Sorry - I was taking all of that as a constant. I'd rather see the EFFECTIVE price, and pay the actual shipping.
Sort of like hotel reservations over the Internet - sure, some discount company may offer the lowest price, but with service fees it's often cheaper to call the hotel directly.

wrote:
I agree, cost is cost, shipping is shipping. Never 'shipping and handling'.
If a company doesn't want to 'handle' my order, there are others that do.

You pay for the handling one way or another -- either as a separate fee (like
Harbor Freight), or as combined "shipping and handling", or in the form of
higher prices.

All other things (such as delivery schedules, return policies, etc) being
equal, the only thing that matters is the total price. How it's broken out
should make no difference.