Is ammo shipping a hidden cost or does it really cost ~$15 to ship 5 shotgun shells...

[antonio97b]

Trying to buy some HD shotgun loads to try/test and I can't find them locally. Cheaper Than Dirt, Lucky Gunner, Cheap Ammo all wants to charge me ~$15 to ship 5 shells. I would understand shipping 1000 rounds and my pounds of weight, but this has to be like 1/2lb max and palm sized.

Are they having to pay extra to ship these to me from UPS/FedEx/USPS or is this just part of their hidden cost? It's quite annoying that the shipping is more than double the price of the ammunition.

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[bolus]

Shipping and handling is about right. I did a fedex estimate for shipping a box the size of a 5 round shotgun box with minimal weight and it was $9

Online ammo purchases should be for bulk, get your small boxes locally at a shot.

 

[antonio97b]

Shipping and handling is about right. I did a fedex estimate for shipping a box the size of a 5 round shotgun box with minimal weight and it was $9

Online ammo purchases should be for bulk, get your small boxes locally at a shot.

How is that right? Your quote was nearly half price of my post and like I said, I couldn't find the boxes locally. Otherwise, I would have.

 

[bbbass]

He quoted a shipping estimate, the store includes handling.

Reason I don't buy small gun parts from a mortar and brick online store. Shipping and handling usually doubles the final cost to me.

 

[antonio97b]

He quoted a shipping estimate, the store includes handling.

Reason I don't buy small gun parts from a mortar and brick online store. Shipping and handling usually doubles the final cost to me.

Yes that's true, he quoted shipping and not handling. But honestly, I haven't seen "handling" be a thing for over a decade in the online world. Perhaps a hidden buck or two rolled into "shipping and handling" or into the cost of the product itself but not that extreme.

 

[IronMonster]

$6 for handling extreme?

Ammo takes special paperwork and stickers and is a general PITA.

Seems reasonable to me.

No one is making anything on your $20-something purchase. Not the seller, the shipper or anyone else (once you figure in labor costs). It's the kind of sale they do simply to service the customer and that's what you are paying for is the service, not the 5 rounds of ammo.

 

[bolus]

How is that right? Your quote was nearly half price of my post and like I said, I couldn't find the boxes locally. Otherwise, I would have.

Sorry, I should have said Im not surprised they charge $15. Shipping is a good chunk of that and they are punishing you a little with handling charges so that you buy more. Amazon does this with small items now and wont ship them unless you order more.

What are you looking for and we can keep an eye out in local shops.

 

[bbbass]

Example: Wilson online store... Shok buff card of 6 for $5.56, shipping is $9.95. Nah, I'm decided to look elsewhere.

 

[Otter]

Some charge seemingly high prices and other don't. I ordered some rings from Harrell's and they said actual shipping would be added to the $60 order. They are one of the good guys...they didn't charge me anything for shipping, let alone handling. The USPS envelope had a postage sticker for $2.47. Think they earned my business next time?

 

[antonio97b]

Sorry, I should have said Im not surprised they charge $15. Shipping is a good chunk of that and they are punishing you a little with handling charges so that you buy more. Amazon does this with small items now and wont ship them unless you order more.

What are you looking for and we can keep an eye out in local shops.

Good idea!

Looking for Winchester PDX1 (slug/buck combo) 12g, Brenneke THD, Federal buck w/ FliteControl were a couple on my list.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I know for powder and primers it's like $70+? for any order so most buy more than 100 primers.

 

[slimmer13]

Shipping is a good chunk of that and they are punishing you a little with handling charges so that you buy more.

Works on me. I never have problems finding add-on purchases to make shipping worth it.

Then there are companies like Larue. I ordered one of their grips that was on sale, figured I'd grab a logo Nalgene water bottle while I'm at it. Shipping was $7 and they send it in a box triple the size it needed to be to accomodate all the swag. Love the "extremely deplorable" stickers lol.

 

[MrMillspecer]

Did you check Cabelas? I found some there a while back. I purchased 00 buck and slugs.

