Shipping Costs

[Gary Lewis]

I was taken aback this morning when I got two of my shipments in.  As shown below, I got two - on the left 10 brass plugs from Amazon in an envelope, and on the right two brass fittings from Summit in a huge box.

I don't know what the shipping charge was from Amazon as I'm a Prime member, but from Summit it was $10 on a $15 part.  I'm very disappointed in Summit as I assume a large portion of the $10 was actual shipping costs, and am considering discontinuing ordering from them due to that.

Having said that, does anyone know how to determine the cost of shipping from the bar code?  It was USPS in both cases, and I'd like to know what the cost really was.

[1986F150Six]

Gary, I have taken a parcel [with bar code] to the post office. The package was scanned and I was told how much the freight charge was.

[Gary Lewis]

I may just do that with the two packages.  What I do NOT want to do is to pay them to be free to spend my money shipping it the easy way for them.

Thanks.

[fords4life]

Paying for shipping "sucks" in this day and age, but I can promise you that shipping is never free.  Someone is paying for it.  Sometimes you pay for it in higher priced products, sometimes it's lower margins for the seller, other times it's the cost of your membership.  One way Amazon decreases shipping costs is having distribution centers all over the country so it is shorter hauls.  They also do WAY more business than Summit does so their contract shipping rates are likely significantly less.  I can't count the number of time Summit and Jeg's were less expensive on an item, but the shipping costs made the total a few dollars more.  It's all part of the varying business models and part of the game.

[Gary Lewis]

fords4life - You may be missing the point.  I'm willing to pay Summit reasonable shipping charges.  But when they ship a package in a grossly-oversized container that surely cost more to ship than it needed to cost, then I'm not willing to pay for their convenience.

[fords4life]

I gotcha.  Amazon does the same thing.  My guess is from a logistics and storage standpoint, Summit probably stocks boxes that fit 80% of their stuff really well.  Smalls are difficult, some shippers actually charge more for small stuff because it is more difficult to handle through automated systems.  But I totally understand your point.

[kramttocs]

I may be missing the point also but in all of the sub-$100 orders I've placed from Summit the shipping is always $9.99. Doesn't matter if a single little part, multiple parts, square box, long box, direct-from-manufacturer or from multiple warehouses. I am sure some parts have an over-sized fee but I've never ran into that.

I've never considered that they are overcharging me on shipping small items but rather that it's a flat-rate approach and I can choose whether one item is worth $10 shipping or if I need to add more things to justify it for me. So yes they might make money with the shipping on your item but they might lose it on the next guy.


Edit: I think I see what you are saying now also - use more appropriate boxes and save everyone money. I agree with the previous post (missed it being added while I was replying) that it's just easier to use only a few standard box sizes vs trying to fit the packaging to the item.

[Gary Lewis]

Let me say it another way.  Shipping costs are inevitable.  But I will choose to do business with companies that appear to be making an effort to minimize shipping costs.  And sending those two little fittings in that big box is not minimizing shipping costs.

[kramttocs]

Came home at lunch to find my summit delivery. No quite as much wasted space as yours but not far off :)



I guess my point would be that with the consumer paying a flat rate (again, based on my experience with summit) does it matter the size of the box (environmental impact aside)? If it was a calculated per item cost then it would but then we would pay a lot more than $10 for large/heavy items.

[Gary Lewis]

I believe they are paying costs way beyond what they should be for shipping small items.  And of course they are passing those costs on to us, as all companies do.  But that makes their overall price too expensive, and it is because they are not being careful with the way they ship.

I've sent them this message:

This morning I received a package from you and one from Amazon.  As shown in the attached picture, the Amazon package had 10 brass fittings in an envelope while yours had 2 brass fittings in a big box.  Now I understand why you charged me $10 for shipping and handling.

I've posted about this on this forum (http://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/Shipping-Costs-td52042.html#a52059) as I think you are charging me for your convenience.  I realize shipping costs are a given, but I choose to spend my money with companies that appear to be working to minimizing them.  And it doesn't look to me like Summit fits that category.


Gary Lewis

[salans7]

They sent my springs with just a label stuck to the springs. No plastic wrap or anything else. If I remember correctly, they slapped me with a $20 oversized part charge, which wasn't a big deal to me since each pack was at least 60lbs and I doubt springs are easy to move around in the shipping process. IIRC, shipping was listed as free since it was over $99. Due to the OPC, it wasn't really free.

The reasons you list are why I have yet to order anything from LMC. Their shipping charges almost make it not worth it for me on the few small parts I need from them.