Shipping cost rant

[10-Ring]

Recently I've had to order a few small items off of the internet. All of these things were specialty motorcycle parts. Each of the three items that I've ordered would fit in the palm of my hand together, yet I have had to pay $12-14 to ship each one. Seems a lot of these distributors are only shipping UPS and I guess that is where their rates start now. All of these items would easily fit in a USPS Flatrate box and could be shipped for under $5. It just frustrating since I'm paying as much or more for shipping than I am for the items in question.

[Grunt67]

This is how they make a lot of their money. $10 item, $8.95 S&H. Ripoff to be sure.

[Guest bkelm18]

I recently bought something from Amazon. It shipped from Knoxville. They charged $15 for shipping for a 20mi trip.

[Oh Shoot]

Yup, even if they aren't trying to make shipping a profit center, most just aren't set up for USPS shipping option on their systems.

You can send under 13 oz for $3.65 max + .18 track.

Smallest flat rate Priority box is 5.15 btw. Envelope is 4.90.

All this talk of letting UPS/FedEx take over USPS: right now at at least, they can't touch the 13 oz and under prices of USPS, or any of the flat rate Priority prices if they are heavily loaded. Matter of fact, you really have to get up in the 10lb range and above before UPS or FedEx Ground become better deals.

- OS

Edited June 4, 2012 by OhShoot

[Guest Brian]

I ordered some fishing tackle online. I didn't like the fedx shipping price. I sent them an email telling them that I wanted it flatrate shipped if they wanted my business. They did and it saved me $9.

[wcsc12]

Unfortunately, places don't charge just "shipping costs" they also charge you a handling cost to get even more money.

Yup, even if they aren't trying to make shipping a profit center, most just aren't set up for USPS shipping option on their systems.

You can send under 13 oz for $3.65 max + .18 track.

Smallest flat rate Priority box is 5.15 btw. Envelope is 4.90.

All this talk of letting UPS/FedEx take over USPS: right now at at least, they can't touch the 13 oz and under prices of USPS, or any of the flat rate Priority prices if they are heavily loaded. Matter of fact, you really have to get up in the 10lb range and above before UPS or FedEx Ground become better deals.

- OS

Honestly, I've never seen any UPS price that's better than USPS. I've sent a giant computer case that would have cost me $30 via UPS and FedEx ground but only cost me $23.50 I believe via USPS Priority Mail. Granted that was without insurance. Insurance added in an extra few bucks but it was still cheaper. I always only ship via USPS because I'd rather my stuff get there in 2-3 days vs a week. That and I like having my packages around a set time every day instead of the time frame of "Sometime between 8am and dark" from UPS and FedEx.

Edited June 4, 2012 by wcsc12

[Oh Shoot]

...Honestly, I've never seen any UPS price that's better than USPS....

I find that above 10 lbs and too big for flat rate, UPS beats USPS by at least 10%. Get on up above 20 lbs or so (again, too big for flat rate) and FedEx Ground becomes cheapest of all.

I admit I'm getting a bit better than counter price with eBay Seller's account and UPS and USPS.

- OS

[zapfbroad]

So if I order 6 books mm paperbacks from one seller on amazon AND they arrive in one bag why do they want to charge 3.99 ea to ship?

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2

[Smith]

Yup, even if they aren't trying to make shipping a profit center, most just aren't set up for USPS shipping option on their systems.

You can send under 13 oz for $3.65 max + .18 track.

Smallest flat rate Priority box is 5.15 btw. Envelope is 4.90.

All this talk of letting UPS/FedEx take over USPS: right now at at least, they can't touch the 13 oz and under prices of USPS, or any of the flat rate Priority prices if they are heavily loaded. Matter of fact, you really have to get up in the 10lb range and above before UPS or FedEx Ground become better deals.

- OS

Technically, USPS can't compete with their own pricing. They will be gone soon.

[Guest Brian]

So if I order 6 books mm paperbacks from one seller on amazon AND they arrive in one bag why do they want to charge 3.99 ea to ship?

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2

That's where the email comes in. If not a phone call. Bitch about it, "I'm not going to pay your shipping!"

[JohnC]

Yup, even if they aren't trying to make shipping a profit center, most just aren't set up for USPS shipping option on their systems.

You can send under 13 oz for $3.65 max + .18 track.

Smallest flat rate Priority box is 5.15 btw. Envelope is 4.90.

