Posted on June 24 2021
As many of you know, the Post Office changes shipping rates at least annually. It puts us in a tough position because we then must figure out how to handle shipping so that we charge enough without overcharging. For the past couple years, we have given ‘free shipping’, which basically means we build the cost of shipping into the price of the product. It complicates things for us taxwise, and it also seems a little deceptive since we all know shipping is not truly ‘free’ for anybody.
For these reasons, we have decided to change our shipping policy back to a separate shipping charge. Starting with the 9:30 pm EST load on 6/24/2021, our shipping fee will be a flat $3.50 with free shipping on orders over $75. I have crunched the numbers to make sure it is a fair amount. It is not our intent to make money from shipping. In fact, we lose quite a bit. In my opinion, shipping should be a pass-through expense from you to the USPS (or local carriers for international orders); we just collect it and pass it on to them. My hope is that if you have shipped anything bigger than a letter recently, you agree that $3.50 is about as cheap as shipping can be. I also do not like to pay shipping, but the reality is that there is a cost to the service the USPS provides, which is (mostly) excellent! The way I see it, shipping is an alternative to physically going to a store, and my time and gas money are worth more than $3.50. I think a reasonable shipping cost is a great bargain.
On the positive side, this allows us to charge less for our products. We are trying to work this out so that your total cost now (product plus shipping) is about the same as your total cost before (product only). In fact, I am hopeful that the new shipping fee structure will even be a benefit to you. $3.50 is basically the cost of shipping one item. If you order two items, you still pay only $3.50, so it is like getting free shipping for the second item. If you order three or more items, presumably you will exceed the $75 free shipping threshold, and since prices will be lower, you will be paying less overall.
We will have the same policy we had before where if you place multiple orders on the same business day, we will combine them and refund the additional shipping fees so that it is only charged once- or waived altogether if the total orders exceed the free shipping threshold. As always, you can reach me by email at chris@chrisnmissy if you have any questions. Thanks!