bariumbromate
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how to order from sigma aldrich australia
i need some specialty reagents and only sigma aldrich stocks them,
has anyone had any success buying chemicals from sigma aldrich and got them shipped to their home address? if you have please tell me how.
thank you
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MrDoctor
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my experience being denied by them has been that the property must be properly zoned for receiving goods from the vehicles USUALLY used to transport
the goods. this doesnt mean they will do so, it just means they are lazy and dont really care anymore since they monopolized the market, and are
applying a 1 size fits all solution here.
I have worked as a driver in a similar capacity so i know how these businesses work. essentially its a broad or generalized description of limitations
their chosen courier company imposes. One of them is a loading bay. most stock based businesses either have one, a communal loading zone nearby, or
just have such a large open parking lot or yard that its fine.
As a driver i can tell you, if i was sent in a truck to a dense suburban residence, i would just skip that consignment, from experience, a HR rated
box truck can take out power lines, i learned that first hand on my first day 
(i didnt, but the top of the air-guard did grab and fling up the cable which then slapped the roof so i realized what happened), theres also huge
practical, and legal issues with having to reverse onto or down a road.
occasionally when i buy car parts they also have similar restrictions, business address only, meaning, must have a loading bay. but thats not to say
theyll only do that, its that since virtually all businesses have them, its fine.
I have a registered business, and my home is the address for said business, that i operate out of it. legally it satisfies their requirements,
practically though, its not. My workplace on the other hand, a truck yard, is fine.
Now, i have ordered not from ligma, but from another place a VERY long time ago, i dont remember which one, but some chemists, as in pharmacies, will
accept your orders for a small fee. they are trained and certified to accept all sorts of chemicals. I used this method to get 50% peroxide and 70% LR
nitric acid, possibly from either westlab or chemsupply. In this sense you are using them much like you can use your workplace. It is a minor hassle
so if you arent a regular there, you might incur some sort of fee. i paid $10 just because they do have to actually collect the goods and sign for
them. But this is not an inaccurate description of a pharmacists occupation.
If you find a shop anywhere that sells some chemicals, of which are included the brands ligma sells including its own branding, odds are they already
order from there and if you are patient, theyll include what you want in their next order, this was an option for me a while back from a cleaning
company, as well as a lab chemicals store.
In short, sigma probably uses a single courier company that probably uses a fleet of large flatbeds or box trucks, for various safety reasons, not
vans. as such they only send to places those trucks can usually physically unload to, and are taking a one size fits all approach. its not that you
must be a business, just that statistically a business satisfies all the requirements 9 times out of 10, making the manual labor and resolutions to
that 1/10 more acceptable. if you call them and say you want non hazardous item X sent to your house, they may get australia post to pick it up
instead. there may be an additional cost just because its not automated, at a lab i once worked at, we had one such arrangement because it took around
15 minutes to make up the postage label, and the pdf file had to be modified to work on the adhesive label-paper that we used for TNT courier labels.
if can demonstrate your house is easy for anything shy of a semitrailer to enter and unload on, theyll make an exception, otherwise you can just ask
and if its worthwhile to do they may do it. Categorically they only exclude residential addresses because they dont want to spend 30 minutes carefully
investigating wether a HR truck can physically enter that street, unload, and leave. Truck-couriers days are planned to the minute, they dont have
time to implement creative solutions on the spot.
Alternatively, find the pharmacist you use most, especially one you get all your prescriptions from since youll have something resembling an account
with them, and ask if they will accept it there. They can, but obviously arent obligated to do so. Then just use that borrowed address.
A friends workplace that deals with trucks often, like, really anywhere in an industrial estate will have no issues, at my prior residence i resolved
an issue with logistics this way having a transmission delivered to a fridge mechanic i knew indirectly, as they had a huge lot in the industrial
estates.
-edit- forgot to mention, i still havent ordered from them but i did confirm that they would deliver to my workplace, without having to pretend that i
was buying as a representative of that business. They do not care that the business at the address is their customer, and i should be clear this is
all an educated guess and speculation, not because they explicitly said so, but, all they really care about is that the recipient has the facilities
for an easy no hassle delivery, which businesses happen to satisfy.
If what you want can go in plain non-hazardous goods australia post packaging they might make an exception so ring up and try. if its dangerous then
you are less likely but its still possible if they have an account set up for all occasions.
[Edited on 26-8-2025 by MrDoctor]
[Edited on 26-8-2025 by MrDoctor]
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Deathunter88
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Check for a public university near you, usually you can use their address when placing the order. Since most university mail rooms do not allow hazmat
packages, they will usually just be left at the loading dock, which are rarely staffed and typically unlocked during business hours. You can then just
go pick it up.
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MrDoctor
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using a university without their knowledge or consent is probably not the best idea. Especially if you arent a student there.
Also from experience, i think its quite likely a dock supervisor of some capacity will need to sign the consignment note. relatively speaking sigma
products are very high quality, and thus high value, i very much doubt they wouldnt, in australia anyway, have authority to leave. Its one thing if
its their regular courier group doing dropoffs and pickups daily, its another if its some random group they dont use or hold accounts with.
Just to reiterate an earlier point, sigma, fisher, and the others that dont require a business to register an account, can usually be called up and
theyll manually process your order as long as its safe enough for auspost. I wont ask what your ordering but, if its solid and benign, theyll likely
make an exception. But something like a bottle of sulfuric acid, my guess, is they wont, not because australia post wont/cant take it by ground but
because they will be unwilling to put the time and effort into you specifically as the kind of customer you are to them and the effort involved to
cover all their bases. Anything clearcut easy, like ordering sieves, minerals or consumables? just give them a call.
But, set up an ABN to give them, and if you have the option link your home address to that, and tell them whatever you want to tell them that you are
buying in the capacity of a business. beyond that then it just needs to not be a problematic address like an apartment complex or something.
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Texium
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Quote: Originally posted by Deathunter88  | | Check for a public university near you, usually you can use their address when placing the order. Since most university mail rooms do not allow hazmat
packages, they will usually just be left at the loading dock, which are rarely staffed and typically unlocked during business hours. You can then just
go pick it up. |
That’s a terrible and reckless suggestion. In addition to probably violating multiple
laws, it relies on several assumptions that you are flat out wrong about. I only have experience with package delivery in a chemistry department, so
maybe that’s an exception to the rule, but they certainly take all packages inside to the mail room, with the exception of very large, heavy items.
So what, you send it to another building that’s not accustomed/equipped to receive chemicals, and assume that they’ll just leave it outside,
rather than calling up the chemistry department to see if it was meant for someone over there? Your plan relies on a lot of people being negligent.
Maybe you’ll get lucky and everything works out, but it’s more likely that at least one person in the chain will do their job and notice something
amiss.
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bnull
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Next: The Australian Plutonium Boy 2: College Capers.
@bariumbromate, have you considered setting up a small business? See ABN entitlement.
I don't know about other universities, but mine wouldn't permit places with stealable materials to be left unstaffed and had cameras
everywhere (except the bathrooms, I suppose). The few times I saw deliveries to the physics department there was always someone to
deliver and to receive. If I had ever tried to use the U's address without permission as my shipping address, especially for chemicals, they'd have
kicked me out and found some way to prosecute me.
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bariumbromate
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one of my friends owns a registered business, i'll ask him
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Lionel Spanner
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I'd suggest seeing if there are suitable resellers or small-order distributors for those companies, and/or if you can get items delivered to a parcel
forwarding service.
Many of the larger firms won't sell to individuals, but I've found local distributors for TCI and Carl Roth who will.
[Edited on 28-8-2025 by Lionel Spanner]
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