# Atlas Parts Rip Off



## Hankus (Dec 14, 2014)

Recently I need to replace one of the felt washers on the intermediate shaft of my Atlas 10" Lathe.  At the time I found nothing on eBay, so I went to Sears with the Atlas/Craftsman part number of 9-111 just out of curiosity.  To my surprise they listed the part but the price was a bit steep, $13.74 each plus Tax and Shipping.  Next I was advised to try Clausing Industrial direct, where the price quoted to me was $8.40 plus shipping.  I ordered quantity (1) Item 9-111 for $8.40 which I put on my debit card.  The emailed order confirmation agreed with my phone order with the exception of the mode of shipping which I understood would be US Postal Service.  Yesterday I received a UPS delivery of one manila envelope, weight 1/10 lb. and today I got an emailed copy of the Invoice $19.57!!   Parts $8.40 and Freight of $11.17!!  This little felt washer had cost me a whopping $19.57.   Oddly enough had I purchased from Sears Parts Direct the total would have been within a couple of dollars of being the same.  Just a heads up.


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## road (Dec 14, 2014)

here is one better..  

I was looking for bandsaw tires for my old craftsman. ( 1960's  )

Sears has them  at $23. ea. + taxes  mail order pick up at any store in Canada. 

Clausing has them at around $6 ea. 

Clausing will not sell direct to Canadians. We need to use their "Northern Distributor" in Toronto.

I was quoted ... get this.... 

$17 ea. for the tires. 

$150.   for shipping and handling.  

+ taxes  

$207.87   !!!!  

Delivery to my address. 

I live 30 - 40 minutes from them .  No pick ups ....

 I found a shop near me that will make new tires for $10   in 2 days.


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## mrbreezeet1 (Dec 14, 2014)

well, road knows from my other post, Clausing was good to me, I talked to a Jo there, and she took my order, over the phone, and said it would be  flat rate small box, and she only charged me something like $5.70 each for the tires, and about $5.50 shipping. It was  2 day priority. 
Road said she was sort of nasty to him. ??
YMMV


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## blaser.306 (Dec 14, 2014)

mrbreezeet1 said:


> well, road knows from my other post, Clausing was good to me, I talked to a Jo there, and she took my order, over the phone, and said it would be  flat rate small box, and she only charged me something like $5.70 each for the tires, and about $5.50 shipping. It was  2 day priority.
> Road said she was sort of nasty to him. ??
> YMMV




The "nasty to him" part, that is the free trade we keep on hearing about up here in the north( sorry we won't sell to you)! Had a similar incident with a E-screw merchant!!! $8.00 tool bit and $42.00 to ship. Listed as a sfrb but they wanted $20.00 to seal the tape.


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## ChipsAhoy (Dec 14, 2014)

It's not just Canada, Many won't sell or ship to Alaska, claim that we are not part of the continental US. Dunno what continent we are supposed to be on.  When they do elect to sell, then they insist on using FedEx or UPS at triple the rate.  That is a complete rip off, Postal rates are not that much higher to Canada, and are the same to Alaska.


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## astjp2 (Dec 14, 2014)

ChipsAhoy said:


> It's not just Canada, Many won't sell or ship to Alaska, claim that we are not part of the continental US. Dunno what continent we are supposed to be on.  When they do elect to sell, then they insist on using FedEx or UPS at triple the rate.  That is a complete rip off, Postal rates are not that much higher to Canada, and are the same to Alaska.


That is why you have them ship to someone you know in the lower 48 and then have them forward it postal.  Tim


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## compsurge (Dec 15, 2014)

ChipsAhoy said:


> It's not just Canada, Many won't sell or ship to Alaska, claim that we are not part of the continental US. Dunno what continent we are supposed to be on.  When they do elect to sell, then they insist on using FedEx or UPS at triple the rate.  That is a complete rip off, Postal rates are not that much higher to Canada, and are the same to Alaska.



I think they're misinterpreting CONUS as Continental United States. It's actually _Contiguous _United States. :thinking:


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## Hankus (Dec 15, 2014)

I guess if your the only game in town you have to play along, but what irks me is being a hobbyist on a budget I'm always looking for a good deal, yet having to paying more for shipping than twice the cost of a product is a real roadblock.   Today I was wanting to buy a Screw Pitch Gage U.S. Standard 60 degree.   A US company in Schaumburg, IL sells this gage online for $6 but I stop when I see they also want $13 for shipping.


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## wa5cab (Dec 15, 2014)

Hankus,

Unfortunately, most people who only mail a letter or bill once in a while don't realize how much shipping costs have gone up in the past three or four years.  $13 tells me that they probably only ship by UPS or FedEx.  $13 is about the minimum for one pound UPS.  And one pound is their minimum rate.  Even with USPS, the minimum over the counter for one pound is over $6 now.  It's much worse foreign.  That doubled this past January.  And pretty much killed my foreign business.  When a $60 item costs $80 shipping, you don't get many buyers.  

One reason that most middle-sized and major US companies won't ship USPS is that their tracking system is seriously unreliable.

