, security, and reliability that we’ve already seen and that we expect to continue to see over the long haul.

We’ve also taken measures to prevent future outages from taking our site down for an extended period of time.  We now have a backup site ready to go at a moment’s notice and we’re also working to assemble a dedicated support team to ensure that any outages that do occur in the future are resolved as quickly as possible.

Again, we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience associated with not being able to place online orders over the weekend and early this week.  We hope you’ll be able to take advantage of the summer sale on Flint River Ranch that we’re running for the next week, and as always, if you have any questions or concerns about our site, about our company, or about Flint River Ranch pet foods in general, we’d love to hear from you.

Contact us anytime at aplus at aplusfrr dot com or call us toll free at (877) 919-5356.

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Last year’s Salmonella outbreak that affected more than 70 people in 19 states has been linked to dry dog food produced in a Mars Petcare pet food plant in Pennsylvania, according to a new Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. This marks the first time a human illness has been linked to dry dog food.

The Mars Petcare pet food plant is responsible for producing about 25 different brands of dry pet food, both cat foods and dog foods. An inspection of the manufacturing plant revealed an isolate of the outbreak Salmonella strain on an environmental surface and two isolates in two brands of dry dog food.

Following the inspection, operations were suspended between July and November, 2007, for cleaning and disinfection, and specific batches of the two brands of dog food, Krasdale Gravy dry dog food and Red Flannel Large Breed Adult Formula dry dog food, were recalled as of August 21st, 2007.

Neither of the recalled brands was related to human illness, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which publishes the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports. The CDC added that the limited recall by Mars Petcare means that contaminated dry pet food is almost certainly still present in many homes.

Mars Petcare US, Inc. manufactures a variety of well-known pet food brands, including Pedigree dog foods, the Goodlife Recipe cat and dog foods, Whiskas cat food, Cesar Canine Cuisine wet dog food, and Sheba wet cat food. The company originated within the Mars, Incorporated family as Masterfoods Pet Division/Mars, Inc. and later acquired the Doane Pet Care company.

Mars Petcare expanded again last year with an acquisition of Nutro Pet Food Products, manufacturers of a healthy line of “super premium dog and cat foods,” including Nutro Max, Nutro Ultra, and Nutro Natural Choice brands.

To date, Mars Petcare has not recalled any brands or batches other than specific batches and sizes of the Krasdale Gravy dry dog food (5lb bag) and Red Flannel Large Breed Adult Formula dry dog food (50lb bag). The dog foods were sold in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania markets.

Salmonella bacteria can cause diarrhea (possibly bloody), fever, and abdominal cramps, with most victims recovering within a week without treatment. Babies, elders, and those with weak immune systems are particularly vulnerable.

The CDC urges pet owners to wash their hands immediately after handling pet food in order to prevent a possible Salmonella infection and also recommends that infants and children be kept away from pet feeding areas and prevented from touching or eating pet food, pet treats, or supplements.

Additional information is available on our Mars Petcare Dog Food Recall page.

A+ FRR Note: Flint River Ranch has no involvement with Mars Petcare or Nutro Products, and none of Flint River Ranch’s all natural, healthy dog food formulas or cat food formulas are involved in the dog food recall mentioned above or any other pet food recall.

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Make sure to get your Flint River Lamb and Rice Dog Food and Wafer Treat orders in within the next nine days to take advantage of the current prices.

As previously reported, Flint River Ranch will be increasing the price on its Flint River Ranch Lamb, Millet, and Rice Dog Foods effective May 11th, 2008. On May 11th the prices will increase from:

FRR Lamb & Rice – 20lb bag (LMR20): From $30.89 to $32.89
FRR Lamb & Rice – 40lb order (LMR40): From $56.79 to $58.79
FRR Lamb & Rice – 200lb order (LMR200): From $276.99 to $289.99
FRR Lamb & Rice – 520lb order (LMR520): From $679.99 to $729.99

The price changes are due to the continued price pressures on the cost of ingredients in Flint River Ranch pet foods. Following the pet food recall in 2007, many pet food manufacturers turned to buying their lamb exclusively from New Zealand, which has long been recognized for its high quality and efficient production capabilities.

