Online Vegan Products
Posted by stride4unity on Dec 15, 2006 · Member since Feb 2005 · 211 posts
Does anyone buy any vegan products on the internet? I have found some excellent products that i would LOVE to buy that other stores in my area don't sell, products that Whole Foods and Trader Joe's lack - vegan mozarella and vegan marshmallows. BUT the cost for shipping is too pricey for the low cost products I want! Fpr instance, The 'irregular marshmallows' on veganstore.com are on sale for 59 cents and the Chreese packets are only $1.29 but the shipping is $5.99 which is up to 4 times as much as the products I am buying. I really want these products but I don't think it's fair to pay for the shipping. Are there any online stores that have these products but whose shipping is much lower? :-[
Shipping is the down part of online/mail order shopping. Along with more packaging. :-\
Why do you think these shipping charges aren't fair? Consider that the company has to pay for boxes, pay someone to pick the product off the shelf, package & label it, print out your packing list & then pay the freight to get it to you. Weigh that against the time it takes to shop, assuming local stores even have what you want, & the gas to get there & back. I hate to shop, so I also include the frustration factor, which I rate even higher than the other stuff.
Suddenly $5.99 doesn't seem so bad to me. ;)
However, before you go to that expense, you might see if your local stores could special order the items you want. You should provide as much information as possible, including the UPC code if you can, an exact description of the product you're looking for & the company contact information. Many stores are happy to do this.
I chafe at shipping fees, too-- particularly when they're high, relative to the cost of shipping by weight. After all, even though the store has to pay all the things Lezly rightly describes, there's anotehr side to it: the store isn't worrying about paying extra cashiers, baggers, stockpeople to repair customer "damage" to inventory locations and "facing" of products, nor, in many cases, storefront overhead... and often items are more expensive from online shops than from stores even before shipping.
However, I often find that if I map a bus & train route to a shop where I could pick up comparable items (I live in a metropolis with great public transportation), my fares would add up to more than the shipping/handling.
That's when I stop squirming and just pony up the dough. ;)
whenever it doens't seem worth it, i add a few more items to my cart to balance it out. in the end, you have to ask yourself if you really want the item and that will be the deciding factor in whether or not you should order it