[Vision2020] Some Retailers Inflate Costs to Ship to APO Addresses

[Donovan Arnold]

Those Retail Bastards! Always trying to make a profit for goods and services they provide! Boo! 
 
Donovan Arnold

--- On Wed, 12/16/09, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:


From: Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com>
Subject: [Vision2020] Some Retailers Inflate Costs to Ship to APO Addresses
To: "Moscow Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Date: Wednesday, December 16, 2009, 6:58 PM


Courtesy of "Stars and Stripes" (an armed forces newspaper) at:

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=66700

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Some retailers inflate costs to ship to APO addresses
By Mark Patton, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, December 16, 2009

WIESBADEN, Germany — Overseas military customers ordering gifts online
from certain retailers might get an unpleasant surprise when shipping and
handling fees are tacked on at the end of the purchase.

Those same customers might be most surprised to find that retail giant
Walmart had the biggest markup.

On a $120 purchase, Walmart.com charged $10.35 to ship to an APO address,
compared with $2.10 to a stateside address. For most items, Amazon.com
charged the same to ship to an APO address as a stateside address. And
Target offered shipping on a $120 purchase to an APO address for less than
to a stateside address.

Wal-Mart Inc. officials did not return calls requesting an interview.
However, in an e-mailed response, spokesman Ravi Jariwala said: “In your
shopping cart during the checkout process, we show an estimated shipping
cost, based on our lowest-price shipping method and assuming all items in
your cart are going to a single address within the contiguous United
States. If you select a different shipping method, a military APO/FPO
address or an address outside the contiguous United States, your actual
shipping cost may be higher. We continue to work with carriers to
negotiate favorable shipping rates.”

But Earl Small, the postmaster at Wiesbaden Army Airfield, said that the
shipping and handling charges have nothing to do with the military postal
system or the U.S. Postal Service.

“A company can charge whatever they want,” said Small, who explained that
items up to 108 inches are normally shipped at normal cost, but larger
items often fall under a more expensive “balloon charge.”

According to Small, when companies ship to APO addresses in Europe, the
order is shipped to New York, after which the Department of Defense picks
up the tab to get the package to an APO address.

On Walmart.com, the company says shipping costs will be higher to APO
addresses due to higher transportation costs.

“There is no higher transportation costs,” Small said. “Companies are
abusing the system and making a killing.”

---------------------------------------------------

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown


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