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View Full Version : Shipper difference or weird math?



John Miliunas
10-30-2003, 1:29 PM
Looking to get a drum sander. Budget isn't allowing for one of the BIG fancy ones, so one of the open side units will have to do. Upon the advice of numerous folks here at SMC, I was swayed away from the Performax unit, in favor of the Delta. Wanting to economize and stretch my tool-buying dollar, I decided to check out a refurb unit from a place in Georgia. I eventually received a voice mail from them, giving me the details. The gentleman told me he has two and would sell one at his "upcoming sale price", which just happened to be the *same* price as their website shows!? :rolleyes: Not exactly an "up front" way of selling something, but OK. Then, he gave me the shipping quote. Whew, am I glad I was sitting down! $250.00 big ones to deliver to my house or, if I liked, I could make the almost 4-hour round trip to Milwaukee and have it dropped there for $150.00. I certainly don't cherish the thought of driving that distance and, after paying close to six bills for the tool, plus another buck-fifty for shipping it, I shouldn't have to do it in the first place. Are transport companies THAT expensive and vary so widely? The reason for the question is, at the same time, I have just ordered my TS from Wilke (located in PA) and, with a total shipping weight of about 600lbs (as opposed to the 190 of the drum sander), my s/h cost is right around $150.00. And that's delivered off of a liftgate truck at my house! So, big differences in shippers used? Strange math? Maybe a little "profit in s/h" built into the "good" prices? Heck, for close to nine bills, I can order a brand-new "X" type Delta *with* free mobile base. *Including* s/h!!! Something wrong with this picture, me thinks! :cool:

Ron Meadows
10-30-2003, 1:54 PM
John,

Lots of companies do this to pad their bottom line. I was in the market for a new digital camera last spring and found that the shipping charges varied from $5 up to $50 for a 2 lb box. Just something else to add in to the total price of purchase for an internet based sale. It's definitely buyer beware in a lot of cases.


Ron

Bud Duffy
10-30-2003, 4:51 PM
Yea theres some NEW MATH going on out there john . My wife wanted to order some books from Barnes&Noble 3 paperbacks for $6 the shipping was $13 . She decided that she didnt need them that bad.

John Wadsworth
10-30-2003, 5:30 PM
amazon.com

(free shipping on orders over $25)

Ron Meadows
10-30-2003, 7:28 PM
another word.......WAIT!!

Amazon never seems to have anything that I want/need in stock. I've marked them off my list.

YMMV,

Ron

John Davidson
10-30-2003, 8:08 PM
John, I bought my reburbished Delta 1642 lathe from Redmonds. From my experince I got a better deal working with Mr Redmond than working with his sons. In fact his son qouted me a $1500 for the lathe, which I was not impressed with. On the way out the door I ran into Mr Redmond and when he ask If he could help me, I told him that I had been interested in the lathe but $1500 seemed steep for a refurbished lathe with only a 90 day warranty back by his company and not Delta. He told me he didn't know where the $1500 price came from but that he would sale me one for $1250 and warranty it for 6 months. Since I live a couple hours away shipping was not an issue. I would suggest that you deal with the old man and not his son. If he can't better the deal it looks like you would do better buying new.

John Wadsworth
10-31-2003, 9:19 AM
Ron,

Your mileage sure varies from mine on this one. I bought my Performax 16-32 Plus from Amazon and had it within a week, despite selecting free shipping (which is supposed to be slower, but in my considerable experience never is). The extra sandpaper rolls did dribble in over the next two weeks, but I had plenty to go on with.

By the way, resurfacing all my wife's cutting and carving boards was a real SWMBO pleaser, and a good way to learn the ins and outs of the machine.

Mike Evertsen
10-31-2003, 9:47 AM
John check farm & fleet I bought my delta at the one here in woodstock on sale two years ago I see them go on sale once in awhile,,,,,,,

John Miliunas
10-31-2003, 10:16 AM
Thanks for the input, guys. Just a couple comments:

Ron, Bud: Yup, just gotta' love that new math! (If you're the vendor, of course!)

John W: I've had pretty decent luck with Amazon, as well. That is still a consideration.

John D: I'm not even sure who to ask for. I talked to one guy and another one is the person who left the v-mail. (If you could PM me the name, that'd be cool.)

Mike E: Yeah, I'm aware of F&F, as well. They had the Delta on sale early in the year, but funds/room were not an option at the time.

