LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

Shipping...Why Me?

3K views 22 replies 18 participants last post by  rcs47 
#1 ·
Shipping...Why Me?

As you might know, Hubby and I decided to pool our woodworking talents and start our own business. Being a new teeny, tiny business we decided to use a lot of "free" advertising like brochures, flyers around town, blogs, and Facebook. I have to admit…I was surprised by the results I've gotten from both "real world" and online. We're closing in of 65 Facebook Fans and I'm being stopped in the grocery store to be asked about my latest door. All good news when your trying to get your business name known, right? I thought so too…only problem was no one was actually buying anything. I was reconsidering my pricing (which I know to be much lower than other similar items) and even lowered my price significantly for a Father's Day Sale. Sadly, still no buyers.

When I woke up this morning I literally had ZERO orders and no prospects. So Hubby and I headed out with more flyers in hand…By noon we had 2 orders and 2 potential orders. No, we are not great salesmen…while we were out we did get two orders (a bed and bench), and then when we got home there was an e-mail with 2 more potential orders. YEAH!!! I couldn't stop smiling until…

SHIPPING? How do I figure shipping on 2 screen doors? The doors weigh approx. 35 pounds each. How the heck do I even pack a screen door for shipping? I tried figuring it out quickly online at UPS and FedEx and had shipping rates from $50-$375. Obviously, no one wants to pay more for shipping than for the product…All this leaves me wishing I had a shipping department. I get lost going to my own bathroom…I practically flunked geography after all, I'd never really need it. Should I really be in charge of shipping to another state? I don't think so. WHY ME?

Have any of you ever faced a similar shipping dilemma? How do you ship your large items (my screen doors measure 36×80 + packaging)? Any and all advice (as always) greatly appreciated!
 
See less See more
#3 ·
Great questions!

I am in much the same boat though a bit less extreme.

Picture frames can be pretty strange to ship, and I worry about damage and prices.

I am excited to hear other responses to this.

Sadly, not much wisdom here at all except that you might look for packaging material at a local business that deals in similar shaped items.

Good luck. And by the way, I went to school in Geneseo…NY is beautiful country isn't it.

brandon
 
#4 ·
I'm going to watch this thread intently to see what kind of solutions anyone can come up with because I have run into this exact problem.
I have been told too often that I should try to sell my projects somewhere like Ebay or Etsy. My problem though is the shipping. I thought about jumping into selling online. Then I realized I needed to come up with some shipping options. I have been told to let the customer figure out how to get their purchases to them. We all know that aint going to fly. So off to all the local shipping options I went to check out. I found out very quickly that 99.9% of every project I do will cost way more than I would even ask for it in shipping costs. So I have scrapped the idea of selling things online because of this shipping problem.
 
#5 ·
Having been a warehouse receiver for a few years, I've seen some frightening things when a driver rolls up his trailer door. If you pack a screen door in a crate of any kind, that crate will be used to stabilize two side-by side pallets, and an additional 1,000 pounds dropped on top of with a forklift. forget about writing "Fragile" or any other cautionary warnings; they go unheeded. Your woodworking skills will become secondary to your talents as a damaged freight claims collector, and since you'll be shipping via 'Freight Prepaid" versus 'Freight Collect" you will sink or swim depending on your assertive and persistent negotiations with those arrogant claims adjusting departments of the typical freight carriers. Can you depend on your customers to sign the truckers waybill as 'damaged' at the time of delivery? If not, you're really in for a difficult time persuading the adjuster that it was not damaged subsequent to the actual time of delivery. UPS typically will stomp on any oversize packages; those trucks leave the depot loaded to waist-level or higher and the driver simply walks on everything until late in the day when the metal floor once again becomes visible. Short answer? Sell ONLY those items that can be SAFELY shipped in small parcels, like 12" X 12" X 12" or less, and less than 70 lbs.
 
#6 ·
i have the same trouble . i make pet furniture and sometimes its kinda bulky .i try to build shipping cost into the price as much as i can cause people seem to love free shipping . the cost of packaging was a shock a simple box cost me 5.00 to 6.00 and then theres the padding usually bubble wrap . i actually had to modify one design to fit the postal code . my largest piece is 18''x24''x 24'' usps ranges from 23.00 to 30.00 depending on location . i made the mistake of selling a piece in canada , the shipping took all the profit plus some. the biggest problem is insurance another 3 to 5 bucks . some of my stuff was damage and its up to the customer to deal with the usps which i dont think is fair to them butt thats the way it works. i really dont see away to cut the shipping cost except to raise my prices and if that hurts my sales then so be it , im not going to build stuff just to make the usps money

good luck
 
#7 ·
You are SO RIGHT, poopiekat! I shipped some possessions from Florida to California via Fedex Ground a few years ago, and one thing is for sure, the arrows telling which way is up mean NOTHING to those guys. My bike made it from the Pacific rim without a scratch, but shipped 2200 miles by them, it got beat to death. Comment from the delivery boy: "File a claim!". I did better. approximately 60+ fellow employees heard about this and used a different method for shipping their stuff. I'm sure Fedex doesn't care if they only lost 60+X$400+=$24k+ (mine was only about $360- I live simply on travel- some people shipped whole households) when they didn't get used for that shipment, though.
 
