Who ever solves this shipping situation will be the world’s next billionaire. Musk changed things with PayPal, who is going to handle the shipping problem?
I think to be honest the shipping problem is really not actually shipping, it is customs and having to look for banned items, drugs, who knows what else. If we could get some sort of verified trusted shipper like the trusted traveler programs the airlines have. Then companies that depend on shipping could get much cheaper and faster shipping because our stuff would not need to be searched.
It is hard. Some people would not order because I used USPS. They said when it gets handed off to their local government it may or may not arrive and there is nothing that can be done.
It is sounding like I need to offer all shipping platforms and several options for each. So you can choose the carrier and method you know is best for your country. I know that sounds simple but that means I need to get my item weights and required package size dam near perfect to get an accurate estimate. Currently, there is not a way to say I can fit 200 endmills in a box with printed parts and the weight increases but the box size doesn’t. For most of these programs, the more expensive ones depend on box size more than weight, and for the less expensive stuff it is weight more than box size.
This is a productive thread, as per usually. I needed to ask the experts and you have answered. There is no one size fits all, I need to offer them all and just figure it out.
P.S. If you have ever ordered from McMaster Carr, their system makes complete sense now. You place an order, choose the delivery service you want but don’t get charged until after the order is packed and labeled, you do not know what the shipping will cost. They then charge you for whatever the actual shipping costs. Going in blind is kinda odd but now I know why. You could never set up a system to accurately pack a mcmaster box and get a real shipping number.
Ups and Fedex offers a really good international shipping, but besides the quote you pay for shipping it they get really nasty with payments on our end. thats why at least in my country the shipping forwarders are making Bank. we pay around 180-250 dop per pound +custom taxes when applicable. thats around 3-4 usd
Most importantly, I would want to support Ryan in keeping this fun for him. If that means shipping must cost a bit more, so be it. (IMHO)
In my experience in purchasing a Ratrig from Portugal, they simply collect the maximum amount shipping might cost when I hit “buy”. But then they refunded the overage once the packages had shipped. (For reference, I think it was about $350 when I hit buy, but I received a refund of about $100 once it shipped.)
I do the same. A few are a bit over and a few are a bit under, those cancel out. If it is every significant, I do refund the difference. That usually only happens when I can fit something in a small box and they paid for a medium box.
+$220/month for the option to do live carrier pricing. Meaning, you guy would see the actual cost of each service when checking out (provided I get the size and weight close). Currently, you just see one or two options I set up by order price and weight, depending on your country.
On my end here is what I see (9lbs to Denmark). USPS Flat rate comes with more insurance and free shipping supplies and cost $86 for this example. This is what live pricing would look like to you if I paid for the new plan. Notice no fedex showing for this country.
After seeing this I realize that makes another problem. There is a very real possibility someone pays for express from each of the carriers and every day I would need to drive to all 3 carriers to drop off packages. Not going to happen.
Welcome to the world of US export controls. It’s ludicrous that the USPS is forced to funnel all packages for export through their own customs facilities (which there is only a few major centres around the country). This is required so that several other different government agencies can assess the package to make sure you are not sending top secret technology or restricted items outside of the US. If it doesn’t pass the sniff test then the poor USPS is forced to ship it all the way back to you on their dime without any clear explanation why. Because the refusal was determined by some other government agency the post office is just confused as you are. All this despite having digitally entered the relevant information about the package contents before printing the shipping label. You would think that they should be able to flag the shipment at that point regarding potential export issues.
The only way around the USPS mess is to use courier services. Their business is commercial shipments so they can handle the import/export headache (for a fee). I suggest you set up a meeting with the local UPS and FedEx sales reps and talk to a broker. Pick their brains for all of the education you need. Setting up an account with a courier should get you a big discount (depending on the number of packages per day/week) off of their published consumer rates.
The freight consolidating companies will offer the lowest rates and may be a viable option if they can handle the export requirements. They work by having hundreds of customers that each ship a few packages a day. To the courier company they appear as one company that ships hundreds of packages per day so it’s less accounting headache for the courier and can offer the consolidator a bigger discount. The couriers don’t care if they have to pick up the packages at 50 different locations because their trucks have to drive the same route everyday anyway.
I don’t want to think about any of the new tariffs, $0 de minimis and no drawbacks. In that regard your marooned up a stream without an oar.
I certainly appreciate your efforts to make this type of manufacturing technology affordable for makers everywhere. In these uncertain times, think your customers will understand if there is the inevitable increase in costs to acquire a machine of their own.
That’s pure craziness. I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this rather than making MPCNC TNG, or whatever other ideas you’ve got. Selfishly, those topics are more fun for us too.
Just keep in mind, they do a lot of B2B so nobody cares. They also probably have many people answering emails / phones. If you did that, we would have a forum post every day asking how much shipping costs before they place an order.
I do like your comment about offering multiple carriers. Everyone likes choice. I figured this would be a checkbox with Shopify (I think that is what you use). I guess everything is more complicated once you get into it. Would be a little annoying to drop off packages to several places though each day. My UPS store lets me drop off USPS though.
I would never, but it makes complete sense now. It also lets me know that a company like that has not solved the many different items in one box shipping rate issue…
Not the same thing but while we’re complaining about USPS, I ordered a pen/laser board from Bart with plans to make my own eggbot. I got this in a message from my friend at my local post office this morning for how it showed up there.
I guess the other part to add more detail to is customer service. I mentioned earlier if I file a claim with the USPS, they call from a private number and close the claim when you don’t answer. UPS if they have an issue they call you from a UPS number and send an email. If I don’t answer I am able to call that same person back and handle the situation.
I will keep looking into this further and see what issues pop up using UPS, but I am feeling like I should have given them a shot sooner.
I do hope you get shipping things sorted out. We wouldn’t mind to pay a little extra premium for shipping if that means a better service Keep that in mind
Well just got this in the email. It is wet. I wonder if I am going to have to stop using USPS for domestic orders as well. That is the absolute worst I have ever seen since this all started.