 

[Gaucho Gringo]

Been buying all my ammo from Acadamy Sports. lately Free shipping over $25.00. I recently have bought .22 ammo for $5-10 less shipped to my door for 500 rounds than anyone selling it here. I bought a bucket of 1400 shipped to my door for $79.99 that someone here wanted $100.00 for. At that price I am not going to waste my time, energy and gas to find something local that is always more. Somebody here had Federal Automatch for $25.00 a box of 325. Had the same shipped to my door for $18.99

 

[Capn Jack]

Problem is...When you're doing a build, or just changing things around, one thing leads to
another and before you know it you're $50.00 in to shipping charges on 4-5 different items.

Who needs a $15.00 "Cartridge Laser Sight' in a 1"x1"x3" box UPS'ed to them in a 1 cubic box
for $9.00?

 

[Alexx1401]

Trying to buy some HD shotgun loads to try/test and I can't find them locally. Cheaper Than Dirt, Lucky Gunner, Cheap Ammo all wants to charge me ~$15 to ship 5 shells. I would understand shipping 1000 rounds and my pounds of weight, but this has to be like 1/2lb max and palm sized.

Are they having to pay extra to ship these to me from UPS/FedEx/USPS or is this just part of their hidden cost? It's quite annoying that the shipping is more than double the price of the ammunition.

The "problem" is you trying to order 1 box. It does not cost them that much but they have to pay people to do the work. Go to places like Academy.com. They ship free if you spend $25 as another poster mentioned. I have been buying .22 ammo from them all through this panic. Their price is cheaper than Wal-Mart including the shipping. If they have the shells you want just toss something else on the order to make it $25. Cabela's is another place to look. Free ship if you spend enough or they offer ship to store free if they stock what you want. You can have it shipped to the store near you to pick up.
When Academy would get the Federal Auto match in it was $18.99 a box of 325 but you could only buy one. So each time I ordered I tossed in one box of 12GA slugs or buck for mine. $5 a box and that would make the order ship free.

 

[antonio97b]

The "problem" is you trying to order 1 box. It does not cost them that much but they have to pay people to do the work. Go to places like Academy.com. They ship free if you spend $25 as another poster mentioned. I have been buying .22 ammo from them all through this panic. Their price is cheaper than Wal-Mart including the shipping. If they have the shells you want just toss something else on the order to make it $25. Cabela's is another place to look. Free ship if you spend enough or they offer ship to store free if they stock what you want. You can have it shipped to the store near you to pick up.
When Academy would get the Federal Auto match in it was $18.99 a box of 325 but you could only buy one. So each time I ordered I tossed in one box of 12GA slugs or buck for mine. $5 a box and that would make the order ship free.

Totally get what you're you're saying. But, I find the "pay people" explanation to be a bit strange.

You're not given an added charge when buying a from a brick and mortar even though those people need to be paid for the work, but it's included in the price of the product and that's a given.

The "handling" fee is usually less about the paying for people for the work and more the packaging materials. I think it's perfectly valid to have a blanket handling fee and not be super specific on what one size of box cost and how many inches of tape. But, $6 for a box of any (reasonable size) and a few inches of tape is a bit of an overreach that doesn't really seem reasonable once you start buying that product in bulk. A single 3'x3' foot box at Uhaul cost like $4. Once you start buying in bulk, I can't see any reasonable sized box and tape costing more than a couple bucks.

 

[Alexx1401]

Totally get what you're you're saying. But, I find the "pay people" explanation to be a bit strange.

You're not given an added charge when buying a from a brick and mortar even though those people need to be paid for the work, but it's included in the price of the product and that's a given.

The "handling" fee is usually less about the paying for people for the work and more the packaging materials. I think it's perfectly valid to have a blanket handling fee and not be super specific on what one size of box cost and how many inches of tape. But, $6 for a box of any (reasonable size) and a few inches of tape is a bit of an overreach that doesn't really seem reasonable once you start buying that product in bulk. A single 3'x3' foot box at Uhaul cost like $4. Once you start buying in bulk, I can't see any reasonable sized box and tape costing more than a couple bucks.

