Shipping to NYC.. WTF

[rom]

Ok. so ladyada hq seems to be ,well, like 10 blocks away from me..... i placed an order.. seems a little odd to me that i have to wait from thursday till, say, i guess it's going to be monday before it's shipped out. then i have to wait for ups to ship it to me (presumably going from 10 blocks away to queens then the next day to hop on a truck and get delivered to me .... 10 blocks away). and not to mention the fact that it costs 7 bucks for my little bitty thing to move that whole 10 blocks.

can anyone say uhh.. pickup.. us new yorkers aren't a patient bunch and really.. it's just stupid that it costs so much to ship ....... 10 blocks.

[Amberwolf]

Ok. so ladyada hq seems to be ,well, like 10 blocks away from me..... i placed an order.. seems a little odd to me that i have to wait from thursday till, say, i guess it's going to be monday before it's shipped out. then i have to wait for ups to ship it to me (presumably going from 10 blocks away to queens then the next day to hop on a truck and get delivered to me .... 10 blocks away). and not to mention the fact that it costs 7 bucks for my little bitty thing to move that whole 10 blocks.

can anyone say uhh.. pickup.. us new yorkers aren't a patient bunch and really.. it's just stupid that it costs so much to ship ....... 10 blocks.

Did you try first asking her politely if you could pickup? If not, this seems a pretty rude way to be asking about it.

[rom]

I sure have, very nicely even... get a very prompt reply of no.. They do respond to their email really quickly.. Like amazingly quickly. great email service whenever i ask a question.

It just seemed a little nutty to me that it would take so long and cost so much to get such a short distance.. I bear no ill will, just a little bit of wtf, that makes no sense.

[eil]

Well, some shops aren't really set up for customer pickup. There are lots of eBay vendors near where I live and most of them won't allow customer pickup even if you live next door. Most of the time this is because there isn't always someone guaranteed to be around. In New York, it wouldn't surprise me if they operate out of a building with strict security that doesn't let visitors in. Who knows.

[Amberwolf]

Or if they're afraid of what potential visitors might do, with the temptation of all that stuff around, especially if there is only one person there taking care of it at the time. There are a lot of thieves and worse in the world, so I don't blame people that don't trust others.

(I've been mugged myself, with a gun to my head, by a group of kids that probably weren't even in highschool yet, in Phoenix, AZ, in an area that isn't even considered "bad", or at least wasn't then! Not only that, but cars just drove by while it was happening, while we were in clear view, and no one did anything, nor even called the police, as they had no reports of anything wrong in the area until *I* called once I could get to a phone).

[macegr]

Both my day job and my startup business involve selling products (technological gadgets, not pizza) and then shipping them to people, and we aren't really set up for pickup. But...we'll do it. Once every week or so, we get a pickup customer at work. And two or three customers have come to my house to pick up their order from my home business.

Several times, I have also actually hand-delivered product for work and for my own business, if I was going to be in the area or if it was a rush project. I think the record was 30 miles, arriving 40 minutes from the time they phoned in the order.

Some people are comforted by sticking to the routine, others like to break out of it once in a while. Either way, they get to run their business any way they prefer.

[rom]

i guess you guys have good logic even thought it doesn't satisfy my impatience (haha) .. ironically i got robbed in phoneix az as well (oddly enough, in the 10 years off and on that i've lived in nyc i've never been robbed)..

[adafruit]

at this time i dont have in person pickup.
if i had a shop or storefront then of course it would be different, but since i run my small business out of my apartment so i think its common sense to not have pickup. i think most people who live in new york city would agree its a good idea!
regardless, i've had some customers come to my home -anyways- and do some really ridiculously inappropriate things

[macegr]

regardless, i've had some customers come to my home -anyways- and do some really ridiculously inappropriate things

Ok, now you've got me curious. Inappropriate? Such as...ask you to fix the kit they soldered incorrectly? Or run around slathered in maple syrup screaming "MINTYBOOST!!!"? Or jam your cellphone, then propose to you via messages on their SpokePov bike wheels?

[adafruit]

good guesses! you'll just have to wait till i release my memoirs...

[rom]

ahh... guess that explains why my order shipped out of kinkos.

i wouldn't be so expectant if i knew it was an apt based operation. haha. sorry.

thought it was like a smaller sparkfun.

gotta pay an extra 10 dollars in tax and shipping... that's still a ripoff.

[macegr]

I like using USPS First Class Parcel for packages under 13 ounces. You can just print an address and tape it on, then either walk up to the post office counter with a bunch of packages or use the Automated Postal Center to weigh and print postage. If you get a Pitney-Bowes machine, you can print postage right there and not even bother with going to the post office. My packages tend to be between 7 ounces and 10 ounces, the average price to anywhere in the country is between $2.50 and $3.50. They get there within 2 to 5 days, usually 3 days maximum.

I set up my store to tack on a few cents for the box and packing materials. It does a weight-based quote for the box and product, usually gets very close to the actual shipping charge.

There's an international version, too; packages to Canda are only a little bit more expensive, and packages to Europe are usually under $9.00 but can take a couple weeks.

If you use Priority Mail, it's even easier; you can print and pay online, slap the sticky label on the box, and throw it in any USPS drop box. Typically $4.80 anywhere in the country, up to a pound.

It does take time to pack up boxes, and set up shipping. I can understand why a lot of sellers add a fee for that service. I just look at it as a hobby, I surf five less websites in an evening, I guess.

[rom]

If you negotiate with fedex or ups or dhl or usps, you can get your shipping costs down pretty damn low.. they will all even deliver the boxes for free and the shopping cart can print the labels onto sticker paper with the right plugin. Before my last company went bust, I think we were paying like 2.15 to ship an larger (than you are shipping) parcel (thats assuming you don't overbox and also assuming you don't just charge people a flat rate for shipping).

you should look into your shipping options. 7.00 is too much to charge locals.

[macegr]

I looked at the shipping options on adafruit, and USPS first-class was available. I estimated shipping for a Boarduino going 2400 miles around $3.00. Is it possible that you simply missed the cheaper shipping options?

[rom]

didn't miss it.. shipping without a tracking number brainless to me, everything should have one... it's the logistics coordinator/ director of distribution/ project coordinator in me..