SmugMug shipping

misterb · September 5, 2010

Hey SmugMug,

I love you guys to death- but can you cut us "smugmuggers" some slack when it comes to shipping?

I want 3 prints and almost $5 to ship?

(I know- it's a bad economy and stuff- but help a brother out!)

:rofl:D:rofl

Andy · September 6, 2010

What size? 3 small prints should get you $2.95 shipping or 3.45 shipping, depending on Lab.
3 larger prints (like 8x10) would be $4.95.

http://www.smugmug.com/prints/shipping.mg
I wish we had more control over the shipping costs, but they are set by the labs and we don't make any money on shipping. I'm so sorry!

misterb · September 6, 2010

Andy wrote: »

What size? 3 small prints should get you $2.95 shipping or 3.45 shipping, depending on Lab.
3 larger prints (like 8x10) would be $4.95.

http://www.smugmug.com/prints/shipping.mg
I wish we had more control over the shipping costs, but they are set by the labs and we don't make any money on shipping. I'm so sorry!

1 8 x 12 Print (Matte) $3.49 USD

1 8 x 12 Print (Metallic) $4.36 USD

1 8 x 12 Print (Glossy) $3.49 USD

Order Subtotal: $11.34 USD
Shipping & Handling: $4.95 USD
Total: $16.29 USD

misterb · September 6, 2010

USPS Media Mail

Media Mail Prices

The service for printed and recorded material.

For sending small and large packages consisting of books, film, manuscripts, sound recordings, video tapes, and computer readable media (such as CDs, DVDs, and diskettes).
Prices based on weight.

Prices
Weight Price
1lb $2.38
2lb $2.77
3lb $3.16
4lb $3.55
5lb $3.94
6lb $4.33
7lb $4.72
8lb $5.11
9lb $5.50

Media Mail® service is a cost efficient way to mail books, sound recordings, recorded video tapes, printed music,
and recorded computer-readable media (such as CDs, DVDs, and diskettes). Media Mail can not contain advertising
except for incidental announcements of books. The maximum weight for Media Mail is 70 lbs.

There are presorted rates available for bulk quantities of Media Mail (minimum quantity is 300 pieces).A barcode discount is available for Media Mail.

Rates are based on weight and size.

WinsomeWorks · September 6, 2010

misterb wrote: »

USPS Media Mail

Media Mail Prices

The service for printed and recorded material.

For sending small and large packages consisting of books, film, manuscripts, sound recordings, video tapes, and computer readable media (such as CDs, DVDs, and diskettes).
Prices based on weight.

Prices
Weight Price
1lb $2.38
2lb $2.77
3lb $3.16
4lb $3.55
5lb $3.94
6lb $4.33
7lb $4.72
8lb $5.11
9lb $5.50

Media Mail® service is a cost efficient way to mail books, sound recordings, recorded video tapes, printed music,
and recorded computer-readable media (such as CDs, DVDs, and diskettes). Media Mail can not contain advertising
except for incidental announcements of books. The maximum weight for Media Mail is 70 lbs.

There are presorted rates available for bulk quantities of Media Mail (minimum quantity is 300 pieces).A barcode discount is available for Media Mail.Rates are based on weight and size.

To be honest, the prices you paid for shipping for those 3 large photos doesn't sound unfair to me at all.... remember, this is for
Shipping & Handling, not just shipping itself. People often make this mistake. The flat prices you're quoting from USPS in most cases don't include the packaging material (that's only included w/ Priority or EXpress) and time spent packing & addressing it. And media mail can be pretty slow. I'm not even sure that's the method Bay Photo or EZ Prints is sending. I'm pretty sure I've never had them send mine that way, because I usually need it much faster than media mail can guarantee.

I just know from having a greeting card shop on Etsy that the shipping and handling is the most costly part of it (both time and money-wise). Yeah, I know that I'm doing it by hand and Bay or EZ are certainly doing it with some mechanized help. But still... if you think about the whole process of packing, sending, etc. it should make more sense to you. The trick is to try to plan ahead and get a bunch at the same time-- difficult, I know. Anyway, I doubt we're going to see print companies lowering their mailing costs, because UPS & USPS are always raising them, so it's all pretty much a moot point! Gotta do what we can do. Those large prints only cost you a little over $5 each... pretty darned decent for the quality I've seen. I can barely print them on my inkjet for that, and then they get a drop of moisture on them & they're finished. Just sayin'!

daylightimages · September 6, 2010

I agree with Winsome. There's no graceful way to build in handling charges into the product. If you add a buck to the cost of the print to cover handling then everybody complains that Walmart only charges $x.xx for the same print size. If you add it to the shipping, then folks complain that it's $x.xx more than what USPS charges to ship the print.

$5 for a real person to package the prints and to cover the actual shipping? Sounds plenty fair.

misterb · September 7, 2010

It would be nice to get a break as Power and Pro account users.. if not, that's ok too.

SmugMug shipping

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