Grow with OHG!
From America’s Expert Source for Heirloom Flower Bulbs
My Basket
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Grow with OHG!
From America’s Expert Source for Heirloom Flower Bulbs | My Basket |
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We’d Love to Have You Join Us! |
 May Day 2007- at Old House Gardens Old House Gardens is the world’s only mail-order source devoted entirely to antique flower bulbs. Since 1993 we’ve been tracking down rare, historic bulbs around the world, researching their histories, recruiting small farmers to grow them for us, and sharing them with gardeners through our mail-order catalog and website. Our bulbs have been featured by Martha Stewart, The New York Times, Horticulture, Fine Gardening, and Country Living, and they grow today at historic sites from Williamsburg to the Hearst Castle. To learn more, please explore our website, including Why Us and About Us. |
Job #1, Bulb Packer Delivering fantastic bulbs to our very demanding customers starts with our bulb packers. Our packers get a print-out of a customer’s order, walk through the tightly packed and carefully organized rows of our big, barn-like garage, and choose top-quality bulbs of each variety on the print-out. |
| This job is PHYSICALLY DEMANDING. Packers are on their feet all day on a cement floor in the COLD. 40-50 degrees is best for the bulbs, but hard on us humans. Light lifting (under 5 pounds) is CONSTANT, with intermittent demands of up to 40 pounds. Some running up and down stairs is also required.
SPEED AND ACCURACY are very important in this job. Our bulb-packers must read and interpret very similar code-numbers, select from many confusingly similar bulbs, and carefully count out the right number of each. Also very important is a positive spirit and the ability to work well with others in close quarters. |
Job #2, Bulb Shipper Once the bulbs are packed, the boxes go to our shipper to be weighed, labeled, and prepared for pick up by UPS and the post office. |
| This is a COMPLEX, FAST-PACED job, and ATTENTION TO DETAIL is very important. Our shipper must manage a stream of 100-150 boxes a day, making sure to keep them constantly moving and perfectly organized. Space is VERY TIGHT, and as boxes pile up, it’s a challenge to make sure every box is properly weighed, its address double-checked, any necessary USDA certification attached, shipping rates compared and selected, label printed and affixed (to the right box!), piled in the right spot for pick-up, and its paperwork tallied and prepared for filing. |
| LIFTING is constant. Most boxes are under five pounds, but every day there are a couple 40-pounders. Most of the day you’ll be on your feet in a room we try to keep as COLD as the barn. |
| The shipping room is mostly a SOLO OPERATION, but a positive spirit and the ability to work well with others in close quarters is always important here. You will also be called upon to help our office staff with mail and other tasks during any down-time. |
Job #3, Office Help & Customer Care During our shipping seasons, there is a lot of copying, data entry, and filing to do – and the phone is ringing off the hook. Rita, our VP for Customer Care, needs help! We’re looking for someone who is lively, friendly, positive, easy to work with, and who LOVES to take care of people. The ideal applicant will also have lots of experience with gardening and bulbs. Our space is tight, so we need someone who can tune out distractions, work quickly and accurately, and stay calm and pleasant with the rare customer who is difficult or upset. This job is half-days, 9 AM to 12 noon, M-F. It starts a week earlier and runs a week later than the others: Monday, March 17 through Friday, May 9. |
Your Co-Workers You’ll be part of our small team of friendly, enthusiastic, hard-working people who love to garden and who enjoy working together to serve our customers and “Save the Bulbs!” Seven of us work here year-round and eight or ten more join us during our very busy shipping seasons in mid-March to mid-May and again in mid-September to early-November. |
Our Location We’re squeezed into a great old Victorian house and a big, barn-like garage in the heart of the Old West Side Historic District, a few blocks from downtown Ann Arbor. There’s free curbside parking out front and the bus stops a block away. |
Benefits Since we’re so small, our benefits are mostly intangibles — a chance to make a difference, lots to learn, great co-workers, and happy customers, to name a few. There’s also a team-discount on all bulbs, free bulbs at the end of the season, daily tea, and Charlie the cat. |
Hours & Pay Our spring shipping season will run from Monday, March 24, through Friday, May 2. We’re open from 9:00 to 5:00, Monday through Friday, but most of our packers work from 9:00 to 4:00 or so. We do not work evenings or weekends. Starting pay is $8.50/hour for all positions. |
The Next Step Click here for our Picker/Shipper application. Return it by email: kelly@oldhousegardens.com Click here for our Office Help application. Return it by email: rita@oldhousegardens.com fax: 734-995-1687, mail: 536 Third St., Ann Arbor, MI 48103, or just come by and drop it off. Questions? Email us or call 734-995-1486. We’ll look forward to hearing from you! |
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| For our print catalog click here or send $2.00 to Old House Gardens 536 Third St., Ann Arbor, MI 48103. phone: 734-995-1486 fax: 734-995-1687 email: charlie@oldhousegardens.com |  |
For our free email newsletter, “The Friends of Old Bulbs Gazette” with tips, news, history, & special offers, send us an email with “subscribe” in the subject line to newsletter@oldhousegardens.com. |
| © 1993-2008, Old House Gardens. All rights reserved. | ||