Tiny Tapir – Eco-friendly products
If you love eco-friendly products but find it hard to get them commercially, you might want to pop by the Tiny Tapir. The Tiny Tapir stocks a variety of products that are environmentally friendly and lots of products for babies even beanies toys in the Zoobies range… oh wait! they are plush toys!
Based in Malaysia, the Tiny Tapir ships internationally but the shipping costs depends on the weight of the product. I have recently shopped through the Tiny Tapir online site and I must say that its been a good experience.
The site is a little hard to navigate at first if you enter via the main page. e.g. House & Garden encompases soaps and various shampoos and lotions which I might have looked under Women for. Also, Out and About encompasses the environmentally friendly bags like the Envirosax or Roototes and Roo shoppers and I did not think of looking there for these.
For Women, there is a range of cloth sanitary pads and various related products. Nursery covers everything for baby from cloth diapers to wee caps. I personally thought that wee caps were such a brilliant idea!
If you have jumped on the Rootote bandwagon (and if you have not, why not?! These tote bags are awesome!) then you’d be happy to know that Tiny Tapir has a good selection of them. The more popular designs sell out very quickly once they go online so you must be fast. The prices vary according to the size and material and according to the shipping costs too. The prices have gone up a little since I first got my first Rootote, but its still affordable for a pretty nice tote bag.
Tiny Tapir offers shipping by courier, poslaju or registered post within Malaysia with free shipping on purchases above RM300 (so share with friends!). If you live in KL, you can opt for cash on delivery but this is only at the KLCC area. In the alternative, you can pop by the Tiny Tapir store which is near KLCC. Go to the map on the site to find out where it is. Be warned that you will need to bring your own bag because they do not provide plastic bags in the interests of the environment.
I placed on order online recently to test out their online services. It was above RM300 so I qualified for free shipping. I did not see the shipping costs included in any event prior to that, only a charge of RM1. I found that a little puzzling. Anyway, upon confirmation of your order, you will receive an email with the total and a follow up email on where to bank in payment. Presently, Tiny Tapir only accept bank in into their bank accounts, no credit cards. It might put some people off, but since most of us have a Maybank account, it shouldn’t be that hard to make payment.
You also receive confirmation of receipt of payment and thereafter notification of your package being sent out. I think that is good. It keeps the buyer informed every step of the way about when they can expect their item.
I had a good experience shopping with Tiny Tapir and I hope you will too.
Chinese New Year Decoration Shopping
Picture creditof chooyutshing
Its that time of year again for everything red and gold and gaudy and properous looking. Hunt down your vases for your pussy willows and Plum trees or fakes one with the bright pink plastic plum blossoms.
Its the Chinese New Year! 
I love decorating the house for Chinese New Year – the brighter and redder the better. Never mind that everything clashes 
Some of the places I shop at for CNY decorations are in Chinatown, Petaling Street Kuala Lumpur.
Sure, the prices are jacked up but it still works out cheaper than buying at the stalls at the malls. Also, I find you get a better selection. Sometimes, some of the malls bring in artisans from China so you can get some nice Chinese stuff that we don’t usually get here at normal times, like red paper cuttings and calligraphic writings.
However, to save money, this year I’m reusing last year’s decorations. I might pick up a bamboo or two to place in the house. Last year’s lucky bamboo did not survive – I guess it wasn’t very lucky
Have you started your CNY shopping yet?
Collector’s Game
When Shell (the petrol company) introduced the model Ferarri collectable cars, I’d read about collectors who scrambled to get their mitts on it. Apparently, it is about as collectable as the McDonald’s Hello Kitty Dear Daniel wedding couple plush toys – remember the madness that ensued over that one?
Shell even came out with a Ferarri collector’s box to house every one which of course encourages collectors to collect every single car. Its a wonder they didn’t think to come out with Ferrari parts too! LOL…
Still, what this comes down to is marketing. Manufactuers and retailers know that people have a mental thing about such things. Once they start a collection, they can’t stop. And this is what the retailers want – for you to keep shopping at their store to collect your points and free toys.
Are you rational enough a consumer to resist this?
Yet another Buy Malaysian campaign
Picture by SAZUWAN
I remember many years ago during some boycott or another our Government launched a Buy Malaysian campaign or Belilah Barangan Buatan Malaysia campaign which was supposed to help our local industries. For some reason, that initiative was sidelined as Malaysia not only rode out the 1997 economic crisis but even managed to grow a little economically.
However, with the global economic recession practically on our doorstep, the Government can no longer deny the fact that we are suffering from a slowdown and not only are people not spending much, the local industries are suffering because no one out there is buying! So, here we have yet another Buy Malaysian campaign.
I’m curious to see how this one will work. Will there be special tax breaks for people who produce in Malaysia? Will it mean that Malaysian made goods will be cheaper? Will there be compromise on quality? I hope not. It may mean that Swatch watches might cost more since its imported but who really knows? I guess we’ll know come Jan 16 when the campaign is launched. I hope it isn’t another flash in the pan… or maybe it’ll be another excuse to slash prices and go on sale!