Shipping Rant

peters180a/170b said:
One thing i must add .....Bratton's i have 1 issue,,, is the cost of shipping /postage...$11.50 ????? This to me is a total rip off...sorry but true. I sometimes place a order for parts that WILL FIT in a FREE Post office box[priority mail ] and a charge of $5.00 postage. that's it ,,the small box ..for this Bratton's should use this service,,..I use this service all the time and ship all over the U.S.A. and its always $5.00 and always there in 3 days or less.
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I used to work in a shipping warehouse (not automotive), keep in mind the postage is not the only charge for a small distributor. The tape, packing peanuts, and labor all factor into the equation. Sometimes the free boxes have proven themselves not to hold up to heavier product as well, so you have to buy a better box. A small box alone was between $2 and $5 even buying in quantity. We paid for a good quality person to work our warehouse to make sure orders were right, and packed properly. Those additional costs get passed onto the customer on top of the actual shipping costs.

If we were paying a kid minimum wage to pack our orders we would have been out of business very fast. We paid about double that and rarely had an order messed up.

That said, if someone ordered a $5 book (for example) from me, I would not charge them our normal $5 handling fee on top of the shipping costs, we just did not feel that was fair to do.
 
I haved ordered alot from MAC's in the last year. I like their catalog and their website. I just do not like calling with a question and wondering how it will go. It is a 50/50 thing. That irritates me. Their shipping is also slower than the second coming of Christ.

I have also ordered from Snyder's. Questions answered quickly by the person who answered the phone and they always keep you informed. Stuff also gets out the door the day you order it.

My last order was yesterday, it was to Snyder's and I bet I have the stuff tomorrow.

Pete
 
peters180a/170b said:
One thing i must add .....Bratton's i have 1 issue,,, is the cost of shipping /postage...$11.50 ????? This to me is a total rip off...sorry but true. I sometimes place a order for parts that WILL FIT in a FREE Post office box[priority mail ] and a charge of $5.00 postage. that's it ,,the small box ..for this Bratton's should use this service,,..I use this service all the time and ship all over the U.S.A. and its always $5.00 and always there in 3 days or less.[/QUOTE
]I would assume they do all of their shipping in house,and use a service (UPS, Fedex) that comes to their door. It would not be cost effective for them to run to the Post Office for all of their small parts.
Just an assumption.
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If you order through websites, some of them take even longer then a week. You make your order online and think your order is being processed. You get that first email saying we have your order and it's being processed (electric response). But Ya NO. 3,4,5 days later you get the email saying your order was received. Then a couple days later an email saying it was shipped. That is all well and fine, because I'm patient and now know which places take longer.

If I need it quickly I call the ones I know will have it out that day or the next. If the part is not available I know right then.
 
Not George said:
peters180a/170b said:
One thing i must add .....Bratton's i have 1 issue,,, is the cost of shipping /postage...$11.50 ????? This to me is a total rip off...sorry but true. I sometimes place a order for parts that WILL FIT in a FREE Post office box[priority mail ] and a charge of $5.00 postage. that's it ,,the small box ..for this Bratton's should use this service,,..I use this service all the time and ship all over the U.S.A. and its always $5.00 and always there in 3 days or less.[/QUOTE
]I would assume they do all of their shipping in house,and use a service (UPS, Fedex) that comes to their door. It would not be cost effective for them to run to the Post Office for all of their small parts.
Just an assumption.
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The USPS will also pick up pre-paid Pri-Mail boxes of all sizes, All you have to do is call them..
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USPS will not pick priority mail boxes at high volume commercial sites. Vendors like Snyders take a truck load to the local post office at 4:00 PM every day.. Also, the published price for priority mail does not include insurance which is extra and a must for certain items and it also does not include delivery confirmation.
 
peters180a/170b said:
One thing i must add .....Bratton's i have 1 issue,,, is the cost of shipping /postage...$11.50 ????? This to me is a total rip off...sorry but true. I sometimes place a order for parts that WILL FIT in a FREE Post office box[priority mail ] and a charge of $5.00 postage. that's it ,,the small box ..for this Bratton's should use this service,,..I use this service all the time and ship all over the U.S.A. and its always $5.00 and always there in 3 days or less.
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Just ordered $15.00 worth of stuff and freight was $12.00 +. The reason major companies will not use USPS is the fact that there's no way to track the order. I'll bet money that the same guys here that whine about the freight costs whould really get their undies in a bunch if the order was lost in the USPS system or turned up a week late.
 
