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you're overstating the granularity I'm suggesting
It's just reductio ad absurdum. SJSC p&p charges are exactly as granular as they have decided is sensible, over many years of trading. They are also objectively very low compared with the full cost of getting an online order from stock shelf to customer. If they were going to add to the granularity, it wouldn't be to make sending out one washer less than £3.50, it would be to make sending out anything bigger than a PiP Letter more.
gbj_tester-
It's just reductio ad absurdum. SJSC p&p charges are exactly as granular as they have decided is sensible, over many years of trading. They are also objectively very low compared with the full cost of getting an online order from stock shelf to customer. If they were going to add to the granularity, it wouldn't be to make sending out one washer less than £3.50, it would be to make sending out anything bigger than a PiP Letter more.
That only works as long as SJS is the only source of odd bolts, shims, stays, tape and widgets.
Which, I grant you, is likely.
But, if for e.g. Wiggle bought a warehouse full of such stuff then SJS would be reliant on existing customer loyalty to overcome the larger operations logistics operation.
Dammit
I think you're overstating the granularity I'm suggesting. A 49p set of mudguard stay caps (weight = 5g?) would cost about 70p in postage plus packaging (tiny ziploc + envelope) + picking and packing/posing labour. A £10 saddle would cost at least £3 in postage plus more in packaging (jiffy bag/box + padding) + roughly the same picking and picking/packing labour. I think the £2+ disparity in the cost of getting those items out to the customer could be reflected in a single lower price band for postage.
My guess is that the thinking is that it's just not worth SJS's time to post anything if there isn't a bare minimum of profit e.g., £1 on it. For anything over a fiver that profit is probably in the cost of the item; for anything less than a couple of pounds that margin is made up in the P&P cost. That's totally understandable, but it is irritating when you just want the sub-Twix-cost widget to make something work properly.