A big advantage of a local hobby shop is the lack of shipping and handling.
Today I received an order from Micromark. The gadget I ordered weighed 1.5
ounces. The shipping and handling charge was ten dollars. In the envelope
with the gadget were two Micromark catalogs. The two catalogs weighed eight
ounces. The catalogs were not only unnecessary but Micromark had previously
mailed me a copy of the same catalog at no cost to me.
My nearest hobby shop is 25 miles away and stocks a lot of HO and N but no
specific S-scale stuff. A trip there for basic materials takes an hour and two
gallons of gas but they have established their own mail-order. They take phone
orders from me for any item in the Walthers catalog and some others. They
receive their order and mail to me the items I ordered, Their order to Walthers
goes out on Tuesday. If I call them before Tuesday I generally receive my
order by the next Wednesday. Their shipping and postage is just what it costs
them to send me the item - no special high-volume boxes and packing for a piece
of styrene or some screws.
I believe that internet shopping is cheaper because the vendors profit from the
shipping and handling. I can believe tht UPS and fedex and the others have a
discount going with their big shippers - perhaps not literally a kick-back but
certainly lower rates to the vendor or a yearly deduction based on total
shipping fees.
An example - it cost a vendor $20 to ship to me a locomotive from the east
coast to the west coast but it cost me $28 to send it back in the same box -
all UPS. (S content)
Art Armstrong
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