Expensive Shipping!!

super99

Well-known Member
A few years ago, I bought a set of used Dawn Trash Wheels for my White planter. One wheel was missing the deflector that mounts between the wheel and the bracket and that wheel would wrap grass, weeds and trash around the hub. I stopped at the local JD store after work and asked if the could get a replacement. Matt called Dawn and talked to someone and then said yes, it should be here Friday. I stopped after work, it was in. I looked at the bill, part cost $6.24, shipping was $16.62. OUCH!!!
 
Ordered this spray nozzle last Saturday and picked it up on Tuesday.

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Freight cost was $13.98.
 
Cost just as much to get a $5 part shipped out as it does a $500 part,you figure the number of people that had a part in getting that item out the store plus paperwork(computer work) then to you.Plus what folks get paid these days and the $16 probably didn't cover their actual expenses.
 
You are right, price and shipping cost are not related. But, excessive shipping charges rub me the wrong way.
Just last week I was charge $19 shipping on an 8 oz. part. A couple of years ago, $16 on a 4 oz. part. I call or send an email telling them it shows disrespect for the customers. I also tell them I will avoid doing business with them in the future. Most of them want to use UPS. I usually tell them the cost for USPS Priority Mail and USPS provides the box. As far as, charging for the time to fill and ship an order, I don't buy that excuse. When I order a part, I provide a part number and payment information. If the business also does over-the-counter sales, do they charge the customer coming in the door for the time to look up the parts and complete the sale? If it's a mail order business, time and labor are part of overhead.
When ordering parts through a dealer, I ask for the parts to be added on a dealer stock order and don't have to pay shipping.
 
With over the counter sales no one has to box up the part and ship it out.Also keep in mind businesses are in business to UGH! Make MONEY not to see how cheap they can get something to you.Of course if you can find a cheaper alternate you're free to choose them.
Its called Free Enterprise.
 
I love it when people make excuses why it's okay to screw people in the name of free enterprise. Greed is rapidly destroying this country.
 
If you think there is so much $$$ to be made then get in the shipping business,people have to be realistic as to what it costs to operate a business.Local John Deere dealer I know how much rent they pay and its around $1000 a day just for rent each working day plus
paying their help,insurance,taxes etc etc so they have to make that money up some way or the other to stay in business.
 
I needed a part for an old Homelite chain saw. Part was 1.74 shipping was 18.95. Saw is still on the shelf. Don't need the saw that bad.
 
Yep, sometimes shipping cost will hurt your feelings. Especially on a low cost part. When that happens I ask myself just how far could I have driven to pick up that part for the $10 to $20 shipping it cost me. That will ease your feelings pretty quick.
 
Free enterprise is one thing, out right robbery is another. I have never understood why some parts have to go in a box, when it would be a whole bunch cheaper to throw it in an envelope and stick it in the mail.
 
I am all for a dealer making money, but there are limits. I was buying a nylon washer for a tool. It was under two inches and weighed next to nothing. One washer was $2.95 Shipping was $6.95 = $9.90 pricy, but I needed the part, so I asked the guy to send me two, OK new total $19.80 He was charging full shipping on each washer. You know they were coming in the same envelope. I bought the part from another dealer.
 
I needed a fan blade for the hydro on the mower. I called the company (Kansas made) and talked with them. The gal said they were $5. I said send me two of those and one for the other side (have two of the mowers). She told me it might take an extra day but she would mail them as it would be cheaper. They got here yesterday (took two days) in a big bubble package - shipping $3. I think a lot of it is how willing the supplier is to do right by the customer, not what is easiest for them. That company (Deines) has always had cheaper shipping than any place I know. The parts for my old GMC come from an hour away and they rake me over the coals on shipping and/or "handling".
 
The agco dealer charged me $30 shipping on a bearing that would have fit in a $5.95 flat rate box. The bearing was $130.00.
 
I think I have all of you beat on a shipping charge. One of my customers needed an O ring bad, it is about 5 inches around,and not any heaver than the ones in the assortment in most of our shops. O ring was $1.96 add shipping and the total was $98.00. We never made a dime, just passed it through.
 
This is not a plug but I signed up for Amazon Prime just for that reason. I'm always ordering small parts no one stocks locally and it was killing me. I always check Amazon first. They have a ton of stuff.
 
Outrageous shipping charges covers all areas. I have a 22 LR conversion for a Beretta 92. After awhile the rubber buffer got chewed up. Some kind of rubber that takes quite a battering. Called maker. Washer $2.00. Shipping $10.00!!!!. About the size of a faucet washer.
 
When I go to my local small engine parts house, and need an item that they do not stock, they charge me shipping, even though it comes in on a regular stock order. I don't like it, but it beats driving thirty miles to the next town. That's "easy money" for them.
 

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