Shipping cost Question

baker

baker

New member
Hi All:

I'm a do-it-yourselfer, plus I detail cars for friends and co-workers. I have a question and complaint on internet shopping. I have used the mail all my life, I'm 51, by the way. Why do suppliers charge an arm and a leg for shipping. I want to buy some more products, better than Walmart or Canadian Tire would sell, but to buy them on-line is almost ridiculous. I got two quotes for towels, good prices on the towels but shipping was in one case $17.99 U.S. to ship them to Nova Scotia, and the second was $15.00 Cdn. from an Ontario source. These cannot be the actual shipping costs for a package weighing less than a pound. I would have no problem paying what it costs the company to ship the product, but the profit of any company should be included in the retail price. Its like going to the grocery store and having the cashier tell you your groceries are $20. But its $30. if I ring it in for you. Anyway, this has prevented me many times from buying over the internet, not just detaining supplies, but other items also, and if I'm wrong in my assumptions, please correct me. Am I the only one with this concern?
 
BAKER said:
Hi All:

I'm a do-it-yourselfer, plus I detail cars for friends and co-workers. I have a question and complaint on internet shopping. I have used the mail all my life, I'm 51, by the way. Why do suppliers charge an arm and a leg for shipping. I want to buy some more products, better than Walmart or Canadian Tire would sell, but to buy them on-line is almost ridiculous. I got two quotes for towels, good prices on the towels but shipping was in one case $17.99 U.S. to ship them to Nova Scotia, and the second was $15.00 Cdn. from an Ontario source. These cannot be the actual shipping costs for a package weighing less than a pound. I would have no problem paying what it costs the company to ship the product, but the profit of any company should be included in the retail price. Its like going to the grocery store and having the cashier tell you your groceries are $20. But its $30. if I ring it in for you. Anyway, this has prevented me many times from buying over the internet, not just detaining supplies, but other items also, and if I'm wrong in my assumptions, please correct me. Am I the only one with this concern?
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I am set up directly through UPS so my prices are always what I pay UPS. I take a small bite on my shipping. To be honest, it usually cost me a minimum of $8-$9 to ship something within a 5 mile radius of me, weighing up to about 10 pounds. With gas prices going up so is shipping. I try to hand deliver anything close to me to help the customer save on shipping. But I don't doubt that the $15 Canadian is pretty close to the actual shipping cost.
 
Thank you for your input Danase, as I said, if I'm wrong about the shipping I appreciate knowing. My main point is that a good price for a product, becomes a not- so -great price due to the shipping costs. If only there was a way around this. As a dealer, would not using the regular Canada Post service, be cheaper??
 
BAKER said:
Thank you for your input Danase, as I said, if I'm wrong about the shipping I appreciate knowing. My main point is that a good price for a product, becomes a not- so -great price due to the shipping costs. If only there was a way around this. As a dealer, would not using the regular Canada Post service, be cheaper??
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I am not sure if it would be cheaper or not. Personally I started shipping all of my international orders via USPS and people seem to be much happier. They don't seem to tack on the fees that get tacked on when using other services for some reason.

Here in Michigan it was making me sick how someone would order something 2 minutes from me and have to pay more for shipping. So I just started hand delivering to the locals. I USED to offer free shipping to Michigan customers, back when we first opened, but the shipping prices started rising and it got too costly for us.
 
I always charge my customers whatever it costs to ship-no mark up. I should charge something, but I don't. For example, I warehouse (for free) products for clients. When they need something, they call and we ship it. By the time I send an employee to the warehouse to get it, count it, pack it, ship it, it probably costs me 2 hours of employee time ($25.00).



Whether shipping is expensive or free, you're going to pay for it one way or the other.
 
kompressornsc said:
I always charge my customers whatever it costs to ship-no mark up. I should charge something, but I don't. For example, I warehouse (for free) products for clients. When they need something, they call and we ship it. By the time I send an employee to the warehouse to get it, count it, pack it, ship it, it probably costs me 2 hours of employee time ($25.00).



Whether shipping is expensive or free, you're going to pay for it one way or the other.
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That seems an like an awful long time. Its good you don't charge for that.
 
well, its not just shipping cost. its packing costs and time costs.



you need boxes, tape, packing peanuts. then you need to go down to the post office and send it off (which we all know the lines don't finish).
 
It's true that shipping indeed involves quite some work. The gas money that the delivering companies use must also be factored in. Another thing is that sometimes people will lower their price on a product and add it on to the shipping. This practice is often evident in ebay. This way, the sellers don't have to pay ebay as much commission.



However, often, even with shipping factored in, you should remember that you aren't paying any tax (whopping 8.625% in NY), and the price is usually still lower than it would be if you bought it at a store. If possible, order together, and sometimes the shipping will be included. Amazon is pretty good with the free shipping over $25, or free 2 day shipping if you have Amazon Prime. But for detailing products, amazon doesn't really sell any...
 
I just sold some items for $15 shipped...little did I know, those 2 little bottles cost me $10.50 just to ship them...so I only made $5 on my item....I should have just kept it for that price. :(
 
From what I understand, USPS ships the cheapest unless you are a big big company that can strike good deals with UPS or FedEX. An alternative to those two would be DHL. DHL offers great rates and they are available anywhere. You deal with your local rep instead of a national rep.



