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From: Michael Benveniste on 25 Mar 2010 11:01
"tony cooper" <tony_cooper213(a)earthlink.net> wrote:

> The company is paying rent for the space used to package and ship the
> product and they are paying wages and benefits to the people in the
> shipping department. Added up, these are part of the product's cost.
>
> They can add that figure to the product price or the shipping price.
> Either way, the customer is going to pay. The company adds it to the
> shipping because the customer will often compare product unit prices
> and not the total cost including shipping.
>
> If the company did not "pad" the shipping figure, they would have to
> add the same amount to the product price.

All of this is true. However, B&H charges only $4.95 to ship the
same item to me here in Massachusetts (USA).

But when one ships commercially to Canada, one must dance the
customs and tariffs tango. Those costs are very real, both in terms
of time and money. UPS passes their share on to B&H. B&H
passes both their share and UPS's share on to the customer:

http://canadaonline.about.com/cs/customs/a/shopshipcanada.htm

If you get your own quote for shipping a 1-pound package from
New York to, say, Toronto via UPS, you can see what you'd pay
to do the same thing. For the same classes of service, it appears
that B&H is charging less.

http://wwwapps.ups.com/calTimeCost?loc=en_CA&WT.svl=SubNav
http://fedex.com/ratefinder/home

--
Mike Benveniste -- mhb(a)murkyether.com (Clarification Required)
Its name is Public opinion. It is held in reverence. It settles
everything. Some think it is the voice of God. -- Mark Twain


From: RichA on 25 Mar 2010 13:26
On Mar 25, 11:01 am, "Michael Benveniste" <m...(a)murkyether.com> wrote:
> "tony cooper" <tony_cooper...(a)earthlink.net> wrote:
> > The company is paying rent for the space used to package and ship the
> > product and they are paying wages and benefits to the people in the
> > shipping department.  Added up, these are part of the product's cost.
>
> > They can add that figure to the product price or the shipping price.
> > Either way, the customer is going to pay.  The company adds it to the
> > shipping because the customer will often compare product unit prices
> > and not the total cost including shipping.
>
> > If the company did not "pad" the shipping figure, they would have to
> > add the same amount to the product price.
>
> All of this is true.  However, B&H charges only $4.95 to ship the
> same item to me here in Massachusetts (USA).
>
> But when one ships commercially to Canada, one must dance the
> customs and tariffs tango.  Those costs are very real, both in terms
> of time and money.  

Where do you get this info from? It is no more difficult mailing to
Canada, except you fill in a 2`` x 2`` label. Takes about 20 seconds.
From: Bruce on 25 Mar 2010 14:27
On Thu, 25 Mar 2010 10:26:25 -0700 (PDT), RichA <rander3127(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
>On Mar 25, 11:01�am, "Michael Benveniste" <m...(a)murkyether.com> wrote:
>>
>> But when one ships commercially to Canada, one must dance the
>> customs and tariffs tango. �Those costs are very real, both in terms
>> of time and money. �
>
>Where do you get this info from? It is no more difficult mailing to
>Canada, except you fill in a 2`` x 2`` label. Takes about 20 seconds.


It isn't a shipping charge. It's a hassle charge.

Hassle costs money.

Companies like B&H are box shifters - they pile 'em high and sell 'em
cheap. They want to sell and despatch items as quickly and
efficiently as possible and avoid wasting valuable time dealing with
after-sales queries.

The reason for the high shipping charges for Canada is that B&H knows,
from bitter experience, that most Canadians are moaners and whiners
and will cause B&H, on average, several times more hassle than US
customers. So the Canadians get charged more.

If there were differential item prices for Canadian buyers, B&H knows
that the moaning and whining would get out of control. It therefore
makes more sense to keep item prices the same but raise the cost of
shipping to Canada to make up for all that hassle.

;-)

From: Rich on 25 Mar 2010 19:54
John A. <john(a)nowhere.invalid> wrote in
news:0d7nq51ppqjrmrsb3beulqrotb8vnu3lm2(a)4ax.com:

>>Where do you get this info from? It is no more difficult mailing to
>>Canada, except you fill in a 2`` x 2`` label. Takes about 20 seconds.
>
> A letter, maybe, but anything over a certain weight (couple pounds?)
> requires the large form.
>
> Of course a well-enough-equipped shop can print the prefilled forms
> along with the mailing label and packing list. Particularly when
> they're taking orders electronically. But that does take some money to
> set up.
>

Last time I checked, one roll of 35mm film weighed about 2.5oz.
From: RichA on 25 Mar 2010 21:42
On Mar 25, 7:56 pm, John A. <j...(a)nowhere.invalid> wrote:
> On Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:54:00 -0500, Rich <n...(a)nowhere.com> wrote:
> >John A. <j...(a)nowhere.invalid> wrote in
> >news:0d7nq51ppqjrmrsb3beulqrotb8vnu3lm2(a)4ax.com:
>
> >>>Where do you get this info from?  It is no more difficult mailing to
> >>>Canada, except you fill in a 2`` x 2`` label.  Takes about 20 seconds.
>
> >> A letter, maybe, but anything over a certain weight (couple pounds?)
> >> requires the large form.
>
> >> Of course a well-enough-equipped shop can print the prefilled forms
> >> along with the mailing label and packing list. Particularly when
> >> they're taking orders electronically. But that does take some money to
> >> set up.
>
> >Last time I checked, one roll of 35mm film weighed about 2.5oz.
>
> Also some places will set a minimum shipping charge to discourage
> small orders.

Well, how about an expensive but small, light item? Run a $200
filter (about the same weight as the film) though their process and
see what the shipping is.
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