Can't believe some of the rip off suppliers!
The knobs/locks were rusted into place on my awning. I started shopping for new ones. I found them! The knob replacements are about $8.00 a set. The shipping for the 5oz items costd about 14.00 to 18....
Forum Discussion
I once worked for a mail-order, phone-in computer parts and supplies company. If you said the name you'd probably recognize it. They've been in business now for quite a long time. Their distribution center is in Wilmington, Ohio, literally across and down the road from Airborne Express. They took advantage of Airborne's overnight delivery service, so could take orders as last as 3:00 am and have it delivered by 10:00 am same day.
Now they got a rate deal with Airborne for shipping, but back (then) it was still based upon the weight of the package.
Now the cost of packing and shipping involves more than just postage. The company I worked at had a warehouse with metal shelves running perpendicular to a rolling conveyer and several people worked their areas. They were called "pickers" from the farming industry, like "apple pickers", only they picked items off the shelves in their specified zones.
As the order when down the line, each "picker" would put the items into a tub with the order until it reached the end of the line.
At the end of the line, there was about 10 people that did the actual packaging. They had to assemble and tape the box of the right size, check the items off the packing list to double check the items "picked" were correct against the order, pack it, seal it, and then label it.
From there it went down a smaller line to be weighed, each one individually, and entered (scanned by bar code) for a report that went to Airborne for charges for the total day.
Boxes were then placed in an airline "C" container, and transported to the Airborne terminals where millions of other packages were resorted, placed in different C containers, and loaded on an airplane destined for parts all over the country.
So you know, there's more than just "postage" involved when you place an order over the internet, or do a call in order over the phone. There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes that very few people really understand. All that technology, supplies, labor costs, and warehouse costs cost a lot of money, so YOU have the convenience of having it shipped directly to your door.
Some time later, I quit that job (I worked on the printers printing those invoices) and worked for a bank. One Christmas season I moonlighted at Airborne as temp help, and ended up learning how VERY complex a system they have to ship so many packages so fast all over the world, literately in less than 24 hours!
So, $7.00 for an order is pretty phenomenal considering all the complexity to get that order to your home so YOU don't have to drive a thousand miles to pick it up yourself.
Now they got a rate deal with Airborne for shipping, but back (then) it was still based upon the weight of the package.
Now the cost of packing and shipping involves more than just postage. The company I worked at had a warehouse with metal shelves running perpendicular to a rolling conveyer and several people worked their areas. They were called "pickers" from the farming industry, like "apple pickers", only they picked items off the shelves in their specified zones.
As the order when down the line, each "picker" would put the items into a tub with the order until it reached the end of the line.
At the end of the line, there was about 10 people that did the actual packaging. They had to assemble and tape the box of the right size, check the items off the packing list to double check the items "picked" were correct against the order, pack it, seal it, and then label it.
From there it went down a smaller line to be weighed, each one individually, and entered (scanned by bar code) for a report that went to Airborne for charges for the total day.
Boxes were then placed in an airline "C" container, and transported to the Airborne terminals where millions of other packages were resorted, placed in different C containers, and loaded on an airplane destined for parts all over the country.
So you know, there's more than just "postage" involved when you place an order over the internet, or do a call in order over the phone. There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes that very few people really understand. All that technology, supplies, labor costs, and warehouse costs cost a lot of money, so YOU have the convenience of having it shipped directly to your door.
Some time later, I quit that job (I worked on the printers printing those invoices) and worked for a bank. One Christmas season I moonlighted at Airborne as temp help, and ended up learning how VERY complex a system they have to ship so many packages so fast all over the world, literately in less than 24 hours!
So, $7.00 for an order is pretty phenomenal considering all the complexity to get that order to your home so YOU don't have to drive a thousand miles to pick it up yourself.
