Shipping Rates Going Up

Hi everyone,

Our shipping carriers have been raising their shipping rates over the past few years -- we've been negotiating to keep them down as well as absorbing these increases whenever possible. But, sadly, we've done all we can do and now it's time we raise our rates too. We've held the line on a few rates (Canada is still a flat rate of $30, eh?) and restructured the tiers on some others, but mostly our shipping rates are going up a few dollars.

We'll be increasing the shipping rates on Monday morning, June 25th, and we're letting you know tonight so that you can take advantage of the current rates over the weekend. We know many of you are in the process of deciding whether or not to order something, so we figured it'd be good to give you this heads-up.

Below are samples of our current rates and what they will increase to starting Monday.

UPS Ground
Currently $8 will be $10. Still a flat rate!

UPS Three Day Select
Currently $17 and up, will be $20 and up.

UPS Second Day Air
Currently $20 and up, will be $22 and up.

UPS Next Day Air
Currently $35 and up, will be $40 and up.

UPS Second Day Air Alaska and Hawaii
Currently $38 and up, will be $42 and up.

UPS Next Day Air Alaska and Hawaii
Currently $55 and up, will be $60 and up.

UPS International Expedited/Express Saver
Flat Rate International Shipping: UK/EU/Japan/Singapore currently $40, will be $45; Australia currently $55, will be $65. Canada still $30!


U.S.P.S. Priority Mail to Alaska, Hawaii and outlying U.S. territories
Currently $4 and up will be $6 and up (mostly way up, sorry).

And now it's official: U.S.P.S. Priority Mail to APOs (AA, AE, AP) is <b>free</b>: <i>thanks to all you folks for your service.</i>

i don't know - $10 flat rate is still pretty darned good to get stuff shipped from seattle all the way to virginia!

thanks for working hard at negotiating with ups, darcy!

and woohoo for usps free shipping to APOs!

Uh oh, time to get off the fence and order!

All in all, TB's shipping rates - even with these raises - seem to be quite reasonable and much better than a lot of other mail order and Internet companies. I am grateful you've worked hard to keep shipping reasonable and can certainly understand that at some point you have to share your additional expenses with us consumers.

I'm glad I got my order in last week :). And I'll be carefully planning what needs to come home with me when I visit in 2013.

I'm not kidding anybody, shortly after the new Dyneeema is revealed and ready in my favorite items I'll be putting in another order. Darcy, thanks for the heads up, but we understand. Thank you for doing what you could to spare us for as long as you did, and thank you for free shipping to APO's!

I agree–$10 is not too bad. The slight price raise may perhaps keep me from ordering just one mini organizer pouch in the future, though . . .

Thanks for the heads up, Darcy! This may be just the excuse I need to place another order... ("Well you see, honey, I spent $100 so that I could save $2") :)

Save 2 dollars or wait and see what the solar replacement color is....

Ouch! $55 was bad enough but $65 is really painful for shipping to Australia, expecially given how lousy the UPS service is here. I already have to plan my orders so my average order is well over $500 to justify the shipping cost but it's going to get harder and harder.

Can you offer an option of the USPS flat rate boxes as an alternative for smaller orders, or just offering a USPS option in general, with box to be weighed and cost quoted? I'm anticipating an order for various Dyneema items when the new colour is out but I can't justify that much shipping.

BTW, some of you customers have PO boxes addresses for their own convenience - my issue with UPS is the unreliability of their delivery times - I am not always able to plan to be at the delivery location when delivery is anticipated. My PO box means that I can pick it up at my leisure.

Audrey

PS: I do know you do everything you can to reduce costs, I'd normally expect to pay UPS around $200 to deliver your boxes. USPS in comparison would charge around $50 - $60 for a large delivery and a lot less for a small delivery. TB are the only deliveries I ever get that come via UPS.

phew!! lucky for us canucks!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Badger

I agree–$10 is not too bad. The slight price raise may perhaps keep me from ordering just one mini organizer pouch in the future, though . . .

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I don't think I've ever ordered just one of anything when I've called TB! The rise to $10 may have me adding a mini organizer to my order to justify the extra $2 in shipping!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by falconea

Ouch! $55 was bad enough but $65 is really painful for shipping to Australia, expecially given how lousy the UPS service is here. I already have to plan my orders so my average order is well over $500 to justify the shipping cost but it's going to get harder and harder.

Can you offer an option of the USPS flat rate boxes as an alternative for smaller orders, or just offering a USPS option in general, with box to be weighed and cost quoted? I'm anticipating an order for various Dyneema items when the new colour is out but I can't justify that much shipping.

BTW, some of you customers have PO boxes addresses for their own convenience - my issue with UPS is the unreliability of their delivery times - I am not always able to plan to be at the delivery location when delivery is anticipated. My PO box means that I can pick it up at my leisure.

Audrey

PS: I do know you do everything you can to reduce costs, I'd normally expect to pay UPS around $200 to deliver your boxes. USPS in comparison would charge around $50 - $60 for a large delivery and a lot less for a small delivery. TB are the only deliveries I ever get that come via UPS.

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@Darcy,

The Kickstarter Web update page for the Touchfire mentioned a UPS shipping option called Mail innovations for international deliveries where UPS flies packages overseas using their normal cargo fleet, but they then hand the packages over to the local postal service for final mail delivery. This would appear to alleviate the problem of having to be at a specific location at a particular time to receive the package that Audrey complains of, since you can refer to your normal postal service in case you do not make a direct connection with the carrier.

moriond

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scattered

I don't think I've ever ordered just one of anything when I've called TB! The rise to $10 may have me adding a mini organizer to my order to justify the extra $2 in shipping!!!

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It was a bout of psychosis. I'm all better now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Badger

It was a bout of psychosis. I'm all better now.

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I thought it was a way of demonstrating that you didn't need to phone in your orders to Katy; you could just use the web and be your own enabler.

Hmmm. I never thought of Katy as an enabler. Next time my spouse questions a TB order can I blame it on Katy? :-)