I am an avid purchaser of things online. I just find that it is so much easier and faster to buy things online and have them shipped to me, or in some cases, pick them up at the store. But what really irks me is when the shipping charge is way more than it actually costs to ship the item. Take for example shop.puma.com. They charge $8 shipping for a pair of shoes, and only give free shipping on orders of $85 or more. Another culprit can be found on amazon, but not amazon themselves. The amazon stores. They will undercut amazon's direct pricing by $2, then charge $10 for shipping on a 6 ounce package. Considering that most things I buy online would fit in a USPS Flat-Rate box that costs $4.95, I should never be charged more than that for shipping. What is even worse? Places that choose their shipping rates based on item price. See the chart in the picture for an example. Why would it cost more to ship something that is $24 compared to something of the same weight and size that costs $25?
Of course, most of the time it is titled "Shipping AND Handling". So going to the stack of boxes, unfolding it, putting it in, wrapping it up and sticking on the shipping label is labor costs accounted for in the handling portion.
ReplyDeleteIf a business is mostly selling the same thing, then a tiered shipping rate based on pricing is probably a good indicator or shipping costs. Two pairs of shoes cost twice as much, probably weigh twice as much and take up twice as much volume. It allows the vendor to show the consumer a shipping cost before purchase without having a dynamic page that ties into the shopping cart.