"Larry Bud" wrote in message
oups.com...

Percival P. Cassidy wrote:
Shipping and handling charges are often a racket anyway. Seversl years
ago we ordered (by phone, not on line) a replacement stirrer for a
Hitachi bread machine. The S&H charge was $6 or $7, but the part came by
US Mail in a padded bag with a 57c. stamp.

Do you think monkeys are hired to process the order and ship it and
that Hitachi gets the padded envelope for free?


Truth is, YES most of them are monkeys... And secondly, all the handling and
stuff is part of your normal markup and cost of doing business...
When I get a request for quote to a customer, it cost me time and money to
prepare it, and nothing tells me I will get the job, and there is raerely a
cost associated to the potential customer for it.. However that time/money
and effort is calculated into my price, and not added as a handling/quoting
charge.
They choose to be an online business, they know they will need to factor in
the labor fees for the people/materials to prepare/pack and ship the
items... However as someone said before, they try to make it look like they
are giving you a sweet deal, and then they nail you on the handling fees
(which is thier real profit/markup), which they could have easily put in the
price, but that would make them look uncompetitive to the search engines..


But I agree, that buying stuff, an not checking what the TOTAL cost you will
be paying, is outright ridiculous... Everything plays a roll in your final
price.. Shipping, handling, taxes, and any duties/brokerage if it is an
international order like for canadians... I rarely continue an online
checkout if I can't get a shipping/handling charge amount before I enter my
personal info. There is too much competition out there to bother dealing
with the ridicuous systems out there...

For large orders, I will frequently place orders online from the
neighbouring province, sincely because I can save an extra 7% provincial
tax, which they don't have to charge me...And for orders accross the border,
I will frequently insist on USPS instead of UPs, simply because UPS insists
on charging some criminal brokerage fees, which Fedex and USPS include in
thier shipping fees. Even my ISP is in a different province, and it saves
me an extra $5/month... hey why not save it, if it is not causing me any
inconvenience to do so.

L8r..