Rant - WTF is going with MidwayUSA shipping costs???

[ckcollins2003]

Got their flyer today, did you see the disclaimer for powder? 25.00 haxmat + 9.99 shipping fee.

Cancelled order when I was found out that I getting charged a Hazmat fee for each pound of powder.

The $25.00 hazmat fee is because of UPS. Of course it won't be for every pound of powder, just for that one box. You'll get that hazmat fee no matter where you shop online to buy powder or primers. That's why I always tell people if they are going to order powder and primers online, get a group of people together and split the hazmat and shipping cost or if you are only ordering for yourself, buy it in bulk that way it makes the fee worth your while.

 

[mdemetz]

Just for giggles I compared shipping my package to my work and to my home. They are 16 miles apart and all packages leave from the same distribution center in Indianapolis. The difference in cost as 5 dollars more to deliver to my home.

That is because of Residental vs business address.

 

[malern28us]

That is because of Residental vs business address.

Yeah? Is that because it is so much more expensive to drop a package at a door? Total BS.

 

[ckcollins2003]

Lets email them and find out. I work for UPS and I didn't even know it costed more to ship to a residential address than a commercial.

I can't think of any reason why it would cost more either. Every package goes through the same steps as the others.

Shipping, Freight, Logistics and Supply Chain Management from UPS I've sent my email. Maybe if more people would hassle them about it they would charge the same rate.

 

[Dockem]

I did email the CEO of MidwayUSA, Larry Potterfield, about the increase in shipping costs. Basically said that I would have to consider other resources if the costs were to remain as high as they are now.

 

[Aaronhome27]

Not a plug for any sight or anything but before I order from anywhere I always check retailmenot.com for coupons. Just did an order thru cabelas and found a free shipping for over $100 purchase. cabelas site has the $5 shipping for over $150 listed on their site. The free shipping worked. However I did not remember ever having to pay sales tax at cabelas.com so that was a bit of a surprise. Regardless it was all bargain cave stuff that was very cheap so I gladly paid the tax and no shipping

Few coupon codes for midway are listed here

http://www.retailmenot.com/view/midwayusa.com

If you click them it takes you to the site. just close the new window with Midway on it. The codes will be listed on retailmenot

 

[WebSnyper]

However I did not remember ever having to pay sales tax at cabelas.com so that was a bit of a surprise.

Since Cabelas has a brick and mortar store in Indiana, you have to pay sales tax when purchasing from their website.

 

[unionblue19]

Around 60LB of pure lead ship for $10 I think, thru one of thos if fit it ship boxes. Mail lady was not impress of the package and told me you take it out of my truck. But I was waiting at the box for here knowing hauling 60LB of lead in a small box would make someone day.

 

[Dockem]

Email reply that I received:

Larry has reviewed your email and asked me to respond on his behalf. While he reads every email, due to the volume he can’t respond to each one personally so I help him answer his correspondence.
We base our rates on the actual cost associated with getting the package from our dock to your door. That means in addition to the fees charged by the carrier, there is also a charge for the packing materials, American labor with benefits to pull/pack/ship the order, the box, basically everything. If you have a single line item order, the shipping can be a significant percentage of the bill, no question about that. But once the truck is on the way to your house, it is fairly inexpensive to add additional items to the order without significantly raising the shipping cost, unless the items are “ship alone” because of their size. Many of the target stands we sell fall into that category I am afraid.
Also in response to the constantly increasing shipping costs, last year we introduced Flat Rate Shipping from the USPS and UPS Basic in addition to the traditional services offered by UPS and the Postal Service. In a nutshell, when a customer selects UPS Basic, the UPS driver has the option of passing the package to the local post office for final delivery. If the UPS truck does not have to go to every customers house on the route but just has to make one stop at the post office to drop off the packages, the cost of delivery goes down significantly for UPS and they pass the savings on to the customers that select UPS Basic. It averages about one day longer than regular ground UPS service, which of course is still available at a slightly higher rate. These options should help control shipping costs.

