Shipping Charges

[Porthos]

I live in the greater Los Angeles area and have many choices of where to shop. I don't have a clue what it is like to have a need to do on-line shopping for most of what I want and need.

 

That being said I went to webstaurantstore.com looking for a small inexpensive "saucieer" pan. I have a 3 qt Vollrath that I am quite happy with. There are times when I don't need that capacity and I have several pans crowded on the stove so I thought a smaller pan for occasional use would be handy. I found this no-name http://www.webstaurantstore.com/1-25-qt-non-stick-aluminum-saucier/922SF7S.html (that looks suspiciously like a Volllrath) for $10 bucks I was happy.   I was not so happy when I saw that they wanted $15 bucks to ship it. Is this an average charge with me just being my typical cheapskate self?  Inquiring minds want to know ...

[palo]

Is that a minimum shipping charge or was that based on total amt of order. Often they have a sliding scale based on weight or order total. The more you buy the cheaper the shipping.

 

In Canada we get hit with a double whammy - taxes and possibly duty.

 

p

[Lisa Shock]

Postal service shipping rates went up recently. If the item & box weigh more than 2 pounds that's about right. Big shippers do get discounts over the retail rates, and some places fold shipping costs into their pricing to entice customers. (giving a false perception of the costs involved) But, if they're old school and charge about what it actually costs, that's accurate.

[Porthos]

36 minutes ago, Lisa Shock said:

Postal service shipping rates went up recently.

 

That is why I stopped trying to sell, on ebay, the cast iron pans I had been restoring.

 

39 minutes ago, Lisa Shock said:

...  places fold shipping costs into their pricing to entice customers. (giving a false perception of the costs involved) ...

 

When I first started using ebay to acquire used hotel pans, CAMBRO stuff and other such there was (to me) an unscrupulous seller that placed everything starting at $0.99. Because of the way I was bidding I factored shipping into my maximum bid. I never once bid on this seller's stuff because the shipping charges bore no resemblance to the costs of shipping and handling back then.

[Alex]

There's such variation in the basis and amount of the shipping charge, shopping around is usually your best strategy. As palo said, some places base it on weight, some on price. Some have free or fixed shipping no matter what, some with a particular minimum purchase, some with a coupon. I always check coupon/sale information sites like retailmenot, flamingoworld, and rather-be-shopping. I also recommend registering at eBates.

[EMichels]

I purchase almost everything on-line and am a satisfied customer of Webstaurant Store (despite the shipping charges). I think what you are seeing with Webstaurant Store is merely a difference in customer segmentation. They are quite clearly focused on a restaurant/institutional base who is likely to be ordering in bulk and for whom unit cost really makes a difference. Therefore, they charge something much more closely approximating actual shipping and handling fees on their orders. A consumer focused site, on the other hand, has found that consumers react negatively to that additional cost and will instead price the item to include much or all of the shipping cost so as to offer "free shipping". That would explain why Webstaurant Store typically has better unit prices on similar items than someone like Amazon. Where that model doesn't work, as you've noted, is if you want to order only one item. However, if you were in the market for 10 saucier pans (as a restaurant might be), it really works well that each unit is priced $5 lower and they charge you a consolidated shipping fee of $18. I still order from Webstaurant Store but I stock up when I do.

[Martin Fisher]

Yeah, I've ordered a heck of a lot from webstaurantstore.com.

Shipping for one small item will often seem unreasonable but the shipping (usually) changes little and is much more reasonable, on average, as you add more products (unless it's something huge, etc.)

As an example..... for the same pan you want to order....they'd charge me $13.16 to ship one pan...but the shipping for 5 of the same pan is only $15.04....10 of the same pan $16.29.

[dscheidt]

There is no such thing as free shipping.  You either pay for it in the price of goods, or you pay for it as shipping.  WebstaurantStore's shipping charges track pretty closely with what I expect their actual costs to ship stuff via fed ex ground are.  I've run into some oddnesses, though, where I had something that when I added it to the order's shipping to go down.  Find some other stuff you need (tongs?  mixing bowls?  cmabros? Conveyor toaster?), which will reduce the per item shipping cost. 

 

 

[rancho_gordo]

As a web retailer, it's a nightmare. 

We're constantly working it on it. We've met with Fedex and apparently we are about right with west coast shipments and losing a lot for back east. On the whole, we are losing. 

The hard part is someone comes and wants to order one pound of beans. the cost of processing the order, packing it and then shipping it makes it ridiculous. I understand wanting to just dip your toes in the water to see if you like the product but one pound means we suffer greatly. 

We have a flat rate for east and west coast and then free shipping over $75. I know a lot of people get a group order together and that's great. 

If you have suggestions, I'm all ears. 
The other problem is we'll process the order, get an estimate from the shipper and the final bill will have a "fuel surcharge" and it's way over what we've charged. 
It's a problem but it's still cheaper than a brick and mortar store. 

[GlorifiedRice]

On 3/2/2017 at 9:13 PM, dscheidt said:

There is no such thing as free shipping.  You either pay for it in the price of goods, or you pay for it as shipping.  WebstaurantStore's shipping charges track pretty closely with what I expect their actual costs to ship stuff via fed ex ground are.  I've run into some oddnesses, though, where I had something that when I added it to the order's shipping to go down.  Find some other stuff you need (tongs?  mixing bowls?  cmabros? Conveyor toaster?), which will reduce the per item shipping cost. 

