Midway USA and shipping

[iceman4226]

Let me say I have been a happy customer of Midways for 25 years. As of late I have been very unhappy with there shipping policy's. I would say in the past year. The last order I placed the other day was the last for a while. I ordered a few things about $200 worth. Well let me tell ya they wanted and got $30 dollars to ship reg ground UPS. I asked why so much and they said their shipping calculation were on weight. Which I did order a rest bag that was about 12lbs but the whole order was no more the 16lbs. I think this is very over priced. I ordered a set of nerf bars the other day that was 75lbs and the shipping was only $15. So the money I saved on sale items I lost in shipping. They don't even offer free shipping on orders over a certain dollar amount. The more and more I think about it. It just pisses me off. I do order from Brownells and other places but most of it is through Midway but not anymore. Just wondering if any of you ran into this and what your thoughts are.

 

[Rockbear78]

Ive run into this before started ordering from other places like cabellas, midways shipping has gotten almost as bad as cheaper than dirts

 

[churchmouse]

I stopped using several on line suppliers for this very reason. If you figure in the shipping and inconvenience of waiting it is almost worth (almost) finding it local if someone stocks it.
I dropped an order at Brownells Tuesday night. Wed. I got the 3 step confirmation of shipped out by 2:00 PM. It was filled...in the mail and shipping was a paltry $12
The order was gunsmith tools and the weight had to be in excess of 15Lbs.

 

[baba]

I agree that shipping at Midway seems to have gone up a lot. They must not have figured out USPS flat rate boxes yet. I will say that I was spoiled by them (Midway) though. When I lived in Nebraska, they were close enough that UPS ground was delivered next day. I didn't mind what I perceived to be higher prices under those circumstances.

-Brian

 

[Bennettjh]

I've noticed their shipping going up too. I tend to look elsewhere for gear now.

 

[Lammchop93]

I love their company, but their shipping is a bit ridiculous. I ordered a $1 part from them once, and it was like $9 to ship. I emailed them and asked if they could just put it in an envelope, and they said they had to use priority boxes.

 

[churchmouse]

I love their company, but their shipping is a bit ridiculous. I ordered a $1 part from them once, and it was like $9 to ship. I emailed them and asked if they could just put it in an envelope, and they said they had to use priority boxes.

They want to use priority boxes. Other on line suppliers have manila envelopes for small 1 off orders. They are making money on this.

I know, free market and all.

 

[Twangbanger]

This is par for the course with Midway. They have huge selection, and prices that seem right. But having that much stuff at those prices means "overhead," and it seems to me that you end up paying for that overhead, when the final order amount gets calculated. The devil is in the details on shipping, and often times, the method that is easiest to administer for the shipper, isn't the one that minimizes cost for the buyer who's paying the freight. Sometimes minor alterations in shipping service can make a big difference, and nobody is going to tell you about it unless you push, investigate, and ask questions.

I've gotten a little fed up with Midway, for this and other reasons. Larry Potterfield donates a lot of money and talks a good game about lean business-improvement initiatives, but I don't see that innovation being reflected in what you pay for shipping. I don't order much from them anymore. There is no excuse for a company of that size not to be more logistics-savvy...unless they're just making money off this (ie, getting some kind of volume shipping discount we don't know about).

 

[45 LongColt]

I also used to order stuff from Midway. I don't anymore because of the shipping charges. Cabelas and CTD is the same way. You may save on the item cost, but shipping eats it up. I was looking for a holster last night, found it on ebay, for less and free shipping. New.

 

[Steve B]

I agree. I had a notice for 22 lr the other day. The price was normal (around $24) but with shipping at $18, not going to happen. They need to start using flat rate priority, padded envelopes and some common sense. For now, I only buy there if I absolutely have to. Which isn't often.

 

[DustyDawg48]

This is par for the course with Midway. They have huge selection, and prices that seem right. But having that much stuff at those prices means "overhead," and it seems to me that you end up paying for that overhead, when the final order amount gets calculated. The devil is in the details on shipping, and often times, the method that is easiest to administer for the shipper, isn't the one that minimizes cost for the buyer who's paying the freight. My company ships a lot of heavy stuff across international borders, and you learn fast that even minor alterations in shipping service can make a big difference, and nobody is going to tell you about it unless you push, investigate, and ask questions.

I've gotten a little fed up with Midway, for this and other reasons. Larry Potterfield donates a lot of money and talks a good game about lean business-improvement initiatives, but I don't see that innovation being reflected in what you pay for shipping. I don't order much from them anymore. There is no excuse for a company of that size not to be more logistics-savvy...unless they're just making money off this (ie, getting some kind of volume shipping discount we don't know about).