Also, DHL is the largest shipping company in the world. They're slowly taking the US market. I know a couple of friends who were sales people for DHL and they did quite impressive interviews.



If you're a business owner, you might want to take a look at DHL.
 
tustah said:
From what I understand, USPS ships the cheapest unless you are a big big company that can strike good deals with UPS or FedEX. An alternative to those two would be DHL. DHL offers great rates and they are available anywhere. You deal with your local rep instead of a national rep.



Also, DHL is the largest shipping company in the world. They're slowly taking the US market. I know a couple of friends who were sales people for DHL and they did quite impressive interviews.



If you're a business owner, you might want to take a look at DHL.
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Not so sure I would want DSL to deliver my packages, a few days ago I was getting ready for work (3 pm) and I hear 1 knock on the door. I open the door and there is a package sitting there, i look at the name and address and it's not me. I grab the package and walk outside (less then 1 min after it was left) and the DHL truck is high telling out. He left me a Nintendo game cube sitting outside with out waiting to see if some was going to answer the door. UPS always either trys again or leave my packages at the appartments main office for me to pick up. That game system is over $100 and he just left it there, no thanks UPS for me...
 
wytstang, UPS also leaves packages at doorsteps unless the seller requests for the package to be signed. Usually if UPS delivers a package, they also just press the doorbell, put the package at the door, and leave. I believe that how most delivery companies work, unless signature is requested. Personally, I also think DHL is not bad at all. I haven't had any bad experiences with any of the shipping companies, actually.
 
UPS has yet to leave a packeag at my door they always leave it at the main office for me to pick up. Maybe I'm just lucky that the drive does that but the game cube was not in a brown box it was in it's manufactures box and said game cube all over it (thats how I knew what it was). It just seems careless to leave a package like that, BTW a home it's not a bad thing but in an appartment packages should not be left at door were people are always walking by .02
 
wytstang said:
UPS has yet to leave a packeag at my door they always leave it at the main office for me to pick up. Maybe I'm just lucky that the drive does that but the game cube was not in a brown box it was in it's manufactures box and said game cube all over it (thats how I knew what it was). It just seems careless to leave a package like that, BTW a home it's not a bad thing but in an appartment packages should not be left at door were people are always walking by .02
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I used to work at UPS in Industrial Engineering. Packages are deemed ok to leave at doorsteps at residences depending on the area and whether it is "safe". For apartments, they will usually leave it with the apt manager and leave a note on your door.



As for package delivery costs, major metropolitan areas are cheaper to deliver to as there are always planes and trailers headed there. For out of the way places (small towns, places outside of normal commercial traffic) where only a couple of residences are - the cost goes way up because a driver has to make a special trip out to deliver it. In many of these cases, the company is actually losing money on the delivery. They do it because of marketing and because they can tell customers they delivery everywhere.



Some smaller companies like DHL and FedEx Ground will even go through the local postal system for these out of the way places because it costs them too much to service and they don't have the volume to make it cost effective.



I would definitely stay away from DHL. DHL in the USA is comprised of a bunch of smaller delivery companies that they bought out. They are using those companies existing infrastructure for now while they organize it all together. Their service is very patchwork with some places getting good service and others very poor service. Unorganized is the word. I would wait until they get themselves organized.



Overseas, DHL is the #1 shipper and it's subsidized and partly owned by the German government.
 
Shipping to NS is the most expensive province from Ontario. Here are two shipping quotes we got on just a 4lb order! Yikes!



ship1.JPG




ship2.JPG
 
i have noticed what the orgional post was talking about most on ebay. The seller can charge artifically low prices on an item to attract attention and then make up the difference in overcharging for shipping. Its a very annoying tactic. Ive seen items that retail for 40 dollars sold for 25 and then had the shipping be overcharged between 10-20. Always be sure to check the shipping costs before bidding.
 
I ship anything outside the US via USPS. I just shipped for $13.10 a bunch of pads and 2 waffle weave towels to Slovenia.



Canada is not that much more from what I've done, but shipping is going up for UPS and Fed Ex. I had to cancel my limit for free shipping because on orders that had detailing products, I was losing money on some orders. Just 2 gallons within the US is about $25 in shipping fees.



I really don't use UPS anymore because I was always getting a "surcharge".



Just like plane tickets, anything fuel related is costing more.



Rob
 
Agreed. As a regular shipper, I see this on Ebay all the time. My son was looking at some trading cards- like 5 of them for 1.99. It was a good deal until I saw the $13 shipping fee!!! He's learning some good critical thinking skills so I see it as a good opportunity to teach kids about reading the "fine print".

Rob
 
2 things that are horrible in Canada: Tax & Postal System! It's always going to be a load of money to ship anything via Canadian shipping. Then you add on the fact that the land & road coverage isn't as developed as the US.



It takes 17 days to ship regular mail from Vancouver to Toronto, insane if you ask me. You'll have to bear with the costs.
 
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