And they wonder . . .

Dennis,

Yes, UPS & FedEx shipping outside the lower 48 does get pricey. Finding someone close to the supplier would save on the initial shipping. I'll send you a PM.

Hey Dennis: Call me, I can order what you need and have it shipped to me then to you in Hawaii via USPS from here in AZ. Gosh it has to be less than 29.00 right!!

Your Mainland buddy,
John Namisnak
Scottsdale, AZ
602-787-8219johnnamisnak@qwest.net

My

Sadly, none of the vendors frequent this or the POCA forum.

I suggest we all try to corral them at Reno this year and share our concerns.

Larry

This is another Email that I got from the vendor when I questioned the amount of the shipping, keep in mind that this is shipping for a master cylinder rebuild kit:

"As I said in my email, I did an estimate on shipping. I had 3 choices - Next Day Air $45.20 is my cost; 2nd Day Air $26.12 is my cost; Ground $19.38 is my cost. Although I don't think ground is a valid option. I understand it is very expensive to ship items and Hawaii is probably one of the most expensive. I have no control over what the freight companies charge."

Apparently they never heard of USPS Priority mail which I frequently use with packages coming and going. On the average it takes 3-4 days and costs about $13 for a good sized flat rate box. They are wrong when they say that they have no control over shipping costs, they can always choose to use USPS. There is no excuse not to as they can use "click and ship" and the packages would be picked up at their door. Oh, there is one excuse, they would not get their cut. Eventually these shipping rates will take deeper cuts into their sales as money becomes tight and consumers start looking for other sources (which are out there). BTW, thaks to all that offered shipping assistance and sources for the parts. I'll likely order directly from a non pantera specific vendor who carries the rebuild kit that I require. The Pantera vendor who supplied my clutch master had grinded off the identifying name label off my unit to keep ID of the product a secret. Once I was provided with the brand, the parts were easily sourced. Most parts can be sourced outside of the vendors. I would have gladly paid the Pantera vendor the already inflated cost of the part if they had not charged inflated shipping costs on top of it. I believe that more and more, the Pantera community will do the same unless the vendors start being fair, the replacement parts database is already large and will get larger. As I said, I have nothing against them turning a profit but my loyalties go only so far.

Dennis, I imagine that being in Hawaii is not much different than Canada when it comes to shipping. I have been asking vendors for years to use USPS because to Canada it often is much less than half UPS or FedEx, but they always refuse.

Of course it's hard to compete for attention with customers who bring in their cars and hand over the Platinum AmEx card to fund a restoration, but when that dries up, all that may be left is us small order guys.

Mark

I just shipped out a aluminum intake today(for a Cleveland) USPS $22.00 parcel post.
Jeff

I just ordered the clutch master rebuild kit that I needed. The vendor wanted to charge me $31.00 + 29.00 shipping. I got it for $29.00 shipped!


I talked to a USPS rep once who related that they are also competing for the delivery business and have been making it easier for businesses to use. They have all the insurance, online tracking etc that the others have. They also have click and ship that you do online and the postman picks up the packages once you schedule. Unless you ship overnight, USPS delivery is just as fast as UPS and the other guys but a lot cheaper. I believe that they even have overnight delivery that is cheaper. There is no excuse for the vendors not to use USPS anymore, unless they want to continue to lose business.

A friend of mine works nights driving the mail from Manchester, NH down to the GMF (general mail facility) in Boston and then on into Logan Airport.

He told me that UPS regularly delivers filled "post cons" (air freight containers that are designed to fit in airplane bellies) to the USPS to transport.

There is every chance that any given UPS shipment was at least partially handled by the USPS. Probably the same for other shippers too.

We're not a parts supplier, but we are shipping to addresses around the world on an almost daily basis. I can only verify what all of you are saying. Within the 48 states we ship Fed Ex ground for the convenience, because its automatically insured and because they handle the packages better. But outside the 48 states we ship US Postal because shipping any other way is too expensive.

The difference in shipping a package to Europe with US Postal verses FedEx can be $100 USD or more. In other words, greater than the price of the merchandise. FedEx will pick up packages at the office, whereas you have to have an employee take them to the Post Office. But I can't believe the savings isn't enough to justify the employee's time to do this.

Gentlemen. 1)UPS gives business accounts a discount compared to the individual shipping rates. In the US it is about 25%.
If you inquire with UPS for a quote without an account number that is the rate they quote.
When you buy a part, that is the amount the vendor charges you. The vendor is making a profit on shipping UPS.

I did ask Steve Wilkinson this very question and his reply was simply that he will not use a shipping service that has no tracking. In the case of USPS, it is still not 100% trackable at all.

There you have it. Justification for making profit on the shipping. I gave up. It no longer makes my head feel better beating it against the wall.

quote:

I did ask Steve Wilkinson this very question and his reply was simply that he will not use a shipping service that has no tracking. In the case of USPS, it is still not 100% trackable at all.

I agree with that. I ship Rever shirts all over the globe without tracking (everyone wants cheap USPS shipping), but that is a $18 - $24 item. If I sent something more expensive than, say, $50 I would want tracking. It sucks when someone claims they didn't receive a $100 order.

Having said that, we only charge fifty cents per order for handling...that is the only markup we have, and that is to help cover a person processing and packaging the order.

R.

quote:

Originally posted by PanteraDoug:
... It no longer makes my head feel better beating it against the wall ...