I've had it with parts shipping

weirdjim

weirdjim

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Grass Valley, CA (KGOO)
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weirdjim
Every airplane I've ever owned or worked on have Chief Aircraft parts in them. I am about to order a simple Brackett air filter element and oil filter cartridge from them. $30 worth of parts for which they want $15 to ship them about 300 miles by the cheapest way.

I could have ordered $30 worth of lead weights or $30 worth of cotton balls and the shipping would have been the same. I ship parts for a living. I know what the USPS charges for parcel post and it ain't anywhere around $15.

Anybody got a good source for parts that doesn't gouge on the shipping?

Thanks,

Jim
 
I ship stuff everyday too and was complaining to anyone who would listen that I was losing money at $10 per small package!
The labor alone to procure, invoice, pack, make label is 5$, then you have to pay for shipping.
Then there is damage, losses, returns. Thanks for posting, I might double my rates!
 
Try sportys........ I HATE their policy and won't buy from them because of it. They are already over priced. The mandatory 2 day shipping kills the deal.
 
Aircraft Spruce typically has several options for shipping. USPS Priority is typically cheapest. Prices are average.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I ship stuff everyday too and was complaining to anyone who would listen that I was losing money at $10 per small package!
The labor alone to procure, invoice, pack, make label is 5$, then you have to pay for shipping.
Then there is damage, losses, returns. Thanks for posting, I might double my rates!
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There are two theories in mail order. One is to price the product with overhead to take care of the procure, invoice, pack, label and such. Then the actual shipping cost. I believe this is fairer than an inflated shipping/handling charge. I don't know how long you've been in business; we started in 1973 and we've tried about every scheme posssible INCLUDING free shipping on everything. That's when you get some clown ordering a single 4-40 nut. There ain't no perfect system. HOWEVER, you've got to remember that your colleague in brick and mortar has rent, carry bags, "invoicing" by cash register, and a lot of that other overhead junk.

TINSTAAFL

Jim
 
We are heavily discounted at work with UPS. Daily I send overnight letters. We are billed $4, yes, four dollars each. I think the full tilt price is $35 and change. I sent a 6 pound box, 10x10x 12 overnight. $112 full, $13 billed.

You can bet your ass Sportys is also getting deep discounting.
 
weirdjim said:
Every airplane I've ever owned or worked on have Chief Aircraft parts in them. I am about to order a simple Brackett air filter element and oil filter cartridge from them. $30 worth of parts for which they want $15 to ship them about 300 miles by the cheapest way.

I could have ordered $30 worth of lead weights or $30 worth of cotton balls and the shipping would have been the same. I ship parts for a living. I know what the USPS charges for parcel post and it ain't anywhere around $15.

Anybody got a good source for parts that doesn't gouge on the shipping?

Thanks,

Jim
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Well heck, just drive over and pick it up... oh, that's going to cost you how much in gas? You're getting a deal for $15.
 
GlennAB1 said:
Well heck, just drive over and pick it up... oh, that's going to cost you how much in gas? You're getting a deal for $15.
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Please, just leave me alone. Go play with your cardboard airliner. I'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't horn in on my threads. You rarely, if ever, have anything of significance to say.

Thanks,

Jim
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I ship stuff everyday too and was complaining to anyone who would listen that I was losing money at $10 per small package!
The labor alone to procure, invoice, pack, make label is 5$, then you have to pay for shipping.
Then there is damage, losses, returns. Thanks for posting, I might double my rates!
Click to expand...
Hat's off to you, if you can do that and not lose business!
 
calm down this is not redit . call them and ask for a supervisor and make a deal if you can . our avocation and hobby and world, has changed to the rich mans game . do the best you can, remembering the least cost on paper /computer screen .might NOT be the most cost effective . parts, gas ,repairs are usually the smallest part/cost or our wonderful world. have fun and fly suave
 
hotprops said:
calm down this is not redit . call them and ask for a supervisor and make a deal if you can . our avocation and hobby and world, has changed to the rich mans game . do the best you can, remembering the least cost on paper /computer screen .might NOT be the most cost effective . parts, gas ,repairs are usually the smallest part/cost or our wonderful world. have fun and fly suave
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can
 
double tap sorry. can you buy filter for 45 to your door somewhere else? if not stfu
 
weirdjim said:
Every airplane I've ever owned or worked on have Chief Aircraft parts in them. I am about to order a simple Brackett air filter element and oil filter cartridge from them. $30 worth of parts for which they want $15 to ship them about 300 miles by the cheapest way.

