KR- Excessive Shipping Charges

[2Biz]

I recently placed an order at KR for (4) Nogshair Brushes, a 200ct box of Wet Wipes, 3 small hydrominder brackets, misc hydrominder parts, and some decals. Original order was aprroximately a $400. After the order was shipped, I discovered (2) of the small hydrominder brackets were back-ordered...

The first invoice was for $342 and shipping was $73.81...Second invoice for the (2) small back-ordered brackets was for $77.38 with $21.37 shipping. Total shipping was $95.18 for $410 worth of supplies. Almost 25% of the total! BTW, the (2) back-ordered brackets shipped just a few days after the original order shipped. I was not aware of additional shipping charges for the (2) small back-ordered brackets until after I was charged and brackets were shipped.

If I would have known about the excessive shipping charges for the back-order, I would have cancelled. The original charge of $73.81 was bad enough for no more than I ordered. I did email them....Anxious to see what their response is.

BTW, I just ordered 8 tubes of lap sealant from Zoro for $60 that I couldn't buy locally. 10# box and the shipping was "Free"!

"Buyer Beware" with KR's Excessive Shipping Charges and back-order tactics!!

 

[I.B. Washincars]

The price of the order means nothing, weight and bulk does. I don't know if the shipping on the original order was excessive or not, but shipping a couple of Hydrominder brackets from PA to OH should cost no more than 10 bucks. It has been my experience as well, that they inflate shipping charges. If at all possible I only order on free shipping offers.

 

[chaz]

I try and take advantage of KR free shipping deals. I also ask if anything is B/O ...I can then cancel those items, hold entire order or back order the next time. Obviously there is no such thing as free freight...one way or another it’s added in. I would touch base with KR on the shipping....cause that may be an error....I’ve typically been ok with their shipping fees. Back when I had my own UPS account they would bill to my account

 

[2Biz]

Total weight for this order was about 25#....According to UPS website for ground rates, should have been about $33 for shipping based on weight.

I'm with you on "Free" Shipping offers. But last time I did that I had to have (I think) a $1250 order. Since I don't get soap from them, thats hard to come up with.

The 200ct wet towels was 14#...The shipping really bites into the profits for vending!

 

[slash007]

I place a large order each year in Feb. and Aug. to get the free shipping. Have also been ordering in Dec. when they offer free shipping then. It does have to be $1250 min which I tend to spend easily even without chemicals, but I do have 2 washes. This year I needed a part one day after delivery of my free shipping order and was charged $12 for it and it weighed less than 1lb. I do have a note on my account to not ship back orders without my permission. Learned that lesson the hard way.

 

[MEP001]

Ways to combat this:

Place your orders with the instructions "Ship complete, no separate backorders," or "Call for instructions if any backorders."

Did you order anything like foam brush handles? UPS has changed something with what they call a large box. I shipped someone four 40" handles and it was $80 shipping. You're better off paying more from someone local.

As I.B. said, weight and size are the main factors in shipping cost, but so is distance. Make sure they ship your order from Pennsylvania as it's the closest to you, otherwise they will ship from wherever it's most complete.

Get it delivered to a business. UPS charges more to residential, even more still if it's rural. If you have no commercial place to receive it, ask someone near your wash if they can. It can be 30% less.

I know for a fact that Kleen-Rite gets the best possible rates from UPS, and their handling fees are minimal. With the backorder of brackets, its possible they added their incoming shipping to your outgoing if they special ordered them for you. You can request that they order them in on their regular orders and you won't pay extra freight.

 

[chaz]

The most recent free shipping was with a $750.00 spend....yeah the $1,250 is hard to do.

Speaking of pet peaves with K/R..... the little trees are not taped closed. Last two orders I had lots of trees loose in box. KR says they’ve noted my account to tape the boxes. Quite frankly I’d think little trees would use a small piece of tape to seal the 72 packs

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Between all of the shows and the Kleen-Scene free shipping specials, it's pretty hard to not find free shipping if you have a decent sized order.

 

[Robert2181]

And I thought it was only me!!!

 

[Waxman]

I just wait until I need $750 or more in parts / chems / vending. It's not hard to do and most of the items don't go bad.

When I first got my wash, friends would recommend buying pallet orders at a time and I couldn't imagine that! Now, 13 years into the 'journey', I can hop on the Kleen - Rite website and order $750 worth of product mostly from memory and very quickly! $2000+ orders are not uncommon.

 

[MEP001]

Speaking of pet peaves with K/R..... the little trees are not taped closed. Last two orders I had lots of trees loose in box. KR says they’ve noted my account to tape the boxes. Quite frankly I’d think little trees would use a small piece of tape to seal the 72 packs

If they packed things well it wouldn't be a problem. I've gotten stuff like boom swivels and vac motor brushes all just thrown loose into a big box with little to no packing. When I worked for a distributor I would tape all the way around each Little Trees box after I dropped one and all the perforated folds just exploded.

 

[MEP001]

I just wait until I need $750 or more in parts / chems / vending. It's not hard to do and most of the items don't go bad.

