Free Shipping?

A common myth on the internet is free shipping. The bottomline is that nothing is free in life!

With respect to espresso machines, free shipping occurs on most home model and office model espresso machines because the shipping cost can be built into the selling price of the machine. However, it is common industry practice that as soon as you return the machine, the shipping cost is deducted from the credit. Shipping costs usually are 5-10% of the cost of the machine at a vendor's discounted shipping rate. If you ship an espresso machine back to the vendor using a UPS store, FedEx store, or USPS, you probably will pay a higher rate. Therefore, we find it always best to go to a UPS Depot to get the lowest rates.

With respect to small items, there are two methodologies for shipping items. First, our methodology is to not build shipping costs into every small item we market. For example, we sell many spare parts and accessories. Specifically, we sell CleanCaf at $7.99 (price at the time of this writing) for two boxes. The shipping cost at the time of this writing is as follows:

New Jersey - $7.57
California - $8.61

If we now increase the quatity to 2 units or 4 boxes, the shipping cost incrementally increases

New Jersey - $7.67
California - $9.56

If we now increase the quatity to 2 units or 4 boxes, the shipping cost is again incrementally increases

New Jersey - $7.71
California - $10.34

As you can see, there is an incremental increased cost in shipping a greater number of units - multiple of the same or even adding different items.

Second, there are places ont he internet that will offer free shipping, but it is really not free shipping. The shipping cost is actually built into the price of the one unit that offers free shipping. For example, the same Cleancaf may be offered for $11.00 to $14.00 for one box including shipping in the 48 states. So, if only one box is ordered, you could pay $7.99 plus shipping for 2 boxes at 1st-line, or get one box between $11 and $14 with shipping included. This can be a close call, but our methodology we believe makes us a winner. The problem when purchasing from our competitor is when you order 2 or more items. The order for two boxes can cost between $22 and $28. In other words, the shipping cost built into the price of the product actually costs you twice as it is built into each unit of the item whereas in the first example, your shipping cost increase is incremental.

Finally, some competitors offer free shipping when a minimum dollar amount is spent. For example, if a customer spends $49, all the items receive free shipping. In this case, the shipping cost is averaged into the price of the product unlike the entire shipping cost in the previous example. this methodology has two issues:

a) It may entice you to buy more than what you really need, and/or
b) When you start to exceed the minimum dllar amount to achieve free shipping, the average shipping cost built in the product's price in most cases will still exceed the incremental cost we showed using our first methodology.

The second and third example also unfairly overcharges customers who select upgraded shipping service (i.e. next day or second day delivery) because the ground shipping cost is built intot he product's price. For espresso machines with free shipping, in most cases, these are usually individually boxed which forces and independent shipping cost for each box.

At 1st-line, our philosophy is to try to offer the lowest prices with the best service possible while not profiting from built in shipping costs in the pricing of the item. We do have some small items with free shipping, and of these items, most customers only buy one unit. We thank you for reading and understanding our chosen shipping methodology, and we certainly appreciate the opportunity you afford us.