MTFCA Forum

Recently some low-life kicked in a small stain glass window panel at our church (12" x 18"), so I went looking for replacement glass. The local shops wanted over $100 for this little piece of glass. I found a mail-order stain glass place that had it for around $20, but there's a minimum quantity order. Well, OK, there are other panes that are cracked (building is 60 years old) so I ordered enough for those and some spares, about $80 worth. Shipping from NH is $70! OK, it's glass and it's heavy and breakable, and it's still way under what the local shop wanted for just the one piece, so I ordered it.
Now my T Times (the "other" club) magazine came, and they have the updated Restoration Guidelines for $50 plus S&H. Well, good time to get it I figured, and while I'm at it, one of those "100 year old car" badges they have for $15 (ordered by itself, shipping is $7.50; or half the price of the badge. Now something that can go in a small padded envelope, this seems a bit steep, but for one item, not too bad. So when I put both the book and badge together, I've got a $65 order, and it comes back "$20 S&H" Uh, say what, that guidelines is a book, and should go Book Rate, which is MUCH cheaper (and slower, but I'm in no hurry); so I decided to wait and call in today. Yep, that's the rate, we pack 'em in an express mail box I was told. I'm waiting until next week when I can talk to the shipping guy as that's just crazy expensive--and I even asked how much more I could put in the box, "Well we figure on total cost, so the S&H will go up when you add anything to your order.
Hmmm. And even the "usual suspects" only offers regular rate shipping (also around $20 for the book.)
Is this the coming end of mail order business??

David,

Trust me I feel your pain. I have had to scale back and find the cheapest methods to help others!

Last year, I spent almost $8,000.00 at the post office alone. Did you know I did not even get a Christmas card from them. Kinda rude.

Hank

Yea,it makes no sense what some folks charge for shipping, and the "handling". I always thought if you worked in a warehouse full of parts you were already making a hourly wage and the warehouse was making it's money off the parts in the form of profit from mark ups. BUT it seems the warehouse wants to make the wages of the person slothing around the warehouse with a buggy gathering the parts to. But I bet their wage didn't go up,just more money in the kitty.

A German company called Wolfcraft makes an outstanding line of countersink
drill bits that I love. They can be hard to find, but Ace Hardware sells them online,
which is how I had to order them when I was deployed in AFG. The price was
something like $12 + $5 shipping. Well, I wanted to buy 50. Do you think Ace
could figure out how to put them all in one box and not charge me $5 shipping
for each one ?

Well, they DID figure out how to get them all in one box, but they were totally
uninterested in charging me the actual $12.95 shipping, and stuck with the $250
hit to my credit card. We had a little "chat" when I was home on leave at my local
Ace. They seemed to grasp the gravity of the situation and got it squared away.

Yes, I agree that shipping costs are out of control. I try to combine orders and take advantage of free or reduced shipping when available. As to the things you ordered from the "other organization." I know the folks who handle the sales and you should know that they are unpaid volunteers. I've seen the judging standards and they come in a pretty big binder. You may think that it's OK to slip something like a centennial badge in with the binder and send it media mail, but it's not fair to ask them to do that. There is no insurance on media mail and such packages are subject to inspection and if found to contain contraband are returned to sender or delivered with additional postage due.

The "other organization" is having their annual meeting in Phoenix starting tomorrow so they might be difficult to contact for a week or so.

Oh I was NOT suggesting they slip the badge in with the book--I use media mail quite a bit with piano rolls and I know you can get in big trouble with the post office if you abuse the service. Actually, we sometimes have problems with that as apparently some postal inspectors don't realize that piano rolls are considered musical recordings and qualify as such. So now I usually include a note in the box quoting the postal regulation, and a note on the outside of the box too!
No, I figured that I would order the book separately to get the lower rate on it, and then if I wanted the badge to pay the $7.50 rate for it (It could go in a padded envelope for under $4). Apparently they have standardized their shipping to selected boxes to make it easier for the volunteers filling out the orders. That's why I thought, OK, how much more can I buy to fill that box, but was told the shipping was based on a percentage of the purchase, so I wouldn't save anything that way either.

Now David D, don't go trying to confuse people with obvious facts!
There are a lot of companies that make more money off the shipping and handling "fees" than they do from the items they sell!

The shipper does not set the shipping prices!
The Post Office, UPS, Fed-ex, decide what to charge. Cost depends on WEIGHT, SIZE, and DISTANCE. Patty and I ship packages most every day all over the USA and we try very hard to find the cheapest rate for any thing we ship. Weight is NOT the only factor when shipping, these companies now have size restrictions and if you don't meet them (and they are small) they have an up charge and it is very hefty. Shipping all over the USA is not the same cost everywhere. If I want to ship a 2 pound package the cost is not the same from my location to New York or my location to California … BIG differences. Now the shipper has to buy boxes, padded envelopes, bubble wrap, tape, and labels. These materials aren't cheap and we don't charge a handling fee just actual postage. Your fees are high because the Post Office give a big discount to the major suppliers, junk mail, and packages from China are given a big shipping discount all on the back of the American tax payer! You pay the higher rate to subsidize these companies.

I just dealt with this yesterday!

I wanted to order a rear package shelf & a set of sill plates for my 64 Grand Prix, A couple of parts still needed for the complete restoration.

Company one uses Fed Ex company two uses UPS. Company ones over size charge was $100.00 more than company two blaming Fed Ex (Possible I guess) Since the rear shelf is only a thin piece of "cardboard" painted Turquoise, I definitely did not want to pay the extra rate. Company one also considered the Sill Plates as over sized??? To add insult to injury, company one wanted to charge me extra for the stainless screws that hold the sill plates down while company two included them with the plates. Company one tried to tell me that by using the credit I had with them it would be considered "free money" to which I explained.....NO that is money I spent with you people, because you continue to either advertise the part as fitting my vehicle when it does NOT or shipping me the wrong part!

God bless
Bill
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