 

 

 

Years ago I bought a 25,000 BTU Heavy Duty window a/c on Amazon with free super saver shipping.

$250

The thing is 136 pounds.

Today its being sold with Prime, for $655.00

I believe in free shipping.

[Smithy]

13 hours ago, rancho_gordo said:

As a web retailer, it's a nightmare. 

We're constantly working it on it. We've met with Fedex and apparently we are about right with west coast shipments and losing a lot for back east. On the whole, we are losing. 

The hard part is someone comes and wants to order one pound of beans. the cost of processing the order, packing it and then shipping it makes it ridiculous. I understand wanting to just dip your toes in the water to see if you like the product but one pound means we suffer greatly. 

We have a flat rate for east and west coast and then free shipping over $75. I know a lot of people get a group order together and that's great. 

If you have suggestions, I'm all ears. 
The other problem is we'll process the order, get an estimate from the shipper and the final bill will have a "fuel surcharge" and it's way over what we've charged. 
It's a problem but it's still cheaper than a brick and mortar store. 

 

Thanks for this insider's perspective. I have ordered from web retailers and winced at the shipping, but not understood the ins and outs of it.  One retailer for a cheese I adore has such prohibitively high shipping costs that I simply have to wait until I can buy from them in person, once or twice a year. In their case the need for insulated cold-pack packaging and 1- or 2-day delivery (I forget which, but they said it's dictated by Health Dept. regulations) makes out-of-state shipment prices astronomical. 

[kayb]

14 hours ago, rancho_gordo said:

As a web retailer, it's a nightmare. 

We're constantly working it on it. We've met with Fedex and apparently we are about right with west coast shipments and losing a lot for back east. On the whole, we are losing. 

The hard part is someone comes and wants to order one pound of beans. the cost of processing the order, packing it and then shipping it makes it ridiculous. I understand wanting to just dip your toes in the water to see if you like the product but one pound means we suffer greatly. 

We have a flat rate for east and west coast and then free shipping over $75. I know a lot of people get a group order together and that's great. 

If you have suggestions, I'm all ears. 
The other problem is we'll process the order, get an estimate from the shipper and the final bill will have a "fuel surcharge" and it's way over what we've charged. 
It's a problem but it's still cheaper than a brick and mortar store. 

 

That makes sense. I try to order larger quantities when I order from y'all, although when I just did, it was only three pounds. And just out of curiosity, have you recently gone up on shipping rates? I didn't recall them being that high last time I ordered. Still well worth the price, particularly as I contemplated making that soup only to find I had no black beans...

[chefmd]

14 hours ago, rancho_gordo said:

As a web retailer, it's a nightmare. 

We're constantly working it on it. We've met with Fedex and apparently we are about right with west coast shipments and losing a lot for back east. On the whole, we are losing. 

The hard part is someone comes and wants to order one pound of beans. the cost of processing the order, packing it and then shipping it makes it ridiculous. I understand wanting to just dip your toes in the water to see if you like the product but one pound means we suffer greatly. 

We have a flat rate for east and west coast and then free shipping over $75. I know a lot of people get a group order together and that's great. 

If you have suggestions, I'm all ears. 
The other problem is we'll process the order, get an estimate from the shipper and the final bill will have a "fuel surcharge" and it's way over what we've charged. 
It's a problem but it's still cheaper than a brick and mortar store. 

I immensely enjoy going to your store in Napa every time we go to wine country.  Buy as much as we can plausibly enjoy before it goes bad.  Posole is my absolute favorite, worth the shipping charges if I run out (IMHO).

[pastrygirl]

I sell online a little bit and I set my website to charge just a little bit over the cost of USPS to cover the box, etc.  It probably does turn some people off, and I feel a little bad when someone pays as much for shipping as they do for product. 

[rancho_gordo]

5 hours ago, kayb said:

 

That makes sense. I try to order larger quantities when I order from y'all, although when I just did, it was only three pounds. And just out of curiosity, have you recently gone up on shipping rates? I didn't recall them being that high last time I ordered. Still well worth the price, particularly as I contemplated making that soup only to find I had no black beans...

 

No, it's been years the same. We started free shipping last year I think. 

The upside is we're available in a lot more retailers across the country. But then sometimes the markup is a little nuts. 

[rancho_gordo]

3 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

I sell online a little bit and I set my website to charge just a little bit over the cost of USPS to cover the box, etc.  It probably does turn some people off, and I feel a little bad when someone pays as much for shipping as they do for product. 

 

We get that sometimes. 
I'd love to have a lower price to ship one pound but we'd go broke with one pound orders. 

[Franci]

I often buy from Webstaurant store for business. Since I have storage constraints I cannot buy in  bulk as much as I'd like. But I often find myself playing with my orders. For example the rate for shipping for 1000 half sheet parchment makes the whole price  much more expensive than buying 10, 100 sheets at a time. So, yes, I often play around with my orders trying to minimize my shipping costs.

And if you start talking about delivery costs for small businesses in same area. Nightmare! One of my main concerns.