Today’s rant

[Not Connard Sage]

Shipping charges, or what we called P&P in ye dark ages.

I don’t usually moan about these too much because I understand…hard times…we all need to make a living…suck it up (that may have been me)…bloody Royal Mail…etc.

I’ve just (not) bought a couple of Davco 1/3000 ships. Almost did, Prince of Wales and Repulse. £2.53 each, not stupidly expensive.

Then I got to the checkout, ‘UK shipping; Royal Mail second class £5.00’.

**** off. I’m not tight, and I’m not in poverty, but some things just rankle.

 

Ah well, back to Navwar, and its 1980s shopping…

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[Mike]

Is the fact it is a fiver or that the postage is as much as the items?

[Mike]

Looking at the RM website, the postage alone is likely £3.00 then the seller needs to pay for the box and the packing (foam/tissue/bags/whatever), and then ideally not do all that for £0.00.

I reckon out of that £5.00 charge they are making 50p?

 

 

[Guy Farrish]

One of the things that makes me do the same as NCS (the real reason is I love getting the ‘Did you know you’ve left something in your “cart”‘ emails for weeks afterwards, makes me feel needed) is the ‘SURPRISE!’ element. Put the charges somewhere up front or at least nearer than the last bit before you actually pay.

I take your point about packaging and postal services Mike.

I think the problem is something that all small scale online suppliers have increasingly faced since the Big River model swamped retail. If you can bung the postal service enough cash for a volume sales deal you can offer free p&p and play at being NASA.

To offset certainty of income at reduced rates from big players, postal services up the rate for the low volume user and the disparity in postage charges gets increasingly prohibitive for the corner shop player. And irritating at least for those of us wanting to buy niche items rather than something from a Nottingham Polygon based conglomerate.

[Not Connard Sage]

Mike wrote:

Looking at the RM website, the postage alone is likely £3.00 then the seller needs to pay for the box and the packing (foam/tissue/bags/whatever), and then ideally not do all that for £0.00. I reckon out of that £5.00 charge they are making 50p?

They’ll go into the smallest size Jiffy bag*, by letter post. Allowing that they’re over 100g (unlikely), that’s £1.85.

I know that someone will say “bulk order”. Which is fine if you want to model the entire Royal Navy’s 1941 fleet. I don’t, I want a couple of capital ships for a single scenario..

Navwar’s P&P is 10%, minimum £1.50, free over 50 quid. Now their ships are, hopefully, the same size and weight. Which begs a question.

*size 000, £14 per 200.

 

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[Mike]

Ah yeah fair point.
I would not send them in a padded envelope though, too much risk of damage, I would send them in a small box. But if they could go in a large letter sized cardboard box then yeah… that would cost about £2.50.

 

Does the website have postage by value of order (like I did) or by volumetrics?

Either way, looking forward to tomorrows rant… is it about how you can’t even rant on the internet without someone stating that you are wrong?

😀

 

 

[Not Connard Sage]

Mike wrote:

Ah yeah fair point. I would not send them in a padded envelope though, too much risk of damage, I would send them in a small box. But if they could go in a large letter sized cardboard box then yeah… that would cost about £2.50. Does the website have postage by value of order (like I did) or by volumetrics? Either way, looking forward to tomorrows rant… is it about how you can’t even rant on the internet without someone stating that you are wrong?

How the shipping is calculated I don’t know. These are 1/3000 scale ships, unless you take a hammer to them the risk of damage is small. Tirpitz has hit a tiled floor recently and all that happened was it came off its base. Anyway I’ve received far more damage prone figures in padded bags before now.

Half the fun of ranting on t’net is being told you’re wrong even when you ‘know’ you’re right. I have Covid though, and it’s making me more irritable than usual, hence this rant 🙂

 

 

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[Mike]

Well…  take it steady and rest up.

[Guy Farrish]

I don’t know what the business rates are like these days but they weren’t that great for smaller businesses when I started mine.

I remember Royal Mail saying I could have a lower rate with a franking machine (we are talking some time ago!) or I could print my own labels from their web site (so not that long ago) – which I did. The saving was marginal unless, and they were quite keen on this, I could pay up front for a notional volume and if I exceeded this in a year those extras would be at a much lower rate or free. Regrettably (not really given the business model I wanted to run) I never hit those volumes so never bothered.

I doubt many wargames sellers get anywhere near the volumes required to make noticeable scale savings on postal charges.

[Edit]

@NCS – you’ve got Covid? First time I’ve felt sorry for the SARS-Cov-2 virus. Doesn’t know what it’s let itself in for!

Get well soon.

[Mike]

Also:

Not Connard Sage wrote:

Half the fun of ranting on t’net is being told you’re wrong even when you ‘know’ you’re right.

No it isn’t.

