ec121

My Feedback: (2)

A word to the wise about TBM's online ordering policy of not giving you the shipping price. They say they will add it to your bill when shipped. I ordered one Hitec HS-225 servo(wt. approx. 2oz.), price $26.95. When I recieved the package, I was charged $11 shipping for this 2oz. item. I was charged for 1lb. shipping(must be their minimum). You are writing them a blank check!! I could have bought it from Tower for $3.99 shipping. I would caution people to order enough that TBM will pay the shipping on the larger order. I sent an email protesting the charges but have yet to recieve a reply. Therefore, I will post my protest in this public forum. Alas, yet another vendor on my personal "No order" list.

Ken-h

My Feedback: (3)

EC,

IMO Troy built is a great company to deal with. Give them a chance and I am sure they will respond. I use them for most of all of my GS parts needs. Their shipping policy is listed on their web site and pretty is common among smaller company's. Also, I can get what I need at TBM unlike some of the bigger distributors.

Ken

Panzlflyer

My Feedback: (15)

They make more money of the shipping than the goods...from where they are to you probably $5.00 tops.

Josey Wales

My Feedback: (61)

I gotta agree with ec121 on this one..

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

USPS Priority Mail is $4.05 for 1 pound. And the USPS gives the Priority Mail boxes for free.

UPS minimum charge is $7.99 I believe.

First Class mail for a 2 oz item is $.063 cents. Add $0.25 for the padded envelope. So $0.88 cents for first class mail.

Talk about padding..............

Nogyro

My Feedback: (10)

TBM's shipping prices burn me up too.....UPS $7.95 plus 2.95 residential delivery. I don't get charged the residential charge from anyone else. I asked them why they didn't use USPS, and they said they damaged too many items and wouldn't make good on them. In my experience, UPS tears the he** out of stuff, and things that are shipped USPS come in great shape. I like all the gear they have and get excellent service from them, but I look else ware first just to save on shipping.......

When I was shipping my DA50's back to DA on a regular basis for their great customer service UPS was like $17 and 5 days out. USPS Priority was $11 and 3 days out.........

GRAND MASTER B

Can't wait to hear it.

JL636

My Feedback: (79)

Too bad the idea of padding shipping prices now days seems to be the trend, TBM is not alone by any means . Its gotten to the point that if I see something I need, the first thing I do is check the S&H. If its too high, sorry, I'll look somewhere else or I'll email the seller with a request for box size and weight. I've spent 24 years in warehousing which shipping and receiving were my responsibilites and I know and have access to just about any carrier & rate. I've asked for rates from a vendor and gotten a response and then emailed him with the CORRECT cost. Sometimes I'd get a reply sometimes not. As far as UPS rates being different when its comes to residential vs a place of business that is a fact. Its built into their system, when shipping, you have to check a box whether its one or the other, if its a home address you can watch the cost go up on the screen. It all boils down to how bad you need the item, whether your willing to pay the cost and whether you did your homework and researched other suppliers.

GRAND MASTER B

I just ordered ar rather large TV from Costco On line. No shipping Charges, just tax. Sams Club was Tax at $60 and Shipping of $170. Guess which way I went?

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

Here's a little brain food regarding shipping charges. Let's begin with the assumption that the Post Office is going to charge $5.00 for the actual postage. Let's also use the labor costs listed below since they are reasonably inline with reality. Let's also figure it's a standard sized box that fits within a 1/2 pound shipping category, and that a specilized carrier will not be used.

House labor costs per hour: $ 10.00
House overhead for direct labor: $ 3.50/hour
Space rent for business: $2,000.00/mo.
Profit @ 8%

Cost of box: $ 2.50
Labor to obtain box: (1 hour) $ 10.00
Labor to prepare and load box: (1/2 hr.) $ 5.00
Ship box to Post Office (1 hour) $ 10.00
Labor overhead costs: $ 8.75 (this all goes to various government agencies in the form of payroll taxes and social security)
Actual postage: $ 5.00

Total costs of shipping box: $ 41.25
Profit and overhead: $ 4.12

Total to charge customer and make 8%: $ 45.37 (plus the cost of the ordered item)

It's hard to make much money on shipping, and very easy to lose money. An example is a recent transaction I had in selling a 28% Extra to someone several hundred miles away. My selling price was $300.00 for a used plane. I did not charge the buyer for shipping. Sending it insured, UPS, in a box that did not require the destruction of the plane, cost me $176.00. That amount came out of the selling price, leaving an actual $124.00 to me for the plane, including my efforts in preparing the plane for shipment, along with transport to a UPS shipping location. Had I been out to break even on my labor in shipping prep, I would have added an additional $50.00, plus the cost of the box and packing materials. If I had been in it for the money I would have made the buyer come and get it.

Now that you've seen it from the side of reality, perhaps you actually got a deal. Then again, there's some that think the time invested with any given activity is worth nothing.....

Moral of the story; don't be crying about shipping charges. You could have to go out and locate and transport all that stuff yourself.

FOD MAN

If thats brain food i wonder why you havent starved to death......... the cost of product and profit should be the orignal price not the shipping. the worker in your example need's to be fired if it take's him an hour to find a box. if what you say is true why does places like tower hobbies not go out of business. with your numbers they must lose hundreds of thousands of dollars a week.

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

Ever send an employee out to obtain something at a store that's not immediate to yours? That's an hour at least. Ever make a trip to the local post office and have to wait in line? I was using a single item, not a stock room full of boxes for an example. If you can afford to make a purchase of 1,000 or more boxes of various sizes at a time, have the space to warehouse that quantity, the labor staff to pull the boxes as needed, and therefore save the consumer a few pennies while you waste the retail floor space (@$1.50/sq.ft./mo) on box storage, go for it.

As for profit on the shipping costs, where I come from (business ownership) profit is determined by your total cost, not just the raw cost. Personally I won't trade dollars with anyone. I'll make a buck, whether it's on shipping, product, labor, or labor overhead, every chance I get or I WILL be starving to death shortly.

It's evident you have never owned a business that turned a net profit or you would have understood the basic example of what it actually takes, relative to the time and labor involved, to ship an item. The item cost means nothing, but if you were to factor the time and materials involved for every item shipped, you could see where it just might really cost close to 10 or 15 bucks to ship something. How does a firm like Tower and a few others do it? Simple. The are the importer of the product, if they don't outright own the manufacturer, and not a middle man. The cost of the product to them is lower than it is to anyone else. Then you can toss in the incredible volume that they move, permitting them to make a large single shipment pick up per day. Not one box at a time.

Just for fun, try shipping a product yourself to someone and keep an actual track of your time and expenses. Start with the raw product. It has to be new and in only it's own packaging. Include vehicle mileage since that's also a direct cost to shipping the product and then sit down and plot out what you had invested in time, labor, and expenses, in the task. I'm absolutely certain that you will find my estimates to be relatively close to actual for a single item shipment. Since you live in Arkansas, you're permitted to use a somewhat lower hourly wage base for your calculations. Just for fun, let us all know how you came out.