This has come up a fair bit in recent times: seemingly exorbitant shipping costs. Actually not seemingly, they are. Times have changed. I'm not looking to have a big discussion about this, but as an example, I have just looked at a repro distributor lead for a single point Autolite. It looks like a nice piece and is USD$16.50. I'm not in the market for one, but as a matter of interest I went through the cart process to see what the shipping would be for such a small, almost weightless item. Drum roll...$58.00 That's $90.00 Australian dollars. I have no clue how they come up with a figure like that. BTW it was USPS. UPS was a couple of $ cheaper, so line ball.
You may joke, but I have seen exactly that when a friend bought a piston for a Mcleod hydraulic throwout. It is the size of a golf ball, but was in a box in a box etc. like a Russian doll. The outside box was as you describe!
I went on Rockauto and selected a 1970 Ford dist lead, put in my shopping cart and got estimated shipping to Brisbane postal code 4005 and shipping was 15.99
Here the Russian doll packaging method for any item is not a weight problem. Size of parcel is also no real problem. One basic rate up to 5 kilogram, one rate to 10 kilogram , one rate to 22 kilogram ( was 30 ) 5 kilogram to Oz or U.S. is about 25 euro. Add a few more euro for insurance. So a golfball in a 2ft x 2ft box is the same rate as a golfball in a golfball box , only problem is the customs documents envelope is about 10 inch x 8 inch .
Yep, it pays to shop around, and that includes shipping….. Amazon was advertising free shipping on parts ( over $49 US ) - from USA to New Zealand in an email yesterday. I always assumed that the russian doll packaging was done to alleviate the possibility of ‘small’ boxes getting lost !
Was not joking, There been several times I receive a package and I'm like what did I order that big !!
And that is a good example of how all over the place shipping can be! I bought a couple of inlet valves from Rockauto last year - can't remember the cost - and it was very reasonable. I costed shipping a non automotive item from 5 different sources just pre covid and the shipping varied from $96 to just under $500! That's quite a range. I never ended up buying the thing (car parts are more important.)
Well, UPS here in the states just got a big raise so you know the company is going to pass those increased costs on to us. Companies don't absorb increased costs, they send them down the line.
I recently purchased 2 Hawaii calendars , value US$10 when they arrived 4 days later I found out shop had charged US$80 postage (AUS $120) will not be buying them again
Rock Auto is bad about putting small things in big boxes. Got a fan belt and a thermostat a few weeks ago, it came in a box big enough to hold 25 fan belts and thermostats, but it had plenty of air bubble packs to fill it up. Got a Brake booster, master cylinder, and a ford water pump from them the other day, they put all of them in one big box, about got a hernia picking it up! And it was full of air packs, too! They could have used a box half the size of the one they used.
reminded me of last week, My son wanted a full set of disc’s and pads for his car, it was considerably cheaper for him to buy them in Australia than New Zealand. (around $900 - $1000 cheaper) My wife was in Sydney at the time so it was worthwhile for him to ship parts to where she was staying, then buy a new travel bag and pay the extra $70 NZ baggage fee (air fare) and have her bring the parts home in economy class……. Which was still much cheaper than the freight quoted direct to New Zealand. I needed a radiator hose, $97 from local parts store 2km down the road, - or $49 shipping included to my rural address, - from Australia….. Tell me the world makes sense………. .
I ordered 2 yards of vinyl from my supplier in California. 54 inches long. Shipping cost to Iowa for $4.50. How do they do this. A good-sized box with front and rear seat covers in 100 % leather shipping cost is for 74 dollars. Next day air. Fed Ex.
Tried to buy a roll of pvc tile tape from home depot for $5.69, shipped to my house. Home depot is 1 1/2 hour drive away. $35.00 shipping .... No !
The software for our online store uses some sort of technology (call it algorithms, formulas, calculations, and other “pulled from my ass” numbers) to put a shipping cost on the orders customers place through our store. They’re always high…..never low….and rarely close to the actual number. We put disclaimers all over the store webpages to advise people that we adjust the shipping price to the actual amount for their specific order, but we still get emails and phone calls questioning the pricing. I get it…. I wish it would be more accurate. I suppose we could find a better program for this but the price for such software would be a lot higher, so we just deal with it. Compounding the problem is when a customer orders multiple different items….each item has a unique shipping price and that cost will be charged, regardless of the fact that in many cases the multiple items could be packaged in the same carton for the single item cost of shipping. Again, we adjust the shipping cost and fix the total pricing before the order is shipped and billed.
This is exactly what has prevented me from buying things several times (not from you though.) In these cases the shopping cart process has wanted me to commit to a purchase, then it will work out a new shipping subtotal for multiple items - if they even offer that. I'm afraid I will not commit my credit card to a purchase for a lucky dip shipping charge. I just don't trust Mr. Algorithm.
I got an order from Rock Auto, 8 items in 4 boxes, they could have all gone in one of the boxes! AUS $35 postage for 1 rear axle gasket! They send multiple items from different places across the U.S, and are not shy about charging postage. If someone in the U.S. (preferably a car guy/gal) who lived near a post office and set up a business to re-send car parts to us poor bastards in the Southern Hemisphere, and didn't charge for postage by using a dart and a dartboard, I reckon they could make a little extra loot . Even the remailing services like Shipito have gone ridiculous expensive in the last couple of years. What used to cost $40 to send now is well over $100.
I've spent a lot of time on the phone with Speedway's customer service discussing bills I've gotten for individual shipping prices on multiple items packed in one box. They always reduce the amount to what it should have been for a specific sized box with a specific weight but it's a PITA to have to go through that. When I ship something from my home, using the USPS or UPS calculator with weight, height, length and width, it's a simple process. The company bean counters have managed to take something simple and make it complicated and time consuming. I guess they have to justify their jobs somehow.
Rock Auto ships from multiple locations and charges to ship from each location which makes sense because they are separate shipments. They show you when you are ordering where it is shipping from so if you don't want multiple locations you have to make sure the parts you are ordering are all coming from the same warehouse.
How about vendors who determine shipping cost based on the total order amount instead of weight? So a lightweight $100 item will cost a lot more to ship that a very heavy $20 item. Makes zero sense and causes buyers like me to buy as little as possible from them. Then there are companies like Summit Racing that ship for free on orders of $109 or more. So they actually encourage customers to buy more. What a concept!
I have to mention that K13 sent me some paint for free and paid the shipping too. I sent him a cheque to cover the shipping and he didn't cash it either. Thank you.
I have been trying to buy some parts from the U.S, and I found one company which lets you . input your country, age, shoe size, etc. Once I had a few bits together, and went to the "checkout", it comes up with "Add another $23 for free shipping" (Which up to there was around AUS $90 already). Great! So I add another $30 worth of stuff, and, like my business to them, the "free postage" offer dissapears. So when it finally calculates the total, the "free postage" has miraculously gone up to $140!!!
I find free postage also comes with the disclaimer "within the continental USA, does not include Alaska or Hawaii." I say that because I've never seen one that didn't, no matter how hidden or small.
On another note, here at least it does pay to shop around. Many times I have found it cheaper to buy from a local dealer than from overseas. Case in point, a dealer in Ontario CA wanted $USD14 to post a small item to a friend in San Diego (who would then forward it to me.) I ended up buying the same item (same brand) cheaper locally and they only charged me $8 postage.
I have had the same item quoted from 15-50 bucks to ship. Some times it pays to run the item through their site more than once
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