I'd like to have a rant about the cost of shipping

Brothers of Briar

Help Support Brothers of Briar:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
A

Anonymous

Guest
But all it would be is 500 words or so of total anger with lots of words starting with F and C and B.

Just pretend I said it all.
 
One of the best rants I've ever read.

The "fill in the blank" format leaves a lot of room for venting with minimal guidelines.

Ingenious.  :lol!:
 
what were you shipping, how much did it weigh, from where to where and how much were you charged that you are so worked up about?  I doubt any of the vendors here are staying in business by jacking up the shipping.
 
Would you believe that I can't complain about this subject?
If they don't have decent shipping rates or FREE shipping, I don't purchase from them.  ;) 
 
@ Hermit and Bullwinkle. To avoid import duty on tobacco, which would run to $25 a tin, I keep orders small. Nothing illegal about that before anyone gets upset, so long as the product is declared on the package, and all reputable vendors do that. It is not my responsibility to make sure customs gets their full share. So I try to keep it under 300g. Defeats me how sending that small a weight should cost around the 20 buck mark.

My issue this time tho was I can't get a Mr Brog pipe sent to me here in Oz via their Amazon store. Amazon would get me free shipping. If I use ebay, which I hate, shipping will again cost me around 20 bucks.

My wife gets books weighting KILOGRAMS sent around the planet FREE via Amazon but a pipe weighing not much more than a feather will cost me nearly its own value in postage bought on ebay.

I have other issues with USPS besides cost, (how the US ever became a superpower if that's the mail service they  create is beyond me) but that would also take me into some foul language.

@mark. TY Sir. Last night I was pretty angry. I had spent over an hour looking at the Brog shop on Amazon. To not be able to check out was infuriating. Then to see the postage prices at their ebay shop.....

I'd like to try a Mr Brog pipe but the fact is that if I can get a Euro made briar thrown into my tobacco relief  package from my US vendor, for less than the cost of the MrB delivered, then it's a no brainer.

@cart. Well you have the luxury of living in a society that has yet to crush you under the heel of sin taxes. Enjoy it while you can because nothing is more certain than death and taxes. I note that some US residents are not so lucky as yourself. If it were practical for me to buy locally and not pay excessive taxes and postage: I would. I might be angry but I'm not stupid.
 
JCB, Do yourself a favor and don't waste your money on a Mr. Brog pipe.
I don't see a quality pipe in them. That's just my opinion.
There certainly must be others out there that you can afford to buy that
will bring you just as much if not more pleasure in smoking.
 
I can attest to the idiocy of shipping rates. It's not just overseas shipping either. I don't know the current rates but over a decade ago I hauled Dell computers out of Tennessee up to Chicago UPS.
At the time dell charged $37 US per PC for shipping. We averaged 1950 pcs per truck, from production to delivery site. That's over $72,000 per truck load , year 2000 dollars at that. Averitt charged something like $1200.. Even if UPS charged $20 per package (which I doubt they did with the volume shipped) that still pocketed Dell an extra $30,000 or so per truck load.

I import out of China all the time for $1-2 per package. IF I have to import from the EU/other Asian nations/etc the shipping is often more than the products value.

Heaven help you if you purchase a book from the UK. ouch!!!!
 
cart. Although I'm a stingy old B I am not so troubled by the cost of a pipe. My objection is a matter of principle. Firstly, I just don't get why there is an effective 20 dollar difference between MrB on their Amazon vs their ebay shop. Secondly, it annoys the heck out of me that Amazon will not allow pipe sales to Australia. American lovers of tobaccos like Condor Long Cut will understand my frustration.  As an ironic point of interest, I went thru numerous trial checkouts of MrB pipes and the only one they would let me buy was a miniature pipe which common sense suggests is a hash pipe. I didn't ftr. Thirdly, I get why something that is large or heavy costs more. A pipe in a box in a jiffy bag sent via the post should cost a few dollars postage, tops. Anything else is gouging. Fourthly, USPS is just hopeless. I watch the tracking on my American packages and when the thing doesn't just disappear from tracking, it can spend over a week in a single sort facility. I don't expect next day delivery to Oz, but two weeks? That's just an organisation that doesn't work. Parcels from the UK take  half that time.

