I hate raising shipping costs. It’s not a profit center for me, by any means. In fact, in the general scheme of things, I lose money on shipping. My goal is just to simply break even on postage, which seems, well, way fair. That’s where I’d like to be. Eventually. I was charging $15 to ship one record to Europe, Asia, South America, Australia and, ummm, thereabouts. That will now be $16. Our lovely neighbors to the north (that’s you, Canada!) will see postage go up 50 cents, to $8.50.
The hike is due to two things, with the continuing upward creep of international postage rates (which just went up again very recently) being a given. But surprisingly, not the lone culprit. The last shipment of LP mailers that I received from Bags Unlimited were actually sturdier than the previous batch I received. The good news – a stiffer box means a safer package. Even if it is a matter of degrees. The bad news – the 2 oz it adds to a shipment means an extra $1 in shipping costs. The actual cost of shipping the record is $15, leaving $1 to cover packaging costs. Trust me, it doesn’t.
I take a great deal of care in shipping records, sandwiching an album between two tightly taped filler pads before inserting in the mailer (to prevent shifting during transit, opening the door to possible seam splits). This is all in the name of getting the record to you in the same condition it leaves here. If, at the end of the day, that means an extra $1 to get it there, so be it. I really, truly hope you feel the same way. Seriously, I’m sorry. Bygones?
graypunk 