From over the road trucking firms to FedEx, UPS, Uship, Greyhound Express and the US Postal Service, all on line Mid Century Moderndealers must ship their products. Unfortunately if it’s bigger than a breadbox it’s expensive and quite often the cost of shipping the item costs as much as the item itself. I know this because I have used nearly every shipping service available to me in North America. As a sender you want to save your customers money by getting them the best deal on shipping and getting their items to them quickly. This is what they expect. When they are told that the product will cost as much as the item they often loose interest.
So what does an on line mid century modern furniture business do? How do we deal with this new reality? We could do what many before us have done; we quit or we make the receiving party responsible for shipping their own items to themselves. As far as I’m concerned both of these ideas are bad ones but I see it happen all the time. A better choice is to compile all of the general information about the item before hand; such as overall dimensions, the weight and what type of packing materials will you likely use and the estimated cost for them. Figure these things out before you list or sell the item. Know your product through and through. Once you have this information you can consult your list of shippers and because you’re prepared you will find the best deal for you and your customer.
With the cost of shipping / fuel promising to continue to rise; another idea to keep shipping costs down and therefore making your pieces more affordable, would be to create a trading route by bringing multiple items closer to the buying public by setting up at quality antique and mid century modern shows. In early winter you might travel to New York City, Philadelphia or Washington DC
By Christmas maybe Floridathen onto Los Angeles and by spring you’re in Chicago.
This idea is modeled after the Silk Road an idea over 2000 years old that spawned commerce and culture from Chinato the Mediterranean Sea.
Adapt or quit.
