Small Rant About Vendors Shipping Prices

[A383Wing]

  Shipping should not be another profit center within a company.

[8WHEELER]

I have noticed lots of times, looking for the parts at the lowest price and thinking that sounds good. But then look at the shipping
cost, and find out they have a lower price to start with to hook you in, but make up for it and then some on the back end.

Dan

[71charger_fan]

I needed four rotors for a Jeep Commander. Rockauto wanted $53 to ship them. I ordered the same rotors from Amazon for about $8 more for the parts but got the shipping for free.

[odcics2]

it was not a flat rate box...the box it came in was 2"x2"x12" for the circuit board...

I would not have been upset if the shipping he charged me was maybe $2 over what was on the postage label...I do understand about other costs like bubble wrap, tape, & the box itself....but to overcharge me $11+ for this small item? I'm not seeing it...

he can charge $2 over for every item he ships and that will cover his shipping supplies cost for everyone...but the $11.85 was not justified in my opinion

Perhaps a few others got free shipping, so it all evens out ??        ( )

[el dub]

You should check out oriellys. they have a lot of the same parts.

[A383Wing]

You should check out oriellys. they have a lot of the same parts.

I call BS on that, please show me where they have printed circuit boards for a 67 Dodge at O'Riellys

[el dub]

It might be bs. what part specifically are you looking for? My oreillys guy is a mopar guy too and sometimes even though he doesn't have the part he can find it somewhere else

[ECS]

I would not have been upset if the shipping he charged me was maybe $2.......he can charge $2 over for every item he ships and that will cover his shipping supplies cost for everyone......

Just curious........what factual rationale did you use in determining the $2 amount that you deemed acceptable for them to charge?

[A383Wing]

the box and the small amount of bubble wrap cost him less than $1.50....the $2 was just a random number I grabbed just to make a point....I would not have been upset if he overcharged me $3 on top of the actual $6.15 that it took to get the item here...I am just upset at the fact he overcharged me $11.85 and basically told me to stuff it and that's the way it is for his business

[ECS]

the box and the small amount of bubble wrap cost him less than $1.50....

Keep in mind that those items didn't prepare themselves for shipment.  What wages does the Company pay their employees who process the items shipped?  What are the costs for having someone enter and process the shipments?  What are the overhead/lease/rental costs for the Facility they operate out of?  Do they insure the products they ship against damage?  Besides the actual cost of the boxes, is there a cost for having their boxes shipped to their Facility?  Does their bubble wrap get shipped to their Facility free of charge or do they pay to have it delivered?  What are the amortized square footage cost for the products that are inventoried prior to having them sold and shipped?  How much of the Companies Building utilities are factored into in the costs of their products?  Does the Company pay insurance to protect their building, products and shipping inventory?  There are a few more I could mention but I'm sure you get the picture.

[Mopar Nut]

the box and the small amount of bubble wrap cost him less than $1.50....

Keep in mind that those items didn't prepare themselves for shipment.  What wages does the Company pay their employees who process the items shipped?  What are the costs for having someone enter and process the shipments?  What are the overhead/lease/rental costs for the Facility they operate out of?  Do they insure the products they ship against damage?  Besides the actual cost of the boxes, is there a cost for having their boxes shipped to their Facility?  Does their bubble wrap get shipped to their Facility free of charge or do they pay to have it delivered?  What are the amortized square footage cost for the products that are inventoried prior to having them sold and shipped?  How much of the Companies Building utilities are factored into in the costs of their products?  Does the Company pay insurance to protect their building, products and shipping inventory?  There are a few more I could mention but I'm sure you get the picture.

They don't charge a handling charge if I was picking it up at will call, I even get a free wink from the female clerk. It takes the same amount of time to take it to the counter as is does the shipping dock.

[LaOtto70Charger]

ECS why would a reputable business not figure everything you just mentioned into their profit margin and sale price?  Too add it to the shipping and handling fee is deceptive marketing.  Which yea many companies do today and we accept it to a point.  I think the original rant was more about percentage that was marked up.  Especially since it does not sound like he even got a tracking number.

[stripedelete]

the box and the small amount of bubble wrap cost him less than $1.50....

Keep in mind that those items didn't prepare themselves for shipment.  What wages does the Company pay their employees who process the items shipped?  What are the costs for having someone enter and process the shipments?  What are the overhead/lease/rental costs for the Facility they operate out of?  Do they insure the products they ship against damage?  Besides the actual cost of the boxes, is there a cost for having their boxes shipped to their Facility?  Does their bubble wrap get shipped to their Facility free of charge or do they pay to have it delivered?  What are the amortized square footage cost for the products that are inventoried prior to having them sold and shipped?  How much of the Companies Building utilities are factored into in the costs of their products?  Does the Company pay insurance to protect their building, products and shipping inventory?  There are a few more I could mention but I'm sure you get the picture.

