Shipping Cost's Grrrrr

[ramble]

Perhaps this will start a Rant. Like everything higher costs! Returned a pair of gloves 12 oz. $10. USPS has a new "Ground Advantage", their advantage costing us more. Today 2 spark plugs, either shipper close to $10. To me I say, "Nut's". Love to support the locals and will as much as I can. Shipping is going to ruin us.

 

[Omega Man]

Probably the same $10.00 for 8 spark plugs. I like to order enough so the shipping, per item, is a lot more reasonable.
OM

 

[ramble]

Yes, we do that. I told the boneyard if the cost was the same to send more. We try to bulk orders too for Amazon, easier on the environment and our road.

 

[mikegalbicka]

The main reason I subscribe to Amazon Prime.

 

[natsmada]

I just found out about this company:

Midwest Shipping & Delivery Service | Spee-Dee Delivery

A Midwest regional delivery service, Spee-Dee Delivery offers better overnight delivery service at a lower price than national competition.

speedeedelivery.com

They are based in St. Cloud, MN and I am having a large windshield shipped from Wisconsin to Minnesota for less
than 20 bucks! If you live in the Midwest, check them out.

 

[ramble]

Thanks natsmada. Nothing like good ole competition .

 

[akbeemer]

Last week I shipped a Sargent seat for a F700GS from Montana to southern California. UPS quoted $106; USPS quoted $105. My son-in-law has a business that he runs out of his home selling rifle components for long range shooters. He overheard me talking about the cost and volunteered to ship the seat through his UPS account. It cost $44.

A few years ago I bought a tire from the now defunct Motorcycle SuperStore. They sent me two tires by accident. I let them know and they emailed me a return shipping. Cost on the label to ship the tire from Montana to Kentucky was $7. I think had I paid to ship the tire it would have been over $20.

I wonder if a group of friends could get a business account with UPS?

 

[riderr1150gsadv]

We ship daily and have a UPS account and sometimes I take screenshots as we have some clients who don't believe the shipping charges. Now we do have a discount but since we pay for packing materials we only discount the next day air's depending on the client.
One thing to remember is that UPS charges more for residential delivery and that can add $10 or more. So if you can, always have items shipped to a business address. It will also eliminate porch pirates from grabbing your parcels.. YMMV

 

[pglaves]

We live about three miles north of the middle of nowhere. Alpine, TX, 53 miles away has about 6,000 folks and grocery, hardware, lumber yard, etc. but often selection is quite limited. Study Butte, TX, 25 miles the other direction has a very good small hardware store. But often they don't have what I need. I am in the middle of a plumbing project and some PEX fittings simply are not stocked locally. Walmart is 125 miles away and Lowes, Menards, Ace, or Home Depot are over 200 miles away.

So we order a lot of stuff on-line or by phone. For us, saving shipping costs alone makes Amazon Prime a bargain. Also, occasionally I find something on Ebay that has free shipping. Avoiding shipping costs is a big deal for me.

 

[collingsbob]

I bought Touratech pannier liners with free shipping this morning because the knockoffs had a shipping charge in excess of the cost of the product, rendering them $56.00 more expensive than the Touratechs

 

[spanky]

Beginning in 2003 I started buying and selling MC parts. At the time, shipping costs were reasonable using FedEx locations that served the general public as well as their commercial clients. Other places like the UPS Store hadn't yet come into the business and since I had access to boxes via the local Expedex store (they sold all manner of packaging materials and related stuff), I could find something big enough to contain parts like seats, panniers, etc. I also used the USPS who is great for international shipping.

I'm not quite sure when it happened but the cost to ship started getting nasty. There was a time when I could ship a set of panniers for an RT or a KRS for around $70. The last time I did that it cost me about $135 for two boxes and that was something like 10 years ago.

There's a decided disadvantage to being a private party shipper.....

 

[pglaves]

I just ordered three small PVC plumbing fittings. They cost $12. USPS was $5.24. Tolerable but not great. Fedex Next Day would have been $96. I can wait till Monday for $90 or so. Also one brass check valve. $22. Free shipping Amazon Prime to arrive Saturday.

 

[dduelin]

Most of the cost of shipping is in the pick up and delivery buckets. A truck making commercial deliveries spreads delivery cost over multiple shipments for a price break. Residential deliveries don't get that cost reduction plus the costs of an occasional dog bite or low hanging tree limb ripping the roof off a truck. Amazon works this angle by offering to trap multiple orders and deliver them at one time for a lower shipping cost. I retired after near on 40 years in the shipping business.

 

[skibum69]

Shipping all over the world has gone wa up. The price of fuel is a big part of the reason. You want to see expensive? Try shipping anything to Newfoundland. Amazon Prime does not cover everything from them.

 

[ramble]

The US postal service just does a yearly rate increase. I could be happy with a pick-up of mail weekly or packages in town. The urgency of daily life is pushing cost over the top IMO.

 

[ramble]

Paul, I agree. No longer can I shop online and hope the size is right. Returns too costly. I try to plan ahead, mix a bike ride in with part shopping.