WiF Shipping Costs - an Examination

[aspqrz02]

Shipping cost charged to Australia was around $45. FEDEX only.

My parcel arrived yesterday and, on plugging in weight and dimensions into the shipping calculator at my remailer (Shipito in California) who are typically able to offer 40-60% off the standard shipping rates charged by pretty much everyone, I got the following results

TNT Express: $50.92
Airmail Priority: $64.36
DHL Express: $66.71
FEDEX Priority: $75.38
FEDEX Economy: $73.62
USPS Priority: $72.59
USPS Express: $95.85

The package was sent, according to the half dozen labels (!) in it, by International Priority ... so Matrix did a stellar job of negotiation with FEDEX to get $30 off!

(NB: If you sent it via the Remailer you'd have to factor in approx. $9 for US Mail to them and their $8.50 fee ... normally I find even with this, some things are worth sending to them ... most recently Janes Infantry Weapons and Janes Armour and Artillery, second hand of course, which saved me something like $50 postage each by doing so ... this time, however, Matrix has done well!)

Still would have liked the opportunity to get a Digital Download, even though I probably would have gone for the books anyway.

I hope this information brings some perspective to things.

Phil

[Arnir]

Good information, thanks for sharing it. Do you know how much it would have cost by surface post? (or whatever it would be called - the cheapest with no regard to time?)

[Numdydar]

I ship stuff to NZ on a regular basis and anything that goes from the US by FedEx to down under is always by plane. So there is no Ground/Tramp Steamer/xAK/xAKL way for it to go.

[Arnir]

ORIGINAL: Numdydar

I ship stuff to NZ on a regular basis and anything that goes from the US by FedEx to down under is always by plane. So there is no Ground/Tramp Steamer/xAK/xAKL way for it to go.

True. I was thinking postal options.

[aspqrz02]

ORIGINAL: Arnir

Good information, thanks for sharing it. Do you know how much it would have cost by surface post? (or whatever it would be called - the cheapest with no regard to time?)

There is no longer any surface mail option to the Antipodes. Hasn't been for more than 20 years. In fact, I don't think that there are any surface mail options to anywhere in the world, unless it's some isolated island without air service ... but I could be wrong about the latter.

Depending in size and weight, Shipito may have other options - the have something that they Call 'Economy Air' which takes about four times as long as standard USPS Airmail, or can. Or can take exactly the same time. It seems to be done on a 'space available' setting, with absolutely no priority at all ... but it wasn't available at all for this parcel combination of weight and size.

Phil

[Arnir]

ORIGINAL: aspqrz

ORIGINAL: Arnir

Good information, thanks for sharing it. Do you know how much it would have cost by surface post? (or whatever it would be called - the cheapest with no regard to time?)

There is no longer any surface mail option to the Antipodes. Hasn't been for more than 20 years. In fact, I don't think that there are any surface mail options to anywhere in the world, unless it's some isolated island without air service ... but I could be wrong about the latter.

Depending in size and weight, Shipito may have other options - the have something that they Call 'Economy Air' which takes about four times as long as standard USPS Airmail, or can. Or can take exactly the same time. It seems to be done on a 'space available' setting, with absolutely no priority at all ... but it wasn't available at all for this parcel combination of weight and size.

Phil

Good to know. I was asking because my Dad ordered something here in the US and the guys in Europe said they were shipping it surface and it would take six weeks. And it did. I can't remember what it was he ordered, but anyway, I was hoping that there might be a cheaper method if delivery in this decade wasn't important.

[aspqrz02]

ORIGINAL: Arnir

Good to know. I was asking because my Dad ordered something here in the US and the guys in Europe said they were shipping it surface and it would take six weeks. And it did. I can't remember what it was he ordered, but anyway, I was hoping that there might be a cheaper method if delivery in this decade wasn't important.

There used to be something here in Oz called 'Surface Air Lifted' which was surface to whatever airport (usually Sydney or Melbourne in those days) air from there to the destination country's airport, then surface to wherever in the destination country it was going to. I *think* there are similar options available through my remailer, but evidently not for the combination of weight, dimensions and destination.

I *know* that if you live in some parts of Europe (Poland and Russia for sure, the rest, can't remember) that they do have (or have had in the past) surface/sea shipping options ... which showed up because their shipping calculator was less sophisticated than it is now [:)]

So, if you live outside of Oz, then you probably need to check the calculator ...

http://calculator.shipito.com/en/#/

... though there's no particular reason to use Shipito, it's just that I have experience with them.

Phil

[SapperAstro_MatrixForum]

I often buy products from GMT games who are in the US. Their slow shipping option, for large, boxed tabletop wargames (so would weigh quite a bit more than WIF computer edition) is $19.00 US up to 5lb...does take 4-8 weeks to get here, but honestly, who really cares? Even less so when you can download a computer game while waiting for the physical stuff to ship over to you...

Lock n Load publishing. Again, in the US. Their worldwide shipping is $20 US.

These prices are to Australia.

[aspqrz02]

Interesting.

I have noticed that some places that obviously don't deal very often with overseas clients (that is, places from the US especially) really seem to choose what I can only assume is the least involved option for them, and damn the customer ... and game and RPG companies are often the worst possible offenders ... typically choosing a 'Flat Rate Box' option that is 1000% overkill as the game or book rarely fills the darn thing, or even comes close to the nominal weight allowable and often doubling the actual cost of the game ... so to find two game companies who actually get it that o/s purchasers aren't all millionaires is quite nice, actually ... and there are a number of GMT and Lock n Load games I have had my eye on, but never bothered to go further as I assumed they were as overpriced as the majority.

Hmmm, looks like Christmas may arrive a little late this year, say 4-8 weeks late [:D]

Thanks for the heads up!

Phil

[SapperAstro_MatrixForum]

If looking for tabletop wargames, alternate between the publisher sites and milsims in melbourne. Sometimes the cheapest option can be either, depending on sales, etc.

Unfortunately, other companies like Avalanche press have shipping at horribly high rates, so whenever I want a new Panzer Grenadier game, I have shop around between Ebay, Milsims, and any other place I can find it on.

As an example, Milsims may have Game A for $70, with $7.50 shipping. It might be for sale at Avalanche press for $40...with another $45 US shipping on top. I recently saw one of the 'Down in Flames' games for sale at NWS store in America for less than 10 bucks...then I saw the $47 shipping charge...brings a tear to the eye when I think about all those bargains that rocket up by 300% or more just from the shipping.

I wish Jedko was still making wargames here...