How do they stay in business?

51ferguson,

Thank you for providing your positive feedback regarding your online experience. We love hearing from our customers.

Thanks,
Stacy
Good Sam Care Team

I will add my recent CW online experience, I was looking for a 25" x 19" single basin kitchen sink to replace the stock double basin kitchen sink in our travel trailer. (DW wanted a single bowl sink) I searched the internet for a couple of days, Ebay, Amazon, bunches of online RV parts suppliers, and then I thought I would check CW online and low and behold they beat the lowest price I had found by about $20.00 and free shipping. Needless to say I ordered from CW and received the sink in 4 or 5 days counting the weekend. I was happy with that and I will order from them again if they have what I am looking for and it is cheaper that anywhere else I look. CW is like any other retailer some things you may find cheaper and some things you may not find cheaper, that is why it is best to shop around. The same goes for shipping charges some places are cheaper than others, shop around.

Billy

leeper wrote:

AllegroD wrote:
This forum has been failing for a couple decades, now.

It is the fault of those old geezers! Wait, isn't that what our toys are called, "geezer pleasers"?

;-}

AllegroD wrote:
This forum has been failing for a couple decades, now.

It is the fault of those old geezers! Wait, isn't that what our toys are called, "geezer pleasers"?

hedgehopper wrote:
I just received two Good Sam directories and a Good Sam atlas. I thought the shipping charge was a bit steep. But where else can one purchase these items?

AMAZON

kalynzoo wrote:
He needed it, they had it. Shipping is another issue. It could go in an envelop for less than a dollar, but then a few less than honest customers would claim an item was never received...and it only takes a few, and they are out there. So it must be shipped Priority, FedEx, or UPS. The item must be boxed and an employee must supervise the shipping. But for the purchaser it is easy, call and have it shipped, so there is no realization of the costs involved in this process. If you can get it cheaper, Great, do so, and brag. If CW finds sales diminishing it may adjust policy to meet competition. But blaming CW for the cost of doing business just does not seem fair.

You think $15 for shipping a 4" X 4" piece of plastic is fair?

fla-gypsy wrote:
And then I can run down to my local CW and handle the product before I buy and make a good decision which I cannot do with others. They are what they are, bashing them on their forum looks small. Like anything else the savvy buyer wins.

In this case there was no product to actually look at and handle or he would have bought it. Had to order it with an inflated shipping cost.

Since March I have tallied up over $1800 on rv and camping stuff from amazon. When from amazon direct usually over $25 is free shipping. 3rd party retailers often don't have free shipping. Yesterday I was looking at a fantastic fan, amazon with shipping it was about $380 cad. I ordered it from CW for shipped price os $240 cad.even with taxes and duty I think it will be well below the amazon price. It's rare but sometimes amazon isn't the best deal.

The Internet is a great shopping tool when applied vigorously

Several things come to mind here.

Smart consumers shop around, do their homework, and make decisions based on the total price of an item, timeframe the item is needed in, etc.

Many stores are charging ridiculous rates for shipping. $15 for a small item that will fit into a padded envelope IS ridiculous, no matter how you want to spin it. The more people realize that and take their business elsewhere, the harder it will be for those businesses to stay solvent unless they adjust their shipping rates to be reasonable.

Priority Mail does indeed have Priority envelopes that ship anywhere in the US for much less than $15 in about 2 days.

Many items on Amazon have free shipping, WITHOUT paying $80 for Amazon Prime, and tracking info is always a mouse-click away.

CW, having to maintain a nationwide network of S&B stores, must price their items higher than some online retailers; I get it and understand. If it is not outrageous, that price difference is worth the immediate availability for consumers, but...outrageous shipping rates on top of those higher prices cannot be justified nor defended.

As others have said, the OP's post is a legitimate complaint and has absolutely nothing to do with Government price controls.

Hello allenm,

Thank you for taking the time to let us know of the experience you had with Camping World.
We are glad you were taken care of.
Have a good day.

Ella