An Idea About Shipping..what Do You Think?

[Jaderose]

There is another thread that folks are discussing the merits of free shipping vs. the expense of shipping and I had an idea.  How many of you have Amazon Prime?  You pay x amount of money every year and this gives you access to a bunch of stuff...including free shipping on most purchases.  What if TW, BPS, Cabela's, etc. offered the same thing?  Would you pay a yearly fee to get "free shipping"..especially if they threw in other goodies?  I'm kinda surprised other major retailers haven't done that.  I'd be interested if I thought it was good value plus it would kinda automatically steer me towards that particular retailer.  I'm not a marketing guy but i think it's an interesting idea.  Any thoughts?

[FloridaFishinFool]

Drones!

 

Strippers on flaming hoverboards! 

 

I gave up on amazon when they started charging me tax! 

 

I rarely buy anything on amazon any more. They gotta save me a bunch of money to motivate me to buy from them these days.

 

Back to the strippers idea... maybe I would pay for that!  

 

And it ain't free shipping if I gotta pay for it! 

[Sam]

There can be a profit in shipping and handling costs.

It is like the razor manufacturers. They don't care about the razor. They want you to buy the high profit blades.

Your suggestion does have merits but I doubt we will see it take hold for a few years, if at all.

[Preytorien]

I for one buy quite a bit from Amazon, mostly items that local stores don't carry, and not necessarily fishing equipment. I share an account with my sister, and let me tell you, it seems like she's always ordering stuff for her house, especially since my nephew was born. We laugh and talk about how Amazon must hate us since we must eat into their profits with all the "free" Prime shipping we use. I don't know their margins, but it doesn't look like they're hurting. I know for a fact we've used FAAAR more than $99 worth of shipping, not to mention our streaming TV and music services. It's a win-win for us all.

 

Regardless of all the margins, overhead, etc talk that can be said, at the end of the day I am exactly x1000 more likely to buy something from Amazon, even if it's a couple bucks more knowing I'm not getting ripped off for shipping, and in most cases have it in a guaranteed 2 days. It burns me when I need a $5 pack of Z-Man Shroomz heads from BPS/Cabelas/TW and I have to pay $7 to ship it. I sell quite a bit on eBay, and believe me a tiny pack of lures ISN'T $7 to ship. Additionally for all the "buy local" crowd, I would do that at the ONE shop I even know of around here, but I can't bring myself to pay almost exactly twice the cost (many times more than that) of what I can get it everywhere else. These guys at this shop seem to find it sporting to gouge people who are typical weekend fishermen and don't know average market prices. Anyways.....(rant over)..... 

 

A fishing retailer implements a shipping subscription model, and they will allofasudden have me as a VERY consistent customer. Whoever does it first will almost singlehandedly assasinate their competitor. 

[desmobob]

I have Amazon Prime, by myself, and I probably break even on shipping, plus get a buck or two off on normal prices.  I think I've only once ever taken advantage of any of the other freebies that go along with it (I watched the film, Dam Nation.  If you haven't seen it, check it out!).  But with fishing tackle, I have no problem meeting my favorite on-line retailers' minimum order to get free shipping.  I'm happy with the way it works and would not be happy to have to pay for "free shipping."  I stock up on what I need in the off-season and rarely need a small quantity of anything.  If I do, I can usually find it a a local chain store, or get it from an eBay seller at a good price with shipping included.

 

Tight lines,

Bob

[buzzed bait]

They'd have to offer everything under the sun (like Amazon does) for me to pay any type of subscription.

[A-Jay]

I'm an Amazon Prime user & abuser myself - for my situation it's a pretty good deal.

 

If TW had a "Prime" type deal - I'd be more apt to buy more of my gear there since I'd already commited to the deal -

 

Someone call the Bait Monkey and have them work out the details - I need stuff.

 

A-Jay

[Brnnoser6983]

But if you look at TW, it's not that hard to spend only $50. If you don't buy single items and save up for lost lures it's easy to hit that free mark. Same with Amazon. A lot of the time if you spend X amount you get free shipping.

[deaknh03]

Something tells me if this was so easy and lucrative for big box retailers, it would have been done long ago. I'm speculating that amazon eats up the $99 fee and passes all the shipping costs down to the seller, forcing them to take a lower margin as part of doing business with amazon...kinda like what wal mart does to vendors.

[rippin-lips]

TW has free shipping once you hit $50. I've never had a problem doing that. I always pay the $5 extra for 2 day.

[tander]

Most companies have free shipping for  a min. amount, I always can find enought items to ship free.

[Brayberry]

If a retailer I used a lot had a "Prime" deal, I'd probally be a buyer as long as the price was reasonable and it included extra's alond with free shipping as Amazon Prime does.  Off the top of my head, the retailer I'd use it for would be Academy, Bass Pro Shops, possible Cabelas, TW, Fishing Skirts, etc

[HoosierHawgs]

There can be a profit in shipping and handling costs.

It is like the razor manufacturers. They don't care about the razor. They want you to buy the high profit blades.

Your suggestion does have merits but I doubt we will see it take hold for a few years, if at all.

That's why I use Dollar Shave Club.   As for Prime, I like the streaming service. For about the same price of Netflix I get the exact same service, with more recent movies, and I also get free 2 day shipping, which is awesome. I also used to use the free book borrowing service on my kindle too.