#8 ·
I have to agree w/ bentlyj. Build a cheap frame, and use a common carrier. You will have to charge for frame, masonite, time and labor to crate, AND shipping. There is no way around it, if you want to sell nationwide. Sorry, but that is the sad truth.
 
#9 ·
I see I'm not the only one with shipping hassles! A friend of mine works for UPS and she stopped over after I got my business license…she said to give her a call when I needed any shipping done and she'd come back and help me figure out exactly how to pack and how to ship. I just would like to be able to ball park a price without calling for reinforcements. LOL. This order is only going to NH from NY…not really that far. The customer has agreed to the price + tax & Shipping. (NY state requires a sales tax on all internet sales) But that doesn't mean I want to charge more than my door just for shipping. Ugh!
 
#12 ·
I think Miles has a good idea, but i think your best bet is a "Dutchdoor" screendoor, or maybe a two piece door
that can have a full lenght dovetail. With having two piece for every door you would be able to ship UPS,
dealing with a carrier is a real pita.
 
#14 ·
Okay, this is what I got. Price your work with a percent of the price for shipping. Say you have item X and you want at least $30 for it. Price it at $50 but advertise FREE SHIPPING and HANDLING (people eat it up). So now, lets say you get an order ($50) but it only cost $13 to ship. You are now $7 ahead in shipping. Next order comes in ($50), but this time it cost $25 to ship. You still have it covered.

A business man once told me that shipping is the biggest money lost in a business.

So that is my two cents.
 
#15 ·
Last job: Director of Planning & Logistics, so … movement/shipping of goods all around the world. In that case, it was flowers-dying the moment you cut them, and VERY fragile.

Before I built anything for sale, I'd already have figured out how I'll ship it, and the cost TO ship it.

It can easily make or break your profitability, or-far more likely-your sales.

You can start with something as easy as dimensions, and use something as simple as FedEx or UPS's online estimators, becoming accidentally familiar with terms like "Dim Weight" and "Dim Factor," or you can start getting fancy and using sites like Freightquote.com, or … simply develop a good relationship with the sales person of your nearest LTL (Less-Than-Truckload) company.

Which implies even more very obscure lingo, like "tariff" and "rating."

My guess ? You're simply going to have to do local pickup only for items beyond a certain size or configuration. Common carriers really dream of shipping medium-sized square boxes full of books-dense. When they fill up an airplane, it's FULL, and they make LOTS of money.

Their nightmare, on the other hand, is shipping air (big boxes, designed to carry and protect a small bouquet of flowers), where … they're shipping a plane-load of AIR, and not getting paid for it.

You should be working on/from a database/spreadsheet that includes such indirect costs AS shipping IN your P&L analysis.

Like so many businesses-even though YOUR reason may NOT be the same reason as somebody else-s-you simply may NOT be able to sell just what you want-at least not at a profit.

But I would start with the end in mind, and the end, in your case, IS …. "How can I get this to the customer, safely and economically ?"

Often, the answer is simple: I can't.

You also want to figure out what % of the things you DO ship, via common carrier, are going to experience damage during shipping. EVEN IF the common carrier WILL pay you damage on those claims, a) your customer won't be happy or understanding, and b) If your rate of damage claims is higher than their average, it's going to begin to be reflected in the rates the common carrier charges you.

Meaning … you need to give SOME thought to your packaging. The upside ? It IS a marketing and "customer experience" opportunity, if done right.

Gotta' run. This wasn't really a "first cup of coffee" kinda' subject ;-)

Best of luck !!
 
#16 ·
Something that size will have to be crated or put on a double pallet. UPS will do it for you, but they charge an arm and a leg for this service and it could be more than the actual shipping costs. Go to ULINE and look at their packaging solutions. Sometimes the size and weight of an item makes it impractical to ship. I ship small items all over the country and I have gotten feedback from customers describing how beat up the boxes were when they arrived. Fortunately, I use a lot of bubble wrap and peanuts which has kept items from getting damaged. I can imagine what an 80" long screen door would look like after a trip across the country.

I agree with NBeener, you should figure out packaging and shipping before trying to sell an item online. Not only can shipping eat your customer up and kill the sale, the additional labor needed to package that item may be as much as you spent making it.
 
