No Free Shipping to Hawaii
The MorningPaper ran
a story about shipping discrimination to Hawaii
. The paper checked 50 websites and found that more than
half refuse to provide free shipping to Hawaii even though
they routinely do so for the lower 48 states.
In addition, the shipping rates that these sites charge are double, and sometimes triple, what the residents of other states pay. So, for example, we pay over $20USD for even the smallest package sent via UPS. This, even though the US Postal Service offers a shipping rate of $7.70USD to ship two pounds ANYWHERE IN THE 50 UNITED STATES in no more than three to five days. I don't understand why these companies don't use this US postal service. I mean, the US Postal Services comes to your business to pick up the package just like the other guys. And unlike the other guys, the postal service delivers on Saturdays . So why not increase sales to Hawaii when it doesn't cost you anything more and, in fact, costs your customers less?
Aloha!
Comments
Many of us grew up in an era where UPS was the less expensive way to go. I noticed some time ago that is frequently not the case any longer, but decades of cultural inertia stand in the way of widespread recognition. My sympathies to that extent. Howver, the reality of being on an island out in the Pacific Ocean does affect relative economy of access. I experienced a similar situation on the far north coast of California, where everything was 10 cents a pound more than in the same store chain in San Francisco.
Posted by: Paul | December 5, 2005 10:20 AM
Sounds rather familiar.
Except of course that a lot of US firms don't even ship to Europe, free or not.
Posted by: sjon | December 5, 2005 09:43 PM