Robert D


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## ChipsAhoy (Dec 15, 2014)

We used to run a small business in Alaska and many of our vendors would not use the post office, when we questioned them there were two reason that we herd most often. First was that FedEx and UPS would come and pick up, where the post office just began offering that service.  The other is that FedEx DHL and UPS offer perks if you use them. 
Post office tracking has improved dramatically in the last few years.  
Many companies won't drop ship items.  Drop ship meaning have it delivered to someplace other than the credit billing address.  We ordered a machine from a vendor in Texas that offered free freight, but not to Alaska.  We ask them to ship it to our expiditer in Washington, NO DEAL!! That would have saved me over $600.00 and would have been no skin off their nose. Obviously we will never purchase from them again regardless of where we are.

sry...should not be ranting here...but I get so angry thinking about it!!  lol

Scotty


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## compsurge (Dec 15, 2014)

ChipsAhoy said:


> We used to run a small business in Alaska and many of our vendors would not use the post office, when we questioned them there were two reason that we herd most often. First was that FedEx and UPS would come and pick up, where the post office just began offering that service.  The other is that FedEx DHL and UPS offer perks if you use them.
> Post office tracking has improved dramatically in the last few years.
> Many companies won't drop ship items.  Drop ship meaning have it delivered to someplace other than the credit billing address.  We ordered a machine from a vendor in Texas that offered free freight, but not to Alaska.  We ask them to ship it to our expiditer in Washington, NO DEAL!! That would have saved me over $600.00 and would have been no skin off their nose. Obviously we will never purchase from them again regardless of where we are.
> 
> ...



It just goes to show that customer service in these days is more important than ever.


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## davidh (Dec 15, 2014)

a friend of mine teases me about my strong feelings about shipping and handling. . . . . i have been stuck a few times in the distant past, not paying attention as one should.   i think my blood actually boils when i think about it.  i will go to the "ends of the earth" to avoid the shipping and handling charges that some places add.  
the usps has done a great job for me, even better than expected in a few cases, and thru all my buying experiences i have finally remembered to say "flat rate shipping please, the smallest box you can fit it in".  
i would not be opposed to be a forwarding usa place for anyone needing assistance.  overseas sipping is quite simple once you get the hang of it.


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## mrbreezeet1 (Dec 15, 2014)

Hankus said:


> I guess if your the only game in town you have to play along, but what irks me is being a hobbyist on a budget I'm always looking for a good deal, yet having to paying more for shipping than twice the cost of a product is a real roadblock.   Today I was wanting to buy a Screw Pitch Gage U.S. Standard 60 degree.   A US company in Schaumburg, IL sells this gage online for $6 but I stop when I see they also want $13 for shipping.


thats insane, they could ship for a few bucks. 
Shipping has/is gotten crazy these days.


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## road (Dec 15, 2014)

Here is a copy of my reply to MMT  : 

*To: MMT Parts Department
Subject: Re: Spare Part Quotation Attached*



*Thank you .  *



*I definitely will NOT be buying these $5.56 parts from your company..*



*No matter what your company policies or reasoning's are that is a complete rip off ! *




Today I received this email  ..


Tome

CC'MMT Parts Department'


​
Today at 11:13 AM

Dear Barclay,

From your email response, I can see you feel the price quoted is too high. We are quoted these prices from our supplier in the USA. We are not in business to rip people off. If you can purchase the parts for $5.56, please let us know where, so we can purchase from them also.








I truly feel a response is needed but I fear the voices are telling me to type bad thoughts . . . 


:angry::angry::nuts::nuts:


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## Wheresmywrench? (Dec 15, 2014)

astjp2 said:


> That is why you have them ship to someone you know in the lower 48 and then have them forward it postal.  Tim



_I have a Emco MAXIMAT V10-P Mentor. The only place we can count on to get parts is on Ebay. of course he wont ship to Canada. Fortunately I belong to a Yamaha motor cycle club and one of the members lives in Arcade NY. So a couple of us get together every few months and head to Arcade NY and make a day of it. I love US Restaurants! I don't need to take out a loan to eat out and enjoy a really good meal made the way I like it. Even if it's a burger!!!!! _:rubbinghands:


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## VSAncona (Dec 16, 2014)

One of the things that I've always liked about ordering from Clausing is that they are willing to ship things via USPS to keep the shipping cost down. I've always found their shipping to be extremely reasonable.

I've never really understood why some people seem to think that there should be a direct correlation between the cost of an item and the cost to ship it. If I order a washer for five cents, I certainly don't expect the shipping to be less than the cost of the item.


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## mrbreezeet1 (Dec 16, 2014)

VSAncona said:


> One of the things that I've always liked about ordering from Clausing is that they are willing to ship things via USPS to keep the shipping cost down. I've always found their shipping to be extremely reasonable.
> 
> I've never really understood why some people seem to think that there should be a direct correlation between the cost of an item and the cost to ship it. If I order a washer for five cents, I certainly don't expect the shipping to be less than the cost of the item.



yeah, she didn't even charge handling.

Yeah, but at the same time, some places charge shipping based on the price, and it can be a little costly light weight item, for $300.00, but shipping is like, $8.00 0 to $100.00
$12.00 100- $200.00 and say, $18.00,for a  $200-$300.00 item .
I think that is BS too, when they could ship it for a few bucks.
Or like your 5 cent washer, no, I don't want it shipped for 2 cents, but not $100.00 either.
When it could be shipped for a few bucks, and they make money on the shipping too.


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## Downwindtracker2 (Dec 16, 2014)

On the Canadian side border, UPS charges outrageous  brokerage fees. It's much better at the post office.  I also have a package pick-up place across the line,now. I hate it when they will only ship to billing address. Grizzly is bad.


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