AudioCircle
Community => Non-audio hobbies and interests => Humour and Jokes => Topic started by: RDavidson on 15 Mar 2019, 02:30 pm
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Not sure where else to put this question.
I'm curious to understand the logic and reasoning. Alaska and Hawaii are U.S. states and have to abide by the same laws as the contiguous states. Of course shipping costs are higher to AK and HI, but if the buyer is willing to accept full responsibility, then why not ship to those states?
Maybe there's legitimate reason to not ship to there? Too much trouble? Bad experiences? :scratch:
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I'm going to say...
(1) To get to Alaska, stuff gets trucked through Canada. And I do not want a moose licking my stereo equipment. And they will. They like it.
(2) Everyone is jealous of people in Hawaii, and we do not want them to have nice stuff.
Just kidding of course. :wink: I suspect it is just an unfounded sense of more of a hassle to get there.
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You have any examples to Hawaii .. I've got a few friends in Kihei Maui and they get stuff ( furniture, TV's, Lawn Mowers, a car) from the US mainland all the time. Items coming from CA and the west coast to the islands is easier to get than CA shipping stuff to my area in Fla. OF course the freight cost are higher. Now Alaska could be a whole different mater depending on where in Alaska its being shipped. Roads, weather, location etc. could play a huge problem. OF course if you have money, everything gets easier.
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We do not ship picture frames to Hawaii and Alaska because of the high cost. Plus if it gets broken, we have to ship a replacement and pay return shipping. I don't understand how Amazon does it.
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Amazon does such high shipping / selling volume it doesn't matter to them. They also penalize companies / sellers for inadequate packaging.
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But anyway...my question is more directed at private sales, rather than stores. If you go on Audiogon, for instance, you'll often see sellers state that they will ship within the US only, EXCEPT AK, HI, and PR. I don't understand this.
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You answered your own question in your original post -- shipping costs are higher due primarily to distance. There's a perception of a higher probability of a "shipping malfunction" since the package has to travel a greater distance. I live on the east coast, so shipping to Alaska or Hawaii is like sending a package to a foreign country.
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You answered your own question in your original post -- shipping costs are higher due primarily to distance. There's a perception of a higher probability of a "shipping malfunction" since the package has to travel a greater distance. I live on the east coast, so shipping to Alaska or Hawaii is like sending a package to a foreign country.
That's not true. Because of some BS EU thing the US was involved in, China could ship stuff international for $1.30 via USPS while Americans paid $6.30 to ship something not that far.
I believe it was or soon be eliminated.
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That's not true. Because of some BS EU thing the US was involved in, China could ship stuff international for $1.30 via USPS while Americans paid $6.30 to ship something not that far.
I believe it was or soon be eliminated.
They need to stop this for the US sellers. Some things you can buy on ebay for 99 cents or less from China and get free shipping. Nobody in US can touch that.
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That's not true. Because of some BS EU thing the US was involved in, China could ship stuff international for $1.30 via USPS while Americans paid $6.30 to ship something not that far.
I believe it was or soon be eliminated.
Not relevant. The OP is talking about Americans in the lower 48 shipping to other Americans in Alaska or Hawaii.
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Not relevant. The OP is talking about Americans in the lower 48 shipping to other Americans in Alaska or Hawaii.
If China can ship things to us cheaper than we can between states, there is a problem. It is revelant.
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I believe it's mostly cost and time in transit. If you are selling an expensive tube preamplifier for example, you want to get the money, ship and be done in 48-72 hours, received and everyone happy. Ground service to Alaska from the east coast could take weeks. Then, if it's returned, a couple more. The longer a freight company has your beloved preamp bouncing on and off trucks and loading docks, the higher the likelihood of it being damaged.
If you've ever had an expensive piece of gear damaged in shipping, you know only the seller/shipper can file the insurance paperwork. The seller can say he won't take responsibility for shipping, but that's not how it works. The seller is responsible for it. There may be some fine print at Audiogon about this. Buyers using PayPal have protection for getting their money back.
Still, I'd have no problem selling to folks in either location if I could get my price plus the insured shipping.
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The PayPal ''protection'' in my country is a standard solution, just one and the same for all packages real one fit all:
The buyer returns the package to the seller with freight at his expense and PayPal will refund the amount paid.