Large commercial pet food companies have made a huge impact on the cost of lamb since most have discontinued purchasing from their old sources in China. This coupled with the declining value of the US dollar and a historic drought in New Zealand and Australia (severely depleting their viable crops) has caused commodity pricing to soar to historic levels.

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The Flint River Ranch company has announced it will be increasing the price on its Flint River Ranch Lamb, Millet, and Rice Dog Foods effective May 10th, 2008, so make sure to get any needed lamb and rice dog food orders in before then.  On May 10th the prices will change from:

FRR Lamb & Rice – 20lb bag (LMR20): From $30.89 to $32.89
FRR Lamb & Rice – 40lb order (LMR40):  From $56.79 to $58.79
FRR Lamb & Rice – 200lb order (LMR200): From $276.99 to $289.99
FRR Lamb & Rice – 520lb order (LMR520): From $679.99 to $729.99

The price changes are due to the continued price pressures on the cost of ingredients in Flint River Ranch pet foods.   Following the pet food recall in 2007, many pet food manufacturers turned to buying their lamb exclusively from New Zealand, which has long been recognized for its high quality and efficient production capabilities.

Large commercial pet food companies have made a huge impact on the cost of lamb since most have discontinued purchasing from their old sources in China.  This coupled with the declining value of the US dollar and a historic drought in New Zealand and Australia (severely depleting their viable crops) has caused commodity pricing to soar to historic levels.

Flint River Ranch has made contractual agreements with its suppliers to maintain its quantity and high quality demands, but it has had to do so by agreeing to purchase lamb at the same price being offered by the larger pet food factories.  This has resulted in the cost of lamb literally doubling overnight.

The cost of pet foods ingredients like lamb continue to rise without any sign of leveling off, but we will continue to do our best to keep Flint River Ranch prices as affordable as possible.

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As previously mentioned, the official Flint River Ranch company initiated a change in shipping at the beginning of the year with the result that all “small box” shipments (Flint River Ranch pet foods and treats under 20lb in weight) and custom shipping will now be shipped only from the two main FRR distribution facilities — Atlanta, Georgia for all East coast customers and Denver, Colorado for all West coast and most central state customers.

This change has created slightly longer shipping timeframes for many customers as well as an increased number of multi-item orders being shipped out from different FRR distribution centers, resulting in products in the same order often arriving on different days.

As of April 3rd, 2008, we’ve added support for multiple UPS Tracking Notifications to handle these types of shipments. Both our online customer account system and our order notification e-mails have been upgraded to now display multiple UPS tracking numbers and scheduled delivery dates for multi-item FRR orders in which deliveries are scheduled for different days.

We also want to take a moment to provide an updated list of Flint River Ranch official distribution facilities and the areas they currently serve:

Western U.S. FRR Distribution Centers

* Denver, Colorado (Commerce City, CO) – Official Flint River Ranch West Coast Distribution Center
Serves all West Coast states and most central states in the United States, with regular and “small box” shipments to Flint River Ranch customers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming

Los Angeles, California (San Bernardino, CA) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Southern California, Arizona, and Nevada

San Francisco, California (Stockton, CA) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Northern California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, and Arizona

Salt Lake City, Utah (UT) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, and California

Portland, Oregon (Tualatin, OR) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana

Eastern U.S. FRR Distribution Centers

* Atlanta, Georgia (GA) – Official Flint River Ranch East Coast Distribution Center
Serves all East Coast and some central states in the United States, with regular and “small box” shipments to Flint River Ranch customers in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Thornburg, PA) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, District of Columbia (D.C.), West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin

Keene, New Hampshire (NH) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, Vermont, and Rhode Island

Tampa, Florida (FL) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Florida and Georgia

Central U.S. FRR Distribution Centers

Chicago, Illinois (Addison, IL) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, and Missouri

Columbus, Ohio (Chillicothe, OH) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Maryland

Kansas City, Kansas (KS) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arkansas, Iowa, and Tennessee

Dallas, Texas (Northwest TX) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Arkansas

Minneapolis, Minnesota (St. Paul, MN) – Serves Flint River Ranch customers in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and North Dakota

If you’re interested in learning how long a FRR shipment might take to your state, you can utilize our helpful new Flint River Ranch Delivery Graph to get an average timeframe for deliveries as well as the most common distribution locations used for shipping FRR pet foods and treats to your state.