The brick and mortar store has staff there getting paid no matter what. The on line has to keep staff to do each order. They have to have people do the entire process. You don't walk in and walk out. This is just part of it too. To ship a box big enough to hold 500 rounds of .22 ammo costs almost the same as the same box with 50 rounds of .22 ammo. All this comes out of the profit margin. So the on line places all encourage you to buy more. It's all amortized across the spectrum buy the bean counters who tell them what works. Academy is one of the lowest I have ever seen on ammo. A LOT of places that sell ammo make you jump through hoops to find the cost as they are hiding it.
To me even if I only need 5 rounds of some kind of round I would order enough of something to make it $25. I have no doubt there has got to be a store around here that would have the 5 round box. I don't feel like driving around to get it. Anyone who does is certainly welcome to if they enjoy that kind of thing. When the net got online shopping going good to me it was the best things since sliced bread. That's just me though. Others (Wife for example) love driving all over, looking, and touching stuff before she buys. When I know what I want I just want it. If I can get someone to bring it to my door by spending $25 with them they got my business every time.
I have long bought bullets this way too. I for a while had a local place which was cheaper. After he went away I started ordering. The cost of ordering 100 bullets is a LOT higher than buying 1K of the same. That is the shipping and handling. Since I can use 1K no problem. If they have something I want to try I do the same. Buy a min amount of them and then toss in 1K of something else to make it cost effective. I'm sure I could find them locally somewhere. Again just don't feel like driving around to get them. Fed-Ex and UPS know me so well they know the dogs names.

 

[IronMonster]

As a business owner I can tell you that it costs me money to handle any transaction under about $35. A $35 dollar sale equates to $7-ish profit. The overhead cost, cost to generate and process an invoice and labor cost all wrapped up are in that $7 range to make the transaction happen which means zero bucks net profit. Of course you have to service all customers and do the best you can to take care of the their needs no matter how much they spend. I get how you are looking at this from the consumer side. $15 seems like a lot in today's world to put an item in a box and ship it, What you fail to understand is every one of these companies who is selling you a $8 dollar item and even if they are charging you $15 shipping and handling (remember only $6 of that would go to them best case) are losing money to get your business. There is no better example of this than Amazon. They managed to sell $35 billion dollars' worth of items and lose $126 million doing it last year.

Yes you can walk into a store and buy the $8 box of ammo... They lose money selling that to you then as well. They are counting on the average transaction being profitable enough to average out guys who come in and only spend $8

None of this makes you feel any better about it but thinking they are ripping you off is simply not true.

 

[Flopsweat]

Totally get what you're you're saying. But, I find the "pay people" explanation to be a bit strange.

You're not given an added charge when buying a from a brick and mortar even though those people need to be paid for the work, but it's included in the price of the product and that's a given.

The "handling" fee is usually less about the paying for people for the work and more the packaging materials. I think it's perfectly valid to have a blanket handling fee and not be super specific on what one size of box cost and how many inches of tape. But, $6 for a box of any (reasonable size) and a few inches of tape is a bit of an overreach that doesn't really seem reasonable once you start buying that product in bulk. A single 3'x3' foot box at Uhaul cost like $4. Once you start buying in bulk, I can't see any reasonable sized box and tape costing more than a couple bucks.

I can tell you from working in another industry but doing most of our business via UPS, we lost money on virtually all sales under $50. We did it because 99% of our customers were commercial businesses who bought hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of products and merchandise from us each month. Every once in a while I'd wind up on the phone with some yahoo who picked up our number somewhere and wanted to know every little detail about some very low price low profit item. After half an hour of Q&A they'd wind up ordering 0 to 6 of said item. Tried to make it clear to my boss that my value to him was talking to the guy with $50,000 burning a hole in his pocket, but he was afraid of ticking off the wrong person. I could accept that, but I still didn't like it. Then there's the warehouse guys. They really do get a salary, and we would never have afforded them on $50 orders. Even today, not everyone has Amazon's shipping system.