Hot Rods The cost of shipping is changing the hobby

I recently bought a part from a friend for my current project. It cost 42.00 to ship it to me via UPS.
I needed to return the part and the UPS store wanted 146.00 to send the same part back.
The part only cost 100 bucks so I ate it.
I have seen quite a few items I was interested in on various sites but when checking out shipping costs it is often more than the price of the part.
I have no idea why UPS, FEDEX, etc are all so expensive but it is changing the way business is being done.
Fuel prices are down, so I guess labor prices are up.
I did see where UPS and FEDEX were posting record profits.
I miss the swap meets.

 

I have no interest in defending UPS but I will say that the stores are independent of the main operation. The franchisee is free to establish any rate they see fit to cover their lease, labor and other costs of doing business. Oh, and let’s not forget greed.
Did you look into using the USPS to send the item back?

 

I just sold a Snap On 9/32" drive 2" extension on the auction site for 10 bucks plus shipping. It fit in a 4x6 size padded envelope. I listed shipping at 3 bucks via USPS figuring that would cover the postage plus the associated fees. Wrong. Went to mail it and it cost $3.95. Hard to justify loosing 95 cents on a 10 dollar sale and that's before the money changers and the auction site take their cut. I guess I should have been like Mac's and charged $10.00 flat rate shipping.

 

Folks try out of country (USA) shipping prices.
My Tudor is the last full build I'm doing.
A $10 part ordered online from a US supplier is $14 shipping plus the state sales tax. A $10 part here in Canada is $14 shipping plus 15% tax.
Try to recover that when selling...........

 

Had a customer from Canada looking at buying a T5 conversion lit and related parts. 24 lbs. USPS 113.00. I must admit that the normal shipping for just the kit weighing 19 lbs. by UPS in the US is 35-40 dollars. I try to use USPS priority boxes as much as I can. I have been getting fast and efficient service from the USPS to date.

 

It seems like I have to keep big items on the same coast to keep shipping down. I have found in some instances that UPS is a bit cheaper then USPS . Wheels , body parts, intakes are getting speedy to ship more than a couple of states away , eastbound.

 

UPS is always the most expensive. Anything that fits in a flat rate box I ship USPS, the cheapest is $7 the most expensive is $20. For bigger/heavier items (transmissions and such) I go FedEx. Body panels usually go Greyhound. Lots of vendors will gouge you on shipping while others charge a flat rate. Shopping around for vendors and carriers usually pays dividends.

 

I quit using UPS years ago. I'd go onto the UPS site to figure costs and then go to my local franchise, where they'd invariably gouge me for more money, sometimes a lot more. The last straw was after using one of their boxes that supposedly had a set rate, they bumped up the rate because the box 'bulged' 1/8" in one place.

UPS and FedEx both have contracts with quantity shippers like Summit, etc and they get much better rates than what's available to us.

 

I think that its ruining the hobby as we know it.
Junk yards are empty except for plastic imports, swap meets are nearly gone (locally anyway) and now shipping is outrageous.
I would think that the shipping companies were making a killing judging by their prices but I don't know.
Inflation may have something to do with it. A dollar isn't worth what it used to be a few years ago.

 

Well I have been selling a few items the last few months and I have found UPS has saved the buyer $9/$13 dollars on intake manifolds to the east coast.

 

Look at www.bikeflights.com
They have better rates than you can get. Non bike shipments can only insure for $100.

Nick

 

I’m at the point that before I buy anything on the internet, I check shipping costs first. If places offer free shipping, that counts a lot to me. Have any of you guys ever checked into buying body panels from the Rock? I needed to fix a deer hit on my O/T D/D Turd Ranger, the Rock had the cheapest fender, but wanted like $125 to ship the prick. They wanted to send it Motor Freight. Uhh, no, it weighs nothing. Needless to say, I found someone on eBay offering free shipping.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

When I ship things I always check USPS, FedEx and UPS. UPS is almost always the highest. FedEx is generally cheaper through my account unless I can ship in a USPS flat rate box. I don't know if having the FedEx account makes things any cheaper, but it sure works out well.