All this talk of letting UPS/FedEx take over USPS: right now at at least, they can't touch the 13 oz and under prices of USPS, or any of the flat rate Priority prices if they are heavily loaded. Matter of fact, you really have to get up in the 10lb range and above before UPS or FedEx Ground become better deals.

- OS

I couldn't care less how cheap USPS is because they lose more crap and deliver to the wrong address too often.

5 issues of my MM&FF magazine never came. I've had some mail brought back from two streets up with the same number, but different street name.

1 Coffee pot delivered to the wrong address. After numerous trips the the local PO, they offered no help and just claimed they delivered it. A couple months later, a neighbor said she seen a box under her deck/porch, picked it up and seen my folks address and brought it over. Good thing is wasn't electronics because the box had endured a lot of moisture and was falling apart!

1 Camera lens a mail-lady at the time would not deliver. She kept leaving attempt to deliver/pickup at post office notices in the mailbox. I was standing at the door one day (after the first notice where she drove off when we were home), came out and started walking to the mailbox and she looked right at me and drove off! I called and complained and they told me she had a choice not to deliver if she felt unsafe. WTF? My folks house is not in the ghetto! UPS and FedEx would be out of business if folks paid them to deliver to home addresses and they refused to do it!

The only time I use the PO is when I buy an item and the shipper only gives me the choice of the PO. Too many times, I get screwed by them when I have to receive a shipment from the PO. Their customer service is nonexistent. Something happens, you're basically screwed and on your own!

That said, UPS and FedEx FTW!!!!

[Oh Shoot]

So if I order 6 books mm paperbacks from one seller on amazon AND they arrive in one bag why do they want to charge 3.99 ea to ship?

That's called an "additional profit center", sans Vaseline.

- OS

[deerslayer]

I couldn't care less how cheap USPS is because they lose more crap and deliver to the wrong address too often.

5 issues of my MM&FF magazine never came. I've had some mail brought back from two streets up with the same number, but different street name.

1 Coffee pot delivered to the wrong address. After numerous trips the the local PO, they offered no help and just claimed they delivered it. A couple months later, a neighbor said she seen a box under her deck/porch, picked it up and seen my folks address and brought it over. Good thing is wasn't electronics because the box had endured a lot of moisture and was falling apart!

1 Camera lens a mail-lady at the time would not deliver. She kept leaving attempt to deliver/pickup at post office notices in the mailbox. I was standing at the door one day (after the first notice where she drove off when we were home), came out and started walking to the mailbox and she looked right at me and drove off! I called and complained and they told me she had a choice not to deliver if she felt unsafe. WTF? My folks house is not in the ghetto! UPS and FedEx would be out of business if folks paid them to deliver to home addresses and they refused to do it!

The only time I use the PO is when I buy an item and the shipper only gives me the choice of the PO. Too many times, I get screwed by them when I have to receive a shipment from the PO. Their customer service is nonexistent. Something happens, you're basically screwed and on your own!

That said, UPS and FedEx FTW!!!!

+1

When I order bullets, I get them shipped to a friend's work address (the two companies I order from won't ship UPS or FedEx). If USPS delivers bullets to my house, the idiot mailman leaves them in the yard next to the mailbox in the rain. They are simply too lazy to put them on my porch. Once, they even said my friend's work address was "undeliverable" and returned them to the shipper. I translated that to mean "overpaid .gov employee doesn't feel like working today."

No accountability = no more USPS soon.

Edited June 5, 2012 by deerslayer

[frankmako]

i allway check the shipping rate before i order anything off the net. if to high i pass and keep looking.

[Oh Shoot]

i allway check the shipping rate before i order anything off the net. if to high i pass and keep looking.

CTD has really upped the shipping complexity angle, what with 5 warehouses or something, and a separate charge for anything from each one.

- OS

[TGO David]

This is one of the reasons why I don't and won't sell TGO logo merchandise direct anymore. I may farm it out at some point but people bitch so much about the cost of shipping that it became more trouble than it was worth.

$5.00-ish to ship an item in a USPS flat rate small box. They'd complain if I charged more to ship a hat, but a hat needed to be put in a medium box in order to keep it from being crumpled to pieces. Well do you want me to fold that hat up and shove it into a small box? Really? And "handling" charges are sometimes a fuel surcharge. I never charged for handling but should have; I was having to stuff envelopes, print labels and drive crap over to the post office several times a week. That was time I could have spent with my family, and fuel out of my car to get it there.

