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  #81  
Old 03-30-2018, 10:11 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry The Hammer View Post
I really hate being in Canada and being forced to order parts from the US

Placed an order with Ames for 2 tie-rods for my 69 Grand Prix,209.49 to my credit card.
Informed Ames no UPS shipping and was informed these could go postal,great!!
78.23 shipping charge on the card today.

bitch session over
Amen brother.It's cheaper to ship to a border town..if you can and pick it up.

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  #82  
Old 03-30-2018, 11:53 AM
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Originally Posted by gassman_67 View Post
Amen brother.It's cheaper to ship to a border town..if you can and pick it up.
And this proves that THIS problem is Canada Post.
Canada Post Rapes the consumers in Canada, even for items not made in Canada.

  #83  
Old 03-30-2018, 12:02 PM
Harry The Hammer Harry The Hammer is offline
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I also ordered a front-end rebuild kit off of E-slay,center-link,idler arm,ball joints,inner & outer tie-rods.

Going through the Global shipping program the total for shipping and customs charges is $39.04.total cost 232.77

I'll still get nailed with customs on Ames order at the border.

  #84  
Old 06-29-2018, 03:38 PM
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If you have parts delivered to a border town then have them installed there before you return to Canada. Just make sure you have no receipts on you before you head back and get to Customs. You just went over to the US side to visit friends.

Depending on the part's value sometimes there are no customs fees if decide to skip the above.

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  #85  
Old 06-29-2018, 05:40 PM
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Originally Posted by GT182 View Post
If you have parts delivered to a border town then have them installed there before you return to Canada. Just make sure you have no receipts on you before you head back and get to Customs. You just went over to the US side to visit friends.

Depending on the part's value sometimes there are no customs fees if decide to skip the above.
I have a buddy in Niagara Falls NY. It cost me virtually nothing to ship UPS standard ground to him, I swing across the border and pick it up. I get I have to pay import taxes,what ticks me off is Ames will ship only EXPEDIDTED to Canada, which triples the rate, not to mention UPS charges $50 just in brokerage fees. Ames does NOT offer economy service for some reason.

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  #86  
Old 06-30-2018, 09:31 PM
11th Indian 11th Indian is offline
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Box of lug nuts, $35... shipping $10, didn't fit ,(catalog said they would) $8 to send them back..... yeah would have been nice to be reimbursed, but that's another story all to itself.

  #87  
Old 01-14-2019, 09:39 PM
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Originally Posted by 11th Indian View Post
Box of lug nuts, $35... shipping $10, didn't fit ,(catalog said they would) $8 to send them back..... yeah would have been nice to be reimbursed, but that's another story all to itself.
same wit me ,i know i live in canada but 75 buck to ship small parts seem to be very high

  #88  
Old 01-15-2019, 09:21 AM
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Originally Posted by grd777 View Post
same wit me ,i know i live in canada but 75 buck to ship small parts seem to be very high
grd77, I apologize for the high shipping costs. Anytime a package goes across the border, shipping costs go up, and sadly this is nothing we can control. A lot of Canadian customers close enough will have their order shipped to a US location, and then drive across to pick the package up. This will save you quite a bit in regards to shipping. Thank you for your business!

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  #89  
Old 01-15-2019, 09:45 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gassman_67 View Post
I have a buddy in Niagara Falls NY. It cost me virtually nothing to ship UPS standard ground to him, I swing across the border and pick it up. I get I have to pay import taxes,what ticks me off is Ames will ship only EXPEDIDTED to Canada, which triples the rate, not to mention UPS charges $50 just in brokerage fees. Ames does NOT offer economy service for some reason.
gassman_67, we now offer three shipping options: UPS, USPS, and DHL. When placing an order, we will list these three options, and you will be able to choose what is most economical for you. We are doing our best to accommodate foreign orders, but as I said before, we cannot do anything about the higher shipping costs that entail when going to another country.

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  #90  
Old 01-15-2019, 10:18 AM
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That's great news, the fact was I could get UPS "standard" to a friend in NY, but you only offered "expedited" to Canada...which tripled the shipping cost, that was really my frustration.I buy from the like of Summit and Jegs, both have wicked...(if you can call shipping that) pricing on shipping, their checkout screen shows the shipping and duty and tax, so at time of delivery, it's all paid for.

