SP.com Shipping Fees - Inflation or Computer Bug?

[carver]

Hey pipers,
I recently made another order on SP.com, to ship to China.

Shipping fees: 20 dollars.
I didn’t realise at first, but then it struck me. I checked the other orders I placed with them.

Over one year, shipping fees have almost doubled for almost the same quantities...
First order: April 30th 2015:

Weight: 16oz (453 gr)

Subtotal = $54.21

Shipping fee UPS Super Saver: $12.61 ($0.78/oz, $2.78/100gr)

TOTAL: $66.82
Second Order : November 23rd 2015

Weight: 13.28oz ( 376 gr )

Subtotal: $73.32

Shipping fee UPS Super Saver: $16.88 ($1.27/oz, $4.48/100gr)

TOTAL : $90.20
Third and last Order : April 12th 2016

Weight: 17.02oz (482 gr)

Subtotal: $97.47

Shipping fee UPS Super Saver: $20.44 ($1.20/oz, 4.24/100gr)

TOTAL : $117.91
I feel conned... Compare April 2015 and November2015, then April in both years, it's madness.

Is it possible that their computer calculating shipping fees is buggy ? Because those numbers, clearly stated seem very very unlikely.

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

Well it could be that UPS has changed their rates and that's why SP has increased theirs. Shipping rates can and often do change from year to year, so I doubt SP is trying to rip off customers. I'm sure they're just keeping up with the current rates set by UPS and the USPS. Besides that shipping over seas is not cheap. When I ship stuff to the UK it usually cost me $20-25 for a small parcel.

 

[jmatt]

I've never paid shipping. Just make all orders be over $100. (I think)

 

[rhoadsie]

For free shipping (over $95) they will use either USPS or UPS depending on which is cheaper. I noticed about a year ago that free shipping to me changed from UPS to USPS.

 

[dochudson]

I don't think the free shipping applies to China.

 

[pruss]

Here's the thing... there are way too many variables involved in calculating shipping costs to spitball a comparison and assume that you're getting an apples to apples comparison.
Just using your year over year April comparison above, here are some of the items that might impact shipping costs.

1) Weight. Your 2015 buy is under one pound, your 2016 buy is over one pound. Many shipping companies have thresholds of weight at which the cost/oz changes.
2) Price. Your 2016 purchase was $0.20/g and your 205 purchase was $0.12/g. If your shipment was insured against loss, then that cost is baked into your shipping fee, and your April 2016 purchase would be higher.
3) Pricing. As mentioned, shipping companies change their pricing with frequency and often seasonally. It wouldn't shock me if there was a premium on shipping in late November, as that is peak shipping in advance of Christmas. Likewise, it would surprise me to note that there was an increase in shipping costs year over year, and I'd anticipate that shipping pricing will just continue to go up over time.
Lastly, you're all in for $120 for a pound of (what I assume is) premium pipe tobacco. What would that have cost you in China? I'm guessing you're still winning.
If you truly feel hosed, call Smokingpipes.com I have yet to see them leave a customer disgruntled.
-- Pat

 

[mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast]

Shipping rates have been increasing incrementally since I can remember. I saw on the news this week that the price of a regular US postage stamp went down a couple cents for the first time in something like 97 years? A $20 shipping rate to China is still very good in my opinion. My orders from Mr. Snuff always ran a minimum of $25, and UK to US (Ohio) is a shorter distance than US (South Carolina) to China. So to answer your question, I imagine it's just an increase and not a computer bug.

 

[mso489]

I live one state away (N.C.) from smokingpipes.com, and their shipping rates have always been reasonable, especially the lowest USPS rate. So I suspect the international rates whether postal or other courier, which can increase with the variables mention on other posts.

 

[fafnir]

Simple, it's economics,earlier this year China suspended their stock market on more than two occasions, you all might recall how the markets tumbled, iron ore plummeted but is now in a rebound thank goodness, all this meant that the yuan devalued since December and all indication and analysis indicates that it might slip a further 7%.
A yuan has less value now than a year ago.
Secondly to this is that oil is slightly more expensive, meaning fuel for transit cost is more expensive.
I feel for you as my own countries currency is in free fall as well.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

You feel conned? I have to pay $250 per pound in taxes.
Smokingpipes actually cut the cost of shipping a single tin to Canada by nearly 50% last year, so I'm pretty happy with the way they've been handling their international customers.
If you've ever shipped something yourself you'll know how important it is to keep package weight within certain numbers. For me to send someone a box over 500 grams in weight costs at least twice as much as anything under 500 grams (sometimes 4x depending on dimensions).

Shipping costs are a game, load your cart, look at the shipping cost, remove one item, look at shipping, etc. Rinse, repeat. If I have a "TAD attack" there's usually a very specific combination of items that I purchase in order to maximize shipping efficiency.

 

[4noggins]

Carver,
Why are you asking members of the forum about a vendor's shipping policies? So far, I've not read anything concrete. Everyone has an opinion, but no one knows the answer. Why don't you contact SP?? You'll have an answer in a few minutes and the response will be the actual reason for the increase, not everyone's guessing and blabbering about world economies, and Jupiter rising.
Just for the record, you pulled this crap on me last week.......get a life!!
Rich

 

[xrundog]

USPS package rates have indeed gone up this year.

