A Delivery Charge

[Aunt Bea]

What would be a fair price for the delivery charge?

When I was in my peak earning years many people thought that my wages were excessive.

I always felt that they should have been just a little bit higher.

 

[Keesha]

Same here, cost of lumber high, houses sell like hot cakes. One house in our neighborhood, a 1950’s needs updating=money pit, was put on sale for 330,000. In four days they announced final and best offer. The basement is unfinished and only 8 feet high.

I am so tempted to sell this house, but I would have to pay taxes on the money cause enough time has not passed according to what I read, between when we sold the last one and this one. Besides, he’d just buy another house and we can barely afford this one.

A sellers market is the best time to sell. I know you have me blocked but ..... If you live in an area where it’s a sellers market then your house will be worth at least 10% to 20% more which would pay for those taxes. If you move to an area that’s nicer but has lower prices, then you could become mortgage and debt free. Lots of people using this pandemic as an opportunity for a complete life change.

 

[Pecos]

How utterly insulting!

Yes indeed, pick it up yourself and on the way out, address the store owner or manager and inform him or her that it will be the last they see of you.

I wouldn't patronize the place ever again.

The problem is that in many parts of the country Lowes and Home Depot are the only games in town. All of our smaller hardware and lumber stores are gone after being price undercut for so many years.
At some point, Amazon may gobble up Lowes and Home Depot and make it even worse.

 

[wcwbf]

since covid, it's not impossible to... rather easy to find free delivery. i have one small cat... an indoor cat... uses litter box every day. i buy litter in big plastic jugs. it never goes bad and i can find places to stash the jugs, so i will buy 5-6 at a time when it's on sale (EX Big Lots has 20% off sales from time to time and carries the brand).

it's not like they're outrageously heavy, but i'm "old" and have a very bumb arm. hauling 6 15 lb jugs off a shelf... into cart... out of cart to scan... back into cart... into car... out of car and into apartment... oh, and i'm often lazy.

w-mart is maybe a mile down the road. i ordered 6 jugs on a friday... delivery expected on monday... doorbell rings saturday and there it was.

 

[Packerjohn]

Were the slippers gold plated? House slippers here are 10 to 20 dollars.

I am not a great fan of Walmart but I went there and bought a pretty good pair of house slippers for $20 CND. I have said it before, you gotta say "no" to crazy prices that don't make sense. Remember, "A FOOL AND HIS/HER MONEY ARE QUICKLY PARTED". Amen to that one!

 

[Nathan]

I bought one 8' X 4' X 1/2" piece of sheet rock from Home Depot today. I thought, "why not have it delivered?" So I looked at the price.....$45 to deliver one 4 X 8 X 1/2 in. piece. The store is about one half mile from my home. I will pick it up later.

Yea, it doesn't matter if you have 1 sheet or 50, they charge $45 to drive that flatbed out of the store.

 

[Rosemarie]

I bought one 8' X 4' X 1/2" piece of sheet rock from Home Depot today. I thought, "why not have it delivered?" So I looked at the price.....$45 to deliver one 4 X 8 X 1/2 in. piece. The store is about one half mile from my home. I will pick it up later.

It would make more sense to buy a wheelbarrow!

 

[HoneyNut]

Just did a little quick math on this...

Working with 10 deliveries per day at $45 each, total comes to $450 (per day)
$450 per day X 7 = $3150 (per month)
$3150 per month X 12 = $37,800 per year

Nothing business-like regarding that IMO.

I wonder what the expenses would be tho? What would be the monthly payment on the truck, the gas/diesel costs, insurance cost, maintenance costs, employee cost for the driver, business overhead, taxes, would there be a busy season and a slow season? How many days a year would it be idle for holidays or bad weather or out of commission for repairs or the employee out sick? This sort of exercise makes me content to just be an employee

I used to think the horse stables were charging an outrageous amount to ride a horse for one hour. Then I bought a horse.

 

[SetWave]

It would make more sense to buy a wheelbarrow!

Just don't have it delivered . . .