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  #91  
Old 01-21-2019, 08:26 PM
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That is good news, I try to support the smaller more targeted business'. I dont even mind paying a little extra. It was hard when that difference proved to be large compared with Summit.

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  #92  
Old 01-25-2019, 11:29 AM
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I don't know why Ames won't make a better effort ...

I am Canadian but I go to Upstate NY to pick up my parts. In comparison,
I ordered a HD stainless rivet squeezer from another company (10 pounds bigger box) $300 from Oscoda, MI*... expedited post = $3.89
Ames, tail light gaskets - <1pound $60 =$14 expedited UPS
Both orders where done on the same day, so I only had to drive to the border once. I called Ames to see if there was anything to do about the shipping cost, cold. Add %40 for my Canadian dollar


Too bad makes me plan my purchase based on shipping cost
Regards

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  #93  
Old 01-25-2019, 11:48 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MecGen View Post
I don't know why Ames won't make a better effort ...

I am Canadian but I go to Upstate NY to pick up my parts. In comparison,
I ordered a HD stainless rivet squeezer from another company (10 pounds bigger box) $300 from Oscoda, MI*... expedited post = $3.89
Ames, tail light gaskets - <1pound $60 =$14 expedited UPS
Both orders where done on the same day, so I only had to drive to the border once. I called Ames to see if there was anything to do about the shipping cost, cold. Add %40 for my Canadian dollar


Too bad makes me plan my purchase based on shipping cost
Regards

Sent from my SM-T590 using Tapatalk
MecGen, I apologize for your frustration. Our base shipping goes by the total of the order. In this case at $60.00, your shipping charge worked out to be $14.00. We are making every effort to provide our customers with different shipping options, in order to give you the choice of which is most economical for you. In the future you can ask for USPS, which works out to be cheaper in some cases. I apologize if this option was not given to you when you inquired. Although our shipping charges might be more than some of our large multi-brand competitors, we try to make up for it with competitive prices and superior customer support. Thank you for your business!

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  #94  
Old 01-25-2019, 01:04 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AMES-TECH View Post
MecGen, I apologize for your frustration. Our base shipping goes by the total of the order. In this case at $60.00, your shipping charge worked out to be $14.00. We are making every effort to provide our customers with different shipping options, in order to give you the choice of which is most economical for you. In the future you can ask for USPS, which works out to be cheaper in some cases. I apologize if this option was not given to you when you inquired. Although our shipping charges might be more than some of our large multi-brand competitors, we try to make up for it with competitive prices and superior customer support. Thank you for your business!
I have never understood the logic behind a % charge of total for shipping. It makes absolutely no sense at all in calculating what REAL shipping cost of an item is . If I am ordering some large and heavy item I should be charged more even if that part is 1/2 the cost of a gauge cluster I may be purchasing.. The cost of insurance is a different story as that has to be calculated by value of item. Is this why you calculate your shipping by total amount??

  #95  
Old 01-25-2019, 01:42 PM
wbnapier wbnapier is offline
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The "excess" shipping fees are meant to minimize losses on these small orders.

Order: $60 at an approximate gross margin of 40% = $24 (COGS = $36)

Shipping fee: +$14 ($24+$14 = $38)

Less shipping cost: -$10 ($38-$10 - $28)

Less Packaging Cost: -$2 ($28-$2 = $26)

Labor: Purchase, receive, stock, manage inventory, take sales order, pick, pack, and ship the order.

In a large warehouse, with randomly sized items and high pallet racking, how many orders can one warehouse worker pick, pack, and ship a day? In my experience, 10-20 depending on various factors. This doesn't include receiving, stocking, cycle counts, etc... performed by others. His payroll cost (wage, tax, insurance, etc.) is probably $20+ / hour. Divide that by the number of orders he can handle in an 8 hour shift.

We haven't even touched fixed overhead.

Does Ames make money on a $60 order? Doubtful. Even if the margin is 60%, it looks like a loser all day.