 

[swilford]

Carver,
Could you email me directly (all Smokingpipes.com email addresses are first.last@smokingpipes.com) and I'll look into it. If anything, it should have gone down with some changes we made early last year (though possibly before the first order in your sequence). There are a handful of possible explanations:
1) The packaging weight--the physical tin--could be different from scenario to scenario. We charge shipping based on the weight of the package (because that's how we're charged).
2) We simply have the wrong weight in there for one of the items in your most recent order. It doesn't happen often, but it happens.
3) If those are the total package weights your publishing (at first, I thought it was the net weight of the tobacco, but now I'm not sure), it's possible that the weight the system provides doesn't match the complete weight perfectly because the software guesses (generally really well, but there are edge cases; I wrote about thirty lines of math to estimate total package weight based on contents weight) what that package weight will be based on the weight of the contents. Since the shape of items vary, especially in conjunction, the box size can vary, which changes the completed package weight. So, if you ordered, say, bulk tobacco and only bulk tobacco, the software would likely overestimate the final package weight, while if you ordered a weirdly shaped accessory, a pipe, and a 100g McClelland tin, it would underestimate.
Additionally, the math that crunches through the contents weight to calculate final weight is a series of differently shaped curves for different weight thresholds. We came up with this by crunching data on about 75,000 orders. One equation wouldn't do it. It ended up being stepped, partly because there's not a perfectly smooth increase in box sizes, or in the shapes of average items. Then as I drilled down into each data segment, it became clear that different groups of packages ended up being best modeled with different equations. So, it's possible that your last package was more because it crossed a threshold from one to the next, though I doubt that it would have made that much difference.
Calculating complete package weight from the contents is a massively complex math problem, so I simplified it radically to the above. I'm pretty sure Amazon has better algorithms for this than we have, but they also employ actual PhD mathematicians. Since we're talking about a pipe retailer, you get a guy with a history degree who can do a little math and write a little code.
So, short story is that I'd like to see what was on the orders exactly so that I can run them through the shipping calculator and figure out what is going on. If you ordered the same sorts of items each time, there shouldn't have been that much variance on a per ounce basis for that shipping method. I'd like to look at it because it's possible that there's an error in one of the weights we can address.
Sykes

 

[beefeater33]

^^ this is what makes SP the BEST! ::

 

[perdurabo]

Are you charged on top of that when it goes through China's Customs?
Look at Sykes, man responded! I love Free Market Rugged Individualist, man went out of the way on a forum to run customer service. Mr. Wilford that's American Exceptionalism at its best. :clap:

 

[carver]

Alright all,
Thanks a lot for your contribution, I didn't expect it to be so passionate.

You're all very right, SP.com has amazing service and quality, but that isn't what I am discussing about, and comparing US delivery with delivery to China is a little beside the point.. I don't live in the U.S. nor in Europe, and my salary isn't yours. I want to lower the cost of an already expensive hobby, guilty as charged.

I am not arguing about the price, I am arguing about the increase, big difference.
@frozenchurchwarden: I can only buy a pound at a time. Over 500gr, it's 100% taxes. So every purchase and its shipping fees need to be carefully thought about.
@Rich: I appreciate the advice given about my life, or the one I should get. Very instructive.

My turn: for someone representing a business, your customer service and relations needs a bit of a polish.

Am I an annoying customer ? maybe, probably even, but I am still a customer. And I am only asking about something all in all quite reasonable. And to go all the way into replying to your very indelicate message: Why on the forum ...? well, that IS what a forum is about! Discussing things, whatever things. Get a dictionary !
@Sykes: thanks a lot for your response Sir, greatly appreciated. I will shoot you an email, and if all is good, then all is good. Thanks a lot for taking the time to explaining the process, much appreciated. After reading your message, I noticed something that I didn't think about before: weight of tins. My first purchase had lots of bulk, and so no tins. Which then makes more sense. I should have thought of that earlier. But anyway thanks a lot.
@ALL: sorry to have disrupted the peace of the forum and your tranquility.

 

[cobguy]

@ALL: sorry to have disrupted the peace of the forum and your tranquility.

It's all some of us look forward to here ... no apology needed. :D
Kudos to Sykes for that reply, though!

 

[swilford]

After reading your message, I noticed something that I didn't think about before: weight of tins. My first purchase had lots of bulk, and so no tins. Which then makes more sense. I should have thought of that earlier. But anyway thanks a lot.

@carver: As we discussed by email, after reviewing the orders, this is exactly it. The tins themselves are surprisingly heavy.

Look at Sykes, man responded! I love Free Market Rugged Individualist, man went out of the way on a forum to run customer service. Mr. Wilford that's American Exceptionalism at its best.

That's very kind; thanks. Mostly I jump in when it's something I know about in detail. Josh, Shane, Ted and others from Smokingpipes.com jump in on other topics, when its their respective areas. We all read the forums and jump in when we can help. And if you didn't guess from the post, I'm sort of attached (my wife would use stronger language, like 'insanely obsessive,' particularly when I tinker with it all night and then feel obliged to explain it to her) to the math and business process code that underpin things like shipping at the company.
Sykes

 

[pylorns]

I can tell you for certain, shipping international has increased 5 bucks. I was able to ship to Austrailia or England or Germany for 15 bucks for a box of "goodies" - all the same weight. Then USPS increased rates, its now 20-22 bucks. Canada went from 11 bucks to 14-15 bucks for 9oz boxes. In the US same box went from 2.98 a box to 3.30 I'm sure Rich @4noggins can attest to that as well. My prices are from stamps.com so I get a little discount.

 

[captpat]

I know this doesn't work for everyone but I try to delay orders until I get over the free shipping threshold, if I'm a little short I'll add pipe cleaners, czech tools or plastic pipe rests to top up.