From over the road trucking firms to FedEx, UPS, Uship,
Greyhound Express and the US Postal Service, all on line Mid Century Modern
dealers must ship their products. Unfortunately if it’s bigger then a
breadbox it’s expensive and quite often the cost of shipping the item costs as
much as the item itself. I know this because I have used nearly every
shipping service available to me in North America .
As a sender you want to save your customers money by getting them the best deal
on shipping and getting their items to them quickly. This is what they
expect. When they are told that the product will cost as much as the item
they often loose interest.
So what does an on line mid century modern furniture
business do? How do we deal with this new reality? We could do what
many before us have done; we quit or we make the receiving party responsible
for shipping their own items to themselves. As far as I’m concerned both
of these ideas are bad ones but I see it happen all the time. A better
choice is to compile all of the general information about the item before hand;
such as overall dimensions, the weight and what type of packing materials will
you likely use and the estimated cost for them. Figure these things out
before you list or sell the item. Know your product through and through.
Once you have this information you can consult your list of shippers and
because you’re prepared you will find the best deal for you and your customer.
With the cost of shipping / fuel promising to continue to
rise; another idea to keep shipping costs down and therefore making your pieces
more affordable, would be to create a trading route by bringing multiple items
closer to the buying public by setting up at quality antique and mid century
modern shows. In early winter you might travel to New
York City , Philadelphia or Washington DC
By Christmas maybe Florida
then onto Los Angeles and by spring you’re in Chicago .
This idea is modeled after the Silk Road an idea over 2000
years old that spawned commerce and culture from China
to the Mediterranean Sea .
Adapt or quit.
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