 

[saltydog]

Years ago, I worked in the accounting department for a company that sold supplies for the logging industry. Back then, most of their business was done through catalogs and ordering over the phone. The company advertised free delivery. But what they actually did was add in the cost for delivery to the price they advertised in the catalog. They had stores and warehouses in New York, Tennessee, and Northern California.

If a customer actually came into the store to buy the product, the company would give them a 5% discount, as if they were giving the customer a big savings, but what they were actually doing, was subtracting the cost of delivery from the price.

This is standard practice for companies that advertise free delivery. I've actually seen some businesses charge the same price to the customers coming in the store, as they do to the customer having it delivered, supposedly for free.

 

[Aunt Marg]

I wonder what the expenses would be tho? What would be the monthly payment on the truck, the gas/diesel costs, insurance cost, maintenance costs, employee cost for the driver, business overhead, taxes, would there be a busy season and a slow season? How many days a year would it be idle for holidays or bad weather or out of commission for repairs or the employee out sick? This sort of exercise makes me content to just be an employee

I used to think the horse stables were charging an outrageous amount to ride a horse for one hour. Then I bought a horse.

My displeasure with all of the additional charges, fees, extra-added this and extra-added that, that we so commonly see today, comes about through being sick and tired of seeing and hearing big business nickel-and-dime the hardworking-class nowadays.

I was fully expecting someone to come along and build a case for the business and not the consumer.

I call it the roller-over mentality, where consumers would rather shut-up, pay the price, and carry on, and that's why we as consumers (in general) today are being ripped off at every straight, corner and turn, because when nobody says anything, all is rosy in the business world.

 

[Aunt Marg]

Years ago, I worked in the accounting department for a company that sold supplies for the logging industry. Back then, most of their business was done through catalogs and ordering over the phone. The company advertised free delivery. But what they actually did was add in the cost for delivery to the price they advertised in the catalog. They had stores and warehouses in New York, Tennessee, and Northern California.

If a customer actually came into the store to buy the product, the company would give them a 5% discount, as if they were giving the customer a big savings, but what they were actually doing, was subtracting the cost of delivery from the price.

This is standard practice for companies that advertise free delivery. I've actually seen some businesses charge the same price to the customers coming in the store, as they do to the customer having it delivered, supposedly for free.

Exactly, scummy, isn't it.

 

[Gary O']

I bought one 8' X 4' X 1/2" piece of sheet rock from Home Depot today. I thought, "why not have it delivered?" So I looked at the price.....$45 to deliver one 4 X 8 X 1/2 in. piece. The store is about one half mile from my home.

Might possibly have been the stairs?

 

[Aunt Marg]

I wonder what the expenses would be tho? What would be the monthly payment on the truck, the gas/diesel costs, insurance cost, maintenance costs, employee cost for the driver, business overhead, taxes, would there be a busy season and a slow season? How many days a year would it be idle for holidays or bad weather or out of commission for repairs or the employee out sick? This sort of exercise makes me content to just be an employee

I used to think the horse stables were charging an outrageous amount to ride a horse for one hour. Then I bought a horse.

I wonder, too... poor Home Depot.

Home Depot is listed at being worth $250 BILLION.

They didn't get to be worth $250 BILLION doing good for their customers.

I'll learn yet to stay away from thread topics like this in the future, because it's apparent to me that hubby and I don't have the worth to piddle away as others do here.

 

[Aunt Marg]

I find this entertaining...

Home Depot charges a $59 delivery fee on any major appliance purchase below $396

Translation, you as a consumer as a nobody when you look to spend a pittance of $396 on an appliance with us, HOWEVER, if you come into our store looking to spend a few thou, well now, you good, you important, you an appreciated customer, we'll figure in the $59 delivery fee into your order, that way we can still charge it but it will be easier for us to hide it.

Same goes for kitchens. They charge an (upfront $100) service charge to come to ones home to take measurements of your kitchen for cabinet and appliance layout planning.

Yes please, charge me $100, and then absolutely, we'll run right back here to patronize you some more with a big cabinet and appliance purchase, NOT!