Postage Survey Experiement

• 1

  Wheat, I was getting ready to place an order the other day through a printing company until I saw their shipping charges. The shipping rate was outrageous, especially for priority mail which we all know can be shipped flat rate, and the box is free.
  They lost a sale and it was a good one.

  Handling charges, whether shown on an invoice, or hidden in the shipping charge are annoying. Unless a company can show me that they have to pay an employee x amount of dollars OVER their regular pay to pack a box, their is no justification for this charge. The cost of boxes, envelopes, tape etc. should be factored into the price of the product being sold. The other alternative is to work with a lower profit margin.

  Shipping is a pain in the neck for everyone, no doubt about it, but unless you’re UPS, FedEx or the Post Office etc. you (any given mail order business) shouldn’t be trying to make a profit on shipping.

  Rant over, and Happy Holidays!

  Barb Cooley on December 7th, 2009
• 2

  It’s interesting that you stated “postage”. To me, that term infers USPS shipping. Actually, most places I see online are shipping by other than USPS (e.g. UPS), and those are the ones that tend to be higher. We shall see with the next set of rate increases after the beginning of the year.

  Jackie E-S on December 7th, 2009
• 3

  Hi Barb,

  Thank for such detailed response. Frankly I agree with all except the “pay an employee … OVER their regular pay.

  I happen to feel that the amount of time spent by the empolyee whether it is their only job or just one of many responsibilities they have, it is still a cost.

  Peace of the Season

  Wheat

  wheat on December 7th, 2009
• 4

  Hi Jackie,

  Yes, I very definitely said “Postage” as in USPS because we use it almost exclusively for a variety of reasons.

  And, yes, it is time for the “annual review” things so we shall see

  Enjoy your holidays

  Wheat

  wheat on December 7th, 2009
• 5

  Wheat I probably didn’t word my statement about the employee right.

  What I mean is, some businesses will say that their handling charge is to cover the time it takes an employee to pack a box. (along with the cost of tape etc.) It’s like adding a typing charge because the bookkeeper has to type an invoice.
  The cost for “handling” is being singled out and tacked on at the end of the bill rather than being included in the price of the product. If a business only ships occasionally this might make sense, otherwise I just don’t get it.

  Did that make any more sense?
  Barb

  Barb Cooley on December 8th, 2009
• 6

  Hi Wheat,

  As a consumer, I think I’m with Barb on this: there’s a business shipping product, they pay employees to ship product, why ask me to pay extra to have product shipped? Unless it’s a special thing I want. But postage/shipping is fine, just charge what it costs.

  But as an owner, I know I can’t build in to the selling price all the costs of delivering the product, because it messes up the price comparisons customers make. So I want to add those costs as a separate item.

  A fine dilemma. In general, I tried to make all my add-on costs as transparent as possible, and as low as practical. bullysticks.com does it very well, as far as I’m concerned: a separate invoice for shipping costs and a flat fee if necc for handling.

  All my best,

  John

  John on December 8th, 2009
• 7

  I’m with you on the postage costs. Just state what you want to begin with so I know not to waste my time ordering. One thing that ticks me off is you pay more for postage at one site than another (same stuff, so how could it cost _more_?) plus the packagers that toss in a handful of ads for something entirely unrelated to what I purchase. If I wanted a Poo-Choo train, I’d be ordering it. I wouldn’t be ordering yarn, so don’t bother giving me an ad I don’t want yet I had to pay for to get.

  Robin Andersen on December 10th, 2009
• 8

  I am so glad to be getting so much on comment on this, both public and private, keep it coming. …

  Meanwhile, Robin, all other things aside, there are many reasons why actual postage may vary – the primary one being the weight and distance, second is how the address is “classified” business, residential or rural.

  Peace of the Season

  Wheat

  wheat on December 11th, 2009

 

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