Whatever happened to the concept that you build your "costs" into the price?
Do Doctors bill for postage, handling, etc? NO!
Do Life Insurance companies bill for telephone calls, medical tests, medical
underwriting, postage, etc? NO!
Do consultants bill a "handling" cost? NO!
Do supermarkets bill a "handling" charge for their food? NO!
Billing for actual shipping costs is one thing, but billing for "handling"
is pure crap! EVERY business and business operator has time costs and other
fixed costs - that is part of being in business. If you can't build those
costs into your price per item, then the "market" is telling you something -
namely that there is not enough demand for your product to justify the
price! Either EAT THE COST or get out of the business! Don't make excuses
to rationalize an additional charge!
Years ago, EVERYONE built these costs (except for shipping) into their price
, and generally the service was much better. This handling nonsense has
just become another profit center and another way to gouge.
If you can't make money selling $0.25 parts for $6.00, then get out of the
business. Charging an extra $6.25 for handling is pure robbery!
> I implement ERP systems, and I can tell you that Steve is on the money.
> There's the order taking, order processing, pick list generation, picking,
> packing, loading, shipping, documents, etc. NONE of it IS FREE.
Every business and professional consultant has to deal with the same issues
and many others. That is part of being a businessman. No one is holding a
gun to anyone's head to hawk their wares or services. That is a matter of
choice.
That is why the S & H for a small order is a larger percentage than S & H
for a
> large order. The amount paper work remains about the same for one bolt as
> it does for 100 items.
Paperwork is part of the job - without the paperwork there is no bolt to be
sold. This is not justification for "handling". This is just another lame
excuse to pad the order total.
Bob KQ2M
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