Jeff Keller wrote:
>It's not uncommon for Adorama, B&H and KEH to charge about $15 to send
>anything (within the U.S.).
>
UPS 3 day shipping charge for a $37 filter to the US is $4.45 from B&H.
> If you talk to them on the phone and ask that
>they send it cheap, they usually will. If you don't ask you can get a
>surprise. I think a lot of the internet/mail order businesses are set up to
>automatically charge a minimum shipping charge, unless you ask, and its
>safest to ask before you commit to buy it. I've got several things from
>Henry's. Probably the shipping charges were a little higher than from the
>other stores, but not very much. I'm very cautious about buying an
>inexpensive item from any of them. Besides the shipping charges they seem
>more error prone with small items ... anybody want to buy a T-mount
>described as a vivitar series 1 T-mount (but clearly isn't)? how about a
>T-cord that seems to fit a 310 flash rather than a T flash? The actual
>packing seems to be hit and miss also.
>
None of this has been my experience with B&H except for a minimum
shipping charge even for very small, light items, as above. I just
accumulate such things on my wish list until I buy something more. it
makes sense to me that their internal and external costs are the same
for 1 oz. or 1 lb.
>They've split my order and I've
>received film in a large cardboard box packed with peanuts that could have
>held an OM and half a dozen lenses (no extra charge for two shipments). I
>don't think the "collecting the money for shipping" is tied very closely to
>the actual shipping.
>
I had this happen with B&H recently to a comical extent. Two of those
tiny 1/4-3/8 tripod thread adapters that fit inside the 3/8 threaded
hole were shipped by themselves in a big UPS envelope and all the
bigger, more expensive stuff was in another box. The reason? Check the
packages; they came from different addressses. This happens a lot with
Amazon too. Different lines of product are warehoused in different
places. As you say, they don't charge for their extra costs of multiple
shipments.
>It seems the big guys don't do all that great of job taking care of the
>small details.
>
Right, that's why they are still in business. Individuals tend to
misunderstand the cost structure of warehousing, handling and shipping.
I was in the PO a few days ago and watched a guy with maybe 10-12
packages from a business waiting in line for 15 minutes while I was
there and he was there when I got there. Consider his wages and benes
(if any) for maybe an hour round trip and vehicle costs and you see why
so many businesses only ship UPS and/or Fedex. They negotiate volume
rates, come pick the stuff up and you can charge the customer less than
if you fully costed taking stuff to the PO. Billing is simpler too,
which lowers your costs, and their tracking systems are good.
>Sorry to hear you had to pay so much for the lens hood.
>
Yeah, that's a bummer. You need to get that straight before commiting.
Moose
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