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Shipping From Artisans

I am sure many are experiencing USPS delays of recent. This was acceptable during the busy holiday season. But this is over!!
I order and I also resell items and ship a few.
I have noticed the items I ship have NO problem at all with NO delay getting to people I sell.
But items I order from certain artisans sit at locations for a unreal time.
I have had problem with A & E, Top Of the Chain (yes are aware of the Canada delay) but when it gets to US still sits.
I also notice that ASAP I get a tracking # but a week later finally it is picked up.
I think some have to take some action when this happens? But many do not!! They blame it on USPS?

I want to mention Maggards. They had a shipment sit for 2 weeks at a location and resent it Fed x. Super customer service. This is how business should be done.
PAA will send a message out ASAP and let you know it takes a few days for them to ship it. But they send a 2 day shipment on all orders.

I just want people to know the good and the bad!! We spend big time money and deserve consistent service.

Oh a thing I HATE HATE is when you buy more you pay more for shipping!! Just venting.
Ok all take care.Let us know.
 
It can be frustrating. Shipments from outside the US have to pass through Customs which we all know moves at the speed of government. Inside the US I don't understand so much. I know that when I ordered some blades from Wizashave which ships out of New York for US orders they sat on the order for over a week. They said they were really busy. I suspect they might have been waiting for a big shipment to arrive from Morocco. Blades I ordered from the Razor Blade Club took 12 weeks from Germany. What I really hate is when you pay extra for expedited shipping and it still takes 2 to 4 days before the seller ships it. I like buying from Amazon as usually there isn't a lot of delay. Amazon is building a big hub in the city I live and it should be up and running sometime in the next year. Same day delivery should be possible for some items. My daughter lives near Atlanta and she often places orders for groceries that deliver in a couple of hours.
 
on the cost of shipping where you say buy more pay more . well i have never had this as i tend to ask for combined shipping if its from the same retailer as with some each item is a seperate order as some are having the orders deliverd from different areas .
 
I have to get items shipped via International post, so buy more pay more is the bane.
Any low value order will cost me more in shipping charges and anything more than weight threshold will incur additional shipping charges.

It's a balancing circus when I order from overseas between what I need and how much it'll weigh, and therefore cost.
 
The buy more pay more is probably related to weight. A lot times shipping is calculated on the actual weight instead of a fixed cost. That is both good and bad depending on what you are buying.
 
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Anytime I sell anything I'll do my best to get it mailed within two days and by mailed I mean dropped off and in the hands of the USPS. With the Covid thing, I'll print labels at home and drop it at the post office after hours. Just easier that way. I can't control what the post office does with it once I drop it off though.

Once I print a label it generates a tracking number giving the customer the appearance that it's mailed. Unfortunately, sometimes vendors print the label and wait several days before mailing it. This way it seems like it's been mailed but it actually has not been. This may be what you're seeing in some cases. I'm not sure if they try to blame this delay on the postal service. For someone that gets a lot of orders they might try and combine them to drop them off all at once. Or a pickup might be scheduled once or twice a week.

Getting the items mailed quickly is only half of the issue. There is definitely a balance between getting the item(s) to the customer quickly and choosing an affordable way to ship them. You want to keep shipping cost as low as possible as to not pass the added expense to the customer, but you also want to satisfy their need to get the product fairly quickly. So it's a bit of give and take here.

Not a big deal to pay a bit more when sending a lighter smaller expensive item and have it arrive very quickly. Shipping on multiple heavy or oddly shaped items can get expensive quickly. The item itself matters as well. When sending a $16 soap it's hard to justify $8 in shipping to get it there in two days. The customer won't want to pay that nor would the artisan want to incur those charges and end up working for nearly nothing or even take a loss on the item. Ideally, a faster more expensive expedited shipping option is available as well as a normal version. Paying for expedited shipping to have the maker sit on it for a few days before sending it in a speedier manner kinda defeats the purpose of the expedited shipping. So that can be another issue.

That being said when orders come in the artisan should do their best to control what they can by getting the items shipped quickly.

In terms of larger orders, depending on what you're ordering there are other shipping options besides what are usually on the website. Maybe reach out to a vendor if you're going to order a lot and look for a possible flat rate shipping option. If I'm the vendor and someone tells me that they want to order a bunch of stuff I'll happily try to help them out if I can. You can fit quite a bit of stuff in a medium flat rate box for around $15 in shipping.
 
