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My guess is that a huge amount of their business in small obscure parts is by post, so it's just quite sensible to have flat rate postage that covers everything from a single washer up to a set of brake levers without making a loss on most orders.
user69121-
My guess is that a huge amount of their business in small obscure parts is by post, so it's just quite sensible to have flat rate postage that covers everything from a single washer up to a set of brake levers without making a loss on most orders.
It's difficult to judge the actual cost of postage and labour involved in picking and packing small orders. I can accept that it's not negligible, but I can't believe that it's the same for the two items I mentioned. With their current system it just feels like someone buying a single bolt is subsidising other larger orders. If that's what it takes for them to keep going then I'm not going to quibble; they provide a very valuable service, but they're not a charity.
I still think it's a reasonable idea to club together to get small items posted together though.
ffm
I agree for the most part. I can only imagine what a "four-candles" their stockroom is. On the other hand some other retailers do have one step down from the £3-4 postage band and only charge £1-2 for something as small as a bolt, clip or quicklink. It's just slightly irritating for SJS not to have that extra band of postage. My guess is that a huge amount of their business in small obscure parts is by post, so it just feels quite clunky to have flat rate postage that covers everything from a single washer up to a set of brake levers.