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Thread: Shipping has become expensive

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
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    Alexandria VA
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    15,887

    Default Shipping has become expensive

    Shipping rates are higher than I have ever seen them. Today a pair of pillows shipped out of Hancock and Moore to California and I had charged the client $ 18 for shipping, which I thought was reasonable. The invoice arrived from H&M and it was $ 77 for the shipping! I flipped out and called thinking it had to be a mistake, but it was not. I told them they have to figure out a way to get that rate down by compressing those pillows into a smaller box or using Poly Packing, because that's nuts. I will absorb that cost because I had quoted it, but needless to say I cannot continue to do so.

    Replacement seat cores are huge, and they are going to have big shipping costs as well. They are trying to figure out how to compress those and pack, but there may be no solution. As you may have read, they will not longer have free shipping included on all requests. They are working on a flat rate charge to send out but we do not have it yet.

    I cannot get shipping quotes easily. So for that reason anything I have to drop ship from these suppliers will be open-ended on shipping and the final invoice will include actual ship costs (I will not mark them up) as passed on from the manufactuers. I know that's not a good answer, but how it has to be for now.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  2. #2

    Default Re: Shipping has become expensive

    Quote Originally Posted by drcollie View Post
    Shipping rates are higher than I have ever seen them. Today a pair of pillows shipped out of Hancock and Moore to California and I had charged the client $ 18 for shipping, which I thought was reasonable. The invoice arrived from H&M and it was $ 77 for the shipping! I flipped out and called thinking it had to be a mistake, but it was not. I told them they have to figure out a way to get that rate down by compressing those pillows into a smaller box or using Poly Packing, because that's nuts. I will absorb that cost because I had quoted it, but needless to say I cannot continue to do so.

    Replacement seat cores are huge, and they are going to have big shipping costs as well. They are trying to figure out how to compress those and pack, but there may be no solution. As you may have read, they will not longer have free shipping included on all requests. They are working on a flat rate charge to send out but we do not have it yet.

    I cannot get shipping quotes easily. So for that reason anything I have to drop ship from these suppliers will be open-ended on shipping and the final invoice will include actual ship costs (I will not mark them up) as passed on from the manufactuers. I know that's not a good answer, but how it has to be for now.
    What method were they shipping? Was this through a trucking company, FedEx, UPS or? I would assume it was through UPS or FedEx and it's a dimensional weight issue due to the size of the box. I am not sure what to expect with the trucking companies if/when an order ever leaves the factory in these unusual times.

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    Alexandria VA
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    15,887

    Default Re: Shipping has become expensive

    These were two pillows placed in a small ottoman box that cost $ 77 to California. Fed Ex Ground.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  4. #4

    Default Re: Shipping has become expensive

    Quote Originally Posted by drcollie View Post
    These were two pillows placed in a small ottoman box that cost $ 77 to California. Fed Ex Ground.
    Yeah, thanks for confirming... Sounds like a dim weight issue. Charges based on size of box, not the weight.... Hopefully, the trucking company rates are not going to be too outrageous...

  5. #5
    Join Date
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    15,887

    Default Re: Shipping has become expensive

    Trucking rates have gone through the ceiling. It used to cost me $ 70 to land a sofa to my store pre-pandemic from North Carolina. Now that's double and taking 5x as long to arrive. Transportation costs to the industry is the # 1 contributor by far to the overall price increases you are seeing.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2022
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    11

    Default Re: Shipping has become expensive

    You're so right about the shipping costs going through the roof. I used to be in the corrugated box industry as a designer and I would design the boxes and packaging for furniture. Maybe things have changed but the cost used to be based on weight and not as much size. But both are taken into consideration now I guess.

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