Subway Shipping Charges

Last week I placed an order online to Subway, two binders and some pages. When going through checkout I was charged over $14 shipping which looked to be in line with the shipping terms laid out on their site.

Yesterday I got an email from their Customer Service asking for more for postage because this is a 'heavy box'. I replied OK, and that I felt I had little choice if I wanted the merchandise. I also asked for an explanation as to whether their shipping terms had changed.

I know several on here buy from them. Has anyone else run across this recently? I have in the past ordered many things from them some of them heavy shipments, with no request for additional postage.

Not complaining. It just took me by surprise.

I had noticed higher shipping prices at Subway. I was comparing them with Amosadvantage and the shipping costs were always higher at Subway. I end up buying more brand supplies from Amosadvantage. I would not consider 2 binders and pages to be heavy.

Their message:

Thank you for your order.
Shipping may be higher than quoted due to weight.
To ship your order will cost a total of 18.25
Please confirm acceptance of this shipping charge.
Thank you.

The order:
ZGKCLAB-D BK G&K NASSAU BINDER AND DUSTCASE 2.00 0.00 0.00
BK
BLACK
AIA8145 50 MED BLANK COMPU 3-R PG 5.00 0.00 0.00
**** 4 ROUNDED CORNERS
AGKSAN105 SA LABEL-GREAT BRITAIN 2.00 0.00 0.00
AGKSAN087 SA LABEL-FRANCE 5.00 0.00 0.00

Two 3 ring binders, 250 sheets of medium weight paper and seven album labels, If this is their idea of a 'heavy' shipment, someone needs re calibration. I agreed to a charge of a bit over $14.

No reply to my inquiry, no sign of any further charge. Just strange.

Lately, when using either FedEx or USPS, I have been surprised by the high cost of shipping parcels, both large and small.

That's interesting. I haven't bought from Subway in many years. But in previous years I bought books, 48-page large stockbooks, and Vario stockpages. I had expected them to charge extra, as stated in their shipping policy. But they never charged me more than the flat 10%, not even for shipping across the Mississippi. I know the shipping on my boxes were substantially more than 10% (more like 15-20%, I had bought clearance items so the price was already exceptionally low for the weight)

I assumed they were simply averaging out the shipping costs among customers unless the shipping exceeded an additional $20 or more.

Binders are bulky, but not really that heavy. I agree that it is strange that they would bother to want an extra $4. If shipping was $10+ more, I think I could understand.

The only other dealer I ever noticed to charge me extra for heavier than expect shipping also had a policy of automatically refunding shipping charges when they turned out to be lower than their preliminary estimate. Extra charges were rare, refunded shipping happened far more often. In the long run I saved a lot more, so no complaints from me when they had to tack on extra for shipping once every blue moon, as the refunds more than made up for it.

I don't know how much it costs now, but the previous 2 Scott catalog WW sets (6-volumes) that I bought from Amos back in 2011 and earlier cost me $10 shipping. I'm sure it costs more than that now, but I was really stunned to see them only charging me $10. If I remember correctly, they sent the catalogs to me via FedEx.

A few years back I bought a full set of the Big Brown International reprints plus binders, spread out over about 4-5 separate shipments. Not once did they charge e extra shipping above the stated percentage. Now they sneak in extra charges because something is 'heavy'?

I just got a rely from them. I had agreed to the charge but also mildly disputed why. All I got was a 'Thank you'. They also ran through the extra charge.

I am sort of invested in using their products. I am reluctant to protest too much, it was just a few bucks. I have to wonder, if I had said no would they have cancelled the order? I think not!

I've had the same thing happen to me with them before, several times. I have learned that this is how it goes with their online orders. (I agreed to it in each case, but wasn't thrilled with it, and it does make it impossible to try to do comparison shopping.)

However, I learned later from personal experience that if you call them and order by phone, they can give you the exact shipping charges at that time. They even worked with me to see what else I could add to the order before the shipping charges bumped up to the next tier.

Good point Dave. I've ALWAYS phoned in my orders. I learned that they have a lot of stuff available (including clearance items) that aren't listed online nor in their catalogs.

Is this just for shipping or for both shipping and handling?

A company like Subway should be able to get a mailing contract to pay reduce shipping. That is, they get a discount from what it would be if you or I shipped. A company I worked for had a contract with UPS and the discount was very substantial. Fed Ex is generally cheaper. If they have a contract, I just wonder.