When I first got my wash, friends would recommend buying pallet orders at a time and I couldn't imagine that! Now, 13 years into the 'journey', I can hop on the Kleen - Rite website and order $750 worth of product mostly from memory and very quickly! $2000+ orders are not uncommon.

Remember that with many vending items it's "buy x get one free." With most Armor All products it's 10/1 free, some of the wet towels it's 5/1 free. The Blue Magic stuff was 3/1 free but I think they changed it.

 

[soapy]

With my vacation house about 50 miles away from their Vegas warehouse I guess I better start doing pickups there and get free freight and write off the trip. Problem is I checked on what credit they would give me if I picked up my pallet orders and it was only like $250 off even though they say they pay $1300 freight.

 

[Greg Pack]

I've been pretty satisfied, but have timed my orders for free shipping. I just make a point to plan ahead and buy while the free shipping specials are going on. If I miscalculate and run out of a vending item, I don't order it by itself, that just takes what little profit there is for that item away. I'll just sell something else in it's place. And as others mentioned the backorders of small items is what really hurts, Receiving a $5 backordered item and getting dinged $15 shipping is frustrating. I'm going to just specify "cancel all backorders".

I sell some stuff on ebay and there has been a dramatic rise in shipping charges over the past few years. You have to be very careful with your shipping weight and size or you can really get caught taking a loss on an item you hadn't planned to. It seems like UPS won't even touch something for less than about $12 from me.

Recently I bought a few price labels from Coleman that they could have put in a large first class envelope. $15 shipping.....

I do wish more people would make use of priority mail. Its an economical way to ship small items.

 

[2Biz]

It would also be nice if they estimated shipping during checkout. If I knew the shipping was going to be so high, I would have waited to order when I needed more. And they'll never catch me again on the back-order stuff.

Ditto on the Priority Mail. The (2) hydrominder brackets would have fit in a small priority box or bubble envelope easily. Either of those are just over $7.00 to ship...

 

[mjwalsh]

I have had sellers with high freight charges sometimes tell me that I can put my UPS shipping account number in the comments & that way they will generate a label with my account & my rates apply. I have seen savings here & there a bit by doing that. I don't see how because I don't generate near the volume that most shippers do.

I agree with everyone else about the planning ahead & finding a show offer or the every 6 months??? KleenScene $750 free ship offer. Especially if there is uncertainty about the exact amount of shipping costs. I have memories of being blindsided in a sense like 2Biz describes ... actually less likely from KR from our experience ... hopefully it is not changing in the more expensive for us direction.

Greg Pack ... when you sell from Ebay do you also have a Fedex account? I wonder if Fedex has the exact same criteria as UPS for the most part? If we don't start selling some on Ebay or our local online auction ... I am afraid from all the project overflow items bought that we might start to choke on our clutter ... even though I am pretty sure we have more back room space than most car washes &/or similar businesses.

 

[MEP001]

Recently I bought a few price labels from Coleman that they could have put in a large first class envelope. $15 shipping.....

They add $10 handling fee to each package.

It would also be nice if they estimated shipping during checkout.

That can be done (Lots do it), but it's very complicated to automate and works best when ordered items are already packaged for shipping and they just put labels on. It would be beyond what Kleen-Rite could handle.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

True, shipping prices in general have gone way up.
True, KR free shipping is a good deal.

But KR shipping costs have never been good, and IMO they have gotten so high that I no longer order some things from them, especially for smaller orders.

 

[Greg Pack]

I have had sellers with high freight charges sometimes tell me that I can put my UPS shipping account number in the comments & that way they will generate a label with my account & my rates apply. I have seen savings here & there a bit by doing that. I don't see how because I don't generate near the volume that most shippers do.

I agree with everyone else about the planning ahead & finding a show offer or the every 6 months??? KleenScene $750 free ship offer. Especially if there is uncertainty about the exact amount of shipping costs. I have memories of being blindsided in a sense like 2Biz describes ... actually less likely from KR from our experience ... hopefully it is not changing in the more expensive for us direction.

Greg Pack ... when you sell from Ebay do you also have a Fedex account? I wonder if Fedex has the exact same criteria as UPS for the most part? If we don't start selling some on Ebay or our local online auction ... I am afraid from all the project overflow items bought that we might start to choke on our clutter ... even though I am pretty sure we have more back room space than most car washes &/or similar businesses.

I just let Ebay figure it. They actually give a good rate and it makes it very convenient. Just don't get lazy like I did and estimate size and weight. That bit me in the butt a few times.

Clutter- heh, my basement could be on an episode of hoarders. The only way I can clear out stuff is I buy toys out of my paypal account which is where my ebay proceeds go. Right now I want some night vision, which is around $3500. So I've got to sell $3500 worth of junk in my basemtn before I get to buy one. Anyone need a Wash select II?

 

[Greg Pack]

Meanwhile just placed an order with supplyhouse.com for a few small items UPS ground was 4.95 shipping