This is a viable issue only for short distances, not for international freight. I learned it the worst way.
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#48, please.
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It is not that way on Ebay anymore. Seller has to pay return shipping no matter if the buyer decides they don't like the looks of it. It is no wonder Ebay selers won't ship to Alaska or Hawaii anymore. Ebay is trying to stay up with Amazon.
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it is a complete buyer's market. Anyone selling used gear, especially quality used gear, would be in my estimation foolish to not consider shipping outside the US mainland. If Paypal has become fraught with scams, which I have read, to pay by direct email modality or direct wire transfer. I have read buyer scams foremost with Ebay.
Almost a different topic. Shipping freight has their own issues. UPS is the worse. I would ship with contracted rate, cash on pick up only to receive a second bill at 10x the price. I have tried retaining a business account with UPS/FedEx and the quotes were out of this world. I would always have to renegotiate a price after the negotiated price was set and package was delivered. These antics drive my business elsewhere. If anyone here has suggestions how to navigate shipping freight.
I always insist on shipping air economy or quicker. You may insure used gear to any value you choose. When the claim arrives you may find they will not cover it at all for being used. Best to not insure it at all and use those funds to ship express/overnight.
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Although there are a few that wont ship to Alaska and Hawaii there are a lot of businesses that will still ship to anywhere in the world.
One reason China is thriving is that they will ship world wide while some American businesses wont even ship to there own states.
Parts Express will ship anywhere even though most of there parts come from China. LOL
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PE now is shiping to my country, but they charge the 100% Custom duties in advance and pay that taxes themselves!! Its not a funny purchase :duh:
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I have to ask, where do you live?
When I was foolishly married, I sent a custom Vermont Rocker (recommended) as a gift to my father n law in India---cost me 100% of total of chair plus shipping, plus some bribes to release from their customs. Visiting there, I loved how there was a second pricing for foreigners. I had a domestic flight for $50 revoked because I was a non-Indian, and my wife's ticket valid. I paid an additional $550. This also applied to other ticketed events.
Shipping and receiving internationally was the best it has been for last 40 years, then policies changed in recent years. Now it is anyone's guess. I get slapped duty fees for no rhyme or reason and no way to protest it. Just pay and move on.
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I don't have any problem shipping to Alaska or Hawaii. Never had an order from Alaska though.
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Distance and the possibility of damage in the long transit makes a lot of sense to me as a reason US folks won't ship to AK or HI. The longer the item is in the shipper's hands, the more opportunity they get to damage it. No one wants to deal with that. It's difficult enough dealing with it when it happens within the 48. Certainly the shipping costs to AK and HI are high too. Maybe in situations where the buyer is willing to pay for additional packaging, professionally constructed by the shipping company (like FedEx Kinko's or UPS Store), then the risk would be low enough. So rather than excluding AK and HI off the bat, I think just being up front and stating that AK and HI buyers are responsible for additional professional packaging costs is perhaps the best way to go. :thumb:
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I live in Hawaii and shopping for monoblocks or tower speakers really sucks here. Smaller items that can be shipped priority mail I can usually convince the seller to send me. But if they only ship using a fedex or usps account, there’s a big price increase and they usually won’t. Big things that have to be palletized they just refuse to sell because the shipping cost is insane. I’m considering learning woodwork to diy speakers for that reason
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If China can ship things to us cheaper than we can between states, there is a problem. It is revelant.
How is that relevant to the OP's question?
To the OP's question, maybe sellers have experienced shipping to AH or AK what I have when shipping overseas. I think it's been every time for me that I have sold overseas I will use whatever shipper's calculator to collect payment, and then when I actually ship the item it costs anywhere from 25% to 100% (yes this happened once) to ship the item.
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We do not ship picture frames to Hawaii and Alaska because of the high cost. Plus if it gets broken, we have to ship a replacement and pay return shipping. I don't understand how Amazon does it.
Amazon has fulfillment centers in Hawaii and Alaska. They've figured out that if they offer two day free shipping they can crush all other online sellers, and to do that there are fulfillment centers in every city in America and beyond so they only ship a few miles.