My interest in MrB was curiosity. But I will pass. Most likely I will buy an Italian pipe thru a UK vendor.

puros-bran. I once tried to buy a guitar in the US and the amount of postage was so high I seriously thought of asking someone I knew in the US to come visit me, bring the guitar, and I'd pay the fare one way. It really was that close. In the end I bought a guitar from a Chinese vendor and paid zero delivery cost. The amount of lost US exports must run into the billions.

I'm sorry I ended up ranting anyway. No one likes griping. But I had to get it off my chest.
 
JCB":4kan5vo9 said:
cart. Although I'm a stingy old B I am not so troubled by the cost of a pipe. My objection is a matter of principle. Firstly, I just don't get why there is an effective 20 dollar difference between MrB on their Amazon vs their ebay shop. Secondly, it annoys the heck out of me that Amazon will not allow pipe sales to Australia. American lovers of tobaccos like Condor Long Cut will understand my frustration.  As an ironic point of interest, I went thru numerous trial checkouts of MrB pipes and the only one they would let me buy was a miniature pipe which common sense suggests is a hash pipe. I didn't ftr. Thirdly, I get why something that is large or heavy costs more. A pipe in a box in a jiffy bag sent via the post should cost a few dollars postage, tops. Anything else is gouging. Fourthly, USPS is just hopeless. I watch the tracking on my American packages and when the thing doesn't just disappear from tracking, it can spend over a week in a single sort facility. I don't expect next day delivery to Oz, but two weeks? That's just an organisation that doesn't work. Parcels from the UK take  half that time.

My interest in MrB was curiosity. But I will pass. Most likely I will buy an Italian pipe thru a UK vendor.
Click to expand...
I understand your plight and agree, I don't like shipping rate gouging and as of late there seems to be a lot of it. American Greed, I won't have any part in it nor contribute to it.
I've seem many on eBay charging $25 to ship across the street and it doesn't stop there, a lot of online retailers are doing the same. I just put my foot down and won't pay it. If they want to charge such bend me over prices, they can charge someone else. Granted I may have a few more options then you do, thankfully. But, if people wouldn't pay it they wouldn't be able to charge it.
 
It's not local shipping for the most part....

MOST online retailers of goods have fairly cheap/ free shipping..

I'll chuck this out to blow your mind a little.   RL Allans will ship a box big enough to put a decently packed box holding a 10X8x2 bible to the US for free.   I know what that cost them, it's got to hurt..but they do the logical thing and just eat it to prevent needing to wholesale to retailers (they do have authorized retailers in the States) preferring to deal directly with the customer.      

I'll say it,   The world worst used to be C&D.  If you dealt with them direct it cost more per pound AND more for shipping than if you went to their retailers. I guess old man Tarler preferred not to be bothered with such.

As for the ebay shipping rates.  On some orders (local and international) it is greed. On others it's just ignorance of what it cost to ship, either on the seller or the buyers part.   Some sellers try to make you pay for the box, the tape, the ink pen to write with, gas money, 1/30th of a car payment.. Oh and don't forget the insurance and my time. I get paid $20 an hour at work and it take 2 hours to mail so add that in too.   Some buyers think all shipping should be free, there's a happy medium.     I've noticed "free shipping" rare/expensive books sell for significantly more money that "price + shipping" basically absorbing the shipping and still turning a profit off of the "I get free shipping" mindset.
 
Bullwinkle":i144v2ik said:
seems simple enough..  buy local.  
Click to expand...
You mean the local stores that taxes and ebay and Amazon and all the other US low tax internet tobacco and pipe vendors sent to the wall?

When I get my time machine working I might pick up some original
Three Nuns and Balkan Sobranie and Dobie's 4 Square too.  :lol: 
 
Top