Suggestions for manging shipping costs to Alaska, Hawaii and other hard to reach US places
Hello all. I'm looking for suggestions for how to setup my shipping policies and listings to better deal with the occasional order from Alaska, Hawaii and other hard to reach places which I end up taking a shipping loss on.
I sell specialized woodworking parts and materials for music instruments. Many are medium to large size and weight which can't go in a pre-made or flat rate box. A typical item is 4 lbs at 24 x 8 x 2. People sometimes buy 2-4 at a time so the package gets bigger and heavier. I'm on the East Coast. I have my listings set for calculated shipping because packages this size can vary from $8 to $50 depending on where in the US they're going. UPS Ground Saver (former SurePost) is usually the cheapest option. I have a policy with that as the first option, UPS Ground, and USPS Ground Advantage as other choices. The calculating shipping has worked fine for me 95% of the time.
The 5% I've had issues are either Hawaii, Alaska, or very remote/rural Midwest or Pacific Northwest addresses. Sometimes the label comes back several dollars more than what the user was charged. I just had one where it said "Buyer selected" Ground Saver but it wasn't available to their address. I know the packaged size and weight accurately before hand so its not a case of underestimating that.
I know I can exclude Alaska and Hawaii but I'd rather not. And I know I can add handling charges but already people complain and mark down over shipping costs even when they're told up front. And neither would really address the problematic remote continental US addresses. I sell on another site which has "regional pricing" allowing to set rates or surcharges by state. That's not perfect but its better than nothing.
Any suggestions for how to proactively manage this? My volume is small and Its infrequent enough that its not breaking the bank. At the same time I'd prefer to charge each order what its due than have to raise overall prices for everyone a little to make up for it.
Thanks…
wastingtime101
·1 year agoHi @four-winds - I'd like to help you figure out what's going on here and come up with options to deal with it. Can you provide more specific info so I can look into this?
1. I just had one where it said "Buyer selected" Ground Saver but it wasn't available to their address.
- What was the item number on that one?
- In what state was the buyer?
- Was their address a street, a PO box, or dual?
2. A typical item is 4 lbs at 24 x 8 x 2. People sometimes buy 2-4 at a time so the package gets bigger and heavier. I have my listings set for calculated shipping. UPS Ground Saver is usually the cheapest option. I have a policy with that as the first option, UPS Ground, and USPS Ground Advantage as other choices. The 5% I've had issues are either Hawaii, Alaska, or very remote/rural Midwest or Pacific Northwest addresses. Sometimes the label comes back several dollars more than what the user was charged.
- Is this increased label cost only happening on multi-item orders where the package size is increased to accommodate more items?
- Is the increased cost cost happening at label creation, or after the fact as a cost adjustment?
- Is this only happening with AK/HI? If so, on what dates were the last few instances this happened and what were the item numbers? Were they multi-item shipments?
carlmarxx
·1 year agoI would ship only Priority mail for high priced item's and some case's I would cover a upgrade to express shipping based depending on few dollar's between the services . . Do to the current state USPS is in I would never ship high priced items ground shipping.