Sick Of The Shipping Charges

[mge01park]

Ive finally stopped agreeing to pay $6.95 or $7.95 for USPS Priority Mail for a few bottles of ink or less not that I ever did much of it. Im accumulating to get free shipping on sites that have it and if its an exclusive not going to purchase it, The box is free and the companies arent paying the Priority Mail rack rates that are charged as there has to be discounts out there for larger shippers whether its volume discounts or flat rate packages. Its a profit center. I will pay for international like to Cult who is outstanding for products that arent and wont be sold here, Sorry to vent negative responses unappreciated. 🤣

[City74]

Yea I usually will buy enough to get free shipping so I don’t worry about it. Some vendors don’t offer free shipping no matter how much you buy, so they don’t really get used anymore

[Epr969]

Think Cult pens in the UK have free International shipping at the moment...not affiliated..just an international customer !

Eric.

[mge01park]

I thought Cult was free over 70GBP. Also, the package has to be on the lighter side. In any event I bought stuff from them and it arrived amazingly fast. Heavy stuff. Cult is excellent and great service.

[oldrifleman]

I am different, yeah if there is a place the offers free shipping on the same item, sure I will take the free shipping. That said if I see something I want, a few bucks for shipping doesn't bother me!

[Karmachanic]

I'm really sick of having to pay airfare when I go to visit my family

[inkstainedruth]

I recently bought ink from 3 different US vendors. Yes, I had to pay shipping. If I had been able to buy what I wanted from a single vendor, I could have saved some money by combining items and having a single shipping cost, but that wasn't an option -- not everyone sells the same merchandise. [shrug].

And when I was shopping, I did also look at Cult Pens -- but again, they didn't carry everything I wanted.

Shipping charges are what they are. You can't expect the vendors to eat the costs -- that will just drive up the costs of the goods. And (as someone whose brother-in-law is Postmaster for a small town in Massachusetts -- he doesn't get the overtime pay his employees make, BTW) it's unfair to have the USPS eat those costs either.

And I'd rather give the money to USPS than to places like UPS or FedEx or DHL because I've generally gotten better service -- AND at a lower cost.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: @ mgepark -- I bought my Sailor Pro Gear Slim Purple Cosmos from Cult Pens last spring. I didn't have to pay shipping. I also didn't have to pay VAT because the package was coming to the US....

Edited August 16, 2019 by inkstainedruth

[mge01park]

Correct, Cult is free over 70GBP and no Vat to U.S.

[mge01park]

Excellent Old Rifleman that used to be me no longer though.

[mge01park]

Excellent Old Rifleman that used to be me no longer though.

[Doug1426]

Perspective is everything, and everything is relative.

[Karmachanic]

There is no free shipping. Everyone who purchases anything, from Cult for instance, contributes to the 'free." Smoke and mirrors.

Edited August 16, 2019 by Karmachanic

[mge01park]

I sought of started this when I went to buy DC Teal and Tokyo Gift and the shipping would be $7.95 thats when I stopped. Ill wait till more vendors have them.

[nibtip]

There is no free shipping. Everyone who purchases anything, from Cult for instance, contributes to the 'free." Smoke and mirrors.

 

Glad someone finally said it.

[oldrifleman]

 

Glad someone finally said it.

Yep, one way or the other you pay the shipping! It is either listed separately or rolled into a higher prices or temporary reduced profit margin. I say Temporary because eventually they have to recover the margins or go out of business.

[pararis]

Old adage...

 

You may not get everything you pay for in this world, but you will damn sure pay for everything you get.

 

That includes shipping!

[Rancho Gordo]

It is being shipped. So why shouldn't it be charged? I think Amazon has given us all a weird perspective.

[samasry]

Speaking of Amazon, when you examine the prime service, you pay for shipping partially through the $120 prime fee. On top of that, prime items are typically sold at higher prices compared to the same exact item, if prime is not offered, to offset the prime free shipping.

 

So you pay for shipping through partial rolling of the shipping charges into the item price and partially through the prime $120 fee.

Edited August 17, 2019 by salmasry

[Parker51]

Actually, shipping is much lower than it used to be in constant units of currency to most places. The difference is we have all gotten used to very high price drops on many items and then compair the shipping cost to the item cost and it looks bigger. Examples of this include televisions, computers, basic clothing, shoes, dishes, glassware, small appliances, microwave ovens, good basic watches and common foods.

Yes, in some markets ink has gone up significantly in cost, but it is in many ways a different product than the relatively cheap inks of 30 to 100 years ago.

And pens, if wwe make a comparison of the low cost pens of today versus those of 40 to 100 years ago, the prices have not gone up and the quality is actually better today. In regard to high cost pens, the top of the line fountain pen of the past were expensive and are expensive today. The difference is that now there are super expensive pens, often limited editions, that did not exist in significant numbers in the past. Again, as with special inks today a significantly different product.

[Brianm_14]

Perhaps these high online merchandise prices can be defended as the price we must pay for vendors to offer a good selection in their online inventory. But the prices, across the board, of the merchandise are simply too high to begin with and that makes many patrons sensitive to every fee or charge that is later tacked on.

 

Also, free handling and shipping above a certain minimum isn't simply passing the cost on to others. Not at all! It is a recognition that it costs a certain minimum amount to assemble and box any order, and that smaller orders need to pay directly for that cost of handling when they dip below the minimum needed to make an order worthwhile in itself. We do ourselves and the vendor a favor by waiting until we have a larger order, or by combining orders with another person. True savings in labor and shipping charges are being passed on in this way. I like and respect that sort of policy.

 

Maybe the place to start is the wholesale prices set for the items we buy. Inks are a good example. There are too many very good inks in the lower price range, for me to believe that the higher-priced inks truly reflect the costs involved in producing them. (Limited edition run are an exception.) I am not saying those costly inks aren't nice; I'm saying the prices are unfair and gouge us. So I guess I'll buy my Diamine and Waterman -on sale- and buy enough to earn free handling and shipping.