I went on-line yesterday to see if I could find a site that sold Mason jars, lids, etc. at a reasonable price. I have been buying them a dozen or two at a time in the local markets and they generally run about $1 or a bit more depending on the size of the jars. I only can in pint and quart jars and there's really little difference in the price of those sizes.
Long story short, I found a site that sold quart jars with lids for $.85 apiece and pint jars with lids for $.70 apiece. I decided to get 3 dozen of each and proceeded to the ordering portion that figured in shipping. My order came to just a tad over $63 but here's the 300 lb. gorilla in the room------shipping for my order at their cheapest rate was going to be $77 for the order. Naturally I didn't go any further in the order by supplying any credit card info and such.
I get an e-mail from them later in the day wondering why I didn't complete the order and I explained their shipping costs were the most outrageous thing I've ever seen in all the years I've ordered things over the net. Their customer service rep sent me another e-mail this morning and I'll share it with you since a good laugh is good medicine. Following is the message as I received it.
I understand sir. We are the new owners of the *** Store and as such are trying to adjust the shipping costs that was previously in place. The items had all been shipping from CT. This week we are moving all inventory to Milwaukee in hopes that it will elevate some of the shipping costs.
I'm sorry we are unable to meet your needs at this time.
To which I responded:
I am a bit perplexed by your post. Are you sure you want to "Elevate"-----raise----your already extravagant shipping costs, or "Alleviate"----lessen---them. Over the years I've ordered large woodworking tools, large motorcycle parts and have never had to pay anywhere near this much in shipping costs than this 6 dozen jars. Perhaps if your company gets them in line with what I'd expect to pay, we may be able to do business in the future.
Welcome to my nightmare. 90% of goods needs to be shipped in from out of state. Very few things are made here and those companies still have to import the raw materials. Even local produce farmers have to pay higher costs for land, water, electricity, fertilizer and equipment. As much as people malign Monsanto, if it were not for the fact that they order large amounts of ag products, the local farmers would have to pay even more since they cannot afford to buy a container load themselves and the local ag suppliers piggy back their orders on the large company orders. Perlite can be really hard to get sometimes because of high demand and if there is not a large order coming in the ag suppliers will ship space available. Most of the containers coming in to Hawaii are full but go out 90% empty so we are pretty much charged twice the fees to pay for the cost of shipping empty containers back to the mainland. Every year the shipping rates go up. Shipping is a big factor. Sometimes it is cheaper to buy it at the stores here because it is about the same price maybe a little less since they bring their things in by the container.
I ordered blinds with free shipping to truckstop. There are no truck stops across the Pacific so there is no free shipping for me. The blinds cost $58 and the shipping was $138. The person taking the order said "Wow". I responded, "Shocking isn't it?" I knew the shipping was going to be at least twice the cost of the blinds.
I ordered blinds with free shipping to truckstop. There are no truck stops across the Pacific so there is no free shipping for me. The blinds cost $58 and the shipping was $138. The person taking the order said "Wow". I responded, "Shocking isn't it?" I knew the shipping was going to be at least twice the cost of the blinds.