OT: Shipping.

[false_Aest]

I'm just baffled!

How is it that I can order something from the UK on Monday and have it in Chicago by Thursday w/out paying for expedited/rush/overnight BUT it is nearly impossible to get the same type of speedy service when shipping things domestically???

Specifically, why does it take 10 days for UPS to get a package from LA to Boston?

[caleb]

Airmail versus ground.

I have no idea how airmail can be so cheap.

[rounder]

I'm just baffled!

How is it that I can order something from the UK on Monday and have it in Chicago by Thursday w/out paying for expedited/rush/overnight BUT it is nearly impossible to get the same type of speedy service when shipping things domestically???

Specifically, why does it take 10 days for UPS to get a package from LA to Boston?

I went to business grad school and my investment prof was a harvard phd. He espoused the efficient market theory and i bought it...it just made so much sense. No one outperforms the s&p 500 over the long term. Lately, i have had doubts. If the market is so efficient, how come it crashed so fast and all. Most recently, bought some wheels from a UK catalog store. They arrived in six calendar days including a weekend and holiday with no service charge. Where can you get that. Maybe the store is in trouble...or maybe the model is broken. Either way...the lesson to me is that the U.S. has to get it's act in gear.

[uno-speedo]

I've had the same experience. Ordered two different items on the same day, one from the UK and one from PA. UK item turned up first by about 2-3 days.

A nice thing about the UK post office is that to this day they still deliver by bike. Getting paid to ride. Good stuff. But in todays world they'll probably kill that tradition soon enough :crap:

http://www.cyclingnorthwales.co.uk/images/photo7_4.jpg

[maximus]

It is strange isnt it.

Not only have my parts from the UK been arriving quicker than my domestic packages, but the prices on parts (at least all the Campy stuff) I have ordered recently are, on average, about 20% cheaper than anything I can find stateside. Wiggle even offers "free" shipping. I have my gripes with Total Cyclings customer service though...

Not complaining, but I have wondered why it's like that.

[lavi]

I don't know why it's cheaper/faster. Mabye the UK folks are attempting to grab some of the volumous US market share. If so, they are doing a great job.

I really want to support my LBS, but they need to be in the market. In my business, it's pretty simple. If I want certain business, I need to be competitive and sometimes accept lower margins. If I choose to maintain higher margins that might price me out of the market, I'm toast. I don't get the attitude of some US stores. They are not only competing on a national level, but also an international level too.

If one has a good that someone can get cheaper/faster from some other place, one should make a wise decision lest they end up looking for another line of work...

[1centaur]

The market crash does not speak to efficient markets theory, since that theory states that the market has already priced in all known information - much of the information was not known. However, one week working in the investment world will disabuse you of any belief in the efficient market. People are people and would rather go to lunch than correctly price all known information into the market, even if their guidelines allowed such moves.

As to bike parts, there are several factors at work: UPS in the US sets its pricing scheme at low cost for regular ground and higher for air transport. The UK has no ability to ship by ground so it's all air shipping. If UPS air shipped your US order you'd get it faster too. Further, UPS local routes get driven in a certain way that does not maximize speed (although it's still fairly fast). Finally, of course, currency effects work for us sometimes on Euro goods that are not going through a US distributor and factoring in US customs, in some cases, and the UK stores seem to do a good job of working "free" shipping into that umbrella of pricing - shipping is far cheaper than paying a US distributor's mark-up. To some extent I think VAT mark-ups are factored in to wholesale pricing in Europe (customers can only pay so much), and US customers benefit from not paying that markup - which may be another reason the US distributors pay more, as manufacturers try to equalize final price for Euro and US consumers post VAT.

[rounder]

Good stuff as usual. Thanks 1centaur.

[uno-speedo]

My friend in the UK who works for a high end road bike store explained to me that all these mail order companies, be it Wiggle, Chain Reaction etc., buy directly from Shimano in Japan skipping the Shimano UK distributor. So their mark up on goods can be less. My friend cannot even buy 'X' crank from the UK distributor at cost that Wiggle etc., are selling it at to the likes of you and me. I guess what I'm trying to say is its grey market importing.

As for shipping I've no idea. I can only imagine they get discounting for volume shipping. What I do know is domestic flying is cheaper in Europe compared to flying across the US. I maybe stabbing in the dark with all this :confused:

[cmg]

My friend in the UK who works for a high end road bike store explained to me that all these mail order companies, be it Wiggle, Chain Reaction etc., buy directly from Shimano in Japan skipping the Shimano UK distributor. So their mark up on goods can be less. My friend cannot even buy 'X' crank from the UK distributor at cost that Wiggle etc., are selling it at to the likes of you and me. I guess what I'm trying to say is its grey market importing.


So then why does not the bike shop also buy from grey market and mark up to sell to the consumer?

[zap]

snipped

What I do know is domestic flying is cheaper in Europe compared to flying across the US.

Yes, last fall our round trip fare from Vienna to Berlin was US$92 each, German beer and fairly decent German chocolate that weighed a lot more than the wrapper included.

[Steevo]

The UK based vendors likely have favorable air shipping rates, based on higher volume going via air to both North America and throughout the EU. Air is likely the default shipping mode for the UK based vendors.

US vendors ship throughout the US via ground as the default mode. Air is the premium service, with the commensurate mark-up for premium service.

[SoCalSteve]

My friend in the UK who works for a high end road bike store explained to me that all these mail order companies, be it Wiggle, Chain Reaction etc., buy directly from Shimano in Japan skipping the Shimano UK distributor. So their mark up on goods can be less. My friend cannot even buy 'X' crank from the UK distributor at cost that Wiggle etc., are selling it at to the likes of you and me. I guess what I'm trying to say is its grey market importing.

As for shipping I've no idea. I can only imagine they get discounting for volume shipping. What I do know is domestic flying is cheaper in Europe compared to flying across the US. I maybe stabbing in the dark with all this :confused:

I am sure its something more along the lines of they buy OEM in quantity as they have their own bike frame lines. Same as Trek-Cannondale-Giant-whoever buying large quantites of bike parts to install on complete bikes that they sell in LBS....same pricing, only they break up the groups and sell them individually...ever notice how alot of it doesnt come in retail packaging?

Just saying,

Steve

PS: A few years back, I had a connection with a very small bike manufacturer and was able to get Shimano gear at a pretty reasonable cost (it all came sans retail packaging).

[1centaur]

Buying OEM may explain gruppo pricing but not tire pricing, which always stands out to me when I look at UK options. Is there a chance that Euro manufacturers have less control of their distribution chain as a matter of law when dealing with the UK than with the US?

[uno-speedo]

I am sure its something more along the lines of they buy OEM in quantity as they have their own bike frame lines. Same as Trek-Cannondale-Giant-whoever buying large quantites of bike parts to install on complete bikes that they sell in LBS....same pricing, only they break up the groups and sell them individually...ever notice how alot of it doesnt come in retail packaging?


This is true. I've posed this question to my friend and I am waiting for his reply. They do have their own frame line made in Italy so I'm not quite sure why they don't do this.