They don't charge a handling charge if I was picking it up at will call, I even get a free wink from the female clerk. It takes the same amount of time to take it to the counter as is does the shipping dock.

So drive over and pick it up at will call.   Maybe people could get thier arms around this if they used the term "delivery".

[ECS]

ECS why would a reputable business not figure everything you just mentioned into their profit margin and sale price?  Too add it to the shipping and handling fee is deceptive marketing. 

Everyone of those variables could technically be associated with the S/H costs if that's how a business decides to cover their overhead.  My point was that it can be very easy to have an flawed perspective on "the cost of doing business" when you truly have no idea what a Company pays to process their orders. 

[ECS]

They don't charge a handling charge if I was picking it up at will call.....

Okay!  I believe however that the topic was about the inflated costs of an item that was shipped.

[70 sublime]

It is all a big game

When I look for a price for something on line I want to know how much the part is and how much shipping is

Shipping is the price of the box and packing and postage stamp and that is it
All the other over head cost and wages to pack it should be part of the initial price of it listed as

Every mail order company should be able to have this figured out in their prices

If you want to give a percent discount if you can come pick it up at the door then fine

Canadians get an extra screwing on shipping just because some one had to take an extra 30 seconds to fill out one more line on the shipping paper work
Same truck comes and picks it up or drops it off at the post office as all the US orders

[Mopar Nut]

So drive over and pick it up at will call.  

But the company will go out business since the overhead is paid only by the "delivery charge".  

They don't charge a handling charge if I was picking it up at will call.....

Okay!  I believe however that the topic was about the inflated costs of an item that was shipped.

So the company only makes a profit (which pays for their overhead) on shipping items!

[ECS]

So the company only makes a profit (which pays for their overhead) on shipping items!

That's a question/comment that only they can answer.

[ECS]

Every mail order company should be able to have this figured out in their prices...

Let's look at this from a personal perspective.  If you were parting out a car and I was going to buy one of the parts from you, how much would it cost to have that part shipped to my residence?

[Mopar Nut]

So the company only makes a profit (which pays for their overhead) on shipping items!

That's a question/comment that only they can answer.

I know, but your comment where overhead is paid only by the "handling charge" through me off. Overhead is factored in through the price of the product, not S/H.

[ECS]

I know, but your comment where overhead is paid only by the "handling charge" through me off. Overhead is factored in through the price of the product, not S/H.

I was only throwing out possible shipping related scenarios.  My Company does not use shipping as a source of revenue.  (Some do however.)  They sell their products at crazy low prices but make up for it in "shipping" charges.

[ws23rt]

I get the shipping cost as being an add on price for online or mail order purchases. It makes sense that that cost would vary for different size items and distances to ship.

What doesn't make sense to me is the "handling" charge.  In nearly every other retail business all of the overhead costs for merchandise (that has been well handled already) is covered in the out the door price.

Pulling a part from the shelf in Home Depot (for example) and bringing it to checkout could be considered extra handling that the store doesn't have to do I suppose. But the putting it in a box and having UPS pick it up is the shipping part.

[ECS]

What doesn't make sense to me is the "handling" charge.

If a Customer orders an item and the Company pays their Employee to handle & prepare the item ready for shipment, who is responsible for those costs?  The Company has real expenses in paying the Employee for the time they worked to package it.  I guess it's up to them to charge for that service or consider it "the cost of doing business" if they choose.  

Consider the Home Depot example you referenced.  Should you receive a discount for using the "self checkout" lane?  The cost of your purchase is the same even if an Employee has to take the time to check you out.  Where is the linear consistency in that scenario?

[ws23rt]

This discussion about the differing ideas about the meaning the words "shipping" and "handling" has no place to go but around the circle again.

When one get's a big surprise such as in the OP it opens up a lot of questions. It's a rant after all about the surprise.

An extra cost can be called whatever one want's to help make a sale but IMO why lie about it.  The cost of a Hellcat (for example) frequently has an ADM added. This is clearly an extra charge that everyone knows is just plain extra. Their is no attempted deception here.

BTW their will be an added --subtraction-- from the time spent of your day for reading this --addition-- to my post.

[70 sublime]

Every mail order company should be able to have this figured out in their prices...

Let's look at this from a personal perspective.  If you were parting out a car and I was going to buy one of the parts from you, how much would it cost to have that part shipped to my residence?

Well I know I was going to have to ship said part if I had advertised it as such so the price I would have given you for the part would have included an extra $5 to cover my time to go to post office then I would charge you what it cost at the post office to ship it to you