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In an earlier post we mentioned some of the changes in store for the main Flint River Ranch company in 2008. Here at A+ Flint River Ranch we have some exciting developments going on behind the scenes as well. One has already been put into production, while two other additions are only a few weeks away from making their debut. Check out what we have in store for you in the very near future.

Enhanced Automated UPS Tracking Now Up and Running

We’ve completely re-written the code that handles our UPS Tracking Notifications for Flint River Ranch pet food orders. This code tracks the time of shipment, Flint River Ranch shipping distribution center used for the order, and most importantly to the customer, handles the e-mails that are sent out letting you know when you can expect to receive your shipments.

We’ve optimized the code to more efficiently inform you of shipping information. In other words, you can expect to receive your tracking notification e-mails quicker than ever before with more important information in the shipping update e-mails than ever before.

Coming Soon: Auto-ship Information Available Online

By popular request we will soon have extensive auto-ship information available online for our Flint River Ranch automatic shipment customers. In just a few weeks you will be able to log in to your Flint River Ranch account to view your complete automatic shipment information, including the products in your auto-ship, the frequency and current status of your automatic shipment, the next scheduled shipping date for your upcoming auto-ship, the current shipping address information, the credit card expiration date, and more.

Even better, you’ll be able to make changes to your automatic shipments online before your next shipment is sent out, so, for example, if you need to ship to a different location or change the frequency or date of your next shipment, you’ll be able to do so quickly and efficiently through our online interface.

No other Flint River Ranch distributor — or even the Flint River Ranch official company — has these capabilities available at this time, so we’re very excited to be able to make this functionality available to our customers in the next few weeks.

Coming Soon: Flint River Ranch Discount Coupon Codes

We are also working hard to add the ability to use discount coupon codes when checking out. This functionality will enable us to offer seasonal promotions, referral discounts, and special reward coupons to our customers, with the discounts automatically applied to your order at online check-out.

We expect to have the online automatic shipment information manager available prior to the release of the discount coupon codes, so at this time we’re estimating this functionality will be making its debut in another month or two.

These are just a few of the many projects we’re currently working on behind the scenes at A+ Flint River Ranch, and we hope they will be just several of the many unique features and services that lead our customers to continually select A+ Flint River Ranch as their one and only choice for ordering Flint River Ranch pet foods.

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Flint River Ranch will soon be adding a new dog food formula to its product line. The Flint River Ranch Chicken & Rice Nugget PLUS formula will be enhanced with glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate supplements, or glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), for arthritis and joint pain-related care and comfort.

The Chicken and Rice PLUS formula will be similar to the existing Flint River Ranch Senior PLUS formula, but it will come in the nugget form (as opposed to the irregular-shaped kibble pieces) and will not have the reduced calorie and reduced fat properties of the Senior Lite and Senior PLUS formulas. We expect it to be an ideal formula for active, non-overweight adult dogs with existing joint issues or the predisposition for arthritis and other joint-related issues.

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Flint River Ranch has some new developments in the works for 2008 that we want to let our customers know about. (At A+ Flint River Ranch we also have some exciting enhancements in store for 2008 that you can read about here.)

First, the not-so-exciting news is that the Flint River Ranch official site has announced the company will be raising its prices effective January 14th, 2008. While we have very little flexibility in terms of working with the prices that Flint River Ranch sets, rest assured that we will continually strive to keep our operating costs and other expenses as minimal as possible in order to ensure that you continue to receive the absolute lowest prices on Flint River Ranch pet foods and treats.

As far as why prices are increasing, there are two major factors exerting pricing pressure on the company. The first has resulted from so many pet food companies that previously used cheap (and potentially toxic) Chinese-imported ingredients in their pet foods finally looking to convert to American-grown ingredients after the international pet food recall in 2007. Flint River Ranch has used these high-quality, human-grade ingredients grown in the United States for more than 15 years, but the increased demand from so many new pet food companies has made it increasingly difficult and more expensive to acquire these high-quality ingredients. Vendors with whom FRR has purchased from for the past 15 years can now pick-and-choose whom they want to sell to, and prices have unfortunately been going up with each order.

