I do a lot of mail order or internet shopping, and there are VERY few companies out there that do not charge for shipping and handling. The handling part is what pisses me off. I’ve dealt with places where the item I was ordering had a small price on it, and the friggin’ handling charge was more than the item. Postage, I’ll accept…although why not just include that in the price? Here’s my beef with the handling. A website has no brick and mortar building. It is mail order only. You order a box of shore line. Mary takes your call, writes up the order, and passes the order to Slim. Slim trots to the back room, finds the shore line, and gives it to Mel, who wraps it and sends it out. Now, don’t these morons get a paycheck at the end of the week? Why the fuck am I paying for their handling? It’s their job, ain’t it? Is this a scam to get more money for the item? WTF?
It’s so they can advertise a deceptively low price for the merchandise. Pretty straightforward really.
It’s a legitimate cost, although it’s up to the business whether to break it out as a separate charge. It has the advantage of discouraging customers from doing things like ordering five bolts at twenty-five cents each. You can do it but you will pay for the overhead in processing the order. An alternative is to specify a minimum order value.
Exactly. The price is low because they make it up on the backend.
Know those “free” CD’s that idiot will send you to learn Windows or Quicken, et al? Do you really think it costs $5 to ship a cd? AOL would have been broke long ago if it cost that much to “ship and handle” a mass-produced CD. I’ve taken the advice of another Doper and use them as free coasters.
I hear (ahem) that if you buy enough merchandise from one website, they’ll send you free shipping/handling certificates online. Aside from that, if a $15/hour rep is taking your order, processing your credit card, etc. it takes them 5 minutes or so. And that would be… turns calculator on… um, around $1.25. If it’s anymore than that in handling charges, you’re paying for their Christmas party and the CEO’s annual bonus.
$5 to get something. You think you are being robbed?
Try running to the store with two kids to buckle into their car seats. You know, your precious children that are wonderful but suddenly become stiff and boardlike when it is time to strap them in. Remember to take a diaper bag with snacks, get to the store, attempt to duct tape kids into the cart, get that one farking item before your precious progeny start doing their Spruce Goose imitations and knock things off the shelf, make it to the check out lane where you will be behind the most retarded person who is checkin out the only item left in the store that has no similar item like it and no price tag and this check out will be done by the world’s most slowest check out girl. Somewhere between check out, you will buy $50 extra’s worth of goodies that were on sale that you don’t need or will sock away for future gifts for holidays that you will forget about and end up buying too much for Aunt Edna, whom you secretly hate. The kids melt down, you have to pee and the line is 10 haggarded women deep. You get to the car, drive back home where the kids have a power nap and are fresh and alert to resume kid like activities and you are exhausted and have 10 more hours before your husband comes home, usually after the kids are in bed.
Five dollars S&H to never deal with the hassle?
Worth every penny.
What she said, only instead of kids (mine are grown), add in that this must be done between the several classes I teach, my “real” job, helping my sister at the barn, and taking care of my home.
Five bucks is NOTHING for this luxury.
Yeah, but it this occured to me: prices online are usually the same as in a traditional bricks and mortar store (I’m thinking something like Gap online, not like a super discounted online-only electronics retailer). Factored into the costs of goods for something you buy in a store are overhead costs for the building, keeping sales clerks employed even during slow periods, attractive racks, the warehouse to hold the goods before they’re shipped to the stores, marketing materials for sales, etc.
Contrast this with a online purchase. You pay the full-price for the item plus the cost of shipping and the cost of handling. The retailer is spending muchless money and yet you pay more. Huh, looking at it this way, online shoppng is a rip. You should pay less for buying online, not more…
I used to work in a warehoue, I purchased product we sold, I entered the order, pulled and packed the order and took it home with me. I still had to pay the the shipping and handling fee. I guess i paid for my time to do this. I just wish I got paid that for real. $7.00 for 10 minutes of time so that would be $42.00 an hour. i didn’t make anywhere near that.
In my Ebay store it says (many, many times) that domestic shipping is free and I put that in every listing but I still get e-mail from shell shocked buyers wanting to know about the S&H charges, the “handling charge” thing pisses me off when I buy so I don’t do it when I sell. And since I can’t advertise here you will have to search for “unclviny” to find my store.
Unclviny
Oh for fuck sake. If you don’t like it, take your business elsewhere or get off your ass and buy it in a regular store.
Haj
Handling is a bullshit charge invented to dupe the ignorant. Every business has overhead; to charge for the cost of putting an item in a box makes about as much sense as charging for your electric bill or your rent or your office furniture. I also refuse to charge handling on my eBay sales, and I won’t buy from any eBay seller who lists handling charges, just on principle.
I completely thought this thread was going to be about prostitutes. :smack:
Think about it.
When I sell stuff on eBay, I build handling charges into my listing price to cover the cost of packaging (bubble wrap costs money, for instance).
But I also refer to my shipping charges as “shipping and handling” fees for one reason: I don’t want someone bitching and complaining because they paid $4.00 to ship something and then got the box and found out that it only cost $3.95 to ship. There are people out there who will give negative feedback over absolutely anything.
It doesn’t really matter if it they call it a handling charge or not…you’re gonna pay for it somewhere if you order.
I always compute whether product + tax is cheaper than product + shipping when determining whether I order in a store or online. Most of the time, product + shipping is much cheaper.
Yeah, I do that too and you’re right. But looking at it from the store’s perspective, they don’t care about tax. So they’re probably thrilled that you’ve decided to buy online.
Don’t get me wrong; I love online shopping. The UPS man knowws exactly where to leave my packages and the mailman always parks by my complex (it’s a walking route) because I get so many packages. But, truthfully, I’d never thought about how profitable online sales are for retailers before. I think Amazon has the right idea, free shipping. It’s made me much more inclined to make impulse buys instead of saving up for one big order to save on shipping.
Also, when you return an item, shipping and handling is NEVER refunded, thus ensuring that they will make at least a little moola no matter how big a piece of crap the item is.
Personally, I think that sales clerks with attractive racks are worth every extra dollar they may cost.
I won’t buy from any eBay seller who won’t list upfront what the fees are. I make my bidding decisions based on the item cost plus the shipping and handling, and I don’t trust sellers who won’t disclose shipping terms until after the bidding is closed.
Packaging materials and trips to the post office do cost money, and I don’t begrudge anyone their shipping fees if I know what they are beforehand. That way, if I feel they’re too high I just don’t make the purchase.
Most of the time I sell books, postcards, and ephemera on eBay, and I give customers free shipping. When I list something that will require a shipping fee, my auctions explicity list the item’s shipping weight and include either a shipping calculator or a flat shipping fee as part of the auction. No surprises.
Amen.
It’s totally a B.S. charge.
How’d you like to go to the store to buy a t.v. and be told at the register:
“Oh, there’s also $5 for handling.”
“Handling? What handling?”
“We have to pay Bob you know.”
“Who’s Bob?”
“He’s the guy that took it off the top shelf and brought it up here.”
I also feel the same way about “processing” fees at car dealers.
If only there was some way to avoid buying something from a particular vendor because you don’t like what they are charging.