I could have ordered $30 worth of lead weights or $30 worth of cotton balls and the shipping would have been the same. I ship parts for a living. I know what the USPS charges for parcel post and it ain't anywhere around $15.

Anybody got a good source for parts that doesn't gouge on the shipping?

Thanks,

Jim
Click to expand...
You are lucky you are not dealing with haz-mat charges, I ordered a gallon of epoxy reducer from Aristech, cost of the gallon, $45.00 plus haz-mat and shipping to me $98.00 for the reducer. And, they are the only place that has the stuff.
 
OBTW, I haven't dealt with Chief for a long time because this, to me it's a back handed method of over-charging for the stuff.
I stopped at their store about a year ago, and 99% of their space is now RC parts and kits.
 
Wow, so much bickering from small children. (or at least that's what it seems like to an unbiased observer)

Jim, I have been pleasantly surprised by some aviation part suppliers that offer USPS shipping that is pretty darn reasonable.
I just bought an EGT probe (0.5 lbs maybe, flat coiled up wire with a stick on the end, if you don't know what these are) from Aircraft Spruce and they shipped it for $3 First Class mail. I was blown away because I expected to pay what you mentioned.
So again, very pleasantly surprised that there are still companies out there that cater to their customers and not the company profit needs. *thumbsup*
 
Chief has always been that way on shipping. If you buy something expensive from them you can make out due to no sales tax, normal stuff I always get from Aircraft Spruce but then you have to deal with the box full of that gawd-awful peanut sized Styrofoam packing material.
 
I bought a $6 plumbing 3.5" to 3.5" flexible coupling that cost me $11 to ship. That's the way it goes. I also needed a watch battery, #321, that the local stores were out of stock. I found it on line for $0.69, shipped free. It all comes out in the wash...
 
weirdjim said:
Every airplane I've ever owned or worked on have Chief Aircraft parts in them. I am about to order a simple Brackett air filter element and oil filter cartridge from them. $30 worth of parts for which they want $15 to ship them about 300 miles by the cheapest way.

I could have ordered $30 worth of lead weights or $30 worth of cotton balls and the shipping would have been the same. I ship parts for a living. I know what the USPS charges for parcel post and it ain't anywhere around $15.

Anybody got a good source for parts that doesn't gouge on the shipping?

Thanks,

Jim
Click to expand...
Stumbled upon a review of your shipping practice... talk about gouging.
"DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!!!!!
Ordered an antenna from them and was never received. They never return your call or are always unavailable. I want my refund or the antenna! I’m not in the habit of just giving away money, especially to crooked businesses! CUSTOMERS BEWARE!"
 
Unit74 said:
We are heavily discounted at work with UPS. Daily I send overnight letters. We are billed $4, yes, four dollars each. I think the full tilt price is $35 and change. I sent a 6 pound box, 10x10x 12 overnight. $112 full, $13 billed.

You can bet your ass Sportys is also getting deep discounting.
Click to expand...

I figured larger companies got huge discounts. Amazon will send me 9 volt battery in a box big enough to hold a large dog.
 
GlennAB1 said:
Stumbled upon a review of your shipping practice... talk about gouging.
"DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!!!!!
Ordered an antenna from them and was never received. They never return your call or are always unavailable. I want my refund or the antenna! I’m not in the habit of just giving away money, especially to crooked businesses! CUSTOMERS BEWARE!"
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Walk away man.. You're either part of the problem or part of the solution.
 
It's just ironic, that someone screaming about shipping price gouging has a review like that... I wouldn't think anything of it if there were good reviews also, but there aren't.
 
Unit74 said:
Try sportys........ I HATE their policy and won't buy from them because of it. They are already over priced. The mandatory 2 day shipping kills the deal.
Click to expand...

I'm just ****ed I can't use my AMEX with them, that's the only card I generally use.
 