Just giving you an idea of what it's like on the other side of this argument. As consumers we tend to have an attitude of entitlement when it comes to demanding lowest cost or free shipping. I'm just as guilty. I always try to order from vendors who don't charge shipping for orders over a certain dollar amount, but I figure at that point they've done the math and know whether they are still making a profit or not.

[mav]

Yup, even if they aren't trying to make shipping a profit center, most just aren't set up for USPS shipping option on their systems.

You can send under 13 oz for $3.65 max + .18 track.

Smallest flat rate Priority box is 5.15 btw. Envelope is 4.90.

All this talk of letting UPS/FedEx take over USPS: right now at at least, they can't touch the 13 oz and under prices of USPS, or any of the flat rate Priority prices if they are heavily loaded. Matter of fact, you really have to get up in the 10lb range and above before UPS or FedEx Ground become better deals.

- OS

Serious question. Would the USPS would be able to keep those low prices if they were forced to turn a profit or at least break even? They lost over $3 billion in the first quarter. I wouldn't think so.

Taxpayers are subsidizing those low prices, and they will have to pay even more when it comes time to bail out the USPS.

[gjohnsoniv]

So if I order 6 books mm paperbacks from one seller on amazon AND they arrive in one bag why do they want to charge 3.99 ea to ship?

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2

Amazon is losing profit so they have to make it up somewhere.

[Oh Shoot]

Serious question. Would the USPS would be able to keep those low prices if they were forced to turn a profit or at least break even? They lost over $3 billion in the first quarter. I wouldn't think so.

Taxpayers are subsidizing those low prices, and they will have to pay even more when it comes time to bail out the USPS.

Valid points, to be sure. Answer is, dunno.

One thing is sure, that if some USPS rates like 13 oz First Class rate or Media Mail rate were to double, whole areas of commerce would just immediately likely go south. Every part of the economy is interdependent.

Course, USPS claims that most of its losses are due to some pension stuff that Congress mandated over their own wishes, or something .. not really hip on that issue?

- OS

Edited June 5, 2012 by OhShoot

[JohnC]

Amazon is losing profit so they have to make it up somewhere.

According to who you buy from on Amazon, sometimes items do not ship from Amazon, but rather the actual seller.

I've always had awesome packaging, good shipping rates and received packages fast from Amazon!

[Oh Shoot]

..I've always had awesome packaging, good shipping rates and received packages fast from Amazon!

I've almost always bought the free shipping stuff there, that uses UPS to USPS for final delivery. Rather slow, but has always been flawless. Combine that with often cheapest price anywhere and it's rather a no-brainer -- at least until they have to start charging TN sales tax.

- OS

[Just2Honor]

Speaking of ripoffs: JC Penney charges you the same shiipping rate for to your home as to a store. They run a truck each week from the warehouse for restocking the store, so where is the extra shipping cost? Why not have a handling charge for each order and shipping charge if you don't want to pick it up at a store? Because you get to carge more if you cambine them into a fee nobody can compare!!

Edited June 5, 2012 by RoadKill

[Oh Shoot]

Speaking of ripoffs: JC Penney charges you the same shiipping rate for to your home as to a store. They run a truck each week from the warehouse for restocking the store, so where is the extra shipping cost? ...

Just another percentage call, figure enough folks will do that to make another profit. Biz of all types is in survival mode, sort of understandable in a way really. Rebates are actually another profit center. Data shows that many folks won't follow through on them, also the smaller the rebate the higher the opt out, too.

All spreadsheet stuff where even a fraction of a % can be worth significant bucks to the bottom line.

- OS

[Spiffy]

I ordered an ejector and housing for a Glock. It costed $7 for the part. Shipping was $13 for something that weights practically nothing. It took Fed Ex almost 5 days to deliver it. Fed Ex was the cheapest option.

I ordered a slide for a glock from Brownell's and a range bag from Shooter's Connection on Sunday. Since it didn't get looked at till Monday, I got the bag yesterday and the slide is out for delivery today..... makes ya wonder.

[Guest nicemac]

This is how they make a lot of their money. $10 item, $8.95 S&H. Ripoff to be sure.

Look at the total price. Do you want the item(s) for that total price or not. How is that a rip-off?