dr_clyde
Well-known member
Shipping is never free. Ever. Free shipping is just another sales gimmick that works EXTRAORDINARY well, as noted by this thread.
You pay for it either with subscription, membership or inflated prices on goods. There is no free lunch, and if you think there is you’re not paying close enough attention.
No business will willingly take a several percent hit off the top for no reason. In fact, most places mark up shipping and make a buck or two. It costs money to pack things, in labor to actually pick the order and pack it, the boxes and packing material and the cost of the courtier service. Most big places get a deal from FedEx or whoever and they mark everything up across the board 10-20% to cover their costs and make a smidge.
The fact that people here are bitching that a company designed around selling tools to professionals in the workplace through a private dealer network won’t cater to the home gamer is just hilariously short sighted. Snapon doesn’t care about the online sales. It exists strictly to capture the “extra” money from people willing to take it straight in the teeth for a single screwdriver or whatever. They sell to their dealers, the government and industry for like, 95% of their sales.
Most high end goods or industrial goods are sold this way. Dealer networks and distributor only sales are COMMON in the world outside of stuff you can buy at Lowes. I cannot buy Iscar tooling on Amazon or at the hardware store. I have to go through a distributor. Some have an online presence but some don’t. And you bet your *** they charge for shipping. Same with almost every single carbide insert tool maker. Ever try to buy parts for a Stihl chainsaw online? You can’t. They’re through a dealer only.
Ever need to buy parts for an industrial CNC machine? DEALER ONLY and you better buckle up and hold on because the price is ASTRONOMICAL. They charge INSANE prices to keep it on the shelf and have it available to you when you need it. I spent like, $800 for a headstock chiller recirculating pump for my Mazak lathe plus like, $50 shipping for a pump that was essentially identical to another pump from Grundfos that costs $100 to anyone else. But it had proprietary connections and I could only get it through Mazak.
Snapon wants to sell tools through their dealer network. This is so you finance them and use their credit program. They want to make it hard to buy direct so you buy from the dealer. That’s how they want it. If someone is willing to pay out the *** to ship a $10 socket then they’re willing to take your money I guess but they’re not going to make it easy.
You pay for it either with subscription, membership or inflated prices on goods. There is no free lunch, and if you think there is you’re not paying close enough attention.
No business will willingly take a several percent hit off the top for no reason. In fact, most places mark up shipping and make a buck or two. It costs money to pack things, in labor to actually pick the order and pack it, the boxes and packing material and the cost of the courtier service. Most big places get a deal from FedEx or whoever and they mark everything up across the board 10-20% to cover their costs and make a smidge.
The fact that people here are bitching that a company designed around selling tools to professionals in the workplace through a private dealer network won’t cater to the home gamer is just hilariously short sighted. Snapon doesn’t care about the online sales. It exists strictly to capture the “extra” money from people willing to take it straight in the teeth for a single screwdriver or whatever. They sell to their dealers, the government and industry for like, 95% of their sales.
Most high end goods or industrial goods are sold this way. Dealer networks and distributor only sales are COMMON in the world outside of stuff you can buy at Lowes. I cannot buy Iscar tooling on Amazon or at the hardware store. I have to go through a distributor. Some have an online presence but some don’t. And you bet your *** they charge for shipping. Same with almost every single carbide insert tool maker. Ever try to buy parts for a Stihl chainsaw online? You can’t. They’re through a dealer only.
Ever need to buy parts for an industrial CNC machine? DEALER ONLY and you better buckle up and hold on because the price is ASTRONOMICAL. They charge INSANE prices to keep it on the shelf and have it available to you when you need it. I spent like, $800 for a headstock chiller recirculating pump for my Mazak lathe plus like, $50 shipping for a pump that was essentially identical to another pump from Grundfos that costs $100 to anyone else. But it had proprietary connections and I could only get it through Mazak.
Snapon wants to sell tools through their dealer network. This is so you finance them and use their credit program. They want to make it hard to buy direct so you buy from the dealer. That’s how they want it. If someone is willing to pay out the *** to ship a $10 socket then they’re willing to take your money I guess but they’re not going to make it easy.
