Shipping is outrageous

[Morata]

I’m sorry, but the shipping prices are outrageous. I totally understand that you need to be profitable, but it is not my problem that LMG refuses to setup an American and European warehouse. I would understand if shipping was double digits to Europe, but to Texas from Canada? $19 (before I removed the PCMR clothing bundle) - I have paid less in shipping from Spain. It’s particularly frustrating when it’s supposed to be a Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal, and then they make the entire cost of the hoodie back and far more with shipping. If LMG was transparent and posted real amounts for shipping instead of flat arbitrary numbers, I might have a little more sympathy.

Edited November 26, 2023 by Morata
Explained the difference between the photo and the stated shipping amount.

[Lurick]

Shipping costs MONEY, companies like Amazon are subsidizing themselves which is why they do their own deliveries, 99% of other companies CANNOT do this!!

 

Oh wait, they should setup a warehouse in another country because the large tax implications that go along with that would save the user on average of a couple dollars?

 

Edit:

Let me add some clarity around this. These ARE the subsidized prices for LTT store by the way.

If I, as an American, want to ship from Raleigh to San Fran via UPS, ground shipping is about $31 (size is about that of a USPS medium flat rate box at 2lbs)

A USPS flat rate box as mentioned above, shipping the same is $17

[onlybuilt4cubanxlinx]

Shipping is the same at Gamer's Nexus and the common trend now a days is spend X amount get free shipping. That x amount seems to be around $100 for most companies. 

[podkall]

6 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Oh wait, they should setup a warehouse in another country because the large tax implications that go along with that would save the user on average of a couple dollars?

exactly, if they could just sell you a product for 0$, they'd sell you a product for 0$, but they can't really

[Lurick]

1 minute ago, podkall said:

exactly, if they could just sell you a product for 0$, they'd sell you a product for 0$, but they can't really

Just added some examples for shipping as a consumer to give color to how expensive shipping really is without any subsidies for a company.

[flibberdipper]

$14 to get from Canada to Texas isn't horrible all things considered. I'm sure commercial/discounted rates in Canuckistan are higher in general just due to their dollar being weaker than what we're accustomed to here in the states (not to mention CA to US fuckery), and they probably don't get hella discounted rates since they're not a shipping "powerhouse" as something like Newegg.

 

Be glad you're not paying consumer shipping prices. If you had a small 8x6x6 box weighing about a pound, $14 would get you from Dallas to Denver with UPS. To get from Dallas to Vancouver, paying consumer prices with the same package and using the cheapest shipping option with just over a week anticipated time, you're looking at just under $40.

 

I've worked somewhere that's a UPS Alliance partner for 3 years now so I know my way around shipping reasonably well lol

[Alex T88]

35 minutes ago, Morata said:

It’s particularly frustrating when it’s supposed to be a Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal, and then they make the entire cost of the hoodie back and far more with shipping.

First of all, I don't think they handle shipping, a 3rd party is involved, so I doubt they make any money from shipping in the first place. Correct me if I am wrong.

Last but not least, as far as I checked, for me (I live in Eastern Europe), shipping prices stayed the same. Even if let's say by magic, they make far more with shipping (then normal), I do not see a problem. As a customer, I care that I pay less than normal. And that's fine by me. At least, that's how I see it.

[podkall]

24 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Just added some examples for shipping as a consumer to give color to how expensive shipping really is without any subsidies for a company.

34 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Let me add some clarity around this. These ARE the subsidized prices for LTT store by the way.

If I, as an American, want to ship from Raleigh to San Fran via UPS, ground shipping is about $31 (size is about that of a USPS medium flat rate box at 2lbs)

A USPS flat rate box as mentioned above, shipping the same is $17

oh yeah, I mean you are buying product, but they need to somehow profit from their business

 

they need a car, that they bought with money, they need gas in car that costs money, they need a human to drive and deliver the package, and they need to pay that human a salary, etc

 

3 minutes ago, Alex T88 said:

First of all, I don't think they handle shipping, a 3rd party is involved, so I doubt they make any money from shipping in the first place. Correct me if I am wrong.

they probably don't, shipping is 99% of the time handled by someone else, unless it's Amazon or some express company or food delivery

[mmk]

I do think that some of the shipping costs from LMG seem weird, but $14 to Texas seems reasonable.  Try $18.99US ($25.89CDN) charged for shipping for my package and I live 6 hours away .  A package shipped to me by courier from Richmond, BC by different company for similar sized and weighted package was only $5.05CDN ????