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Let it roll amazon has no fulfillment center in Hawaii and prime doesn’t include free 2 day shipping here
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Let it roll amazon has no fulfillment center in Hawaii and prime doesn’t include free 2 day shipping here
I'm sorry, I thought I had read that they opened one on the big island. I bow to local knowledge.
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A friend in Hawaii ordered a Klipsch Gate this month and got two day free shipping. It probably depends on the weight of the item.
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I did not realize until seeing this thread moved to "Humor and jokes, that shipping to Alaska and Hawaii was a joke? I guess now I know.... is it funny to folks who live there too?
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How is that relevant to the OP's question?
To the OP's question, maybe sellers have experienced shipping to AH or AK what I have when shipping overseas. I think it's been every time for me that I have sold overseas I will use whatever shipper's calculator to collect payment, and then when I actually ship the item it costs anywhere from 25% to 100% (yes this happened once) to ship the item.
If it costs more to ship to them then it is for them to ship to us, there is a problem. I always felt that Americans got the short end of the stick. They can get cheaper flights to America versus us flying to Europe as well. If it costs China $1.30 to ship to America, and we have to pay $6.30 to ship to another state, we are getting the short end of the stick. Foreign country to USA should not be cheaper than USA to USA. The same logistics are involved (in fact, they are shorter). It's not like we are going to the South Pole and landing on ice. It is a short cargo flight to our remote states.
On a side note: if you have to bribe to get your package delivered in a foreign country, nobody is allowed to complain about our home country again. Any country that you have to bribe your way for commerce is a tyrannical country.
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I did not realize until seeing this thread moved to "Humor and jokes, that shipping to Alaska and Hawaii was a joke? I guess now I know.... is it funny to folks who live there too?
It shouldn't be in the Karma section to have begin with. It needs to be in a general audio section that isn't associated with any specific product, brand, format, or genre. It doesn't belong in jokes.
A joke about Hawaii would how that they are so hated by mainland America, we pushed them away from us and out to sea.
:lol:
We don't hate Alaska, but do have to keep them separated from us or they will get on our nerves and where they are at was the only place to find.
:lol:
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I did not realize until seeing this thread moved to "Humor and jokes, that shipping to Alaska and Hawaii was a joke? I guess now I know.... is it funny to folks who live there too?
How and why did this get moved to Humor and Jokes? It's not intended to be funny. I didn't know where to put the topic to begin with. I didn't see a General Topic section. :dunno:
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If it costs more to ship to them then it is for them to ship to us, there is a problem. I always felt that Americans got the short end of the stick. They can get cheaper flights to America versus us flying to Europe as well. If it costs China $1.30 to ship to America, and we have to pay $6.30 to ship to another state, we are getting the short end of the stick. Foreign country to USA should not be cheaper than USA to USA. The same logistics are involved (in fact, they are shorter). It's not like we are going to the South Pole and landing on ice. It is a short cargo flight to our remote states.
On a side note: if you have to bribe to get your package delivered in a foreign country, nobody is allowed to complain about our home country again. Any country that you have to bribe your way for commerce is a tyrannical country.
As unfair as you think the international shipping costs are, that has no relevancy to the OP's question. He never mentioned China.
I have a feeling you won't understand this though.
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I owned a business that at one point shipped to Alaska and Hawaii. We stopped accepting orders to Alaska and Hawaii because it wasn't profitable.
For example, if there was a problem with a transaction the cost to resolve it was exorbitantly high. The cost of one return wiped out the profit from ten other orders to Alaska and/or Hawaii.
Given that there were additional costs associated with those orders, too, it just made sense to stop shipping to those locations. It wasn't complicated - there just wasn't any money to be made - at least for my business.
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I lived in Alaska for 10 years, away from the road system in a very rural area. I had many transactions both buying and selling audio gear, new and used. Never had a problem, ever.
Oh and I should add, all transactions were with the lower 48, including PMC tower speakers shipped all the way from east coast
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As unfair as you think the international shipping costs are, that has no relevancy to the OP's question. He never mentioned China.
I have a feeling you won't understand this though.
Everybody understands we are talking about our remote states. Since we are talking about shipping and costs, it is related. Just because you keep insisting it is not related, it doesn't mean it isn't.
