Are you seeing higher shipping charges recently?

[Steve Wilson]

Last week I ordered a box of 140 grain Berger Hybrids from Powder Valley. $10 shipping from Kansas to Missouri. Their website checkout process only tells you that shipping will be calculated after the order is placed. A few weeks ago I bought 5 boxes of 6mm Berger 105 Hybrids from them and the shipping was the same $10. Hmmm.

I also ordered a VLD seating stem from Sinclair last week, for my Redding S type Competition seater die. $18 for the seater and $6 for USPS First Class shipping. OK, 6 bucks is probably fair. No squawk on that one.

Yesterday, I ordered a 3 inch forearm adapter from Sinclair. Over $12 to ship it from Iowa to Missouri. All three of these orders were UPS regular ground shipments.

I know fuel prices are higher lately but none of the receipts have a line item for fuel surcharge, like some used to do. So, I'm stuck puzzling whether UPS has jacked up its charges to reflect the higher fuel costs and/or if the sellers are also raising shipping to increase profit margins.

Are you seeing similar increases lately and what are your thoughts?

 

[Heavies]

UPS has effed up shipping to me too many times, their prices are ridiculous, and shipping times are BS. I have refused to use them as a shipping method, and I refuse to do business with any companies that insists on using them.

For me USPS has been the best in price, value, and service.

 

[Steve Wilson]

In all fairness to Sinclair; they gave me the choice on yesterday's order for the forearm adapter to ship UPS or USPS. UPS was my choice on that one.

 

[Larryh128]

Steve,
What I can tell you is that shipping charges have gone up dramatically, mainl;y due to a couple issues. Fuel prices being one of them. Any UPS or Fed Ex shipment comes with a fuel surcharge now & for the past couple years. They have also added a couple other charges for residential if you're more than a mile off of the beaten path. USPS also had a big increase on their priority mail charges after the 1st couple pounds. Here is a typical & actual freight charge to a residense (would be identical for either UPS or Fed Ex)
Transportation charge - $7.36
Extended Residential Delivery- $3.25
Fuel Surcharge -$.94
Residential Delivery - $2.55
My HUGE discount - ($.59)
Over Length Fee (6') -$8.50
So the add on fees for this shipment totaled $15.24.

That's where the higher freight charges are coming from, unfortuneately there isn't any option but to pass the cost on down the chain. Just several years ago, there would have been only a $2.50 up charge for residential. If you own a business or work somewhere that shipping to that address isn't an issue, always tell the people shipping that it's a commercial address. Shipping will be dramatically less if they pass on the savings.

 

[Larryh128]

If the item is small & light, USPS is definitely the cheapest route. BUT, you don't have the precise tracking info at your disposal and it doesn't automatically have insurance on it. There have been issues in some areas with theft, resulting in companies re-shipping an order at their expense to keep a customer happy, that's why some companies won't ship USPS because of the lack of precise tracking, no signature requirement etc. There are places that I absolutely won't ship by a particular carrier due to issues at a terminal that the packages pass thru. Most of my most expensive shipments go in plain brown boxes for that reason.

 

[MOTORSPORTS55]

I CAN BACK UP LARRYH128 ON THAT WE ARE IN THSAME BOAT WITH UPS WHERE I WORK . THEY NOW GO BY WHAT THE BOX COULD HOLD IN WEIGHT NOT WHAT IT WEIGHTS SO IF A BOX IS 1 LB AND THE BOX COULD HOLD 10LB THEY CHARGE YOU FOR THE 10LB.

 

[Steve Wilson]

Larry, I understand your pain. Last fall I bought a commercial meat grinder from an outfit in Houston, TX, to replace the two that we use in making about 1200-1500 pounds of deer sausage each year. They told me it would be shipped common carrier, in a crated skid to my house. I have to be there when it arrives, he says, cause it's common carrier to a residence instead of to a dock. OK. So, the carrier calls and arranges the delivery time, driver will call from his last stop. I say, I'm here and waiting for his call.

Well, the driver pulls up in front of my house, which is on a cul-de-sac and proceeds to block the entire street. He wants to know if I will agree to pay the $50 "Lift Gate" service? How much does the crate weigh? Oh, a couple hundred pounds, he guesses. No, I don't think so, I'm sure we can wrestle it down to the ground and then I can handle it with my trusty 2 wheeler. By the way, where is my skid in that truck? Way up front, behind all this other stuff, he says.

He had a pallet jack, but the problem was that there wasn't enough space in the truck to jockey stuff around and get my skid to the back. So, he starts unloading everything all over the street, in order to get to mine. I'm looking around at all of this, helping him spin the skids onto the lift gate, drag them off......expecting that at any second now a neighbor is going to come along and be PO'd that they can't get by.

At long last, we finally get to mine, unload it, get all of the extra freight back in the truck and put his pallet jack back on, raise the lift gate and sign the ticket. I'm telling you, you never saw a happier truck driver in your life....that he had qualified and understanding help. He said, I don't know what the hell I would have done if you weren't here to help getting this done.

UPDATE:

Sinclair said that my shipment wouldn't go out yesterday afternoon because it was too late in the day; it was coming on 5:00 when the order was placed, and that my order wouldn't get to me until Monday or so. I just looked at the tracking. 5:57, order processed. 6:50 origin scan. 10:45 departure scan in Oskaloosa, IA. 11:57 arrival scan in Des Moines, IA. Delivery by end of day tomorrow.