 

Maybe they are trying to subsidize some of the black friday deals??

[Erioch]

If it's too expensive then you should spend your money elsewhere.  This isn't rocket surgery, guys.

[LogicalDrm]

You can read my response from here 

Or from many other threads complaining about shipping prices.

[Morata]

On 11/26/2023 at 7:30 PM, Lurick said:

Shipping costs MONEY, companies like Amazon are subsidizing themselves which is why they do their own deliveries, 99% of other companies CANNOT do this!!

 

Oh wait, they should setup a warehouse in another country because the large tax implications that go along with that would save the user on average of a couple dollars?

 

Edit:

Let me add some clarity around this. These ARE the subsidized prices for LTT store by the way.

If I, as an American, want to ship from Raleigh to San Fran via UPS, ground shipping is about $31 (size is about that of a USPS medium flat rate box at 2lbs)

A USPS flat rate box as mentioned above, shipping the same is $17

To answer your question about warehouses, they should. I don't know what internal math they are doing, but they clearly have the volume, and when shipping is a major concern, you usually go into the country that you're trying to cater to. Comparing Raleigh to San Francisco is a little absurd because that is one of the longest routes you could propose.

 

The medium flat-rate box example is ridiculous because that is A. the retail rate and B. more space than would be reasonably needed for these products.

 

I would be more inclined, like many, not to be upset about these prices if the numbers were transparent and not arbitrary. LMG frankly should be more transparent about shipping costs and why they don't setup shop in America and Europe. I have never understood their refusal to have a dual-location set up south of the border in Washington, where they could build their own building to spec and easily commute between them. They could also hire from a much larger talent pool with this concept as well.

 

On 11/26/2023 at 8:07 PM, mmk said:

I do think that some of the shipping costs from LMG seem weird, but $14 to Texas seems reasonable.  Try $18.99US ($25.89CDN) charged for shipping for my package and I live 6 hours away .  A package shipped to me by courier from Richmond, BC by different company for similar sized and weighted package was only $5.05CDN ????

 

Maybe they are trying to subsidize some of the black friday deals??

My point is that with the volume they are doing, they could set up shop in America, likely in Washington, and take full advantage of those tax benefits even if it adds complexity, they have the volume to make it work. Then, they could offer cheaper shipping to their largest customer base.

 

On 11/26/2023 at 8:03 PM, Alex T88 said:

First of all, I don't think they handle shipping, a 3rd party is involved, so I doubt they make any money from shipping in the first place. Correct me if I am wrong.

Last but not least, as far as I checked, for me (I live in Eastern Europe), shipping prices stayed the same. Even if let's say by magic, they make far more with shipping (then normal), I do not see a problem. As a customer, I care that I pay less than normal. And that's fine by me. At least, that's how I see it.

That's another thing, I don't understand why they involved a third party instead of building their own logistics up. With all the employees that LMG has and the experience with local logistics, it just feels logical that they would want to do that in-house instead of contracting with third parties.

 

On 11/26/2023 at 7:36 PM, onlybuilt4cubanxlinx said:

Shipping is the same at Gamer's Nexus and the common trend now a days is spend X amount get free shipping. That x amount seems to be around $100 for most companies. 

GN is, with all due respect, I love them, a lot smaller. Their volumes are likely not nearly as high as LMG. I would also expect their profit margin not to be as high either.

[IkeaGnome]

31 minutes ago, Morata said:

LMG frankly should be more transparent about shipping costs and why they don't setup shop in America and Europe.

They have been transparent about why they don't have a second warehouse anywhere. Saying they haven't just shows how little you've looked into the topic.

Will lttstore.com open up foreign distribution centre(s) in markets such as EU? (gorgias.help)

34 minutes ago, Morata said:

Comparing Raleigh to San Francisco is a little absurd because that is one of the longest routes you could propose.

Have you looked into distances? They're roughly the same. Vegas would be closer to the exact same distance, but it doesn't matter when you look at flat rate. That $17 is what you'd pay to ship it anywhere in the US. Even to or from Alaska.

