Gotta be a cheaper way to ship decals
 

So I received 2 small decals from a vendor today which I ordered, and I must admit that there has to be a cheaper way to send something like a decal to Canada.

They arrived in a letter sized envelope, and it cost me $23US ($28CAD) to ship them!!! It was the only option.

I can't stop thinking that putting them in a regular envelope with a $1.00 stamp could have done the trick.

I understand that they probably had to because it was going to Canada, but still $23 for 2 small decals is not cool.

What's done is done...

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...5e41c89076.jpg

I agree living in BC I have same problem. I have discussed witg cdn and amer suppliers and both say because they have to track. I even asked them to now track and send regular postage and I would take the chance but no way. It is pure profit.

Yeah that does seem a bit ridiculous.

I can't speak for the USPS, but I know that I'm able to send a regular letter with Canada Post with tracking that maybe costs $1.50... if there's something similar with USPS that allows a regular letter with tracking why couldn't they use that? As you mentioned... pure profit!

Hi 70,
Do you think that at least PART of the $23.00 was to pay the person who 'picked' the item (s) and packed/addressed the envelope or package?

I think some vendors put this under the 'handling' part of their 'shipping/handling fee'.

I wonder what vendors 'margins' are on the parts they offer that come from other suppliers?

Regards,
Alan

I was looking for some ikea furniture (furniture in a box) for my music room and found a piece for $49.00 but they wanted $119.00 for shipping. WTF..........

I ordered some A pillar trim and a couple of rivets from Corvette Central. Instead of waiting and shipping them together they took the two rivets and through them and a useless paper catalogue in a box aprox 1 ft X 1 ft X 8 inches and sent them seperately and cost me like $32 U.S. for two little bits that would have fit in a regular six by four inch letter envelope and been sent for $1.25. Or they could have waited and sent them with the A pillar trim for no additional charge beyond the A pillar shipping cost.

I also ordered about 1/2 dozen small bits from WillCox which all came in the same small box but they charged me seperate shipping charges for each piece and it ended up being like $40 for a box aprox 6" X6" X 2". I think they take how much it would cost to ship each item separately and bill you for that but bundle them altogether and they pay a much lower price to actually ship it.

I'm sure like Alan71 says, they charge a lot more for "shipping and handling" than it actually costs them as an easy way to generate extra cash.

Well, IF you in Canada and live close enough to border, go to nearest small town in USA and set up a mailbox at a shipping site. Free shipping , costs a couple bucks each time at mailbox and sometimes duty. get your stuff within a week most times

or you can send it to a third party and have them ship it for you

When every I ship something to Canada via USPS-

I have to fill out a customs doc AND it cost $20+ more for the flat rate boxes than anywhere in the US (Hawaii AND Alaska INCLUDED!!!).

BTW it cost the SAME for me to ship to Australia as it does to Canada!!!

Richard

It's criminal what we are subjected to. Really shows the guys that truly love this hobby up here. I love all that Wilcox does for this forum; but I usually have to wait till Corvette Central does a free shipping promotion that INCLUDES us northerner's before anything Corvette specific shows up at my door. I'd be more than willing to send a Paypal payment to someone down south if it would circumvent the crazy shipping costs.

If you ship using book rate it's much less. Just about any public library has a box by the front doors filled with free books for the taking. Just tuck the decals in the middle of the book, the book is essentially protection for the decals.

Rich

When was the last time that happened, 2008?

Interesting... Most American vendors charge HUGE on shipping to Aus, it's actually a bigger factor for me than basically anything else when picking a vendor.

USPS Flat Rate Shipping with a $50 value on the item. Any box bigger than a "Flat Rate" box costs even more. It's just the cost of doing business.

USPS shipping to Canada

Envelope
https://postcalc.usps.com/Calculator...29&m=20&dvi=50
Box
https://postcalc.usps.com/Calculator...29&m=12&dvi=50


USPS shipping to Australia

Envelope
https://postcalc.usps.com/Calculator...29&m=20&dvi=50
Box
https://postcalc.usps.com/Calculator...29&m=12&dvi=50

The thing that intrigues me is the variation. I had 4 tyres shipped by Ebay for about $80US total, most vendors wanted a lot more than that for each tyre... As I say, I have little choice but to make shipping price my main priority in US vendors, and it eliminates many that I would otherwise prefer to purchase from. I'm much better to buy parts from one of the big vendors than direct from the suppliers in most cases, the difference in shipping prices if often hundreds of $US.

It is not just you. I went to www.corvettemods.com to purchase Passenger side airbag decals. They want $8 bucks to ship them when They could send them in a #10 envelope for 50 cents. They are a rip off. [/QUOTE]

It's called the "cost of doing business". You have a $20k, $30k, $40k, etc. car, if $7.50 makes a difference in your life perhaps you shouldn't be ordering decals?

Have to respectfully disagree with your "cost of doing business" statement Sir. I've done most of my "shopping" online now for the better part of 10 years. It amazes me that even on eBay I can see items with a gross weight of let's say 50 lbs that can be shipped to me from California for less than $10; but an item such as an air filter could run upwards of $30 from New Jersey.

I always thought that the bigger vendors would get a preferred rate, since they deal in volume. I guess that's why Walmart can ship me a hot tub across the country for free. But even now, I'm noticing a difference in say the last 2-3 years on what shipping costs have done to my restoration priorities.

I know your President wouldn't be too fond of it; but if Corvette Central was to move operations to China, I could get everything shipped for free.....lol.

What is this, Facebook??