To all: After further private emails, I might even be checking the possibility of the 22" Performax. Hearing good things about it. At this point, I'm almost happy that I didn't pull the trigger on this one, yet. I really need to get my DC system in place before I could use one, anyway. If the *deal* is there, I may jump on it and just wait to fire it up, but you know how that is..... :rolleyes: Thanks again, all! :cool:

Bob Oswin
10-31-2003, 11:49 AM
[QUOTE= Something wrong with this picture, me thinks! :cool:[/QUOTE]

I'll wade in here and try to give your the shippers point of view as I operate a direct mail order business and have done so for 29 years.
1. All dealers pay the same amount for the goods plus or minus volume discounts.
2. All dealers have "prep expenses" to get individual products packaged and ready for cartage.(boxes, pallets, dunnage)
Rarely do we trust any merchandise from our vendors so we generally take it out and test it prior to shipping. (There are a few exceptions).
3. A legitimate dealer prices his stock including his profit margin "FOB" some point and adds on only the direct costs associated with shipping each parcel. (Freight and Insurance).
(Crating is a racket as are many, many of the handling charges.)

Handling charges apply mostly to small purchases where the profit on the product is at or near the value of the packaging and prep)
4. Good suppliers find the most economical carrier, establish a trade discount with them, and bill each shipment individually depending on where it has to go and how fast it has to be there.
This results in a fair price to all and no "extra" charges incurred.
I know that's not what happening but it is what should be.

Bob :)

John Davidson
10-31-2003, 2:52 PM
John D: I'm not even sure who to ask for. I talked to one guy and another one is the person who left the v-mail. (If you could PM me the name, that'd be cool.)

:


John, I can't find his card, its beeen about 2 years, but I believe the name is Scott. Just tell however answers the phone you would like to talk with Mr Redmond. They will know who you are talking about.

Also, recently I bought 464 bft of beech lumber that was shipped to me ( SC ) from Baltimore. It cost me $179 to have it shipped to the closest Overnite terminal ( 20 miles ). I had to pick it up from there. To have it delivered to the house would have been an extra 100 bucks. The pallet was about was 6'x3'x3' and weighed in at about 1600 lbs. The gentleman that I bought it from only had to put the BOL on the top and side of the pallet. Baiscly there was no packaging cost to him. He only charged me his cost from Overnite which I verified with them. Overnite told me that this was his prefered costumer rate and was also listed on the BOL. I am sure that there would be some packaging cost to Redmonds but its sure seems high.

Richard McComas
10-31-2003, 3:06 PM
Looking to get a drum sander. Budget isn't allowing for one of the BIG fancy ones, so one of the open side units will have to do. Upon the advice of numerous folks here at SMC, I was swayed away from the Performax unit, in favor of the Delta. Wanting to economize and stretch my tool-buying dollar, I decided to check out a refurb unit from a place in Georgia. I eventually received a voice mail from them, giving me the details. The gentleman told me he has two and would sell one at his "upcoming sale price", which just happened to be the *same* price as their website shows!? :rolleyes: Not exactly an "up front" way of selling something, but OK. Then, he gave me the shipping quote. Whew, am I glad I was sitting down! $250.00 big ones to deliver to my house or, if I liked, I could make the almost 4-hour round trip to Milwaukee and have it dropped there for $150.00. I certainly don't cherish the thought of driving that distance and, after paying close to six bills for the tool, plus another buck-fifty for shipping it, I shouldn't have to do it in the first place. Are transport companies THAT expensive and vary so widely? The reason for the question is, at the same time, I have just ordered my TS from Wilke (located in PA) and, with a total shipping weight of about 600lbs (as opposed to the 190 of the drum sander), my s/h cost is right around $150.00. And that's delivered off of a liftgate truck at my house! So, big differences in shippers used? Strange math? Maybe a little "profit in s/h" built into the "good" prices? Heck, for close to nine bills, I can order a brand-new "X" type Delta *with* free mobile base. *Including* s/h!!! Something wrong with this picture, me thinks! :cool:
Hi Joe, living in Alaska I’m always concerned about the cost of shipping/ handling charges, we get hammered up here. I’ve had large stationary tools (Bridgewood wide belt sander) shipped from as far away as PA. What I’ve learned is to shop around. You don’t necessarily have to have the vender your buying the tool from do the shipping.

When I bought the sander I went to the yellow pages and called several freight co. and found the best deal. After finding the best deal I called Wilke and told them such and such a company would be picking up my machine when it was ready to ship. Wilke said ok and the called me when the machine was ready and I notified the fright co.

I would suspect if a company wasn’t willing to let you handle the shipping then they are looking to add in a little extra something for themselves above their actual cost.