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Back in April, as we embarked on our new love affair with Shipping Cart—a shipping service that’s bringing goods straight from U.S. online shops to homes across the Philippines—we told you about seven of the most popular items arriving to our shores. Here at Coconuts Manila we like to think of ourselves as cheerleaders for the unusual as well as the popular. So without further ado, we bring you five of the weirdest things being delivered by Shipping Cart.
Nose Hair Trimmers
Photo: Trim Epil
Even people who say they don’t care about their appearance actually do care even if it’s just a little bit, but the levels of vanity existing in the Philippines have indeed branched out to a wider and varying scale. While some of us are done with the preening after a (hopefully) daily smear of deodorant and the occasional haircut, others, male and female, groom their brows, dye their lashes, get their makeup tattooed and, yes, even trim their nasal hair. We were as surprised as you to learn that nose hair trimmers are on the list of items arriving to the Philippines via Shipping Cart. That said, hats off to the peeps paying that much attention to detail. However much we mock, nobody wants to see what could be mistaken for spiders’ legs escaping from your face holes.
Hydroponic Grow Systems
Photo: Flickr / Frank Fox
We may enjoy lush greenery in the Philippines, but most of us—in Metro Manila at least— live in small flats with little or no outside space. Thus, growing some green thumbs and being a little more self sufficient is something we can only dream of. A few of us have the right idea, however, choose to ship hydroponic garden kits from the U.S. As consuming whole food becomes a worldwide concern and our veggies shrouded in ever increasing amounts of chemicals and pesticides, wouldn’t it be nice to know that at least your herbs are organically homegrown? For those that don’t have the time or the space to manage an actual garden, hydroponic growing provides triple the yield in a third of the space, thanks to smart stuff most of us don’t understand that have to do with lights and water. But if you’re worried about your electricity bill shooting up, don’t. Most small hydroponic grow sets apparently only require the same amount of power as a nightlight. And think of all the money you’d be saving on your weekly greens shop too! This one may be unusual, but it makes great sense.
Anti-Snoring Mouth Guards
Photo: VitalSleep
If you have a significant other who snores—and let’s face it, it’s not always the man—you’ll know how much it affects your life. According to research, people who consistently fail to get adequate sleep at night, which is between seven and eight hours, FYI, are more prone to chronic disease, anxiety, high blood pressure, and stroke. EEK! But before you go and boot your partner out of bed once and for all, let us tell you that some Filipinos who value a good night’s sleep have apparently found a cure. According to Shipping Cart, more and more of us are ordering the anti-snoring mouthpiece from the US; we know—we thought snoring was a nose thing, too! The most popular model on the market right now seems to be VitalSleep, a FDA approved guard, which moves the lower jaw ever so slightly forward to help open the wearer’s airways and thus reduce the most annoying noise in the world. It may indeed feel a bit strange to force your sleep buddy into a mouth guard when their head is only going to come into contact with a pillow, but if it saves your relationship hopefully neither of you will mind.
Chinchilla food
Photo: Wikimedia
Yep, you read that right. The only reason we can think of that Filipinos are buying chinchilla food is that they keep chinchillas, unless this is another new celebrity diet we’ve yet to hear about. Even though the super cute crepuscular rodents are native to the Andes Mountains in South America and live at elevations of 4,370 meters, it seems they’ve made inroads into the homes of Metro Manila. It’s true – chinchillas have firmly replaced the beloved porcupine as our top trending pet. Some Shipping Cart customers have been using the service to bring in premium chinchilla food, namely Mazuri, from the U.S. The special diet is rich in Omega 3 fatty acids and contains live probiotics and natural sources of Vitamins E and C via the vehicles of dehydrated alfalfa, ground oats, wheat germ, and dried beet pulp. Hmm… doesn’t sound too bad. Maybe these people are eating it themselves after all.
Foldable Tactical Knives
Photo: Mercator
There are a ton of logical reasons to carry around a sharp little knife and most of them are pretty practical. After all, you never know when the need to open a cardboard box, hunt for food, or even cut some grass to make your own shelter, might arise. Another reason why Filipinos ship the tiny yet deadly Mercator Knife, aka “Cat Knife”, straight to their door? It’s like having a piece of history in your pocket. This German-made knife has been around since 1867; meaning that it’s simple, clean design has been around for an amazing 145 years! Thanks to Shipping Cart’s Special Handling for items that require extra care like perfume, alcohol, fragile items, to name a few, and knives under 7 inches; the Mercator Folding Pocket Knife is now making its way to pockets around Manila via Air Cargo. That’s right! This high-quality knife is so sharp yet tiny enough to fit in your pocket and hunt for wild game. Yikes.
To get all of this weird stuff and more, all you need to do is sign up for a free Shipping Cart account start shopping, and shipping.
Psst! When your Shipping Cart package arrives, take a photo of its contents and post to Instagram and/or Facebook with the hashtags #BoxoftheMonth and #ShippingCart for your chance to win a special prize.
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