Maybe they can try a discount carrier or USPS cheapo service? NO WAY. It ends up being more expensive on the back side with missing orders, damaged orders, etc... They need to use UPS or Fedex and pay a premium to make it work.

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  #96  
Old 01-25-2019, 02:30 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wbnapier View Post
Labor: Purchase, receive, stock, manage inventory, take sales order, pick, pack, and ship the order.

We haven't even touched fixed overhead.

Does Ames make money on a $60 order? Doubtful. Even if the margin is 60%, it looks like a loser all day.

Maybe they can try a discount carrier or USPS cheapo service? NO WAY. It ends up being more expensive on the back side with missing orders, damaged orders, etc... They need to use UPS or Fedex and pay a premium to make it work.
This is a pretty good analysis. When the internet exploded, to get the consumer to buy online, you have to offer something. Better price? Yes, and then someone comes up with the idea of FREE Shipping! Well that has spread like wildfire. It's now a massive standard in the industry. We have come to expect free shipping.

So now you have all these giant online retailers leading the pack with FREE shipping and most are forced to follow. So they all are finding ways to reduce shipping costs through things like Centralized locations, beating up on manufacturers, beating up on shipping agents through high volume or just plain absorbing the cost with lost margins. But then you find some industries that just don't have the size/clout to bring those shipping costs down nor absorb the lost margins.

This is what we are all experiencing in this hobby. The smaller guys can't give free shipping.

However, you can't go on Amazon or Ebay and put together an order for many of the things you see in these specialty automotive catalogs Even if you could, it takes forever. Time should be very important to most of us. These catalogs save us a lot of time and offer things we can't get elsewhere. There is also a world of knowledge about the products available from these sources about the products they carry. Again, something you will rarely get from the free shippers.

This reminds me of that ATT commercial running where the tattoo artist says 'stay in your lane bro' lol!

Sometimes, we just need to stay in our lane.

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  #97  
Old 01-26-2019, 04:35 PM
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I recently had a person want me to eat shipping and PayPal fees. That was almost $30.00 on a $100.00 item. Ain't happening. When these people start getting a Double Wopper at Burger King for the price of a single then maybe I'll reconsider. Its getting more and more like swap meets are the way to go for sellers and perhaps buyers alike.

What some people do not understand is that many sellers lose money by shipping. Most everyone I know, myself included, only charge the actual cost the shipping outfit wants. When that happens we lose money on time, fuel, tape, bubble wrap, styro peanuts, boxes, printer ink, printer paper, Sharpies and anything else involved with shipping an item. Have any of you bought a roll of shipping tape lately? I don't mean the dollar store garbage, I mean good shipping tape. Its not cheap.


Last edited by Chief of the 60's; 01-26-2019 at 05:07 PM.
  #98  
Old 01-26-2019, 06:00 PM
wbnapier wbnapier is offline
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Yes, shipping materials are expensive, even in bulk. At my company, our products all are different sizes, weights, fragility, etc... We've learned to only buy high-end packaging tape and tape guns. Anything else is a false economy. Simple things like zip ties, the cheap ones break all the time. Shrink wrap, only the expensive (thick) stuff works well. Pallets are north of $5 / each with a MOQ. We breakeven or loose money on a lot of orders. You have to look at order averages and devise a shipping policy that works.

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  #99  
Old 01-26-2019, 07:54 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AMES-TECH View Post
MecGen, I apologize for your frustration. Our base shipping goes by the total of the order. In this case at $60.00, your shipping charge worked out to be $14.00. We are making every effort to provide our customers with different shipping options, in order to give you the choice of which is most economical for you. In the future you can ask for USPS, which works out to be cheaper in some cases. I apologize if this option was not given to you when you inquired. Although our shipping charges might be more than some of our large multi-brand competitors, we try to make up for it with competitive prices and superior customer support. Thank you for your business!
Got my parts from Ames. Still disappointed in the shipping charge a box
20"x24"x
14" should not cost 75 dollars to ship via usps to Canada. Will not order again can not afford those charges.

  #100  
Old 01-26-2019, 09:06 PM
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Anything going to Canada is stupid shipping costwise. And it'll get better tomorrow, everything is going up. USPS on 1st class is going up like 12%.

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