Postage charges !!!!

[Vic Perrin]

Just had to order a new Table insert for my Bandsaw. £1.92 + £4.95 postage

:evil: Vic :twisted:

 

[wizard]

Very reasonable they have to make a profit time costs money plus overheads

 

[KimG]

Yes that annoys me too Vic, something that could be popped in a jiffy bag for less than a quid, it's lazy, ridiculous and profiteering. I generally shop around for a better option. I have called in the past and asked why, only to be told "it's our policy" My policy is to avoid such retailers as much as possible.

 

[KimG]

Very reasonable they have to make a profit time costs money plus overheads

Surely the profit is already in the markup on the goods, not in the postal costs which for small items are much less than 5 quid, I don't see that companies have to take more than the cost for postage, in fact many don't, so obviously it's a model that works fine for them.

 

[CHJ]

Just had to order a new Table insert for my Bandsaw.

I usually turn up several spares at a time from an old plastic chopping board, keep them in the bottom of the cabinet so that the old memory does not have to work too hard remembering where I put them.

Mind you they are a bit like spare drive belts, if you have more than one they are never needed.

 

[Paul Hannaby]

You think that's bad, when I enquired about the insert for my record bandsaw I was told it was going to cost around £17 and that was excluding postage!
Needless to say I will be making my own.

 

[Alex H]

4 DVD/CD marker pens for £2 - postage in UK free - postage to France £10 :shock: So much for the Common Market

 

[Grahamshed]

I have called in the past and asked why, only to be told "it's our policy" My policy is to avoid such retailers as much as possible.

Good Lord man, what are you talking about ?
You are the customer, you are not allowed to have policies. You are there to provide them with a good living, nothing more.
It is like everything in life. If YOU want something ........ No, policy is cast in stone.
If they want something....... policy suddenly becomes more fluid in its nature.

Know your place serf.

 

[devonwoody]

Just had to order a new Table insert for my Bandsaw. £1.92 + £4.95 postage

:evil: Vic :twisted:

Mind you, if you get a forum member on the turning forum to cut you some and then he posts them I expect that would cost a couple of quid. So the firm want to charge for the labour of the packer I suppose on top of postage.

 

[Neil Farrer]

I have sympathy for the retailer and can see why the customer gets told "Its our policy". Well that's true, but not very informative - but the reason is that it deflects the responsibility from the employee so that they dont have to justify the companies pricing strategy (or policy). It is highly likely that the customer, with more information, will contest the principles of the cost model (charging policy) and argue the toss, which all said and done is pretty pointless anyway because you have a choice, take it or leave it - the employee isnt going to waive the costs just because you feel, wrongly in my opinion, that you've been hard done by.

The cost of packaging, and the movement of goods and the associated paperwork and controls involved are the single most expensive component in the manufacturing industry, generally.

It cost a company I used to work for in the 1990s £25 to raise an invoice, this was costed after considering all the associated overheads, costs of printers, ink, office space, employee time, etc etc etc.

When a client ask to swop goods it costs the comapny a hidden fortune but generally this is done for free, perhaps we ought to suggest they charge for our cock ups, but we wouldnt like that would we?

If you have equipment such as bandsaws and pillar drills, all of which have what are deemed consumable spares, bearings, springs, blades, all of which are going to give way at some time in the machines life, it is as well to work out a list of these spares, phone up Axminster, or whoever, find out the cost of each item and then make a decision as to which items you want to hold in stock and order several. I too had to replace the centre of both my bandsaws, and greeted with te cost as above, chose to order 5 of each, a new set of bearings for the smaller machine, a couple of new belts, a new spring for my pillar drill.

Do you really order one bandsaw blade at a time? If you dont why do you do it with all the other consumables that are required to keep the machine in good working order?

Oh, and when I had done that , I decided to order some acrylic pen blanks at the same time and ended up not paying the postage anyway!

 

[Spindle]

Hi

By virtue of my location I don't have the option of popping down to a supplier, (or even a 'shed'), to buy items therefore I generally spend about ten minutes surfing the net. That time most often throws up several suppliers offering an identical item at around 30% reduction in cost, (when compared to a certain popular retailer), and with free delivery.

My advice would be to spend a little time surfing rather than going automatically to the usual suspects.

Regards Mick

 

[Bodrighy]

Anyone who sells their work online will be aware that the cost of postage is ridiculous. What amazes me is the free postage that is often offered. Companies that have a big turnover often have deals with carriers due to the quantities they ship which helps keep the cost down. I recently had to post a parcel to someone in the UK which cost £16.00 postage and rarely, if packed and padded safely, can send anything for less than a fiver.

Pete

 

[Vic Perrin]

Just had to order a new Table insert for my Bandsaw.

I usually turn up several spares at a time from an old plastic chopping board, keep them in the bottom of the cabinet so that the old memory does not have to work too hard remembering where I put them.

Mind you they are a bit like spare drive belts, if you have more than one they are never needed.

Chas, I never even give it a thought about using an old plastic bread board. I thought about making some but my mind would not stretch to what material to use.

Yet again the Forum comes up with some great advice.

I won't be buying anymore, postage charges or not.

=D> Vic =D>

 

[yorkshirepudding]

It's cheaper to get pen kits from Australia than from Doncaster.
Something is wrong.

