Shipping cost to me of a 14 lb UPS shipment from CA business to me = $11 ....
Shipping a 14 lb locomotive to a CA buiness from me = $74 .....
WOW, are private people being hosed by UPS!!!!!
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Yes, I get in arguments with buyers over this. They think I'm making profit on the shipping?
It just cost me $30 to ship an engine to Georgia. Some buyers feel it should be $10 or less???
So when you see shipping included in a price, stop and think what they're offering!
No. A lot of places get a break in shipping cost because of the high volume of shipping they do. It's not rocket science.
Kerrigan posted:Shipping cost to me of a 14 lb UPS shipment from CA business to me = $11 ....
Shipping a 14 lb locomotive to a CA buiness from me = $74 .....
How much did you insure your locomotive for?
WOW, are private people being hosed by UPS!!!!!
It's for this reason that I never include shipping for free when I sell things... quickest way to screw yourself out of money is to include shipping for free in a deal. Buyers do not appretiate the cost of shipping as much as sellers do, especially individuals.
Sounds to me like the small shippers are subsidizing the large shippers that can make the carriers bid on their business.
Brad
Wow .... $74 from Oregon to California for UPS ground? Even for an oversize package, sure seems high. That stinks.
About complaining about my shipping charges, that's why I enable printing of the postage cost onto the label, when I print out my eBay labels. STILL ... people think I'm overcharging them! lol
I spent $100 shipping a locomotive to York, PA. I could've (and should've) driven it to York, PA on a Saturday in a couple hours. Only thing I got out of it was almost no $$$ and a rather heated argument with my local USPS office manager.
I sent my Polar Express engine, tender, and remote back to Lionel for warranty. 9 dollars and some change. USPS
$74.00? Gee. Not been my experience, but I ship seldom.
BigJohn&theWork posted:It's for this reason that I never include shipping for free when I sell things... quickest way to screw yourself out of money is to include shipping for free in a deal. Buyers do not appretiate the cost of shipping as much as sellers do, especially individuals.
I have a different take. I always say "includes shipping". That's different than "free shipping". Over the years when my sales did not include shipping the buyer would try to wiggle a better deal by saying if I absorb the shipping cost it's a sale. By saying "includes shipping" the buyer can't come back to strike a deal. It works for me. Sooner or later everything gets sold.
I use FedEx almost exclusively. I have found their service to be faster and much less expensive than UPS of USPS. And, their insurance is also less expensive.
FedEx smartpost uses USPS .. And usually takes at least one extras day.
I ship everything Priority mail thru Paypal /Ebay. If you are an Ebayer, you get a nice break on shipping. I don't make money on shipping. In fact sometimes I lose money.
Shipping is not cheap for any of these services. I don't use UPS much, but I use USPS and FedEx as a rule. I almost never use USPS ground as it's more expensive than FedEx and less reliable from my experience.
FedEx Home
USPS Priority
Attachments
So if you want to get yoru shipping costs down you need to do a few things
A) Do not ship to a residential address. You can get a significant up to about $4.50 shipping to a business.
B) Obtain a commercial shipping account with UPS, this can give you up to a 30% discount in a lot of cases. UPS has cut mine down to like 15 or 20% because I don't ship that much.
C) Do not declare a value on the package. This will cut your shipping costs down significantly. However they will not be covered in the event of loss or damage.
I dont use Fedex as they would quote me one price then charge me 30% more every time. USPS is handy if your shipping small stuff and flat rate things but Ive been getting my best value with UPS. But it is still expensive.
"
Shipping cost to me of a 14 lb UPS shipment from CA business to me = $11 ....
Shipping a 14 lb locomotive to a CA buiness from me = $74 ....."
Just a quick question. Is that $11 the actual cost of postage on the package, or what you were charged by the sender? I ask because businesses often absorb some of the shipping costs, and charge you less than their actual cost. Charles Ro is an example, in my experience. May not be the case here, but it could account for some, but by no means all of the disparity.
gunrunnerjohn posted:Shipping is not cheap for any of these services. I don't use UPS much, but I use USPS and FedEx as a rule. I almost never use USPS ground as it's more expensive than FedEx and less reliable from my experience.
