I received a PM question from one of the members here that I thought I would post along with my answer, as it is a question that I am asked quite often that I thought other members would like to see also.
"Bill,
I live on the West Coast and when I purchase a bag or two of the Gouldian Resting or Breeding diet, it's very expensive to ship. Have you ever thought of having a distributor out on the west coast? How about shipping it in a Flat Rate box so it's not only cheaper, but shipping is 2 days?"
My answer:
I appreciate your thoughts. The problem with USPS Flat Rate Shipping is it is based on size...it has to fit in the box. A 5 Kg bag of Birds R Us seed will fit in a Medium box which is $10.70, but a second 5 Kg bag has to go in a second Medium box (2 - 5 Kg won't fit in the Large box) so the Flat Rate price is $21.40 for 2 - 5 Kg bags which is higher for most customers, or the same at best, than UPS ground.
The programming for the shopping cart also becomes a nightmare. If we put a fixed shipping charge of $10.70 on a 5 Kg bag of seed, and you add something else such as a seed hopper to your order, we have to place a fixed shipping charge on the seed hopper of $10.70 also, as the seed hopper would have to be shipped in a second Flat Rate box as it won't fit in the first box with the seed. The end result is you would have a 12 or 13 pound order that would have shipping charges of $21.40, being much higher than UPS. Calculating shipping charges by weight is very easy for a shopping cart. Calculating by size is a nightmare if you sell many different types of products that vary dramatically in size and weight. The only way to do it is to use the "shipping will be calculated later" method which many customers won't buy into...they want to know exactly what their cost is before they are willing to complete the purchase online.
But, we are looking for a west coast distributor, so the best thing might be to contact your favorite distributor on the west coast and let them know you would like them to carry the Birds R Us line. We are setting up territories for our distributors, so we are only going to choose one or two on the west coast. Hopefully they will be companies you are happy to do business with!
Thanks for your note
Bill