Help me understand Shipping!

[JasonPG]

I'm attempting to open an online store to sell some of my fish but I don't understand what I'm doing wrong when it comes to shipping costs. I'm hoping I can get some advice from some of the folks who have experience here. I've read a post or two where people boast about making a profit on offering flat $25 shipping. I'm calling BS.

I've have very limited experience shipping but I did ship 2 packages late last year within the continental US. Both times I used UPS Next Day Air.

The packages weighed next to nothing since I used a Kordon breathing bags.

My first shipment cost me $70.50. My second shipment cost $87.68.

Both shipments were sent from a UPS Store. These costs don't include the cost of the shipping materials.

I'd like to offer flat shipping to people for somewhere between $45-$50. I just don't understand how that is possible?

If someone buys a $25 fish from me and I charge them $45 flat shipping... They end up paying me $70. If shipping will run me between $70-$90 It would cost me money to sell a fish.

There has to be a trick to minimizing the cost using UPS's cost matrix. Are there certain days or cut-off times where shippers drop packages off to the UPS store? My first shipment was a Friday delivery date and the more expensive one was a Saturday. I'm sure that had something to do with it. Do you use the shipping method with a guaranteed by a certain time or just generic next day air?

The manager of the store offered me a 10% business discount. That was nice of him. But I'm looking to slash the cost of shipping by at least 50%. No way I'm going to pay $70+ for UPS Next Day Air when the United States Postal Service is offering the "same" service for a flat $35.

Please advise!

 

[chestnud]

I use Fedex Priority overnight for all my coral shipping. I receive a discount based on shipping volume. The more I ship, the more I save. That is where the discounted and flat rates come into play. Shipping typically runs $25-$50 depending on where it is going in the US.

 

[Troylee]

You need a broker to deal with the companies and find you the best rate.. Like mentioned the more volume the cheaper the rates.. Myself have shipped quiet a few packages and just walk into FedEx... I'm on the west coast and they charge me $50 to $65 on the west coast and $70 to $128 for the east coast... It's a killer man!!!

 

[MarvinsReef]

You need a broker to deal with the companies and find you the best rate.. Like mentioned the more volume the cheaper the rates.. Myself have shipped quiet a few packages and just walk into FedEx... I'm on the west coast and they charge me $50 to $65 on the west coast and $70 to $128 for the east coast... It's a killer man!!!

agreed. the more you ship, the more volume discount you get the next month. I think if you're registered as a business, you also get a % off regular shipping. but yeah, shipping anything nowadays can get very expensive.

have you tried your LFS? I'm sure you'll be able to unload a bunch from different LFS around you. good luck either way.

 

[returnofsid]

Unfortunately, you're going to take a loss, when it comes to shipping. That loss is usually built into the price of the product. You'll make up for this loss, with volume. Shipping 1 fish at a time will never pay off though.

 

[reefkoi]

I usually always lose money when shipping, the box and heat pack are something I always give away and so its just what you gotta to to sell online, take a little shipping loss and chalk it up as a cost of doing business

 

[emerald525]

There's no way you can ship anything from east to west coast for 25 dollars. I do hear if you go through the airlines and you ship a large volume it's much cheaper.

 

[reefkoi]

well you guys notice most vendors off free shipping at $125 $299 etc? They cant ship it free, they just absorb the cost into the coral sales

 

[chestnud]

I should clarify a little because I posted a pretty broad range in prices. Connected states to me (Ga, NC, TN and other close states) are in a $25-$35 area. The rest increase with distance. After my discount I can ship to San Diego for $48. I ship a lot and my rates can change as my account is reviewed every 90 days.

+1 on the free shipping. I shipped a large box of livestock to a customer recently that ran just under $150.00 in shipping (35lb box.) The customer did a large order with us and got the items shipped at no charge along with some freebies.

 

[JasonPG]

Thanks for the feedback. It's nice to hear that I'm not the only one seeing those types of next day air prices from UPS.

