N.Y Times: I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to contribute their thoughts on my recent post about shipping costs. Lots of good input there, with a wide range of viewpoints. I showed all of them to my salesmen and we came up with four options:

1) Do nothing. Stick with the current policy of quoting shipping and installation separate from the item prices of the tables that are ordered.

2) Go all in. Eliminate separate pricing for shipping and installation entirely, and tell customers that the quoted price includes all of our services: custom design, fabrication, shipping and installation. When we list pricing for tables on our website, it will be the actual price charged to the client, with no surprises to come.

3) Create two tiers. Orders of more than $10,000 will include shipping. For orders under $10,000, a flat fee of $475 will be charged, regardless of where the shipments go.

Full Article » Introducing a New Shipping Policy — and Pondering How to Sell It