😛

[Not Connard Sage]

Guy Farrish wrote:

[Edit] @NCS – you’ve got Covid? First time I’ve felt sorry for the SARS-Cov-2 virus. Doesn’t know what it’s let itself in for! Get well soon.

😀

Thanks. I think.

 

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[willz]

I sell a few items on fleabay and send them Royal Mail 2nd class signed for (or 1st class signed for) as a small parcel.  The price is £4.45 but what I get for that is confirmation that the item has been delivered.  So to me £5 is a fair price if they are using this system and packing the item safely but if in a padded envelope costing less then that’s a bit steep.

[Sane Max]

surely the answer is to order lots more of them? That was my approach when ordering from Onslaught in t’states – I sat on my hands until I needed enough of their little Not-‘Nids to make the postage costs a lot less painful.

Buy more teeny ships Connard 🙂

[Not Connard Sage]

Sane Max wrote:

surely the answer is to order lots more of them? That was my approach when ordering from Onslaught in t’states – I sat on my hands until I needed enough of their little Not-‘Nids to make the postage costs a lot less painful. Buy more teeny ships Connard

I don’t want an entire bloody navy…

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[Sane Max]

you are No True Wargamer.

Please hand in your dice and (probably alarmingly small) collection of figures to the Officer who will be calling on you shortly.

[Not Connard Sage]

Sane Max wrote:

you are No True Wargamer. Please hand in your dice and (probably alarmingly small) collection of figures to the Officer who will be calling on you shortly.

I’ll go quietly.

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[irishserb]

I don’t know about being a true wargamer, but that was a shameful rant.  Where was the exagerated, inflammatory outrage?  There was no OMG factor what so ever.

Shameful.

[Sane Max]

irishserb wrote:

I don’t know about being a true wargamer, but that was a shameful rant. Where was the exagerated, inflammatory outrage? There was no OMG factor what so ever.

Shameful.

don’t worry let’s see where this gets him…. do you have any 28mmm scale stuff, Connard?

(Picks up a Dice and waits expectantly)

[Not Connard Sage]

Sane Max wrote:

irishserb wrote:

I don’t know about being a true wargamer, but that was a shameful rant. Where was the exagerated, inflammatory outrage? There was no OMG factor what so ever. Shameful.

don’t worry let’s see where this gets him…. do you have any 28mmm scale Connard?

Not biting Pat 😉

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[Mike]

Double vexation.

[Not Connard Sage]

irishserb wrote:

I don’t know about being a true wargamer, but that was a shameful rant. Where was the exagerated, inflammatory outrage? There was no OMG factor what so ever. Shameful.

No overwhelming sense of entitlement either.

It’s the British way. I’m sorry, I’ll try to be more American.

Perhaps I should visit The Musty Pillocks for hints?

 

🙂

 

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[General Slade]

I don’t know whether it is of any interest to you Not Connard but Keep Wargaming has got a single Navwar 1/3000 HMS Hood for sale for £1.50 and their postage and packing is incredibly reasonable. Their stuff comes in a box and I think the charge is about £1.50.  I have bought loads of stuff off them over the years and their service is second to none.

https://www.keepwargaming.co.uk/navwar-13000-ww2-warships-n1152a-hms-hood-post-1941-refit-x-1-7557-p.asp

[Not Connard Sage]

General Slade wrote:

I don’t know whether it is of any interest to you Not Connard but Keep Wargaming has got a single Navwar 1/3000 HMS Hood for sale for £1.50 and their postage and packing is incredibly reasonable. Their stuff comes in a box and I think the charge is about £1.50. I have bought loads of stuff off them over the years and their service is second to none. https://www.keepwargaming.co.uk/navwar-13000-ww2-warships-n1152a-hms-hood-post-1941-refit-x-1-7557-p.asp

That’s very kind of you General, thank you. I already have Hood though, and more than one seems excessive 🙂

 

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[General Slade]

But two Hoods are better than one.

I’ll get my coat.

[Mike Headden]

General Slade wrote:

But two Hoods are better than one. I’ll get my coat.

Robin and HMS? 😉

 

There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

[Not Connard Sage]

General Slade wrote:

But two Hoods are better than one. I’ll get my coat.

 

Has your coat got two hoods? 🙂

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[General Slade]

A hood and a neighbourhood?

I’ll be leaving now.

[Not Connard Sage]

…and another thing.

I just discovered Bac Ninh Miniatures. They have some interesting stuff, particularly the Boshin wars figures.

But

 

This is their website
http://bacninhminiatures.blogspot.com/2020/02/how-to-place-order.html

…and nothing pisses me off more (hyperbole) than a website that’s actually a blog, or worse, a Facebook page.

Sort it out chaps. That is the 2023 version of the mimeographed, typewritten lists that eventually dropped through your letterbox in the 1970s when you “request[ed] our extensive lists. Enclose SSAE”.

