Many of you shipping products ??

[beefy]

I'm hoping to be able to "ship" most products I'll make, at least until the day I get a commercial space. For more local sales I may do a delivery day at a weekend were I drive round and drop them all off.

Of course a lot of our products are heavy relative to their size (steel). Then the packaging may need to be durable, something like plywood to protect the item from bending and scratching. That's going to add to the weight and the size a bit.

Have many of you found the extra postage costs to be a deal breaker, or are courier costs generally not too bad relative to the items main price.

The other question I have is how time consuming is it to contact the courier companies and get a quote for each item. The sizes, weights, and destination will always be changing so you'll no doubt be getting quotes for each item, correct ??

Keith

[acourtjester]

HI Beefy
If you are shipping things that are heavy or too large for postal shipping. You can go on line and get quotes from different freight lines you just supply the weight and dimension. I think it can be done on one web site they find a shipper and supply a price and send you a shipping invoice you take to a local trucking line for drop off. It is much cheaper then going to the trucker and having them give you a quote. Fed Ex ground works to but if its to big you need to have them come and pick it up by Fed EX heavy weight. you cannot even drop it off there bummer!!

[beefy]

Thanks Acourtjester,

ha ha, I do like the idea of a courier coming and picking it up at my door. I bet it's a learning curve with different courier companies, i.e. is cheapest also cheapest (worst) service. Heard lots of stories about late deliveries, etc. Maybe tell the customer delivery is in 4 weeks but work to get it to them much earlier. Under promise, and hopefully over deliver. If the courier company is a bit late it's still on time to the customer.

Anyone got any experience regarding whether cost of shipping the goods kills deals very much ?

Keith.

[Shane Warnick]

You know, I have run into this just recently. We did a show that was 5 hrs from home, not really in our trade area, but we were invited, and had good friends in the same town, so we went. Basically, worked my ass off for 3 days, broke even on the trip, not counting the time involved. Basically did 3 days labor for free (won't be going back to that show) as given the free portion was, as I like to say, a negative cash flow situation.

Anyways, I would have had 3 times the sales if shipping wasn't so expensive. Nobody wants to pay $100 for something, then another $50-60 to have it shipped to them.As an example, I have all kinds of signs, and kiss my rear if everyone wants a custom one. No no I don't want Grandma's garden, I want MiMi's garden, or NaNa's garden, or ................ Anyways, they hesitated when I told them what shipping entailed, then most walked.

I saw the light the second day, and started telling people it was $150 for what they were asking for, and shipping was, wait for it, FREE. Yup, I know, it's the same money. Had about 70% conversions to sales on that the second day, but only about 5% on the first day, presenting it the other way. Now, this only works if you know how big / what / where to for the shipping, but perhaps the way it's presented may keep more people from walking away. I just winged it, added another $10 or so just to be sure, and added that to the normal cost of the piece they wanted, then told them that was what it cost for a CUSTOM one off sign just for them. You know, CAD fee's etc add up fast.

Long story short, yes it costs me sales, but I think from now on I will tell people I will have to get their address, then get back to them with a quote. I will just give them "FREE" shipping, who knows, perhaps more people will buy. Everyone likes FREE stuff, right?

Shane

[beefy]

Shane,

you are the best, I got a laugh out of that one (but still took it very seriously).

I've always wondered about the "cheaper + shipping" or "more expensive & free shipping". Thanks for that one.

You know when I think about it, I often have no idea if a product is worth so much or 50% more. I can see our products will be that way to many people. Looks like I will have to change my planned tactics a bit due to your findings.

No wonder sales and consumer psychology are such a big deal in business, you've almost got to be a shrink. Present a product one way, they think they are being ripped off. Present it another way, they are getting a great deal

Cheers,

Keith

[thissideup]

I've been going through this myself, I can't say for sure freight is killing my sales, but definitely I'm not contacted by many people that are more than 2 or 3 hours away. I also offer free delivery to the city if they are willing to be patient and work with my schedule ( have to go there for steel anyway ). This seems to seal the deal a lot of times. The problem we have in Canada is it's not nearly as densely populated as the US, so, to ship to a remote location only a few hours away can be twice as much as to a city half way across the country. That is why I have not offered 'Free Shipping' for my fire pits yet. As for freight quotes, about the quickest quoting tool I've used so far is the online UPS tool, just input the weight and zip code and it spits you our a price, and now I'm told Ups also has UPS Freight for larger shipments. That all said, My business adviser has pointed me in the direction of a freight forwarder and Im starting to communicate with a few. The theory is these freight forwarders have accounts with many freight companies and do huge volumes thus getting a preferred rate which allows them to take a commission and still come in cheaper than the spot quote. He claims that they regularly beat UPS rates, but they aren't so quick at getting back to you with a price. Hope this helps.

