Shipping & Handling

   / Shipping & Handling #1  

Thomas

Epic Contributor
Joined
Apr 6, 2000
Messages
29,756
Location
Lebanon,NH.
Tractor
Kubota B2650HSD w/Frontloader & CC LTX1046 & Craftman T2200 lawn mower.
How do these companies come up w/ there prices of shipping & handling.

I had four 4" bolts deliver today from Caterpillar and the bolts cost $28.95,but the shipping & handling was $7.85 /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gifand I waited 7 days for them.
I notice on tv shipping and handling charges are about 1/4 of the price of the item for sale. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif
I'm sursprise the postal office doesn't look into this matter and make them prove of there S&H charges.

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
 
   / Shipping & Handling #2  
Thomas -

I've had to deal with S&H computations for some of my online clients. The most accurate way to compute these charges is to use the shipping/weight tables provided by the carrier. For us web-oriented dudes, the major carriers provide a way to hook your website into their calculators so the customer can compute them at the time they place their order.

It is far simpler, however, to just charge a "worst case" fee and forget all that calculation stuff. The seller also gets to pocket a few extra bucks this way. The large-volume places charge a fixed fee based on the "average" cost which they determined statistically. This usaully works out well for me when I'm buying from the east coast.

Other compromise solutions are obtained by computing a ballpark or "best guess" estimate for shipping and then tacking on another buck or two for handling, just to be safe.

Of course, "handling" charges are hard to pin down, but they are very real. When you buy a paperback book from, say, Amazon.com, they quote you a price on the book itself, but by the time it ships, they've put it into a box (usually too big), added packing material, printed the order, packing and shipping labels, all of which required some degree of manual labor. They have to make up that cost somehow. (FWIW - I think Amazon has been very fair in their S&H charges).

I'm merely pointing out that it is not a black-and-white issue. While there are some "real" costs that need to be recouped, there are many vendors who see shipping and handling as an extra income stream. I've seen CD's advertised where the shipping exceeds $10. Talk about a rip-off! /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif

HarvSig.gif
 
   / Shipping & Handling #3  
In the old days, maybe too much, today? If it is going by mail, would you go stand in line at the PO behind the guy with the goat and the unwrapped package needing to be shipped. Even if you insure it by mail, do YOU have time to argue with the post office to get paid?

UPS used to be a godsend to shippers, not anymore. They discovered they can not only up their charges drastically, but add all kinds of almost secret charges.

Most auto truck even dealer tractor parts don't have that much markup. Junk you are seeing on TV costs nothing to make and they can afford to eat some of the shipping. Who is doing the work at the place of business? The bigger the company the more likely they are to have minimum wage types sitting around doing nothing.

I'm not even into the hassle dealing with visa/mc. If you are getting something for $8, ANYTHING your lucky.

Be happy they were even willing to ship it, sure beats driving wherever.

This may all sound like the ravings of a mad man, but it's the old story, unless the shoe is on your foot, in this case, doing a mail-order business, you won't believe what it really takes.

Although everybody hates spending money, the worst thing to be told is 'NO LONGER AVAILABLE'

Or that there is a $50 minimum order...

If anyone wants to charge xxxx dollars it's their business. You don't have to shop there if you find a better deal.

I would love to have a setup like the department stores do on clothes. Ever see those 80% off sales? If I was making 80% on everything I'd ship the stuff for FREE!

del
 
   / Shipping & Handling
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Thanks Harv.
And indeed there some rip offs out there!! /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
 
   / Shipping & Handling
  • Thread Starter
#5  
del,
I understand what your saying. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Another issue that kinda burns me....a stocking fee {about 20%}if items return which seems to cost more than S&H. /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif

I kinda guess yesterday mailing just about gone.


Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
 
   / Shipping & Handling #6  
Some companies will set a fixed charge to cover the basic necessities, time, material etc and then the carrier charge goes on top of that, so the more you order the less the shipping is percentage wise.

If you plan your purchases you can save a lot that way. I can't imagine anyone these days actually making money off of shipping.

What's far more important to me is what kind of help I can get later after I purchase the item. A friendly voice on the other end of the phone is worth a lot.

The bigger the company the less likely this is to occur.

I'm sure some of you have ordered items from big catalog companies and have spoken to someone who types numbers and doesn't have a clue as to what you are talking about. They probably have GREAT shipping charges, they want to move the stuff out, lots of it.

Or take that fellow that you sometimes see posts from on this board, Steve Carver. Like a lot of dealers, he is specialized and knows his stuff. I would bet if you bought something from him and had a question, you'd be able to get an answer in short order. Some dealers are this way, some are NOT.
 
   / Shipping & Handling #7  
This is due to people that want to "rent" parts for free. No one can afford the time to process an order for nothing. Things come back and they aren't "new" anymore. I notice GM shrink wraps at least some of it's parts with a big NOT RETURNABLE IF OPENED phrase all over it. In this day and age people buy something, then find it cheaper elsewhere and want to return the first one. Some companies handle this by having their parts priced higher to cover it. There is no free lunch, the money's got to come from somewhere. I see companies that start out with a relaxed policy and end up going to the more severe side of it later. Other companies, like Sears, completely fold up their catalog operation. People reship something and don't pack it properly and it get's damaged on the return trip. Even if they paid insurance, if it is not packed properly the carrier does not have to cover it. Who has to deal with that fun aspect? I'm not talking here about for instance situations where you buy something, get it home and find you bought the left when you needed the right, or that item you were sure would fit on your tractor etc only to find it's too big. An item exchanged should be handled differently. Some people want to return stuff months, even YEARS later. Today's inventory stocking situtation isn't like the old days, you have to move the stuff to make money and you can't move it if the last one you had you sold to Uncle Fred and he is going to sit on it and then return it. The guy at counter or on the phone needs it now. You've lost a real sale and wasted time dealing with Uncle Fred. In the past things were easier money wise, today there are more companies teetering on the edge then you might think. Unfortunately policies are made to handle the problem situations and sometimes the good customer get's caught by them.
 
   / Shipping & Handling #9  
Thomas,as usual Harv has hit the nail on the head.I've been a Delivery Driver for UPS for 23 years.I can tell you for sure that shipping cost and procedure have changed in my time.Today "most" businesses will add that little extra S/H charge.You're paying for the carton,the packing,the guy in there shipping dept. wages,and that little extra second profit.What UPS charges a shipper and what the consumer pays are normally two differant figures.There are some exceptions,I seem to buy a lot of stuff from Cabelas,anytime I have had to return anything,they have always refunded me the shipping cost,this is not in the form of a credit,but a check in the mail.Yes, shipping costs are high,it's due to the cost of doing business.Wages,insurance,fuel,making a profit,it all adds up.The sad part is that these costs are always pasted on to Jonn Q Public.
 
   / Shipping & Handling #10  
Thomas ... if you needed them, be glad it was just $8 .... I was going to redeem some of my Gateway "bucks" and buy my wife a new computer (to stop her from screwing up my networked units) ... but I freaked when they told me shipping and handling was going to be $112 !!! That's almost 20% of the cost of the computer.

too bad that common sense ain't
 
 
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