A negative comment

[Ray Kunz]

While this comment may never be posted, I feel new tiers should be alerted. As a leader of classes I feel somewhat responsible for the advice I provide. Several of my guys went "catalog shopping" for materials and have commented to me that they felt bad about the way Cabela's determines shipping charges. While Cabela's products and return policies are good their catalog gives no indication about their method of basing shipping charging on value alone with no concessions for larger orders. One class member suggested that he was charged as much for a Whiting cape as he would have been charged for a couple things like boat anchors. I called Cabela's and asked about this and was told by my contact that he was never told about the rationale. To me it's obvious that they are just avoiding the labor of weighing each package and let the customer bear the burden. I have no grudge against them but I just wish they'd shape up.

[Eric-WD]

Many Large retailers use this system, it is designed to encourage people to make one larger order rather than 5 small orders. Like anything else shop wisely and compare prices on the total cost of the order.

A firearms parts distributor (Midway)used to sell everything with the shipping included in the price of the item. (under $25 Had a small handeling fee) People stoped buying large orders from them, when they compaired prices and found that on the big orders they saved money with places that priced like cabelas does. That company had to switch to this type of shipping in order to compeate.

Eric

[Ray Kunz]

Eric; I think you are arguing against yourself. They charge according to goods value hence there is no difference between one large compared to several small orders. The total cost is the same.

[Bamboozle]

99% of companies do the same thing just not Cabela's. It's simpler and more cost effective for the shipper. Notice I didn't say it was fairer.

But the other reason is to cover the lost revenue when the ACTUAL shipping charges come close to or exceed the actual cost like when you order boat anchors that don't cost much but weigh a lot. Don't forget that the cost to the retailer includes the TOTAL expense of getting that product out the door not just the carrier charges.

Part of the problem is most folks want to know their freight cost BEFORE they place an order or immediately after. The alternative of knowing the weight of each item they sell and having the ability on a website to calculate the total weight of the order and then give a shipping cost based on origin and destination zip code, package weight and size, not to mention all the other up-charges UPS or other carriers have would be almost impossible. Not to mention that many companies ship from multiple locations so the "freight cost calculator" would have to check inventory in each warehouse before calculation and even that would be no guarantee it would come from that warehouse once you place your order.

Try it yourself sometime on the UPS website and see how long it takes.

Yep I hate it too but having worked in retail & wholesale I know too well the reality of freight costs.

[Eric-WD]

Ray the amount you owe goes down in percentage to the amount you spend, Lets say you buy $15.10 worth of product twice it would cost for shipping $13.50 total. If you bought one order of $30.20 (double the origional) order you would pay $7.75 for shipping a savings of $5.75 for the same order if orderd in one batch instead of two. This discourages people from making small orders and rewards those who order bigger orders.

You can see the shipping chart at

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... *sizechart

[whatfly]

Old news, Ray. As mentioned, Cabelas is not the only one who does this and the scale does favor larger orders. Furthermore, Cabelas' shipping costs become flat at $200, so indeed it is cheaper to place one big order than many little ones. Cabelas shipping costs are clearly stated on their web site, in the catalogs (on order form), and one could always ask when placing the order. The implication that they are hiding these costs is silly.

Of course, you should be sending your students to local fly shops where the prices are often going to beat Cabelas when you add in S/H. However there are going to be times when local shops don't have what you want and you are going to have to look elsewhere. While I do not often buy fly tying materials from Cabelas, mainly because there are any number of other better stocked vendors on the web (including FAOL sponsors), I often buy fly fishing gear from Cabelas I cannot find easily in my area and I have always been satisfied with their pricing and their exceptional customer service.

[Jamie Caddick]

Ray,

If you check around you will find that most shops that offer Mail-Order or eCommerce charge their shipping fees based on dollar value of the order. I charge it that way in my shop for the following reasons.

The Canada Post Rate Guide groups areas by distance from a sorting station to determine Rate Codes. There are about 43 different originating & destination codes for shipping within Canada, you have to find the originating code & destination code and then match them up to the service level you are using ( Standard Parcel, Expedited Parcel, Express Post, Express Courier plus a few more). After this you have to calculate the cubic weight of the package in kilograms (LxWxH in cm /6000) and find the right weight class for the package. Then you have to apply the fuel surcharge for that month and then see what tax laws apply (GST,HST or Tax exempt).

It is far cheaper for me to charge the flat fees and absorb the differences (yes i run a loss on my shipping charges) than to take all day trying to figure out a rate quote that probably wouldn't even be right.

The process for shipping outside of Canada is about the same but has a bit more paperwork involved.

[Normand]

and if you actually look at the catalog, big ticket (or heavy weight) items have the catalog number in blue indicating additional shipping is required and is specified at the bottom of certain pages.

So the argument that feathers cost the same for shipping as does an anchor or pontoon boat is incorrect.

[Big Bad Wulff]

Many Large retailers use this system, it is designed to encourage people to make one larger order rather than 5 small orders..

Eric

And then Cabelas sends out 10 SEPARATE boxes for that one large order.................

[OLB]

And then Cabelas sends out 10 SEPARATE boxes for that one large order.................

I hate that