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Shipping prices are insane.
- Thread starter AccursedBass
- Start date
Dude, I was losing my **** earlier this week when I calculated that my bill went up 1100+% between December and January with the new rates. And no, that's not too many zeros. More than one thousand one hundred percent. I have solar so I'm not the run of the mill example, but it's insane. I realize this is way OT but you opened the door
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Damn! I thought shipping down to NZ was horribly expensive (from anywhere, even Australia that's just 3 hours away) but it seems we're all screwed 
Also I don't know about you guys but I keep the boxes my basses were shipped in so I dont have to buy extra boxes or packaging which helps save on costs. Even back in 2018 I was still spending about 50-75 in just shipping alone and I believe its mostly caused by size. Now if you get insurance on it, depending on how valuable the instrument is, that can get a little pricey which brings me to believe that part is a total scam.
I might have been having a mini-stroke earlier.
Take 2.
One thing we all could generally do better is be more thoughtful and selective consumers who buy less stuff. With more of the things we do choose to buy, we should be more focused on the things that will be most useful for the longer haul; ideally for a lifetime.
When you buy a bass, or even more potentially problematic, a big heavy amp head, or a voluminous and likely heavy speaker cabinet you have to factor what's going to happen with those things later, down the line. This all relates to less stuff needing to be shipped to and fro.
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A lot of Amazon's delivery isn't even by Amazon. It's outsourced to Delivery Supply Partners who are given discounts on Amazon trucks and uniforms, trained in their systems, etc. I guess this is offloading what would normally be Amazon's responsibility for direct / full time employees.
Not everyone has storage space for that, unfortunately. I usually end up buying guitar shipping boxes when needed - Reverb have OK ones you can buy one-off. Uline sell very good ones in packs of 5, but they spend their billions on things like fake local newspapers here in Chicago to try to swing elections, so I've stopped buying from them.
Yes. Most shippers calculate based on "dimensional weight." They calculate the cubic volume of your package vs. its actual weight, based on a rate of x pounds per cubic foot. If you ship a large box with a lightweight item inside, it's taking up space that could be used for more packages, so it gets charged more.
What would alleviate this situation, as others mentioned upthread, is that we need more and faster freight train lines.
As we transition off fossil fuels, we're going to have to stop relying on air freight for domestic shipping, and probably long-haul trucking as well, so we need new electrified lines yesterday - and maybe publicly owned ones to avoid freight monopolies who barely maintain their own infrastructure.
I'm sick of hearing about BS "oil shortages" and BS COVID. Soapbox stowed.
Every couple of months, this thread topic comes up. Shipping has risen across the board over two years now. As someone said earlier, "somebody's got to pay for all the Amazon purchases you've made."
'Has Shipping Cost Gotten That Outrageous'
'Has Shipping Cost Gotten That Outrageous'
What's even funnier, is... all these basses getting parted out. Then... people wanting "ALL ORIGINAL" instruments. SHEESH...
This is actually pretty interesting. Amazon is a marketplace (most people don't realize this and think Amazon is a store ), so you are not actually buying anything from Amazon (most times). Even when the items are fulfilled by Amazon , this means that private sellers rented a warehouse space to fulfill Amazon orders.
Read the rest of my post. Places like sweet water will take the shipping money from their sales staff commission.
In the particular example you posted , it may be simply an incorrectly set -up store ( all items with shipping covered by the seller , resulting in a loss).
New can of worms but related. The US gives China the same rate as domestic with USPS. So someone in China can ship a light weight package for less than $1. The same package coming from another Asian country would pay $15 for the same service. When you give the green light for that to happen (as the US already has) it puts Chinese goods on the same playing field as domesitic products as far as shipping costs go. As long as USPS delivers it in the US it can be any size or weight (following their restrictions). Opens the flood gate for cheap imports from China but noone else.
Last bass I shipped went in an SKB44. I put an old T shirt and some salvaged thin foam sheet in the case immobilize the bass, then went to wally world and got three of their largest shipping boxes, two rolls of heavy shipping tape and a roll or fiberglass reinforced tape. I cut a couple pieces that would go all the way round the long axis and taped it down real well, but only taped the cardboard to itself after pulling it as tight as I could get it. I then made up rolls of cardboard just larger than the latches and handle, then taped those in all the spaces along the front edge wrapping all the way around the case a couple times on each one. I cut the first pieces long enough to pull down and cover the bottom so again, no tape on the case. At that point I put a series of wraps on the whole thing using the glass tape, then cut a couple pieces to warp the whole thing along the short axis, making to wide enough to fold it together on the bottom and over the rolls protecting latches and handle on top then did another round of glass tape wraps, weighed it, and did a shipping estimate with USPS, UPS, and FedEx, who won by a wide margin.
The reason I did it that way was the day before I took it by a UPS store and asked how much to ship it. They said it had to be packed, and for single box, packing charge and shipping, was bumping a couple hundred to ship it three states away. It cost me around $30~$40 for supplies and about an hour to wrap it, and FedEx shipped it for (IIRC) sixty three bucks and change. It's worth the effort to pack it yourself if it's going in an HSC.
The reason I did it that way was the day before I took it by a UPS store and asked how much to ship it. They said it had to be packed, and for single box, packing charge and shipping, was bumping a couple hundred to ship it three states away. It cost me around $30~$40 for supplies and about an hour to wrap it, and FedEx shipped it for (IIRC) sixty three bucks and change. It's worth the effort to pack it yourself if it's going in an HSC.
I don't know the mechanics of it but wonder if it might not be similar to how it is to the EU from China - many eBay, AliExpress, etc items from China are essentially drop shipped and then sent from within the EU (I've had ones which 'originated' from Belgium, the Netherlands and Hungary). Perhaps a similar set up (?) We can generally get the same 99 cent items with 'free' shipping from China as are available to the US.