This pricing pressure from increased demand for high-quality ingredients has been compounded with the rising cost of energy, which has had a dramatic increase on the cost of doing business, especially in terms of shipping costs. In order to keep Flint River Ranch’s extremely high quality of production consistent, the company has had to start paying higher costs for its ingredients and operations.

As a result, after January 13th, prices on average will raise about $1 for the 10lb bags, $2 for the 20lb bags, and $3 – $4 for the 40lb orders (view all of the new Flint River Ranch prices here).

The good news is that Flint River Ranch customers can take advantage of current pricing through January 13th, so make sure to get any large orders in over the next two weeks. The even betters news is that current A+ Flint River Ranch customers will receive an automatic 5% discount when placing orders over $150 from now until January 13th!

Additional FRR Changes to Look For in 2008

In 2008 Flint River Ranch will continue to focus on streamlining operations in order to keep prices as affordable as possible without sacrificing any of FRR’s ultra high-quality standards. One immediate change of note for 2008 is that all “small box” shipments (FRR bags and products under 20lb in weight) and custom shipping will be shipped only from the two Flint River Ranch official site distribution facilities — Atlanta, Georgia on the East coast and Denver, Colorado on the West coast. As a result, some orders may take a day or two longer to arrive than they previously did, and customers placing orders for multiple items may have their orders shipped out from different FRR distribution centers, resulting in some products arriving on different days.

If you’re interested in learning how long a FRR shipment might take to your state, you can utilize our helpful new Flint River Ranch Delivery Graph to get an average timeframe for deliveries as well as the most common distribution locations used for shipping pet foods and treats to your state.

In terms of product returns, the Atlanta and Denver distribution facilities will now be the only two locations for returns to be handled, and if you need to make a return you’ll now need to first call (1-800-354-6858) or email the Flint River Ranch Operation Center for an RAC (return authorization code) before a return can be processed.

In terms of product changes for 2008, the Flint River Ranch company will gradually be eliminating the regular Senior Lite formula in order to focus on the Flint River Ranch Senior PLUS formula, which features all the same ingredients as the regular Senior Lite formula while adding Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulfate supplements for arthritis and joint-related pain prevention and management.

The company is also expected to combine the best attributes of its Adult Cat Lite and Cat Hairball Management formulas into one formula that’s even more palatable and beneficial to your cat’s health. Cat lovers looking for a highly nutritious, tasty cat food that’s both high in protein and low in carbohydrates will find the new formula offers the best of both worlds.

Flint River Ranch has also seen a slight increase in complaints over the past year for some of the Adult & Puppy Dog Food formula, the Lamb Meal, Millet, and Rice Dog Food formula, and the Senior formula bags having too much kibble breakage and excessive morsels of small size. Flint River Ranch is considering gradually transitioning these formulas from the kibble-sized pieces to the oven-baked “nugget” shapes currently used in the Rainbow Trout & Sweet Potato Dog Food formula and the Nugget Dog Food Formula.

The change would give FRR a visually consistent product while eliminating the possibility of excessive kibble breakage and any ‘crumbling’ issues due to shipping and handling. The nugget shape would also allow Flint River to market a better product since the oven-baked nugget form incurs less waste in production and is more durable during shipping.

We continue to be invigorated by the opportunity to serve our customers the highest-quality pet food currently available, and both A+ FRR and the main Flint River Ranch company have many enhancements and changes in store for this year — we think everyone will be pleased with what we have planned in the coming months.

Happy New Year!

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We have a short post today to let our customers know we’ve put together a listing of Flint River Ranch reviews, ratings, and feedback from unbiased sources across the Web that testify to Flint River’s unmatched ultra premium quality and A+ FRR’s exceptional customer service. We’d love to hear from you as well — please don’t hesitate to send your Flint River Ranch reviews, comments, and feedback to us.

> New Flint River Ranch Reviews and Ratings
> New Customer Testimonials

We hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Holiday season!

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