I just had to order a new spring for the cutterhead guard on my Jointer. The spring is $1 and the shipping and handling is $6.95. I know that there are shipping costs the company incur besides the actual shipping (packaging, shipping personnel's wages, etc.), but come on, $7 shipping for a $1 spring that has to weigh maybe .001 lbs if that.
I'm not really complaining. It doesn't bother me that much, but its
180 degrees from my experience with Triton 2 days ago.
Do you really think that covers the cost? I'd be that processing and shipping your order is closer to $30 to $50. Take the time to take the information over the phone. Type up and order, print it out on forms going to shipping. Pick the order in the warehouse. Box it. Make out the UPS or USPS label and stamp.
Instead of complaining, be grateful you got away so cheap. I buy parts to maintain our machinery. If the spring is proprietary it would probably sell for $15 or more with a $50 minimum order. I can give you hundred of examples like that. Sorry, we don't sell the 50¢ seal, you have to buy a new assembly for $125. And on and on.
Next time check the springs at the hardware store. You might get lucky. OTOH, it will be a while because at that price you bought two didn't you?
Weight plays an insignifcant role in the cost equation when it's less than some number. The weight could likely increase by an order of magnitude w/o affecting the $6.95 charge. Think about it that way - a 10x increase and it's still *only* $6.95. :)
I'll bet it has something to do with the mindset of a low-margin company.
Chuck, To be honest, see if you can ship it to them cheaper. Including the box. This does not mean USPS, but UPS or FedEx. No company that wants to stay in business can ship USPS (Postal). Even though it is cheaper, the lost packages and poor service will kill them from a customer relation standpoint. Even the smallest of companies refuse to ship USPS; same reason that UPS and FedEx overcame USPS, which had a monopoly on shipping.
Only company that I know of that still ships USPS is Amazon and other book / media vendors, that ship at the media rate.
If I offended any USPS employees on the list, GOOD , you all deserve it.
Like Kramer said, "If it wasn't for JUNK mail, the postal system would be out of business.
If I were you, I would of found something else to purchase along with it. Given their rates, you could of picked up something else along with it.
I don't think your argument holds water, unless you are so busy that all your people are working 24/7. As an existing Grizzly customer all his information is already on file, in fact I think his file automatically opens on caller id. As soon as the clerk enters the data into the computer it automatically routes to the appropriate warehouse and may even be automatically filled. You aren't dealing with brain surgeons, mainly people on minimum wage, sure the systems were an investment but more than justified by returns.
With you attitude to your customers I hope you aren't one who complains about outsourcing or cheap imports.
Well, I doubt UPS will pick up, process and deliver the spring to your door for a quarter. What I would do is buy something else at the same time (there is ALWAYS something you need from the Grizzly catalog) and you get the spring shipped free!
Look at it this way, if enough people complained about this very problem (to any company, not to pick on Grizzly), what would they do? Offer free shipping and eat the costs? Hell no. The spring would magically be $10 so the shipping fee would be less irritating.
I did read your triton post the other day. I think they may be bending over backwards to build up their customer base. I any case, I'm glad you're happy with it.
I worked for a large wholesale/retail company a few years back. Their average invoice cost them $50 to process. As far as people not being busy all the time, well, yes they were, If you had time to stand around, they did not need you! All the invoices and billing were done on computer too. Someone still has to walk out to the warehouse, pick the item, pakage it, stick on the label and make sure it gets out. Don't forget that all those items don't appear on the warehouse shelves magically either! Someone ordered them, someone stocked the shelves too. also don't forget that most likely every invoice gets handled twice. The second time is to vaify that it was 100% filled and shipped. Backorders or short items have to be rebilled at a later date.
When I worked for this company I was paid salary, told I was expected to work at least 40 hours, but no more than 45 hours a week. After working
60-70 hours a week for three years and getting more and more crap laid on me I bailed out and got differant employment. I still have friends that work there and nothing has changed!.
Sorry but I am with Ed on this. Grizzly lost money on that $1 part. The OP should be glad the minimum order was not $50-$100 like it is with allot of business'! Greg
When I left the UK 4 years ago 1st class letter mail cost about 25c and had next day delivery anywhere in the UK, including Ireland, Scotland and the outlying inslands, parcel post was pretty much the same and this is delivered into your front door. It was very very unusual if an order wasn't received the next day and virtually unheard of for it to take over two.
My argument holds plenty of water. You may be correct about the automation. Great. That mean less people are needed, but not necessarily less expense. Ever price out a system to do all that you mentioned? It was not a free download of software running on a Commodore 64. It may be tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Small businesses can get away with QuickBooks, but the cost of some software is so high it is leased, not bought.
A minimum wage earner probably cost the company about $25 an hour to keep. That is 42¢ a minute. The spring sold for $1.00 plus about $7 S&H. Subtract the actual cost of the spring, carton, packing material, postage. Lets arbitrarily say that comes to $4.00, so $4 is let on the table. That leaves less than 10 minutes for the operator doing data entry, picking up the paperwork, pulling the order from stock, packing it, getting it to the shipping station. Wow, them bastards are making a fortune on this order, eh?
What is your problem with my attitude towards my customers? We treat them well, deliver good product, on time. The rare quality problem is fixed immediately. Four of our largest customers have us doing regional shipping of product we make for them They have others around the country doing the same. They consistently use us as the example of how they want their other suppliers to handle their customers for them. It comes down to attitude. We, as a team, do what is best for them. Instead of billing a $25 item, I'll often ship it NC. Why? Two reasons. It is good customer relations, but it is cheaper for us to give it away than to process the paperwork. Ed snipped-for-privacy@snet.net
This aint't the UK. The USPS isn't reliable enough for business in the USA.
I calculated on UPS's web site what they would charge to ship to my address in MD from Muncy PA assuming the smallest packaging and pick up at the muncy location.....$4.95. So they only had $2.00 S&H.....They only charged you a buck for the part. By the time they procured, stocked and inventoried it they didn't make to much on it. I think you got a deal and should be greatfull they would go thru the trouble of stocking every part for their stuff so inexpensivly. Call Delta and ask them for a spring to their jointer and see what they would charge for it.....
Actually I pretty much agree with you Ed. I'm a headhunter and our client base is mostly distributors so I have seen first hand what companies need to do to spread their fixed and variable costs over every order. Its not easy in today's economy. As I mentioned, I really wasn't complaining, I just thought it was a polar opposite of my experience the other day with Triton.
I know if I went to a hardware store, (we still have a couple of good ones in Hershey, PA) I would have to spend a lot of time trying to find a spring that probably wouldn't fit quite right anyway.
In any regard, thanks for the discourse. In a side note, I have really appreciated your posts on the rec.
"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in news:C5xfc.22638$ snipped-for-privacy@nwrdny01.gnilink.net:
This is the experience I had with Dremel the other day. I lost the adapter for my flex-shaft and couldn't even find it in the catalog - I emailed them to ask what the part # was and they wrote back and gave me the part # and told me that if that was all I needed, they would send one out for free and I didn't even have to pay shipping. It was sent boxed, with a Dremel catalog.
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