GlennAB1 said:
Hardly. He's the one that wrote about his shipping charges. I wanted to check it out so I googled his company and a review popped up.
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You've evidently never been in business, which is the reason I asked you to either contribute something or butt out. Any damfool can write a bad review, whether or not they have a legitimate beef or not. Any damfool can quote that review without checking the facts, and you just proved that.

You seem to have some sort of burr under your saddle that I charge $29 for enough material to make 6 VHF antennas for a plastic airplane and charge damned close to actual USPS Priority Mail rates. That's a little less than $5 an antenna, $6 with postage. And no shipping or handling if you want to come to the airport and pick it up. Perhaps you have a source that sells them for less. Perhaps you've spent three months of your life testing dozens of ferrite mixes and antenna element widths to insure that the band edge VSWR is below any other antenna on the market. Perhaps you even know what VSWR is. I have my personal doubts about these last three suppositions.

This is a small company. See the little avatar to the left? These two folks ARE the company, no hired help, no subs. We pump out somewhere between 20 and 30 orders a month, and have done so since 1973. That's a little over 10,000 orders. Have we screwed up and lost an order or two in 43 years? You bet your sweet hiney we have. Have we made an honest attempt to correct the problem once we found it? Bet your hiney again. But in 10,000 people are there two or three b@$+@rd$ that we couldn't please if we took twenty lashes apiece? Yup. Just like the two or three b@$+@rd$ in these forums who find it necessary to spread hate and discontent without having a legitimate reason for doing so.

Find one ... just ONE ... person that we've taken money from without delivering product OR refund within 24 hours of request and I'll accept your criticism as accurate. Until then, I'll ask you once again nicely ... butt out unless you've got something constructive to add.

Jim
 
Jim, I work for a shipping company. I don't mind paying high shipping fees ;) You make it clear how you can get away with charging what you do for shipping, how can that be expected of large companies?
 
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anybody that has been around general aviation, and experimental aviation for any time knows who jim is and that he is a stand up guy. jim is on point about shipping. I'm sure me and jim have the same feelings about a certain electronic supply house in texas that now charges and extra shipping charge when they backorder a part. Like i should pay more because they are out of stock on something? add on pricing is getting out of hand everywhere, advertise it cheap and then tack on the charges.

bob
 
I made a perfectly valid initial point (along with others) which Jim chose to single mine out and act like some sort of victim. He could have not commented on my post and it would have been over.
 
To answer your question Jim and although I haven't owned a plane for 30 years, Spruce seems to most always charge the USPS flat rate box charge of $9 and change for the things that fit in that box.
 
unsafervguy said:
anybody that has been around general aviation, and experimental aviation for any time knows who jim is and that he is a stand up guy.
bob
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One things for sure, he ain't into get rich schemes at 10,000 units in over 40 years at probably a little over $20 profit each. I'll give him that.
 
I usually buy most things from ACS. Sometimes they are the cheapest, sometimes not. But, I can usually get most things from them in two days, even with regular US mail. They'll even send things first class if they can, which is great when you have something apart and only need the dang hardware that you screwed up and forgot to order :)

I also like Airpower, inc. they normally aren't very fast, but they are commonly the cheapest prices that I've been able to find online. Because of the discounts, I can usually wait for the stuff to come. Sometimes they take up to a week to fill my order, --but like I said, they are usually have the best prices on those odds and ends that have to come from company x, y, and/or z...

I believe that the discount you receive is directly proportional to the amount of time you are willing to spend "shopping around." In aviation, even more than other places, I think you pay dearly for being in a hurry.
 
GlennAB1 said:
One things for sure, he ain't into get rich schemes at 10,000 units in over 40 years at probably a little over $20 profit each. I'll give him that.
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Thanks for the kudos, but at one time we had $800 NavCom 720s, $150 audio panels, and so on. It has not been a gold mine, but it put beans on the table -- sometimes with a little bacon in them.

Jim
 
True, then it's back to Spruce for those... $9.95 air filter, $19.95 for my Tempest oil filter, $3.50 for shipping charges. I get them next day sometimes if I order early in the morning. Granted, they are about 5 hours drive from my front door.

Luckily, my local Sams Club carries Aeroshell...

I don't buy Champion stuff anymore... Others make better stuff... (my opinion only)

(*grin*)

-Dana
 
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