Dissecting Catalog Gift Baskets
Dec. 7, 2000 -- In preparation for the upcoming holiday season, Good Morning America put five of the top food mail order catalog companies to the test.
Consumer correspondent Greg Hunter looked at size and arrival success rates and food editor Sara Moulton took on taste testing. They looked at catalog gifts from five major companies: Harry and David, Swiss Colony, Hickory Farms, the Wisconsin Cheeseman, and Figis.
The first thing Hunter learned about ordering gifts from catalogs is that it can be costly. This is especially true when you add on the cost for shipping.
Time and Money
Four items from Harry and David cost $189.80. But for one-week delivery, in addition to regular shipping, we had to pay an extra $7.95 per item. That brought our shipping total to $69.14 for four items. Swiss Colony and Figis charged just $7.95 extra to get their entire orders delivered in a week. Everyone charged us something extra for fast delivery, and it worked most of the time. Every single item ordered came in by the deadline — except the executive gift basket from Figis. After we complained to Figis about the missing basket, the company offered a 5 percent discount. Then, after we did a bit more complaining, the company took 20 percent off the entire order.
When the Wisconsin Cheeseman was informed that its gingerbread house had arrived in need of home improvement, the company cheerfully sent another one at no extra charge.
Products always look big in the catalog, but you may end up with elf-size portions. Most of the jam jars ordered from catalog companies wouldn’t spread very far; they’re 1 1/2 ounces each. Weights and sizes in catalog descriptions are more reliable than pictures, which tend to make things look bigger and better.
For the most part, these companies are good at getting gifts out on time. If you want your gifts to arrive by Christmas Eve, without paying extra, you’ll have to order by the end of next week. If you’re ordering from Swiss Colony for Christmas Eve delivery, you have to call by this coming Tuesday.
If more junk mail is a gift you’re not looking forward to this year remember to guard your privacy. Santa isn’t the only one making a list and checking it twice. Most of these companies share their mailing list with other companies, unless you ask them not to.
Taste and Consistency
“I am not personally a fan of fruitcakes,” said food editor Moulton, “but I know that they are very popular around the holidays.”
She sampled fruitcakes from all of the companies Hunter looked at. She found they all had almost identical ingredients.
“Overall, I was not impressed by these fruitcakes. I found four of them way too sweet and three of them way too crumbly.”
Moulton said her favorite was Harry and David. She recommend going with that company if you were going to send one as a gift.
She also sampled a variety of baked goods and gooey desserts from the same five companies. She discovered two big issues in this category. One was freshness and the other one was moisture. Many of the desserts had a stale taste and were way too dry, according to Moulton.
And there is a lot of processed food in these baskets. For instance in one of the cheese baskets Moulton discovered a brie wheel with a label that read “brie type flavor.”
Moulton said the cheesecake sampler from Figis did not look as advertised. She said the cheesecakes didn’t taste great either. She did like a cheesecake from Harry and David. She said it tasted fresh and had a nice caramel taste. But she didn’t think it looked so good because the top of the cake and sides was somewhat squashed.
Harry and David’s bakery sampler basket contained a fine cheesecake, according to Moulton. “But I was 50-50 on the rest. The chocolate cookies were delicious, the sandwich cookies were good and the Chocolate Decadence fudge brownie was amazing,” said Moulton. The “cake things” fell under the dry and not-so-good section of Moulton’s list.
“The pumpkin Yule log from Swiss Colony was moist and pumpkiny, with a nice spice taste. My only minor criticism was that the frosting was a little hard,” Moulton said. She thought Swiss Colony’s Berries in the Snow cake was promising because she just loved the title. But she said this cake suffered from two big problems: the frosting tasted stale and the cake was very dry. To see how frozen food gifts would travel, Moulton tried cheesecakes on a stick called Cheesecake Dippers, and Italian Ice Cream Truffles, both from Hickory Farms. They both made it through the delivery just fine. After all of her testing, Moulton recommended the Pumpkin Yule Log, which was $19.95 from Swiss Colony, and the Harry and David bakery sampler basket. Moulton says that if you order the Harry and David gift baskets, you’re likely to get quality cookies and fruit. As for the other holiday assortments Moulton sampled, she said she would send the 43 holiday favorites from Swiss Colony or the grand assortment from the Wisconsin Cheeseman. Moulton said they’re good gifts if you are looking to give something that’s big and fun.