Rred
Contributor
I know some companies have simply decided, for all time, that "a box costs us $3, and we only ship by UPS to get their volume discount, and that costs us $6, and the guy who puts the paper in the box costs us $12/hour, so we HAVE TO charge 4q5 for shipping anything at all...."
Yeah, ok, that's one way to do the math. But I've called small companies, more than once, and said "Hi, you know, I'd really like to buy this gadget from you, but the shipping is ridiculous. Couldn't you just put it in a padded envelope, ship it first class for a buck, and charge me two more for doing that?" and you might be surprised, SOME times there is human being who appreciates the shipping idiocy and knows how to use the US Mail. It doesn't cost much to ask.
Last time I did that, the product was <$50, the shipping was "We only ship via Fedex" for $30+ more. When I pointed out that a $6.50 priority mail padded envelope was all it needed, and the post office would bring the envelope and pick up the package for free..."We only ship Fedex". I said OK, just tell management why they lost the order.
Yeah, ok, that's one way to do the math. But I've called small companies, more than once, and said "Hi, you know, I'd really like to buy this gadget from you, but the shipping is ridiculous. Couldn't you just put it in a padded envelope, ship it first class for a buck, and charge me two more for doing that?" and you might be surprised, SOME times there is human being who appreciates the shipping idiocy and knows how to use the US Mail. It doesn't cost much to ask.
Last time I did that, the product was <$50, the shipping was "We only ship via Fedex" for $30+ more. When I pointed out that a $6.50 priority mail padded envelope was all it needed, and the post office would bring the envelope and pick up the package for free..."We only ship Fedex". I said OK, just tell management why they lost the order.
