This is the last season I ship a Christmas present!
By dragon54u
@dragon54u (31633)
United States
December 11, 2016 2:47pm CST
My ex's wife and I decided to make fruit and nut "baskets" for our MIL and SIL. I am still close to them as I was married for 20 years. So we shop for the stuff and get a great assortment of nuts, dried fruits, and some fancy candy and the plastic trays to arrange them in. I get everything all set and Friday I packed it up to ship. I just used one box since they only live about 3 miles apart.
I went to a mailing place that let's me choose the cheapest rate. We spent $35 on the two gifts. It cost $36.55 to ship it!!!! OMG!!! That was UPS, the post office rate was over $40 and Fed X was $38.
We thought we were saving money because the gift baskets we saw online were so costly. But we only saved about $5 each.
Have you ever been shocked at the price of shipping something? Do you ship a lot of gifts at Christmas or on birthdays?
7 people like this
8 responses
@louievill (28846)
• Philippines
11 Dec 16
I wonder why shipping cost is very expensive in your country, it's bad for business and the economy. So many times I wanted to buy things online but shipping is just outrageous.
2 people like this
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
11 Dec 16
I don't know why shipping is so costly, especially since the price of fuel is down. I won't be doing it anymore!
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
11 Dec 16
@louievill you are right and I think the new administration will be focused on things like that more than the previous administration.
1 person likes this
@louievill (28846)
• Philippines
11 Dec 16
@dragon54u think this is one aspect the U.S. Is losing out to China in terms of selling their wares, China could ship it for free while U.S. Shipping is actually more expensive than the item itself, the new government administration should should look into this. America is losing a lot in the online retail business.
2 people like this
@Tina30219 (82978)
• Onaway, Michigan
11 Dec 16
I never shipped things to people before but wow. So judging by this you could have ordered already made ones pretty much for the sane price you sent this.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
11 Dec 16
Yes, we could have! We would not have had the fun of shopping for them but we would have saved money.
@Tina30219 (82978)
• Onaway, Michigan
11 Dec 16
@dragon54u The saving money part is always fun but like you said you would miss the fun of shopping for it all.
@simone10 (54180)
• Louisville, Kentucky
12 Dec 16
We had that happen before when we were sending our niece stuff for her new baby. The shipping cost more than what we spent because there was one thing that was a little heavy. We decided after that not to ship anymore but to just send gift cards instead.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
11 Dec 16
I split a membership with my son and it more than pays for itself. I love Amazon! I use it every Christmas for most things, using the gift cards I've earned throughout the year. I usually have about $300 credit there by this time but survey sites have not been paying as well as they used to. I like the free shipping!
1 person likes this
@akalinus (44366)
• United States
11 Dec 16
@dragon54u I earn the gift cards by activities online. Nothing is paying as well as it used to.
1 person likes this
@IreneVincent (15960)
• United States
12 Dec 16
I don't ship anything anymore. I send money or a gift card, if I want so send somebody a gift.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
11 Dec 16
That is not fair. We should have ordered and let the store ship but we'll do that next year!
@MissNikki (5234)
• Maple Ridge, British Columbia
12 Dec 16
My mom ships things from the both of us to my aunt in Ontario every Christmas and it usually costs about that to ship I'd say. It's crazy.