The people who don't want to ship to those states mainly do so because of cost. If it wasn't for cost of shipping and customs, we could ship and receive all over the world at reasonable rates. If China or Europe is getting preferential treatment, it is likely possible that we would be getting screwed in the process.
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Yep, getting screwed. Ship something to China and see how much it costs.
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It is no different with Amazon. They get preferred shipping also. These shipping companies has bidding wars to get the privilege to ship their products. Fed Ex has quit bidding, they say there is no profit in it. This is hurting many other companies today. The rest of us has to make up for Amazon's cheap shipping.
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To clear the air on some items. Fed Ex required a letter from the seller, in order to process my claim. Once they had a copy of the letter stating seller has no interest in the claim, they paid promptly. It was an 8 inch Velodyne sub with remote. Told them damage was cosmetic, and they paid in full and the Velodyne is still here and works perfect.
Two recent experiences on Ebay returns, if it is not the correct item. Vendor sent shipping label via computer within two days, and it is on the vendors dime. Ebay will protect the buyer not so much the vendor. I have 488 buys on Ebay since 2007, will never sell there.
I have sent several items USPS priority mail, money back guaranty-blah blah. If it is delivered to the wrong address, Does Not matter. They never refunded because it was delivered on time somewhere. Me and the postmaster lady went round and round, no refund.
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I've lived on Maui for over 30 years.
As posted for smaller items USPS Priority Mail is great.
For larger items American Airline Air Cargo is the way to go, cost is less than half what UPS and Fedex charge and it doesn't get bounced around as much.
Only down side is the shipper need to become a "known shipper" with AA, and they need to bring the item to the air cargo center and their customer needs to pick it up at the air cargo center. I shipped a 150lbs power conditioner to a friend in AZ last year, the AA folks took it off my truck for me, and loaded on my friend's truck when he picked it up.
I tried to order a pair Magnepan LRS earlier this year, and they said they don't ship to Hawaii. I explained the American Airline Air Cargo system to them, but they said they didn't have anyone to take the speakers to the airport.
BTW- HI Gov. David Ige on Saturday afternoon announced a 14-day quarantine mandate for visitors and residents arriving to Hawaii via all modes of travel effective until further notice.
Be well.
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Try having items shipped to Puerto Rico! Most shippers don’t even know it is part of the USA postal system...
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I've lived on Maui for over 30 years.
I tried to order a pair Magnepan LRS earlier this year, and they said they don't ship to Hawaii.
That sucks. FWIW I'd try ordering them through a mainland dealer, assuming you can find one who is a "known shipper" with AA?
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http://howzitkohala.com/2019/02/24/amazon-spreading-its-wings-in-hawaii/
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To ship stuff to and from Hawaii you use UPS Air.
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Seems like an opportunity for you to become a Maggie dealer for Hawaii. :D
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That sucks. FWIW I'd try ordering them through a mainland dealer, assuming you can find one who is a "known shipper" with AA?
I wish I could find one.
All of the dealers they've directed me to want to sell me .7s.
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To ship stuff to and from Hawaii you use UPS Air.
On large or heavy items, their service sucks compared to AA Air Cargo.
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Seems like an opportunity for you to become a Maggie dealer for Hawaii. :D
We use to have one, HiFi Hawaii.
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I've been shipping product to Alaska and Hawaii for years. Never had any issues. Depending on the size and weight, I go either Federal Express or USPS Priority International.
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I was quoted a pretty reasonable price by magnepan by email to ship magnepan lrs to Hawaii when I inquired last year.. maybe they changed their policy?
Unrelated but xtz speakers shipped their 3x12 subwoofer to Hawaii on a palette for me for free. I was amazed. It's huuuuge
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Everybody understands we are talking about our remote states. Since we are talking about shipping and costs, it is related. Just because you keep insisting it is not related, it doesn't mean it isn't.
The people who don't want to ship to those states mainly do so because of cost. If it wasn't for cost of shipping and customs, we could ship and receive all over the world at reasonable rates. If China or Europe is getting preferential treatment, it is likely possible that we would be getting screwed in the process.
It's all quite simple. It's cheap to ship from China because they don't pay their employees very much. (Payroll is the largest cost - more than half of any business.) But who wants their wages to be lowered every year so that products gets cheaper?
It costs more to send a letter within a European country than it is to send one from the States to the same European country.