They are getting a massive discount through UPS I would bet anything on that; we don't ship a 1/1000th of what Midway does and we have a high enough volume where UPS contacted our business and put in shipping incentives for us. With Midway you pay for speed of order processing, quality of packaging and also a bit for the fellas that pack it up. Their system is also automated and it costs a ton to have a program that will figure a way to nest each item in a box so it defaults to a generic package and everything weighs a minimum of 1 pound. That would be ok if you had 5 things that really weight 2 oz each and could get all of that for a 1 pound shipping rate but instead it most likely figures 5 pounds plus a residential delivery fee... I agree that they should be much better on getting those prices down but I'm still one that will pay it because I like that I can have it sent UPS Ground and it is there the next day...and I say this knowing full well what it really costs to ship since I do that on a daily basis where I work. FWIW, we actually do have an option for a business or residential delivery and you pay an extra $3 or $4 per package to have something delivered to a residence. That is part of what Midway has built in to their shipping costs, too.

 

[avboiler11]

I'm kinda getting tired of the MidwayUSA bashing that is so prevalent on the internet these days.

Yes, I do think Midway uses shipping costs as a profit center.

That being said, there are more costs with shipping than just what FedEx/UPS charge (boxes, filler bags/peanuts/paper/etc, tape, manpower to box the stuff up, etc.) and folks are free to purchase from anywhere they please if they aren't happy with MidwayUSA's charges. Besides, paying Midway's additional shipping charges, for me, is often less expensive than paying sales tax from Brownells.

Please don't get me started on gun board folks sounding like entitled liberals whining about "WHY U NO DISCOUNT CODES POTTERFIELD?!?!11"...

 

[churchmouse]

I'm kinda getting tired of the MidwayUSA bashing that is so prevalent on the internet these days.

Yes, I do think Midway uses shipping costs as a profit center.

That being said, there are more costs with shipping than just what FedEx/UPS charge (boxes, filler bags/peanuts/paper/etc, tape, manpower to box the stuff up, etc.) and folks are free to purchase from anywhere they please if they aren't happy with MidwayUSA's charges. Besides, paying Midway's additional shipping charges, for me, is often less expensive than paying sales tax from Brownells.

Please don't get me started on gun board folks sounding like entitled liberals whining about "WHY U NO DISCOUNT CODES POTTERFIELD?!?!11"...

I think this is about there costs being higher for the same services as others offer. I have let my membership with Sportsmans guide go due to these same practices. They hook you and then roll you in flour, cook you and move on. Yes, free market and all. I agree but all we are saying is they are getting a bit greedy and they are no longer the cheapest way to go. If this is the price they pay for getting big then maybe a different business model should be considered. If it is pure greed, it will get them soon enough.

 

[SERparacord]

I think this is about there costs being higher for the same services as others offer. I have let my membership with Sportsmans guide go due to these same practices. They hook you and then roll you in flour, cook you and move on. Yes, free market and all. I agree but all we are saying is they are getting a bit greedy and they are no longer the cheapest way to go. If this is the price they pay for getting big then maybe a different business model should be considered. If it is pure greed, it will get them soon enough.

The bigger they got the slower they got and the higher shipping became. Then they started the UPS/USPS combo shipping and my shipping time went from 3 days to 10 days. Cheapest shipping is USPS Priority mail.

 

[Muzzle Flash]

I just had this conversation with my father , he gave me a call and said midway has blem bullets.I told him I thought the shipping was to high.

 

[LarryC]

I have to agree, cost of shipping from Midway has doubled in the last few years, also they did give a 10% discount on most items to FFL-03 license holders - they sent me a email recently that says that will be discontinued at the end of the year. I also really liked Midway, but am going to look at other venders when I need to order again. My son and I have spent several thousand there in the last few years so ----.

 

[phatgemi]

Just yesterday, I was looking for a plastic pin for the trigger group on mossberg 500. Midway had good price on pin (5.99) so just for grins I put it in the cart and tried it out. They wanted 8.00 to ship and then had the balls to add a 3 dollar special handling fee onto it. I guess thats because its a small, one piece order. 11.00 shipping and handling for a plastic pin that probably doesnt weight an ounce and could easily fit into the smallest of mailable envelopes. So when I found one on ebay for a couple bucks more but 2.50 shipping. Oh well midway you're continuing to loose business by pricing yourself out of the market on stupid charges.

 

[timsdl72]

It's not just them. aimsurplus is pricey for shipping as well. Brownells I'm not sure is cheaper and there's the issue of the sales tax? (yes, I do claim sales tax on all purchases at the end of the year). I don't ship much so I'm not sure what the story is but I'd buy local if it wasn't such a hassle to find stuff.

 

[jajwrigh]

I used to spend a lot of money with Midway, but the shipping costs have become completely insane, as many of you have mentioned, so I had to pull the plug on them too. Sad because they have a lot or really good stuff, but it stopped making sense to me.

 

[jy951]

I could care less what the shipping charge is. I always look at the total cost to my door. If it's cheaper at midway, who cares. However, i find midsouth has better prices than midway,but less selection.