More on HIGH SHIPPING FEES

[Kube]

In the past I have been happy with C&G. No more... just received a small package from them
(6" x 6" x 5", 1#. 8oz) at a cost of $17.00 for shipping.
Maybe a little kiss before I was raped might have made it easier to accept....

[BUBBAS IGNITION]

All:

I have stayed out of this shipping war other than reading every post regarding it.

Now i want you to hear the other side of the story from us:

My shop is computerized and all invoices are computer written and tracked. If we touch a box the computer charges $ 18.00 ( min) for shipping. This includes what i actually pay ups each and every month, the packaging tape and boxes we buy every 90 days or so and sometimes the gas it takes one of the girls to haul the box down the street so it may be shipped in a prompt time. As well as the bubble wrap to protect the product.
Not to mention the box is insured and tracked.

Please forgive me if sometimes ( not often) we make a profit on shipping .

If for some reason ( and we understand) you need it shipped for less just tell us and we try to make it cheaper by using the US Postal service or shopping for a better rate. May no longer have insurance or tracking etc but we will try our best.

Maybe if we could just once make a profit on shipping i could include a decal, bag of cookies or maybe even a Bubbas ink pen in the shipment.

[JM 35 Sedan]

Kube, I will agree with you on cost of shipping getting out of hand. I feel bad for some of the shipping fees the guys must pay for big/heavy items shipped across country. $17.00 for a 1 lb, 8oz. item is ridiculous.

[Vic Piano]

Like it or not, that's free enterprise. You can, and should, always ask what the shipping charges will be, most catalogs have charts in them that show the cost based on the region you live in.

[Torchie]

As a former business owner that also relied on shipping I am glad to hear Bubba's reply. Anyone looked at the price of fuel recently. Plus does everyone think that it doesn't cost the shipper anything?
If you are only on the recieving end and not on the sending end you have no idea how exspensive shipping has become.
If it is a concern you should always ask for the shipping cost's instead of getting on the web after the fact to trash somebody's company.

[jimvette59]

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I am biding on a item on ebay and the seller is asking twice the price for shipping, when I asked why he quoted expenses and handling fees. Go figure.

[Kube]

I will never argue that a business needs to make a profit. I own businesses and don't do it merely for the fun of it.
That being said, a wise business person rolls the cost of doing business (IE Hard costs) in to the prices of what he sells.
That's pretty much a lesson from Business class 101.
Customers do not like seeing high shipping and handling fees. Me being one of them.
Remember, a customers "perception" is your businesses "reality".

[V12Bill]

I just shipped two packages to a person who had bought parts from me and the cost for Priority mail was $16.50. I only charge what the post office charges me, but I don't do this very often, it is not a business. I can see why businesses charge for shipping and HANDLING. I use boxes and packing materials and newspapers from items that I received. Logically I should charge for materials, packing time and cost to go to the post office and back. I guess that is why I am still working on my first million. So far I am up to 000,000.

[34pickup]

I think what burns people up is when they ship something of a certain size and weight they pay x amount of dollars and when they order something of the same size and weight its about twice that which they paid when they were the shipper. Like Kube says, the fundamentals of business when I went to college is that you figured the expenses in your overhead so that only the shipping fee is accountable for the increase over the cost.

Some companies don't even try to be cost effective with shipping, they just stuff everything in certain size boxes and off to UPS which is usually the most expensive way to ship.

[jimTN]

A business seldom ships one package at a time and also has economy in buying bulk shipping materials. I recently shipped fourteen model t coils in a well insulated package I made up to KY. It went UPS and cost something around $22.00, sent a small very light package to WI via USPS and it cost $24. Even with the high cost of fuel, there is no way those pkgs should have cost that much traveling in a semi with hundreds of other pkgs.

[Shadetree]

A while back I bought some parts from an individual after he quoted me a price including shipping and I agreed. By the time he bought a box (it was a big item) and paid the shipping there was very little money left for the parts. He never complained but admitted he made a mistake in calculating shipping charges. I sent him more money although he never once asked for it. I could not live with myself for sticking it to someone that was doing me a favor....

[42guy]

I do buy from C&G and been satisfied with their shipping costs considering I live on the East coast. I have not purchased anything in the past 4 months,so maybe their shipping prices have changed

[mike in tucson]

We all tend to forget that the TOTAL cost of the item is the sum of the price, the shipping, and the tax (if applicable). However, when I (as a private shipper shipping one box a month) can source a new box, shipping materials, tape, and the shipping charge for LESS than the bulk shipper that I want to buy the part from, something is wrong. The UPS and FedEx preferred rates are MUCH LOWER than the average walk-in guy pays. Shipping gouging is common because they know you shop on price but not TOTAL price.