FedEx Home
I ordered my wife some car supplies a couple of weeks ago and got a similar list of selections like this when checking out. Was less weight and the charges were not as much, but the highest were up around $100 or so. It was sent from New Jersey to Kansas. I think it was around $12 or so for the lowest UPS shipping price which was the cheapest. Got here in about 4 days.
I would guess the shipped got the large shipper discounts as I think they are strictly online sales. As an individual I would certainly expect to pay more when shipping something as compared to a large online shipper. Shipping is really becoming a charge to be seriously considered these days.
Shipping is like anything, you have to shop around. Keep in mind going through a postal store like the UPS store is usually much more expensive, as they are taking a cut too. When shipping Fedex or UPS, there are many drop off spots if you purchase your shipping online. For smaller packages going USPS, I give tot he postal carrier at work.
Matt Makens posted:C) Do not declare a value on the package. This will cut your shipping costs down significantly. However they will not be covered in the event of loss or damage.
That's a non-starter for me Matt, I'm not going to take responsibility for shipping damage or loss!
Matt Makens posted:I dont use Fedex as they would quote me one price then charge me 30% more every time. USPS is handy if your shipping small stuff and flat rate things but Ive been getting my best value with UPS. But it is still expensive.
Easy solution, and it saves you time as well. Generate the shipping label at home and slap it on the package. I always know exactly what my FedEx shipment will cost, and it's never changed when I drop it off.
Yesterday, I Just shipped a large MTH set box from Western Pa to California. Here are the apples to apples price comparisons between the three major shippers-dropping off at their business location and shipping to a residential address;
FEDEX ground 4 day $54.99. FEDEX 2 day air express $119.39
UPS ground 4-5 days $51.73 UPS 2 day air $150.95
USPS ground 7-8 days $42.19 USPS 2 day priority $60.60
Since I'm paying the shipping, I used the USPS ground.
A couple of other things. Last year the USPS eliminated the discount for purchasing shipping online. Also, this past January, both FEDEX and the USPS raised their rates-I don't know about UPS. In addition, if shipping involves crossing the Mississippi River whether East or West, both FEDEX and the USPS have a surcharge built into the cost-I was told this info by employees that I personally know who work for these 2 businesses.
Nick
We I was in business, shipping UPS to a residential address was much higher than shipping to a business address.
Rod Miller
I'm going to give my vote to FedEx. Unfortunately I've had issues with the way UPS and USPS handle packages and have had damage on too many train items that were handled by UPS and USPS.
This might not be everyone's experience, but it has been mine. Opening a FedEx account also helped drive the costs down quite a bit.
Hot Water posted:Kerrigan posted:Shipping cost to me of a 14 lb UPS shipment from CA business to me = $11 ....
Shipping a 14 lb locomotive to a CA buiness from me = $74 .....
How much did you insure your locomotive for?
WOW, are private people being hosed by UPS!!!!!
$400 ... the fee wasn't a lot for the insurance. And mine was by ground. I think businesses get a break. UPS always asks me "is this a business or a residence"?
70 pound box, Philadelphia to Garber Oklahoma, home pick up via UPS, ten business day delivery ground, there in five, $79.00 Buyer paid! 
Check you receipt, I bet you paid for a bunch of insurance and charges you have no idea of. 
Green Bay & Western posted:No. A lot of places get a break in shipping cost because of the high volume of shipping they do. It's not rocket science.
Yes, you know that. I know that.
Tell it to the other people who are buying stuff. They think that it should be $10 or you should eat the difference.
Everything ships by dimensional weight now. 4 lbs box can go for 25 lbs or more based on size of box. a 12x12x24 box = 3456/139 its going for 25 lbs even it weighs 4 lbs
carsntrains posted:FedEx smartpost uses USPS .. And usually takes at least one extras day.
I live about 3 hours from Trainz. If they ship Fedex 2 days top, usually 0ne. If they do smart post at least 5 days
bptBill posted:Everything ships by dimensional weight now. 4 lbs box can go for 25 lbs or more based on size of box. a 12x12x24 box = 3456/139 its going for 25 lbs even it weighs 4 lbs
Once you get over 12"x12"x12" is the rate increase so if you have 12"x12"x13" you just hit the oversize
enginEErjon posted:I'm going to give my vote to FedEx. Unfortunately I've had issues with the way UPS and USPS handle packages and have had damage on too many train items that were handled by UPS and USPS.
