I wanted to buy some white nanking cherries from Edible Landcaping in Afton VA but there shipping costs are unreasonable. Anyone by chance live near by?
Shipping Prices
Ship cost change!
We are in the process of adjusting our ship cost. We are moving to a percentage-based charge. We have not increased our shipping charge for several years. At this time we are trying to keep up with the transportation and box cost which have continued to rise over the years. If the cost of shipping is out of line, we will review the charge and adjust if necessary. We are sorry for any confusion this may cause.
Minimum ship cost; $15 0.00 to $17.50
Orders $17.51 to $25 ship cost 90%
Orders $25.01 to $50 ship cost 69%
Orders $50.01 to $125.00 ship cost 41%
Orders $125.01 to $400 ship cost 36%
Orders $400.01 to $1000 ship cost 34%
Orders $1000.01 to $3000 ship cost 32%
I don’t doubt that’s what it costs them in staff time. They don’t strike me as being set up for shipping in quantity. But you’re right, it does jack the prices up quite a bit and make it hard to justify. I made a graph at one point to see if I could find an optimum. At certain spots, the total price actually goes down as the base price hits one of the thresholds.
It is fine on small items but not big items. I paid something like 18 dollars shipping for 6 Ohio treasure black raspberry which is not out of the ordinary for me. I have found different stores have different shipping methods. Raintree used to do 10 dollar shipping (now 15 dollars + the route protection which is lik 98 cents) however there trees cost a arm and a leg compared to competitors, places like Bay Laurel Nursery does 3 plants for 33 dollars to here but it is 33 weather it is 1 or 3, then you have places like Stark Bros which do 10 dollar shipping flat rate but they will be small plants. Then you have places like edible landscaping who do percentage based however you get ripped off that way. Like I said they sent Ohio treasure raspberries via USPS for 18 dollars but I work at USPS and based on the size of package and weight I can tell you they spent 9 dollars in shipping cost and threw them in a package for a few dollars. Again some places amaze me with shipping costs like Stark Bros. Right now Stark bros has a lot of plants on sale for 30 something dollars and it will be 10 dollars shipping. Issue is when it comes to edible landscaping is they are one of if not the only guy in town for things. I have found the same issue with Raintree Nursery. I should edit to add that their Ian is only 14 dollars so you will not be spending too much on shipping with that.
This may be their way of cutting down on shipping things out. It may not really be worth their while to ship out one or two plants. I ordered the three white nankings that they offer this past spring and only one arrived in the spring. They just shipped me one of the others a few weeks ago.
There is one more left, it is supposed to be shipped in Spring of 2022.
I wouldn’t be surprised to hear of them not shipping at all in a few years. The owner is getting older and all this shipping is probably wearing on him.
they arent the only ones. many nuseries are jacking up prices country wide. inflation at its finest. high fuel prices and lack of reliable labor trickle down to the consumer. trading/ cloning plants will become very popular until these nurseries complain to the lawmakers and pass a law to make that illegal.
The higher shipping prices aren’t just this one nursery i have seen an increase at all the online nurseries just some more than others. I shop local nurseries to save on shipping if I can find it.
Not a nursery item per se, but I’ve got a 3 to 5 pound oversized item coming FedEx from Michigan…still has not made it in 11 days.
Awful. Item around $30 and shipping around $30.
Added Tuesday night:
On the other hand, received
order from Vistaprint today that got placed Friday…
and free rather than rush shipping is requested.
Go Figure. (UPS to Knoxville, USPS to Kentucky).
Everything shot up. USPS prices for priority mail went up quite a bit in my personal experience. Like it or not, they aren’t Amazon and can’t absorb shipping/handling costs.
You said it was a overized item and 3-5 pounds? That could be a deal for 30 dollars shipping to be honest. I routinely have customers who come in with a big box and it goes into oversized shipping. Once something goes into oversized shipping it gets way more expensive. A 14 or 15 starting rate jumps to about 40 dollars or a 20 something dollar rate will jump to 80 dollars. This is USPS and not a private company looking to make a profit like USPS mind you. I always tell the customer this when shipping a item that is big compared to the scales we use. That is why I am like that is a steal when someone like Stark Bros offer 10 dollar flat rate shipping. As a employee in the shipping industry when I get to have a issue with shipping is when I see it is a small item in a little envelope that would have cost 8 dollars to ship via USPS and they charge we 23. That is what happened with my raspberries.
So if item prices were inflated and shipping was free would you still be angry? How about if they charged the actual price of shipping/box/packing/labor? Last week I paid $60 for 20 ft3 of foam popcorn. Paid $35 to ship a persimmon tree from Just Fruits and Exotics to Texas. Didn’t have to buy it though… If you don’t like the delivered price don’t buy it.
a tip for ups specifically, their retail pricing is terrible. you can get about 20% off ground and 30+% off air just by getting a small business account, which they’ll give to anyone, you just have to ask. then you print a label at home and bring it in (getting a label after waiting in line at the ups store gets you retail pricing)
Some companies do that. Raintree Nursery sells a tree others would charge 30 for and Raintree charges 60 but only charges 15 to ship to me. It is fine if places like Raintree are the only ones selling them but it makes it hard to justify buying multiple if you can get it elsewhere.
I shipped something today in a recycled Edible Landscaping box. USPS, 3 day Priority mail. The box was probably about 3 feet long and maybe 6x6 inches wide. It weighed 2 lb 2.40 oz. 50.00 insurance included. It was 13.55.
The box that they sent was personalized with their name and address and was a pretty nice box. I wonder how much it cost them.