 

[jhord]

I'm in the mail order business. UPS rates went up by around 5% and USPS by around 4%, on average, for 2012. Some of the UPS delivery zones really went up, so if you live in the middle of nowhere your increases are higher than others. It stinks, but that's life. None of the vendors that I frequent (same as what the rest of you probably use) are really screwing anybody that I can see. Some of them might be a buck or two high, but carton tape and other stuff ain't cheap. A lot of them offer USPS flat rate shipping, which is a good deal if you are ordering something heavy that will fit in the USPS provided boxes, like bullets. Eabco is good about that. I don't know where the thing about about UPS charging by the box capacity came from, but it isn't exactly true. For oversize packages, yes they do that, (dimensional weight) but for normal ones, no. It's by the pound.

 

[Killshot]

Not exactly on-topic but..........what is the deal with using a box five times the size needed?
That isn't helping our shipping charges and it drives me a little crazy.

 

[dtucker]

Yes and it sucks. I like giving my brothers on here a good deal when i sell something and be so kind to pay the shipping also because i love this place ;D and have got good deals in return, but lately i have asked on some bigger items being shipped to help pay a little of it. I am tired of being bent over and kicked out the door on what it cost me to ship stuff anymore.

Dan

 

[Mark Walker in TX]

I started using PVC tubes to ship barrels back and forth to my gunsmith for work, and today I got an $8.50 surcharge from UPS because the item was "not covered in cardboard". I shit you not... The total shipping had been about only $14.00 prior to, so a 50% penalty for "not covered in cardboard." Unreal.

 

[Leaddog]

My business uses UPS Worldship and we've seen a steady increase due to fuel costs. Since we ship for free domestically (average package 24x9x9 at 8 lbs), I've been eating the extra cost.

What irritates me the most is when a vendor profits from shipping. There are several vendors in the gun industry I won't buy from for that reason.

 

[butchlambert]

I use USPS. UPS won't insure anymore. Said I had to get 3rd party insurance. My shipping prices haven't changed to my customers, but I still have a 25 mile drive to the post office. Even driving my little car that is 2 gallons round trip. I still use new boxes and of course new tape. Don't know where it is going to stop.

 

[Gunner75]

The last two years have been ugly with "fuel surcharge" added to freight. Labor adds to it as well.

 

[jonbearman]

Here is my .02,they are charging higher prices cause they can.Is it reflecting fuel costs,no,because when fuel goes down the price stays the same.US companys will use any excuse to raise prices artificially.I recently ordered 2 headspace gages and the shipping was almost half the cost of 2 little gages and they shipped it in a box that was 8"x8" for good damn reason.They could of put it in a bubble envelope but they make way more money shipping in a huge box.

 

[Larryh128]

Absolutely false. They don't charge by the box size, weight & overall dimensions. I ship every day by 4 different carriers so I have a pretty good idea as to actual & facual charges. You don't see many boxes smaller than 8" because it needs somewhere for the label to fit without being bent around the corner of the box. The larger box also adds some extra cushion to insure that your product gets there intact. We do the same thing every day & it has absolutely nothing to do with raising your shipping prices. You can't stock 100 different size boxes in anticipation that someone is only going to order a go gauge.

 

[jhord]

And if you put something like a go gauge in a padded envelope you've got about a 50% chance of receiving it intact. Most "flats" with USPS go through various automated sorters with rollers that squeeze the envelope and rip them open if they have objects inside. I don't care if you do write "hand sort only" on it, chances are that won't happen. I just got an AR15 rear sight yesterday that was shipped in an envelope... unbelievable. I got lucky, but I would gladly have paid the $3 extra to have it go in a small flat rate box instead. Yeesh.

 

[Steve Wilson]

A couple of weeks ago a buddy ordered a Tipton cleaning rod and a medium size range bag from Midway. They packaged them both together, instead of separately. So, by necessity, the box was way oversized and charged accordingly. There sure was plenty of space in it for packaging material though. He phoned Midway to complain and all he got was an apology, no offer to reimburse or issue any credit towards his next purchase. Midway lost a long term customer that spends a lot of money with them every year.

That was just plain stupid.

 

[spclark]

I started using PVC tubes to ship barrels back and forth to my gunsmith for work, and today I got an $8.50 surcharge from UPS because the item was "not covered in cardboard". I shit you not... The total shipping had been about only $14.00 prior to, so a 50% penalty for "not covered in cardboard." Unreal.

Yeah, that's stoopid. Hope you're using Sch 40 pipe, the 80 stuff will shatter pretty quick.

For the money, I'd do a quick wrap w/ corrugated over the PVC were I similarly challenged.

 

[.260 james]

I have been shipping using USPS for most things lately, UPS is generally twice as much and twice as long. I shipped a Scope (USPS ) to a forum member in Alaska, He got it in 3 days! I sent a Stock to NY ( UPS ) and it took about 6 days and cost $10.00 more ,similar sized boxes. UPS is also more careless with handling packages, notice the condition of your boxes when you get them. They all seem to be scrapped crppled or retaped. All signs of rough handling.



P.S. Aint it cool when you order a new barrel and its sticking out the end of a box. UPS is good like that