 

[Neil Farrer]

It's cheaper to get pen kits from Australia than from Doncaster.
Something is wrong.

There would be some logic in your dismay if the kits were made in the UK, but they are not. I take it you refer to David Lims out fit in Sydney called Timberbits. David imports them direct from the manufacturer, some mainland China, some Taiwan and sells them direct.

Dont know who the reseller is in Doncaster, but it is unlikely that they buy direct from the manufacturer. Axminster pass on kits for resale, and Axminster buy them direct. If the outfit in Doncaster resell Axminster kits which they get from China it is hardly surprising that the kits from Australia are cheaper. They have approximately the same miles to cover and they do it with one less profit centre in the middle.

 

[Vic Perrin]

It's cheaper to get pen kits from Australia than from Doncaster.
Something is wrong.

There would be some logic in your dismay if the kits were made in the UK, but they are not. I take it you refer to David Lims out fit in Sydney called Timberbits. David imports them direct from the manufacturer, some mainland China, some Taiwan and sells them direct.

Dont know who the reseller is in Doncaster, but it is unlikely that they buy direct from the manufacturer. Axminster pass on kits for resale, and Axminster buy them direct. If the outfit in Doncaster resell Axminster kits which they get from China it is hardly surprising that the kits from Australia are cheaper. They have approximately the same miles to cover and they do it with one less profit centre in the middle.

Neil, perhaps a bit off subject but I have been asked to make some bolt action pens for a friend who does about 5 game fairs a year mainly selling fly tying gear. He saw some of the bullet pens that I had made and liked those and I told him about the bolt action ones.

Who would you recommend as a supplier for these, I noticed UK penkits do them.

Vic

 

[jonbee56]

Look at used books on Amazon for example they sell at 1p plus £2.80 p&p. You cant tell me a paperback book costs £2.80 to post

I tend to allow for the overall cost and don't class it as a product plus postage. It keeps the blood pressure down a bit

 

[woodfarmer]

Living in France, post is one of the really bad bits.

To send a jacket to a friend in the UK 32 euros. to send some empty shell cases to UK 9 euros.

To buy from outside France varies enormously depending on supplier. For some reasom Amazon.co.uk cannot deliver to me and about 75% of what they send disappears in their le Creuse distribution centre.
Amazon.FR can send without any problems, as can Amazon.com ( from USA) I ordered a large pressure cooker from amazon USA wednesday evening, it was here Friday morning. post cost $65 saved me well over £200
Last week I had a friend send me a screwfix set of drill bits, the original quote was for £46 for post ( post office) eventually got it down to £23.40, pity really as screwfix would only have charged me £20. But if I order £100 from screwfix it is post free. Axi of course charge more post for the more I spend for bike bits, Hitchcocks have a flat rate fee of £30 for up to a bout 40Kg.

 

[Neil Farrer]

It's cheaper to get pen kits from Australia than from Doncaster.
Something is wrong.

There would be some logic in your dismay if the kits were made in the UK, but they are not. I take it you refer to David Lims out fit in Sydney called Timberbits. David imports them direct from the manufacturer, some mainland China, some Taiwan and sells them direct.

Dont know who the reseller is in Doncaster, but it is unlikely that they buy direct from the manufacturer. Axminster pass on kits for resale, and Axminster buy them direct. If the outfit in Doncaster resell Axminster kits which they get from China it is hardly surprising that the kits from Australia are cheaper. They have approximately the same miles to cover and they do it with one less profit centre in the middle.

Neil, perhaps a bit off subject but I have been asked to make some bolt action pens for a friend who does about 5 game fairs a year mainly selling fly tying gear. He saw some of the bullet pens that I had made and liked those and I told him about the bolt action ones.

Who would you recommend as a supplier for these, I noticed UK penkits do them.

Vic

Vic,

for the bolt action pen kit, Timberbits (made by Dayacom) every tiime.

The reasons for this:
1) The bolt action arm is screwed in on the PSI kit and the kit from UK Penkits which is a Chinese copy. The bolt action arm can come loose.
2) The spring is quite vicious (PSI and copy) and the natural "Play" action is to click the bolt action over and let the nib retract under the force of the spring. Not good, the bolt action can, and has to about five of my customers, sheared as a result of repetitive hitting into the body of the pen. The Bolt action lever on the TB kit has less of a travel on the slide and is much easier to use and is more substantial.
3) The bolt action (PSI and Penkits) projects quite far and catches on pocket linings
4) The non Timberbits kits push together by holding the completed barrell and the entire nib assembly (some without the copper bullet end) which doent lend itself to perfect alignment and fitting, the timberbits pen has a small section which fits into the barrell which you then screw the nib assembly onto, much much better.
5) The plating on the Timberbits kit, and the PSI kit is good, others not so.
6) Cost. The TB pen is a good quality kit at the cheaper price.

 

[Alder]

My nearest shop selling branded goods is nigh on a 40 mile round trip. The next one is over 70 mile round trip. Even on the journey to the nearest shop fuel and parking would come to nearly £5. By using postage I can have a good service economically in a rural area and avoid the temptation to buy something else if I had actually attended the premises.
I have also sometimes had two deliveries with out of stock items being sent afterwards with no additional charge.
Russell.