I'll need to look into FedEx but I've got some locals urging me to consider the United States Postal Service's next day flat rate of $35. I'm not sure that UPS's service is that much better than the USPS's. I've also heard that FedEx stops shipping your livestock once they discover it's livestock they are shipping.

This isn't my first business and I understand the idea of loss leaders and hidden costs built into my price of goods sold. I just didn't realize how bad a problem it was going to be if I wanted to sell my regular/misbar percs for $25. Maybe I'll just do USPS for orders under a certain threshold. I do like the idea of free shipping starting around $300.

 

[Reed639]

I mean personally I think the route I would take is usps it gets the job done for cheaper the only problem with usps is the have to be waiting at the post office to pick up the package or it has to sit on the truck for the day

 

[JasonPG]

I mean personally I think the route I would take is usps it gets the job done for cheaper the only problem with usps is the have to be waiting at the post office to pick up the package or it has to sit on the truck for the day

I see your point. But I think the cost/benefit ratio is reasonable. The livestock could be sitting on the UPS truck just as easily as it could be sitting on the USPS truck.

Has anyone shipped with the USPS recently? Any feedback on that?

I just checked and they do guarantee next day delivery... for what it's worth.

 

[Joe Knows Reefs]

Well for any hobbyists selling frags etc, the first thing to do is open an acct on FedEx.com. Just by having an acct you can get 16% off even if you only ship something once a month. But as stated, you would need a rep and moderate volume to obtain a significant discount

 

[Reed639]

I think what he was asking why could he not just use usps for cheaper than fedex and would it get the job done.

 

[JasonPG]

I just played with the USPS calculator online and plugged in the exact same real world example.

Shipping from DE (19807) to MO (63080) on a Friday (ship by 4:45PM) guaranteed delivery by 3PM on a Saturday costs $30.33 with the USPS versus $87.68 with UPS.

I think I'm going to give the USPS a try.

 

[schabiazabi]

Shipping, next crises coming to American and world possibly. If the price of oil will stay around $100 and up everything else will be more expensive. US needs a much better way to deliver goods from the West to the East, and other destinations. It's a cave man approach to load up hundreds of small airplanes with few goods and fly them back and forth. That will never be cheap. A one day California - New York cargo train would bring the costs down by a lot. Building those cargo super trains and a totally new shipment architecture in USA would create a bubble for the next 20 years. A new Andrew Carnegie is needed.

 

[kuyatwo]

The problem with USPS is that there is no tracking number and if they "try to deliver to the house" the customer has to wait till usually end of that day to pick up the livestock as driver is usually out delivering mail.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mworley01]

I'd also like to add that with USPS i live in an Apartment complex adn they often just put a note in my box instead of knocking on the door stating i can pick the item up the next morning.

 

[Reef-a-holic]

This is a big hurdle for new businesses in this hobby. As others have said you have to have a decent volume before FedEx or UPS will give you the "good" discounts. If your volume is high enough the discounts can be quite substantial. FedEx and UPS are far from "great", but they are sooooo much better than USPS. I personally would never use USPS...nor would I ever order from anyone that used USPS...they just are not reliable in so many ways. Sorry I don't have any better advice. The best thing you can do is open an account with FedEx and run your air-bills online. That will save you a few $$$ off the price you pay if you just walk into The UPS Store or a FedEx service center.

 

[Spaceman Spliff]

I don't know if this is typical for USPS but about 2 months ago I got a shipment of corals and the sender used USPS. My regular mail comes around 2PM. The overnighted USPS package was delivered at 10:30AM by a different USPS driver than my regular mailman. Since then I assumed overnight packages are delivered by "overnight" delivery men and not regular mailmen. Maybe someone should check with USPS and see if overnighted packages are delivered on the regular mail truck or if they have dedicated overnight package delivery men that will get the package delivered earlier.