[bart78]

Shipping has gotten very high. But the business my family owns. Ships a bunch out every day. With ups or different freight companies. The guys that package the parts for ups. Or the ones that have to put parts on a pallet and then load with a fork lift. They have to be paid. Pallets cost money and everything else used to ship costs money. Has anyone seen the prices of boxes now. It's only going to get worse.

[ken ct]

Originally Posted by V12Bill

I just shipped two packages to a person who had bought parts from me and the cost for Priority mail was $16.50. I only charge what the post office charges me, but I don't do this very often, it is not a business. I can see why businesses charge for shipping and HANDLING. I use boxes and packing materials and newspapers from items that I received. Logically I should charge for materials, packing time and cost to go to the post office and back. I guess that is why I am still working on my first million. So far I am up to 000,000.

I pretty much do the same. Most of the time i lose $$ on shipping,not much but some.I also refund by mail if over by more than a dollar or so diff. ken ct. I can guess pretty close on Flat Rate shipping and insur.ken ct.

[BLACKNRED]

If you are in the Business of Freight, fine you have to make a profit on it.

If your core business includes freight as a cost of doing business, either amortize it that way or get the customer to pick up the actual freight charge.

In business you cannot turn a $1.00 for a $1.00, you will go out of business, conversely if you gouge on freight eventually the result will be the same.

As a customer of some of these houses like Mac's etc, my biggest problem is the freight, in fact I cancelled a $2,000 order on them purely because of the freight charge quoted.

Over the years I have seen goods packed in oversize cartons, actual freight/postage charges 30% less than the vendor charge. If the goods were packed correctly the freight would be halved.

To argue that it takes time and sticky tape is not valid, it is a cost of sale, as is the freight cost to the vendor.

In my business whether or not the goods are FOB or FIS, this is still amortized into my buy cost, I then add my margin on the true cost for resale. When we sell our product we do not profit on freight to our customer.

[lowtech36rod]

Kube. I appreciate honest, constructive feedback from my customers. The majority are always satisfied. Some, are hard to please and really need to be coddled. Last, we have the people we call PITA's. They complain about everything making the staff miserable along the way.

I'm not saying I don't think that $18 is ridiculous but you are always so so so quick to lash out and publicly crucify buainess you feel are not absolutely perfect...just take a cruise through your 1059 posts and you will see the pattern of complaints. It's actually embarrassing.

My question is this: What did you do first...call and speak with them about the bill or run as fast as you could to your little Dell computer to publicly assassinate another inferior, sub-par parts dealer? For some reason I doubt you called them first...but I like to give people the benefit of doubt.

Another question. What if all of the parts dealers you complain about so publicly decided to stop selling you parts cause they were tired of your very public, defaming opinions?

[ford38v8]

I'm not in business, and use USPS with insurance for small packages for my infrequent shipping, and for substantially less then we are charged by our hobby suppliers. What I think they do is to figure a worst case shipping cost, then charge all at that rate regardless.

Meanwhile, down at Amazon, Home Depot Online, and others, free shipping is the norm for items that value $25 or more including tracking, and the carrier is responsible for safe delivery. I doubt many of us buy less than $25 worth of car parts in one package, and our suppliers do the opposite anyway, increasing the shipping charge along with the value of the purchase.

For me, shopping for anything and making a decision involves all cost, including shipping and state tax. Our hobby suppliers have us over the proverbial barrel in that we are happy to have found an item from anyone and will gulp a lot, but we'll pay.

[mrtexas]

Volume shippers get significant discounts BTW.

[sewman]

We ship from 4-8 packages a day,alot w/USPS,a small priority box(which they provide is$5.15) and no weight limit,medium box is $11.30.
If I ship UPS I get all of our boxes from recycling,I have a route I drive on the way to work,one place has alot of good packing,a couple other have the size boxes we use so all I need to buy is tape,we get it by the case.
Sure we usually round up the cost alittle to the next $ or $.50.
For $10.00 a week UPS stops everyday,alot cheaper & cost effective then dropping it off.
I would much rather raise the price of our merchandise then rob people on shipping & we have a large following to prove that theory.