#17 ·
I want to tell the whole story of mine last shipping experience, because it is as bad as an old play, it has both humor and tragedy.
Brown Wood Rectangle Art Font

This is the Worthington Hall Clock. It is 31" tall, 12" wide, and 6" deep. I'm not sure about the weight, but it is light enough that you could easily throw it a long way, which is what I felt like doing after my experience. It is made out of quarter inch thick oak with the same thickness mahogany trim.
My Uncle took the long way around from California on his way to Minnesota for a visit. He fell in love with this clock and wanted it. He couldn't take it with him though because he had Christmas gifts loaded into his car and just didn't have room. So I told him to let me know when he got back to California and I'd ship it to him. I figured shipping something this reasonable size couldn't be too bad.
January came and I took it down to the Fedex store. I took it there with plans to have them box it. They are much better than me and had all the bubble wrap and peanuts already on hand to pack it right. It was reasonable too. They charged me just over twelve bucks to pack it tight enough that I could probably still have thrown it without breaking anything. My plan was to carry to the Post Office to ship becasue I figured they'd be cheaper. I then thought that since I was there I'd see what they'd charge for shipping. The lady told me I'd have to fill out one of those pieces of paper in order for her to type it all in and see.
So I moved to the counter to fill out the paper. I kept hearing something funny coming from the box. My God I forgot something very important. I now had a very nicely packaged box that was ticking. I forgot to take the battery out of the clock. I had visions of what was going to happen when a driver heard it ticking. I envisioned the package being ripped open as the FBI showed up at my door. So I had to unpack everything and take the battery out.
Then I finished filling out the paper. I took it to the counter. It was at this point that I just about had a heart attack. It was going to cost $79 and change to ship it.
So I went to the Post Office. It was a little better. They only charged me $64 and change.
Luckily, the package did make it to California safely. My Uncle got his clock in one piece. However, he is a joker. He had to give me my second heart attack before letting me off the hook. He called to tell me something was wrong with the clock. As my heart sunk in my chest, he let me in on the joke. What was "wrong" with the clock was that there was no battery in it.
 

Attachments

#18 ·
Thanks all for your advice and for the chuckle William!

I called FedEx today…the man was very helpful giving me a rough estimate and telling me where I could take the doors to have them pack them for me. He added that I could see how they want it once and next time I could pack it myself. This made sense to me so I took the nearest location phone number and called them for a better estimate…the guy at the local FedEx Kinkos store said, "Sorry, It's too big for us to pack and ship for you. You should call the 1-800- number." Huh. So I think I will call my UPS rep and see what she has to say.
 
#19 ·
I used to build computers and ship them out via FedEx ground. They were easily 1/2 the price, but twice the time to get to the destination.

See if FedEx and UPS aren't your only options.. I've heard of other 'economy' shipping companies that could take upwards of 20 days to ship, but are much cheaper.
 
#20 ·
If I were you I would not consider any products that you are going to ship unless they are small items - less than 25 lb. Jewelry boxes would be an example.

I think that you should try to build up your business in the local area and then gradually branch out after you have developed a line of products and get set up to make them efficiently. You will be able to work all of the bugs out, nail down your cost, and get a feel for what they will sell for. You might even develop a show room after a while. This is just my 2 cents worth. Best wishes for your new business.
 
#21 ·
OK, Here is your solution You have to make about 100 - 200 of your doors build a crate or two and contract a fulfillment house in the middle of the country they will pack and ship each item individually for you. Your cost to ship two pallets would ony cost you a few hundred dollars (maybe $2.00 to $5.00 per door) the deal is they get major discounts with FedEx and UPS that are less then 1/3 of what you would pay. They will help you make all the arrangements as well
 
#22 ·
Thanks everyone for your continued advice…The best part of having this business is doing the custom work, never knowing what I'll be working on next or who I'll meet. Making 100's of doors ahead of time would take that fun away. I realize that it would be more economical, as would only selling small items, however the doors and the log furniture are why we started the business…I really can't give them up because shipping is tricky. So, for now, I'll just have to swallow hard and pay for shipping…GROUND SHIPPING that is! LOL!
 
#23 ·
There are third party companies that sell access to their high volume shipping lower rates. I ran across these companies when I was looking for alternatives for shipping a rocking horse to Germany (and as I remember they ship within the US too).

International Parcel Services - http://ipsparcel.com/

NEX Worldwide Express - http://www.shipnex.com/- From what I remember from their website, it looks like they use their own transportation, not DHL, UPS, or Fedex.

I used IPS (using DHL), and the cost was about half what all the shippers wanted on their websites, including DHL, at the time we shipped. Then about two weeks after the packages was delivered, we got a message that DHL measured the package and it was not the size we entered into their system, and they were going to charge our credit card another $109. I made the box. I knew the size. But, I didn't have any hard data to fight with except "I made the box…" I didn't ask the DHL agent to measure and verify the dimensions when I dropped the box off (next time). Make sure it is noted on the commercial invoice.

Good luck,
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top