On Behalf of Larry, Thanks For Your Business,

Eric Ellingson
Contact Center Supervisor
MidwayUSA
NRA Endowment Member

I did do a check on the difference in cost if I deleted the target stand and backing sheets. The cost to ship the targets and camo tape would have been over $16. Well, it may not be good, but it's their explanation for shipping costs.

Caveat emptor and shop around!

 

[TopDog]

Email reply that I received:

Larry has reviewed your email and asked me to respond on his behalf. While he reads every email, due to the volume he can’t respond to each one personally so I help him answer his correspondence.
We base our rates on the actual cost associated with getting the package from our dock to your door. That means in addition to the fees charged by the carrier, there is also a charge for the packing materials, American labor with benefits to pull/pack/ship the order, the box, basically everything. If you have a single line item order, the shipping can be a significant percentage of the bill, no question about that. But once the truck is on the way to your house, it is fairly inexpensive to add additional items to the order without significantly raising the shipping cost, unless the items are “ship alone” because of their size. Many of the target stands we sell fall into that category I am afraid.
Also in response to the constantly increasing shipping costs, last year we introduced Flat Rate Shipping from the USPS and UPS Basic in addition to the traditional services offered by UPS and the Postal Service. In a nutshell, when a customer selects UPS Basic, the UPS driver has the option of passing the package to the local post office for final delivery. If the UPS truck does not have to go to every customers house on the route but just has to make one stop at the post office to drop off the packages, the cost of delivery goes down significantly for UPS and they pass the savings on to the customers that select UPS Basic. It averages about one day longer than regular ground UPS service, which of course is still available at a slightly higher rate. These options should help control shipping costs.

On Behalf of Larry, Thanks For Your Business,

Eric Ellingson
Contact Center Supervisor
MidwayUSA
NRA Endowment Member

I did do a check on the difference in cost if I deleted the target stand and backing sheets. The cost to ship the targets and camo tape would have been over $16. Well, it may not be good, but it's their explanation for shipping costs.

Caveat emptor and shop around!

For me this makes a difference to know that they use American labor. If its American labor and not illegal aliens then I don't mind paying a bit more for shipping.

 

[wetidlerjr]

Gotta love that Larry....

A while back Midway started adding a handling charge and I sent an email saying that after years of buying from them I would start price shopping again. I got a reply back signed by Larry Potterfield explaining that they needed to add these charges in order to maintain [STRIKE]their[/STRIKE] his exceptional [STRIKE]customer[/STRIKE] standard of [STRIKE]service[/STRIKE] living.
Seems like they are just building the handling charge into the shipping fee so it doesn't show up as a handling fee

What Larry really meant.

 

[BJMANIS]

Make your own target stand...Materials needed, 1 2x6x8....1 2x4x8....2 2x2x8....one sheet 1/4 osb... Lowes will cut all your lumber to your specs...I use 2 2x6 30" with 2 2x4 24" for the base.. Looks like an "H" with a double cross bar 2 inches wide. I have the OSB cut into 8 2ft. by 2ft. backing boards. 6 two inch drywall screws....less than $20 for the whole deal.. Breaks down into two easily handled pieces. Depending on height of target will even fit into the trunk of a car. These backing board will easily accomodate 400 to 600 rounds if you move your targets around the board

 

[DRob]

Online

Buying online has always been a tight-rope walk between selling price and shipping price. B's price was less but his shipping was higher than A's. After wearing myself out, I stopped dancing. I use Midsouth or Midway and forget about it. There's no way I can buy ammo, brass, or bullets locally for what they'll charge, shipping included.

 

[Leo]

Additional charges are getting to be a problem. I have had reasonably good service from Natchez Shooters supply. They were often a dollar or two per item cheaper than most places, nothing special, nothing bad. They have started charging a $4.00 per transaction charge of you use a credit card. It does not matter what price. (how does a mail order company expect to do business without credit cards?) Because of out of stock delays, I had about $75 of merchandise shipped on three different dates. I ended up with three shipping charges AND three credit card handling fees. 20% charge for credit cards and $40 plus for shipping on an $80 order. Their nice catalogues hit the trash can and they lost me forever.