The race parts warehouse I deal with went exclusively to FedEx just a year or two ago. Service/delivery time is generally excellent.

Lynn

 

Well,realistically, you should have checked what shipping costs were before setting your rate-like Mac's does.

 

Now that the knife is stuck in , you may as well twist it .

 

I spoke to a UPS pilot the other day. He said they have been extremely busy this year due to the Covid madness. Right now they are hustling like they normally only are in December.

 

Your in good old Missouri which I assume helps shipping east/west. Coast to coast they get you.

 

Our regular Fedex driver is quitting after 14 years on the job. 12 or more hours a day, 250+ delivery and pickups. He figures the Christmas rush will be even worse and has lost his enthusiasm for the job.

 

Yeah, my son-in-law has several FedEx routes and told me his shipping traffic has been higher than even Christmas. He's had to buy a couple more trucks and hire two guys to put in each of them. He's had to have two guys in each of his trucks for several months now to save enough time to do the routes in under ten hours and some days they still don't make it. He says he's never seen it like this...

 

When you consider how many different shipments are on one trailer, yeah, they're making a killing. I drove for a regional freight carrier that covered 37 states. If we could get 5 shipments on a trailer and it was full, it didn't pay near as well an a trailer that would have 50 or 100 different bills on it and most of the freight was next day or 2 day. We used to haul for Kodak out of Rochester, NY and their trailers would have better than 50 individual loads on them. Kodak wanted their freight delivered on time so much that they would pay an additional $50 a drop to get it there. If you've got 50 drops, that's an additional $2500 on top of the regular freight rate.

My take on shipping costs for our hobby is, if I'm looking local, by the time I find somebody that has what I want and I travel to get it, gas and trip expense jack the price up anyway. Case in point, I looked all over locally for an OT 65-66 Mustang brass and copper radiator. It was always, some guy knew somebody who knew somebody who MAYBE had one and when I got there, it was either the wrong thing or junk. Just happened to see in the HAMB classifieds that a member had one but he was 400 miles away. The price was right, we did the deal, he called me with the shipping costs from UPS of $25.92 and that was with extra insurance. I sure as hell couldn't have gone there and back to get it for that.

 

I know a mechanic who works for UPS. He says the get over 600,000 miles out of their trucks. Tried a cheaper model, Kia? 250,000 miles and they were not cost effective.

 

Recently I have seen that UPS rates to CA have gone up a lot more than they have for WA & OR.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

A guy not to far away spent a boat load of money on an electric semi a few years back. It wouldn`t pull itself 60 miles. But nitrogen in the tires has made them last much much longer.

 

If you sign up for a UPS account the rates are noticeably better than just going to the UPS store. And obviously package the item yourself. I went to ship a small item the other day and USPS priority was $1.85 cheaper than UPS . It pays to shop around.

 

I exclusively use USPS for all packages that are within their weight and size restrictions. When I sell stuff online I try to stick to parts that fit in flat rate boxes and include the shipping in the price to make things easy.

 

yep, it is and has been, a challenge to distance buy/ship parts - used to try selling stuff on eBay - but, to try to keep my selling prices lower for generic parts shipping bumped me back to sites like here, craigslist, etc for local buying/selling - my part of the world no swaps, car shows, etc - but, do know others selling non car parts that are able to sell on eBay small stuff that they buy cheap at yard sales, etc

 

The UPS terminal is 7 miles from where I work. Their counter is open to the public here from 3:30-6:30 each afternoon, Monday through Friday. Take your stuff in, they throw it on the scale, pay up, and go. The public thinks the UPS store is UPS. Nope. Drive to your local terminal, save some money.
I wonder if we are all subsidizing Bezos cheap Amazon rates with UPS, though.