Once I print a label it generates a tracking number giving the customer the appearance that it's mailed. Unfortunately, sometimes vendors print the label and wait several days before mailing it. This way it seems like it's been mailed but it actually has not been.

Yes, that can be the case - here is another possibility. It is widely known that due to what was an unprecedented holiday season USPS was not scanning anything. It was all they could do to just ship it. So from the viewpoint of the customer the "Label Created" is shown on tracking and no movement, day after day and week after week. Seriously. Suddenly the box shows up and the customer is shocked. So it can look like the label was created and is sitting at the vendor. In fact, it is possible it was shipped immediately and simply never scanned.

We had a customer who ordered on December 8 for a Christmas present. Frantic email on December 20 and no movement on the package. They were fine with waiting it out. January 10 another email to say it had not arrived but was now in Pittsburgh which is movement away from the customer!!! We shipped out another order to them, FedEx this time with freebies for the inconvenience. USPS will get it there eventually. Sigh...

Shipping expense really comes down to three choices. First Class is for items 15 ounces and less. If it hits 16 ounces (1 pound) it has to ship Priority. For what it is and what it does Priority is the best deal out there. Often it is reputed to be two day or three day delivery. The heavier it is the more it costs. The third alternative is Parcel Select which is Ground and can never be on an airplane. So it takes the longest to reach its destination. Orders of ours to Alaska are 16 days. This has to be used if there is anything liquid and flammable like aftershave. Parcel Select is nearly a flat rate in spite of the weight. It seems to be about $9.00 across the nation although it varies a bit.

Hope that is helpful and gives some background.
 
Yes, that can be the case - here is another possibility. It is widely known that due to what was an unprecedented holiday season USPS was not scanning anything. It was all they could do to just ship it. So from the viewpoint of the customer the "Label Created" is shown on tracking and no movement, day after day and week after week. Seriously. Suddenly the box shows up and the customer is shocked. So it can look like the label was created and is sitting at the vendor. In fact, it is possible it was shipped immediately and simply never scanned.

We had a customer who ordered on December 8 for a Christmas present. Frantic email on December 20 and no movement on the package. They were fine with waiting it out. January 10 another email to say it had not arrived but was now in Pittsburgh which is movement away from the customer!!! We shipped out another order to them, FedEx this time with freebies for the inconvenience. USPS will get it there eventually. Sigh...

Shipping expense really comes down to three choices. First Class is for items 15 ounces and less. If it hits 16 ounces (1 pound) it has to ship Priority. For what it is and what it does Priority is the best deal out there. Often it is reputed to be two day or three day delivery. The heavier it is the more it costs. The third alternative is Parcel Select which is Ground and can never be on an airplane. So it takes the longest to reach its destination. Orders of ours to Alaska are 16 days. This has to be used if there is anything liquid and flammable like aftershave. Parcel Select is nearly a flat rate in spite of the weight. It seems to be about $9.00 across the nation although it varies a bit.

Hope that is helpful and gives some background.
I just received a package from you today, two days early! Thanks for the free soap samples! Yeah USPS tracking is hit or miss. I bought a razor from a forum member across the country and the tracking said waiting for pickup for 4 days then one morning it was suddenly "out for delivery".
 
There still seems to be no rhyme or reason to shipping nowadays. I did a trade with someone in Michigan, his package to me got here in two days while my shipment to him took a week. I’ve noticed in several shipments recently that they seem to be moving faster going west than going east. Who knows.
On the other hand, I bought a couple brushes from Frank Shaving and was expecting at least 6 weeks in delivery time... they got here in 2 weeks. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
This was acceptable during the busy holiday season. But this is over!!
There were delays before the holidays, and there are still delays. I mailed something recently which showed "Label Created" for 2 weeks with no tracking update until "Out for Delivery".

I think it's ridiculous to put any blame on retailers for this type of thing.
 

Rhody

I'm a Lumberjack.
I hope that this will all be resolved soon and we go backto the way it was. I know there were issues and complaints but I never had any major problems like now. I received a second order / package from a vendor before I received the first order I placed about a week earlier.
 
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