denis4x4 said:
Just ordered $15.00 worth of stuff and freight was $12.00 +. The reason major companies will not use USPS is the fact that there's no way to track the order. I'll bet money that the same guys here that whine about the freight costs whould really get their undies in a bunch if the order was lost in the USPS system or turned up a week late.
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The USPS has had a tracking system for years !!...It also is FREE if you use E-BAYS printing label...
 
The USPS tracking system, yea its fantastic. Sometimes it won't show any progress until the package has been delivered ergo its almost useless.


Just to show how this really looks, at least in my eyes.

Many people here will pay $8000-15000 for an 80 year old car that doesn't even have heat and will barely do 60mph. They will pay hundreds of dollars for certain used parts.

But then complain about paying $10 for shipping and packing on parts.

Really?


As far as I am concerned UPS is the only way to ship and Snyder's and Bratton's not only does it right, they charge a fair price for it.
 
HTML:
MrTube said:
The USPS tracking system, yea its fantastic. Sometimes it won't show any progress until the package has been delivered ergo its almost useless.


Just to show how this really looks, at least in my eyes.

Many people here will pay $8000-15000 for an 80 year old car that doesn't even have heat and will barely do 60mph. They will pay hundreds of dollars for certain used parts.

But then complain about paying $10 for shipping and packing on parts.

Really?


As far as I am concerned UPS is the only way to ship and Snyder's and Bratton's not only does it right, they charge a fair price for it.
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That is why it is called "DELIVERY CONFIRMATION", Meaning its there.. Who cares what city it went thru along the way & what time it was ??, as long as you got it..
 
The following was copied off the USPS site for a package I sent out last week. I was able to follow this as it was updated a couple times a day.

Delivered July 02, 2012, 8:12 am SYCAMORE, IL 60178

Arrival at Post Office July 02, 2012, 6:54 am SYCAMORE, IL 60178

Depart USPS Sort Facility July 01, 2012 ELK GROVE VILLAGE, IL 60007

Processed through USPS Sort Facility July 01, 2012, 2:07 am
ELK GROVE VILLAGE, IL 60007

Depart USPS Sort Facility June 29, 2012 ANCHORAGE, AK 99530

Processed at USPS Origin Sort Facility June 28, 2012, 8:41pm ANCHORAGE, AK 99530

Dispatched to Sort Facility June 28, 2012, 8:03 pm ANCHORAGE, AK 99519

Acceptance June 28, 2012, 10:07 am ANCHORAGE, AK 99519

Electronic Shipping Info Received June 27, 2012
 
I ordered a bunch of parts from Joe's Antique Auto Parts on Monday and they got here on Wednesday (NY to IL). That's pretty good. And that was USPS.

I ordered some items from Mac's on Monday as well. The parts should arrive tomorrow (Friday). Not bad.

The thing that bothers me about vendors is the failure of the order-taker on the phone to read back the order and prices (either at the end of the transaction or during the course of placing the order). So many mistakes could be avoided by doing this. I ordered an item (one of several in the same order) from LeBaron Bonney and they sent the wrong item. The order taker thought I had said "S" when I in fact said "F". Had they read back the item number the mistake could have been easily caught.
 
I asked Bratton's why they didn't use the USPS and they said they used to but USPS lost a significant order and wouldn't cover the cost of the loss. After that Bs went with UPS. I agree the rates are high.
BTW Mac's is the largest supplier of Model A parts. But their quality varies so I stay with folks like Tam's in MA and Brattons or Synders. I also like the catalog descriptions in Bs and Synders. More accurate and they describe the accuracy of their parts compared to OEM.
 
Bert's is best, no shipping markup and if it's cheaper it can go USPS. Priority mail almost always beats UPS and is always cheaper. Last order with Mac's the website quoted $8.50 shipping but I was billed $18. and the order was not filled until 3 days after it was placed.
 
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