Shipping fatigue and your audio habits
Hello my audio brethren. Recently wrapped up some sales and purchases and the reality of shipping is hitting me hard. It’s rough! The insurance, packaging protection, and the very high cost these days to move packages over 50 pounds, and for gear over 100 pounds… yikes. 😬 It has put a serious damper on the buy/try/sell habit I have been operating in for years. It’s good in a way as it helps me squash the audio nervosa 🐛 , but man does it sting to really think about the extreme high cost to do business anymore. Curious how this has affected y’all. For us non-dealer audio nuts:are you finding dealers out there that used to offer really great deals offering less of a discount ? For dealers: when buying large orders from your suppliers, if you can share, what strategies have you had to adapt to to keep your operating margins? For us used audio sellers on a’gon and USAM have you adjusted your sales to NOT include free shipping? Local sales only?
The Amazon effect “I want my crap and I want it tomorrow and I don’t want to pay for shipping” seems to be running out of steam. Somebody has to pay the bill. For me I have been much more strict on my sales on USAM. I’m not going to eat the cost of shipping all myself anymore, and more generally I’m pausing big ticket purchases.
Good luck out there and enjoy the music!
Yes, I you are absolutely correct. I should get a UPS account... Yet, so far FedEx has been so inexpensive that it is hard to consider going anywhere else... IMO, anyone shipping at a franchise UPS, w/o an account, should expect NOT get raked-over-the-coals >> paying 20x $ more at UPS than at FedEx for the same service. Best
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@inagroove when you get your UPS Account and enroll in My Choice. Discounted shipping rates. |
When it comes time to file a shipping damage claim, both UPS and FedEx will often look for reasons to deny compensation. One exception that does improve the odds significantly: having the item professionally packed by a UPS Store. The extra cost upfront can save a lot of frustration later, especially with heavy or high-value audio gear. |