[beefy]

Thanks Thissideup,

definitely some good info you've gave me there.

After reading what Shane said I was toying with the free postage thing, but like Shane said, if you don't know their location, you're in the dark and could start losing money. A fixed price with free shipping on a website for instance could have you shipping a product where the cost of shipping is more than the sale price, not good. We have to make our profit.

I see why you were toying with the concept of having local manufacturers for your firepits, this is a hard nut to crack, not exactly a good global business model LOL.

The freight forwarders are starting to look attractive. Just yesterday I tried some of the online quoting systems from a couple of the courier companies here. Results were one says it's too big, another says it's too heavy. Just give the details to a freight forwarder and let them sort it out.

Cheers,

Keith.

[cbassjr]

Just an FYI. I recently cut a 48" sawblade out of 1/8th. I naturally called ups and it was around $ 100 to ship about 100 miles. Customer said don't worry they would pay the freight and would send their shipping company to pick it up. So a guy shows up in an old u haul big box truck with a decal.of the company name on the side and re-sprayed evidently with rattle cans and you could see the old u haul decals underneath. Now saying all this the guy came into the shop wrapped it up with bubble wrap put two shipping blankets around it gingerly picked it up by himself, so I naturally follow him to the truck, as my curiosity is killing me, he puts it up against the wall of his truck and uses 3 straps to secure it banjo tight. After this he pulls out a shipping invoice puts a tracking number on the piece, gives me a copy of it that he sticks to the invoice for my records, etc.etc. anyway I ask him would he mind telling me how much it was costing my customer. He tells.me $45.00. Come to find out they are a regional company covering about 10 surrounding states and each driver has a truck and assigned route. Needless to say I asked for a card which he gave me and I asked if I needed to arrange further shipments by calling the main number and was informed yes you can but look at my card my cell number is on it and I'm though this area every day on my route so if you need something picked up just give me a call and I'll come by and pick it up and give you your cost on the spot or you can call the office and they'll give you a quote and if that's acceptable then just call me and I'll let you know when I'll be by to pick it up. So I then ask when the blade was going to be delivered to the customer and he informed me it would be there that afternoon. So I called a buddy of my about 2 miles from my shop that owns a big machine shop that ships a lot of heavy oil field valves all over the world. I said have you ever heard of these guys and he says oh yeah we have used them extensively for several years and they are great and cheap and I've never had one complaint. So after telling you all this I would check around some local machine shops that ship products as they have several of these guys in their hip pocket.

[beefy]

Awesome info Cbassjr,

not the type of thing we conjure up off the top of our heads.

I've been to a lot of industrial / commercial businesses over the years. I'll be asking about this now.

Thanks very much,

Keith.

[tnbndr]

Come to find out they are a regional company covering about 10 surrounding states and each driver has a truck and assigned route

Care to share the name of the company? Not sure what state you are in but I may be one of the 10!!!

[cbassjr]

Well as usual I evidently lost the card and its not in my office so I'll have to check the shop. I think I got it in my phone contacts. They basically go from NM and CO on the west side straight east to the coast and everything south. I happen to be in OK. I do have the original shipping bill of laden and I think it's attached to that but I'll have to dig it out. May take me a couple of days.

[Redneck]

A good one to use in the midwest is Spee-Dee Delivery. Cheap and often next day delivery. Usually half or less of UPS.

[Shane Warnick]

Well as usual I evidently lost the card and its not in my office so I'll have to check the shop. I think I got it in my phone contacts. They basically go from NM and CO on the west side straight east to the coast and everything south. I happen to be in OK. I do have the original shipping bill of laden and I think it's attached to that but I'll have to dig it out. May take me a couple of days.

I'm in west texas, I want the name of those dudes as well. FOR CRYING OUT LOUD MAN!!! You don't just post that kind of stuff up and then LOSE THE MANS CARD!!!!!!!!!!!

If you come across the details, post them up or pm them to me, I can keep those dudes pretty busy.

Thanks

[cbassjr]

I don't think I lost it just an old fart that puts things where he will remember and forgets where he put it.

[tnbndr]

FOR CRYING OUT LOUD MAN!!! You don't just post that kind of stuff up and then LOSE THE MANS CARD!!!!!!!!!!!

I await with baited breath!!!

[cbassjr]

Sorry it took so long but haven't had to ship for a long time. Here's the shipper info. Beaver Express 580-256-6460. They can give you an instant quote on the phone along with a quote number to refer back to. Hope this helps some of you as they are extremely good and cheap.