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As long as reality is causing a bout of depression, here's the latest bit of price gouging. FedEx has announced that starting next January, they will be calculating the shipping costs of ground packages the same way they do air...by package dimensions. And you can be sure that UPS will follow suit. Why? Because when a lightweight product ships in a big box, they can't charge enough too pay for the cost of delivery. At least that's what they claim. To give you an idea of what the effect may be, I needed to ship a model from Texas to California. Fairly small model, but due to it's configuration and the way I had to support it in the box, the box wound up being something like 22" x 15" x 10". Weight? About 7 pounds. I originally wanted to ship it FedEx Second Day Air to minimize time in transit. Instead of weight, they priced it by dimensions/volume the package would require on the plane (it used to be weight only). Price? $128, which assumed that the package weighed 51 pounds. Instead, I shipped by UPS Ground...holding my breath until the package arrived and I learned that it made it intact. Price? About $18. When January arrives, that same size package will cost $128, regardless of whether it goes by air or ground. What effect is this going to have on mail order companies? The large ones will get huge volume discounts. But what about the small...especially one man....garage manufacturers of aftermarket details and short run subjects that major companies will never touch? Then there's custom kit buildups. Will anyone be willing to commission a model when the shipping cost is more...sometimes substantially more...than the model itself, which is already into three figures, if not four. Will we...or can we...pay those exorbitant shipping rates or will the guys...and gals... involved go out of business? Incidentally, care to guess what caused this FedEx decision? Cases of toilet paper and adult diapers. Your opinion?
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