37 minutes ago, Morata said:

I don't know what internal math they are doing, but they clearly have the volume, and when shipping is a major concern, you usually go into the country that you're trying to cater to.

What about tax complications and cross border complications.

37 minutes ago, Morata said:

I have never understood their refusal to have a dual-location set up south of the border in Washington, where they could build their own building to spec and easily commute between them.

They would have to get a US work Visa for anyone who crossed the border to work at that warehouse, else they have to hire all new people to work at that warehouse. Either way, they still have to ship to Canada, they likely don't have the logistics staff to run 2 warehouses, so now you're looking at adding tax complexity, work visas for anyone who had to cross the border to work at this "magical Washington warehouse", state taxes in what is a very expensive state, as well as finding and buying/renting warehouse space and hiring more employees.

 

Then if they set that up, Europe would be way more pushy about getting their own warehouse, and tbh it would make more sense for a European warehouse and logistical center long before a US one.

36 minutes ago, Morata said:

That's another thing, I don't understand why they involved a third party instead of building their own logistics up.

Complexity and liability probably. Plus cost vs benefit. 

[LogicalDrm]

2 hours ago, Morata said:

To answer your question about warehouses, they should. I don't know what internal math they are doing, but they clearly have the volume, and when shipping is a major concern, you usually go into the country that you're trying to cater to. Comparing Raleigh to San Francisco is a little absurd because that is one of the longest routes you could propose.

I have merged your 4 posts. Please use Multiquote function in future when you reply multiple posts at once. Makes things cleaner.

 

As for this, I will note about bolded part. Shipping is only major concern to those who post here to complain about it. Its not for LMG. Majority of their customers pays very little for shipping in comparison. And those who would pay more, sadly, live in parts of the world where general economics make it hard to afford luxury items like LTTStore merch.

 

2 hours ago, Morata said:

I would be more inclined, like many, not to be upset about these prices if the numbers were transparent and not arbitrary. LMG frankly should be more transparent about shipping costs and why they don't setup shop in America and Europe. I have never understood their refusal to have a dual-location set up south of the border in Washington, where they could build their own building to spec and easily commute between them. They could also hire from a much larger talent pool with this concept as well.

LMG is private business. They don't need to show their numbers to anyone. They still do, in some ways, with "How do we make our money" videos. Linus has stated multiple times in public that they don't make profit with shipping. What you pay for shipping goes almost fully to company handling shipping. And the almost only is there because of the payment processing fees etc.

 

IIRC the first setup was kinda dual you are describing. But using a company that already had that infrastructure to do it. IIRC the volume they were selling got bit too big for the contact to handle it as side business and they suggested making it more permanent solution. With much higher costs to LMG. Hence why they are with current solution. Which is far from perfect.

 

2 hours ago, Morata said:

My point is that with the volume they are doing, they could set up shop in America, likely in Washington, and take full advantage of those tax benefits even if it adds complexity, they have the volume to make it work. Then, they could offer cheaper shipping to their largest customer base.

Doubtful. And volume alone is not the issue. But profit margins per product crossing.

 

2 hours ago, Morata said:

That's another thing, I don't understand why they involved a third party instead of building their own logistics up. With all the employees that LMG has and the experience with local logistics, it just feels logical that they would want to do that in-house instead of contracting with third parties.

Why? You don't understand why? Isn't that the easiest part to understand? Why does Amazon use UPS in Europe? They have their own logistics infrastructure in US, why not build it in Europe? Because its expensive, takes time and isn't easy. Every time company contracts something, its usually much easier and cheaper to them than having own workforce to do same tasks. So for small company, buying service is cheaper than building it themselves. And shipping is the part they are buying. They have their own warehouse logistics already in place.

 

2 hours ago, Morata said:

GN is, with all due respect, I love them, a lot smaller. Their volumes are likely not nearly as high as LMG. I would also expect their profit margin not to be as high either.

Why? Thats not how profit margins work. Margin is literally the amount between cost of production and payment received per product. Profit being the word if that amount is net positive. So that statement is true if GN merch costs more to make and they sell it for lower price. Plus running costs for storage, store staff etc.

[Gaz3ll3]

Honestly I dragged my feet on the shortcircuit hoodie, but a $90 hoodie for $35 I would just suck up the shipping cost, still saving a good chunk of money.