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[Mike]

fair

[Guy Farrish]

Think of it as a ‘Heritage Wargaming Experience’

(For an extra fiver they’ll wait 28 days and then send you the wrong figures because the ‘n’ and ‘m’ in the order numbers all look alike on the Banda sheet)

[This is a joke and is NO reflection on Bac Ninh, from whom I have never ordered but are no doubt caring and considerate retailers]

[John D Salt]

Shipping rants, is it?

Last year I conceived the idea that my life would be somehow improved by accumulating a load of 1:144 scale models of WW2 fighters. Some of the fighters I needed (Hayabusas/Oscars) seemed to be obtainable only in Japan. I duly whomped in an order with HobbyLink Japan.

Consider, if you will, the following timeline, and imagine, if you can, the degree of boiling rage I have built up against Parcelfarce International.

02 Sep 22 Receipt of order acknowledged from Tokyo
05 Jan 23 Demand for customs charges of £38.59 received from Parcelforce, paid immediately
24 Jan 23 Scheduled delivery not attempted
27 Jan 23 Parcel put on “Parcelwatch”
?? Feb 23 False second demand for customs charges received
08 Feb 23 Parcel scheduled for return to Japan, having escaped “Parcelwatch”
20 Mar 23 Parcel arrives back in Tokyo
23 Mar 23 Parcel posted from Tokyo
24 Mar 23 Parcel dispatched from Kanagawa

HobbyLink Japan have done nothing wrong, but were obliged to charge a second shipping fee when they had, through no fault of their own, to ship the parcel a second time.

Parcelfarce have done pretty much everything wrong, failing to even attempt delivery on the agreed date, raising a spurious second demand for customs charges, sending the parcel back to Japan on the false pretext that it was “unclaimed”, and failing to catch the thing with their “Parcelwatch” scheme.

Given the torpid pace of international surface mail, I expect the cursed parcel to pop up again maybe next month. If Parcelfarce decide to treat me to another dazzlingly display of freestyle incompetence, it’s not impossible that I might get a bit shirty with them.

In the time since that ill-fated first order, I have had one delivery from HobbyLink Japan and three from AliExpress in China, none of which encountered the slightest difficulty.

All the best,

John.

[Patrice]

Not sure of what you are all talking about, but one thing I hear for sure is that many wargamers in France are not willing to buy much more from outside the EU (you know what I mean) because of taxes etc. although many of them were doing it often.

Some UK companies are doing the OSS thing or whatever, but not many.

That will not stop me from buying figures from the UK when I want them, but many people I know are now hesitating.

http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/

[Jim Webster]

Patrice wrote:

Not sure of what you are all talking about, but one thing I hear for sure is that many wargamers in France are not willing to buy much more from outside the EU (you know what I mean) because of taxes etc. although many of them were doing it often. Some UK companies are doing the OSS thing or whatever, but not many. That will not stop me from buying figures from the UK when I want them, but many people I know are now hesitating.

Certainly I’ve had friends who have experienced a lot of problems bringing wargames figures and suchlike into the UK from the US because of postal service and customs etc. I’ve just decided that life is too short and there’s nothing I need enough to make the potential hassle worth the effort.

 

 

https://jimssfnovelsandwargamerules.wordpress.com/

[Colkitto Macdonald]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>I’m oddly pleased to find that I’m not the only one to be irritated by the £5 charge levied by Skytrex/ Davco/ Navybooks or whatever they are called on any order however small; it has stopped me ordering things from them before.  But I am also chastened by the reminders of the practical realities for businesses, and the hypocrisy of spending lots of money on toys but not wanting to pay much postage.</p>
On the other hand, Navwar postage is much less, and the models are significantly cheaper, so …

[Darkest Star Games]

My experience is that sending anything to the UK form the US is more of a mess right now than it has ever been. High duties/taxes being levied on the customer (regardless of how we try to fox the system by putting innocuous descriptions on the customs form), shipping costs are sky high, and I’ve also learned that unless the goods are in a box they most likely will just disappear in the ether (even with paid tracking).  All of the above has contributed to casual orders from the UK practically drying up.  Despite lots of investigation there seems to be no cure that I can force, which is highly depressing as thing coming to me from the UK arrive in reasonable (if not jiffy) time and shipping doesn’t cost an arm-and-a-leg.

That said, internal shipping within the US isn’t in fine shape either.  In 8 years the cost of the same 2-day priority flat rate small box that I have been using from day one has sextupled, and the 2-day is actually more often like 4 days to deliver.  I have not raised shipping prices even though they continually go up, basically eating some of the cost just to customers do not have to bear such a burden as well as refunding any unused shipping cost charged a customer (which I am sure many consider dumb business practice).

It does not surprise me that many hobbyists are moving to home 3d printing rather than shipped physical product.

"I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

[Author]

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