ShopThe48.com forwards merchandise from mainland

Matt and C.J. Wetherbee of Portland, Ore., saved his cousin Sally in Alaska lots of money as a sort of landing point for her shipped purchases that the couple would then forward to her.

Sally’s necessity became the mother of the Wetherbees’ invention. OK, well, not invention, but business.

Any local resident who has ordered merchandise from the mainland online, over the phone, under the influence of TV infomercials or, going old-school, via catalogs, is well aware that getting those purchases home can be super-expensive.

Some mainland merchants don’t even offer the option of shipping that gotta-have-it underwater-basket-weaving kit to the islands (or to Alaska).

Those realities along with personal experience spawned ShopThe48.com.

Matt Wetherbee has long "been involved with transportation," as he worked in cargo operations at Alaska Airlines for 18 years, he said.

Wetherbee did his research and is aware of other freight-forwarding companies including ShipToHawaii.com and ShipToAlaska.com, which are sister companies, as well as AlohaForwarding.com and Ship & Save Service.

He respects those who came before him, yet will try to differentiate his business.

ShopThe48.com will seek to be "highly efficient and do as much of (the process) on the Web, without extra steps, as possible."

Customers can register to use the service for free, as with AlohaForwarding.com and Ship & Save Service.

ShipToHawaii.com and ShipToAlaska.com are membership-based, with rates beginning at $7 for one month.

Wetherbee’s company has a "fairly automated process … without extra steps" for the customer.

The minimum price, for items weighing a pound or less, is $9.95 to get the parcel delivered to a customer’s home or post office box.

Prices rise with the weight of items being shipped, as you might expect. However, "we really wanted to focus on representing a good value," Wetherbee said.

"Typically we save at least 50 percent or more" of the fees charged by the big companies, which have exclusive contracts with many online and bricks-and-mortar retailers.

Wetherbee is certain the forwarding service would save isle residents money in most cases.

"Not everybody has a cousin in Portland, but everybody (in Hawaii) needs to save money," said Wetherbee.

"We won’t be successful if we don’t get a lot of volume," Wetherbee said. "We need to partner with our clients and have everybody understand … we’ll keep our prices low if we can keep the volume high."

Pacific Soul coupons

With Pacific Soul’s Wai­alae Avenue restaurant closed and a new location downtown opening soon, readers and social media users wanted to know whether the new location will honor Pacific Soul gift certificates, coupons and Groupon deal vouchers.

"We will honor all coupons and gift certificates at the new location," said operations manager Randy Linville. "I don’t believe we had any that expired in July, but if we did we will honor (them) for 30 days" after the new place opens, he said.

Just to be clear, the coupons and Groupons cannot be redeemed at the Soul Patrol truck or other mobile operations, he said.

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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com, or on Twitter as @erikaengle.