Calendars.com

Full review
Are you the type who enjoys a scenic view when you look at the calendar on the wall? What about a picture of your favorite breed of pet? How about a humorous calendar with amusing quotes? If you’re the type who likes to see something more on a calendar than just the dates of the year, then you will enjoy this on- line service, calendars.com. It features calendars for sale with all sorts of themes, from pets, to models, to cities, to events. Calendars.com has a calendar to fit your fancy in all sorts of forms, including ordinary wall calendars, desk top calendars, magnetic mount calendars, and many more.

What can I find in this Site?:

Calendars.com is broken down into a few main categories, with multiple ways to search for the perfect calendar. The main categories are:

Pets- Dog calendars are the most popular here, but there are many more pets to choose from than just canines. The site has calendars for cats, ferrets, horses, lizards, parakeets, parrots, rabbits, rodents, tropical fish, and turtles. There are also miscellaneous categories for “funny” pets (animals doing humorous things) and for baby pets.

Kids- This is an extensive category that includes child- related themes. Some of the options here are obvious, like Looney Tunes, the Peanuts Gang, Pink Panther, Spider Man, Scooby- Doo, Winnie the Pooh, and other well- known cartoon characters. Then, there are general categories for calendars, like teddy bears, children’s books, and back to school. There are even calendars that are geared toward different age groups.

Models- Would you like to have Sports Illustrated models appear above the dates of your calendar? How about Playboy models wearing sexy lingerie? This section includes general calendar categories like these, along with calendars that feature a specific model, like Anna Kournikova, Pamela Anderson, and a few others.

Humor- This collection of calendars is sure to tickle your funny bone. You can select calendars featuring the Far Side, Jeff Foxworthy, the Three Stooges, and assorted humor like George Bush quotes and Misc. funny quotes and trivia.

Office- These calendars include both funny and serious topics related to survival in the workplace. Among these, you will find a “Who Moved my Cheese” calendar (based on the best- selling book), “The O’Reilly Factor (quotes from the journalist and his TV show), “Seven Habits of Highly Successful People” and other specific titles. There are also general groups of calendars, like ones for lawyers and nurses.

Celebs- Do you have a favorite Hollywood actor/actress or a popular singer that would look great on your wall or desk top? If so, then the Celebs section would be the place to turn. Brittany Spears, Marilyn Monroe, Audry Hepburn, James Dean, and other popular stars are featured here, along with general calendars like “Men of Days of Our Lives” and “The Jeopardy Game Show”.

Other Categories- Besides these main selections of calendars, the site offers many more, which are accessible from the main page. Among the numerous choices are Art & Photography, Cars & Motorcycles, Cooking, Firefighting, Flowers & Garden, History, Inspirational, Lighthouses, Nature & Science, New Age, Sports, Teen, Travel & Regional, and Women’s Interest. Many of these categories can also be found within one of the six main categories listed above. This is just another way to lookup the calendar that you desire.

Other Services:

Besides selling calendars, this site does offer a couple other services. You can download a free screensaver if you like, featuring- you guessed it- an on- screen calendar. There aren’t many choices here- only 5 the last time I checked, so there’s a good chance that you may not like the options available. And you might just be too burned out on the whole calendar thing to want this as a screensaver.

The only other things offered through this site are a few accessories for your calendar. One of these is a calendar frame. The other is a calendar wall hanger. These seem unnecessary to me. Only the truly addicted calendar freak would have any need for something like a calendar frame or wall hanger.

Pricing/Shipping:

The prices in this site are exactly the same as you would find in a store that sells specialized calendars. The only discounts that you will find here are the markdowns in the “bargain” section, which is accessible from the home page.

Shipping can really add up, at Calendars.com. If you go with standard shipping (4 to 7 business days), it will cost you $3.98 for the first item and 99 cents for each additional item. Priority shipping (3 to 4 business days) will cost you $8.98 for the first item and $1.99 for each additional item. And Express shipping (2 to 3 business days) will cost $14.98 for the first item and $2.99 for each additional item. The maximum shipping charge is $7.95. There is no sales tax, unless you live in the state of Texas, where Calendars.com is headquartered.

Final Thoughts:

Calendars.com has thousands of calendars to choose from, in several different sizes and styles. Each calendar indicates the size (usually 12 inches by 12 inches, although some are different dimensions), and the style (wall, desk, magnetic, etc.). To get more information on the specifics of the calendar, you just click the link for a more detailed description.

What brought me to this site was a visit to my local shopping mall. I was trying to find a calendar for my dog, a Chesapeake Bay Retriever. They didn’t have one available (imagine that- the best breed of all and they don’t even have the calendar in stock!), so the sales person gave me a card that included the on- line site and a special discount code, to save 15% on my first order. I logged onto the site and quickly found what I was looking for, along with some suggestions for other calendars that I might like, such as “Sporting Dogs 2003” and 𣾥 Days of Puppies”. I picked out the one I wanted, the Chesapeake bay Retriever Calendar, plus a couple of others, and proceeded to the checkout. Upon checking out, I found that I could, if I wanted, setup a password logon to keep my billing information stored on file for quick access in the future. I went ahead and set this up, although this was not necessary to complete the sale.

Prices in this site are exactly the same as they were in my local shopping mall (about $12.99 per calendar), so there wasn’t any money to save. With shipping charges factored in, the total purchase price will likely be more than what you would pay in the store unless you happen to have a discount, like I did. My 15% discount saved me $5.69. The shipping cost was $5.96, using standard shipping. So, my discount erased most of the cost of shipping and, since that there was no sales tax to pay, I ended up paying less than I would in the store. But without the discount, the shipping charges would have been greater than the sales tax amount and, therefore, not the best deal. The only exception would be for a large order, since the maximum shipping charge is $7.95.

Gift wrapping is available with Calendars.com, at a price of $2.49 per item. However, the charges for gift wrapping are eliminated if you buy more than two calendars (and if you are using this site, you probably will buy more than just two). This is a nice little incentive, and it helps to make up for the high price of shipping. They will also give you a discount, if you purchase a whole bunch of calendars, in bulk. If you buy between 4 and 9 calendars, you will get a 10% discount; 10 to 24 carries a 15% discount; 25 or more gives you a 20% discount.

This site offers a very large selection of calendars, which is both good and bad. It’s nice to have so much to choose from, but it can also get a little frustrating. I found many calendars that I liked, but a home can only have so many calendars on the walls. You need to decide on just a few, and leave it at that. With so many selections to choose from, it’s not always easy to narrow it down.

The descriptions of each calendar can help with making a decision, but I noticed one thing right away that Calendars.com needs to improve: when you select a calendar, the only photo you can view is the one on the cover of the calendar. When you go to a store and look at these calendars, you can flip the calendar over to the back and see a small photo of each of the 12 months’ pictures. Calendars.com offers no such feature. All you get to see is the picture on the front of each calendar. Sure, they do try to describe the other pictures using words, but that’s no substitute for actually being able to see the pictures. They really need to improve this. It would increase the likelihood of making a sale, I think, if customers had the ability to view all of the pictures.

Overall, this is a pretty good service. I don’t know about many other on- line calendar web sites, so I have nothing to compare it with. It could be much better, if the descriptions include photos and if the prices were discounted a little bit from the price you pay in the store. The site brags that it’s the “best selection of calendars in the known universe”. That may be true, but it doesn’t mean that the site is completely without flaws.

I recommend Calendars.com, for it’s large selection, simple navigation, ease of ordering, and prompt delivery. It needs to make a few improvements if it wants to stay competitive and attract more customers. Still, it’s a fun site with lots of calendars to choose from. Logon, and start exploring!