Sorry for the site troubles - 10% coupon extended!

As some of you may have experienced this week end, we're still working out some kinks with our new site. Fortunately many people were able to take advantage of our 10% off coupon, but we'd like to make things right with those of you who were not able to access the site.

If you are still not able to access our site, reuseit.com, please email the following information to rkotz@reuseit.com:

• copy & paste the error code or message you receive when the page fails to load
• your IP address (Google "what is my IP address?" and click the first link)
• your Internet service provider (example: AT&T, Embarq, Comcast, etc)

We are working quickly to restore access to our site, and extending our offer for 10% off everything in our store. Please try to access our site again and enter the code 404error to receive your discount. If you are still not able to access the site, please send the info above to Rob, our IT guy. This code will be active through 9/3/2010 so everyone who missed out this week end should be able to take advantage.

Thank you for your help, and we apologize for the hassle.

Reuseit.com Makes Inc. Magazine's List of Top 500/5000 Fastest Growing Companies

We are extremely proud not only to have been named one of the top 500/5000 fastest growing companies by Inc. magazine, but also to have earned the #91 spot in retail and #70 in Chicago. 

“Reuseit.com is a truly sustainable business, donating 1% of sales to causes that align with our mission. Making the Inc. 500/5000 list is just another example of how businesses can do well by doing good,” said company founder Vincent Cobb.

We'd like to thank all 236,000+ of our customers, along with our staff and all of the people who helped us along the way.

For more information, please see our Inc. 500/5000 profile.

Site down yesterday - we're sorry! Free shipping today.

Yesterday our site was overloaded with visitors thanks to back-to-school press for our great selection of waste-free lunch items including "Your A+ Guide to Green School Supplies" at Rodale.com.

As you may have noticed, we were down for a few hours - it happens to all websites occasionally, even Google, Facebook and Twitter. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this caused our customers and would like to make it up to you all by offering free domestic shipping on any size order all day today. 

Simply enter SITEDOWN (please note: this coupon is no longer valid!) in the coupon field at checkout. Please note: The code is case-sensitive, cannot be combined with other coupons, valid on domestic orders only, does not apply to past orders & expires midnight CST 8/19/10.

Again, we regret any inconvenience - thank you for your continued support! 

The Majestic Plastic Bag - A Mockumentary

What do you think about bag bans and/or fees? Fees seemed to work out pretty well in Ireland. Thoughts?

We're Donating $500 in Lunch Gear to Loughman Oaks Elementary & You Can Help!

Last week we were inspired by our own kids' back-to-school lists to make a donation of $500 worth of waste-free lunch gear to a school in need. We asked our blog readers and Facebook fans to nominate schools over the week end, and we were touched by all of the heartfelt messages we received.

One message in particular, from teacher Crystal Strock of Loughman Oaks Elementary in Polk County, Florida, really stood out. She wrote:

"Our school is roughly 800 students today (this number has ranged between 700 and over 1,100 in my time here). More than 70% of our students are enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program. We have a paraprofessional affectionately known as 'Momma Gail' who helps supply families in our community with food, clothes and books when they are in need. She even has board games that families can check out, so they can spend quality time together. Gail spends all of her weekends and summers hitting up thrift stores and businesses looking for donations to help our families."

With that, we decided to send $500 worth of waste-free lunch gear to the kids at Loughman Oaks. To help spread the word, we've asked our Facebook fans to share a message we posted yesterday about back-to-school. You can help by visiting us on Facebook and clicking the "share" button under the message that begins "Share this post & help a school in need!" We hope to receive 100 comments from people letting us know they shared the post by the end of the week. 

Given the number of nominations we received, there are still countless schools that could use help getting lunch supplies to their kids. We encourage our customers to consider adding an extra lunch bag, spork, or set of napkins to their back-to-school purchases this year. Our Summer Sale makes it easy to give. And even one lunch bag can make a difference. Crystal explains:

"These children are from low income families, some may not get shiny new things very often. This would mean so much to them and be a wonderful way to get them excited about reusing and reducing daily trash."

Giving back is part of what we do - to date, we've donated more than $200,000 to like-minded non-profits. Click here to check out just a handful of other organizations and schools we've donated to over the years. 

Help support our efforts - Please visit our store and help spread the word.

Waste-free Lunch Gear for Those in Need - How You Can Help

Summer is nearly over and many of us in the office are signing our kids up for their first year of school. Not surprisingly, but sad nonetheless, many of our school supply lists included optional donations of items like back packs, lunch bags and water bottles for children in need.

It really got us talking - with so many affordable waste-free lunch items in our Summer Sale, why not pick up an extra lunch bag or set of utensils for our kids' classmates? We have recycled cotton lunch bags as low as $2.25 and sets of reusable sporks for $4.95. These are durable, sustainable waste-free lunch items made to last all school year while taking it easy on the wallet. 

We encourage our customers to consider adding an extra lunch bag, spork, or set of napkins to their back-to-school purchases this year, making waste-free lunch options available to all kids. In addition, we're looking for suggestions of classes and schools in need of waste-free lunch gear. Visit our  leave a comment on this blog or visit our Facebook page & tell us about a class or school that could benefit from a $500 lunch gear donation.

We'll consider your suggestions over the week end and pick a winning school or class early next week. We'll post about the recipient of our donation on our Facebook page.

Giving back is part of what we do - to date, we've donated more than $200,000 to like-minded non-profits. Click here to check out just a handful of other organizations and schools we've donated to over the years. 

Help support our efforts - Please visit our store and help spread the word.

Product review: Orka Vegetable Keep Sacks

Check out this review of the Orka Vegetable Keeps Sacks from one of our Ambassadors, Julie. Designed to conveniently store vegetables, they protect garlic, shallots, onions, potatoes and other vegetables from light, which helps to delay sprouting.

You can see similar videos in our new Product Review Video Playlist. Have you made a video review of our products? Email us at service@reuseit.com and let us know!