This might not be everyone's experience, but it has been mine. Opening a FedEx account also helped drive the costs down quite a bit.
Go to Fedex.com and make up a business name even if you don't have one. then you can get business rate.
rtraincollector posted:enginEErjon posted:I'm going to give my vote to FedEx. Unfortunately I've had issues with the way UPS and USPS handle packages and have had damage on too many train items that were handled by UPS and USPS.
This might not be everyone's experience, but it has been mine. Opening a FedEx account also helped drive the costs down quite a bit.
Go to Fedex.com and make up a business name even if you don't have one. then you can get business rate.
I did, then I compared. They raised my rate?
You guys know that UPS carries a lot of USPS packages, right?
I used to sell on ebay alot but I never used UPS. UPS was always the most expensive one. I always did a comparison between USPS and FedEx.
J DADDY, marking a package FRAGILE is like putting a neon arrow on it for someone to destroy it.
My son used to work at FedEx and he told me one time about them playing basketball with packages.
What really gets me is when someone charges me $14.00 for regular shipping (not priority) and the shipping price is on the package says $9.00. And when you question them about it they say it is for packing and handling but they put it in a box from the grocery store that says "KEEP FROZEN".
Rick
I am perplexed by the rates and experiences above. I've never paid more than $30 to ship a brass locomotive and I very recently got a Sunset 3rd Rail engine shipped to me by a seller for less than $30.
Are you guys using huge crates and adding lead bricks into the crates or what?
I have been in the shipping business since 1991 and I worked for various freight forwarders and have traveled and shipped to most places in the world. I have shipped my own eBay wears to oversized hardware. The problem with shipping cost that everyone looks at selling the goods and the shipping cost are look at the time of shipping and a lot of people under estimate this expense. Here is the a quick rule of thumb for shipping in the USA. The USPS is the cheapest for items that are 4 pounds and less. Also the flat boxes for Propriety are the best deal around with the USPS for long distance and heavy items going over 2,000 miles. Also believe that the break point use to 10 lbs and under that USPS Parcel service was the cheapest. Anything outside those guidelines you will find that FedEx and UPS are competitively priced. Note: Dim weight is overlook by shippers and they are shocked by the pricing. The shipping item might be light but it takes you a lot of volume and you will be charged for the space not by the weight.
eddie g posted:I ship everything Priority mail thru Paypal /Ebay. If you are an Ebayer, you get a nice break on shipping. I don't make money on shipping. In fact sometimes I lose money.
We agree with Eddie on this one!
Going to the main UPS distribution center saves over a local 'outlet' that handles UPS packages.
There's an outlet (called the UPS store) in my suburb that is about 3 miles away and the main, and very large UPS distribution center here in the Cincinnati area that is about 10 miles away.
For small stuff, it isn't worth going to the large UPS center and, depending on the size of the package, I'll mail either USPS or via the small UPS store: the two are only about 500 feet from each other so I can easily compare prices.
For expensive items with insurance, I go to the large UPS center: Two items of comparison: $62 at the local UPS center and $29 at the large UPS center. $31 at the local UPS and $18 at the large UPS center. Insurance is a big factor in shipping in these prices as both items were insured. It appears the more insurance, the more the 'local UPS' charges.
Everyone won't have the convenience of a UPS distribution center being in your town or close to your residence but those who do, can take advantage of it. I imagine the fedex is the same way.
Engineer-Joe posted:Yes, I get in arguments with buyers over this. They think I'm making profit on the shipping?
It just cost me $30 to ship an engine to Georgia. Some buyers feel it should be $10 or less???
Those buyers are living in a fantasy world if they're expecting THAT! Shipping has cost more than THAT for years!
So when you see shipping included in a price, stop and think what they're offering!
Yep, it makes a difference. Especially when shipping locomotives or large quantities of heavy rolling stock (Brass passenger cars come to mind).
samparfitt posted:Going to the main UPS distribution center saves over a local 'outlet' that handles UPS packages.
Your distribution center has a counter to pay for your shipment? Or, you choose this option while printing your labels at home, and paying then?
Matt
On Tuesday I shipped a set of MTH F3's two powered and two dummy's from the Chicago suburbs to El Paso TX. Weight was 19.1 lbs. Shipping charge for 3-day ground was $59.73. That included $6.00 for $600 insurance coverage.
