Anyone else use my logic? Can't "waste" money on shipping, so I gotta buy $75 worth of soap when I already have enough to last 10 years. Makes sense. ☺
Shipping cost is often the reason I don't go through with an order. I think it's partly psychological...it's a cost that I perceive as incremental w/out resulting in a tangible product. I wonder if vendors just did a storewide 10% markup of their inventory and always offered free shipping if that would result in more sales - for gullible people like me.
probably. I hate shipping costs too. Especially from big companies who could afford not to charge it.
If a vendor offers a promo of free shipping vs. a promo of a percent off, I will usually jump at the free shipping first. I get a few things from drugstore.com and it helps that I can mix in other products like toothpaste, shampoo, vitamins, etc. to get to the free shipping level. I've also called a couple buddies locally when placing orders online and try to put together a group order to get to the free shipping level since some vendors have a pretty high limit.
I think we all dislike paying shipping costs, but big companies expect to maintain a certain profit margin in order to pay its employees and shareholders along with some amount for market diversity et al. At least the big online multi-sellers like ebay and Amazon control shipping costs sufficiently to ensure that sellers don't use the provision to pad their profits. Of course, if you are an Amazon Prime member then you pay an annual fee and pay NO shipping on items they sell you. But you have to compare each item against those that are offered by marketplace sellers, as there are instances where you can get a lower price. But there are other things to consider... If you are living in one of those areas of the country where you are STILL exempt from paying sales taxes when you buy from places like ebay, consider that this may be coming to an end, and this will impact online buyers considerably. Sales tax was always an issue when I was in the computer corporate reseller business years ago. Items shipped in from out of state would save buyers hundreds in some cases, and our salesmen could not compete if price were the only issue. Once internet sales tax collection becomes complete for all states, local businesses and brick and mortar stores will recover a degree of competitiveness. There are other ways to approach this, too, and although WalMart's Site-To-Store program enables a customer opportunities to purchase a large and diverse selection that is not sold in the company's stores, the process has not been completely successful. You'll save on shipping costs here and pay local taxes, but you will still have to go to the store to pick up your merchandise, and it has not always been as fast as I would like.
I usually try to find someone with free shipping and avoid places who charge it. So many places offer free shipping now of days, I would think more companies would do it to attract customers. It doesn't make sense for walmart to ship for free because my online purchase is negligible because of the hordes of people who go to the store all day every day. Of course it is easier to pay an extra five bucks to ship so I don't have to make a special trip a half hour away. When it comes to stuff like buying shave soaps, a lot of us buy online because what we want is not available local, or it is cheaper to get it from ebay than the local store as long as you don't mind the wait. If I make a purchase from a place i know has a flat rate, I usually try to wait until I can place a big order so I dont' have to make multiple small ones. Now the issue of sales tax brings up a whole different conversation which will we happily avoid as this gets into politics and is hence illegal on TSD. But from what I am reading I agree with your point on income for a business. The state taxes hurt the local business, so it is necessary to buy out of state. Again it all comes back to supply and demand and whether I want something, or NEED something. Of course one could argue about my time driving when I spend hours on a computer talking about shaving my face. Sooo... maybe we are the crazy ones.
I've stopped losing sleep over shipping. I'll take free when I can get it, but I won't spend an extra $30 to save $6.
You all make good points. Shipping does cost the seller money, so they have to sell enough to offset it, when offering free shipping. If the minimum for free shipping is close to what I would spend anyway, I will try to meet it, but not if it is way the heck more. On the other hand, there are places I could drive to, but paying the shipping is cheaper than the cost of gas & tolls.
I spent and extra 30 to avoid a 15 dollar shipping fee, plus I wanted new cream so yeah I'm that guy.
I dont mind paying shipping either—so long as I feel the charges aren't exorbitant. Too high of a shipping charge is a no-go for purchasing—at least for me. Example: I shop an online vendor thru Amazon (not Amazon) for a printer cartridge, of which I need 4 different colors. Each item is listed separately at $11.99 with $3.99 for s&h. I add 4 different items to the basket and the total is $47.96 +$15.96 for shipping four small cartridges. I think not.
Real life from a vendor thar shall remain nameless: I order a tub of cream, $5 shipping. Okay. I decide to put in a tuck of 5 blades to try, shipping is now $11. I experiment and drop the cream. $5. Add another tuck of blades, $11 shipping. NO SALE!
Having worked for many years in manufacturing/distribution/warehousing, many companies use shipping as a profit center. With ANY type of shipping volume, all freight companies, from package to freight haulers negotiate pricing. The last contract I negotiated was a 72% discount with the brown truck company from their standard commercial book price, which is still cheaper than what you or I pay when we use them to ship something. Normally when you add labor, packaging (box to ship items in), dunnage (paper, foam, air bubble wrap etc) the sellers cost is around the full commercial shipping cost. They then charge either flat fee to cover cost or many use the standard retail price to make a small profit. I usually try to only order when I reach free shipping, unless it appears to be a reasonable shipping fee....or my AD is in full swing....
I'm happy paying reasonable or actual shipping prices. But if your shipping prices on 2 tucks of blades is $11 instead of $1 (2 stamps and an envelope) you're just calling me a stupid consumer and I won't do business with you. I've written email to sites about that, and get really funny excuses that basically amount to, "We have slightly lower prices so we have to jack up shipping to remain in business". No thanks. If that's your business model, you probably need to go back to a 9 to 5 job and remember that shaving is your hobby not your business. It's the same thing when I see auctions with really high shipping. I bounce.
My wife just ordered $20 worth of pastries to send her parents for Christmas and the shipping was $40.
Kevin, Your signatures are worth looking at! Here is a link to translate the Greek sentence: http://goo.gl/81FOAQ
I wonder if that was intentional, seems like it may be they just charge some weird Sliding scale thinking that 2 items would force a larger package (or they had the weight/size set wrong for those tucks. Anyway I totally agree 2 tucks of blades (even 10 packs) could probably ride in a first class envelope
