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Alaska and Hawaii shipping discrimination

7K views 26 replies 15 participants last post by  Pinoikoi 
#1 ·
I was ordering these battery heated glove liners: http://www.brookstone.com/store/prod...=HEATED_GLOVES

My finger circulation sucks and I am not wanting to get frost bite this year handling on the Quest. BUT, they don't ship to Alaska or Hawaii. Oh, they ship to Canada, but not one of the UNTIED STATES. We are use to paying extra for shipping. That's not an issue. But I hate it when companies WONT ship to us at all. How freaking ridiculous. The United States Post Office delivers here. Other shipping companies do as well. A friend of mine said to have them sent to someone in the lower 48 and they can send them to me. No way. I refuse to do business with such a company. We even have one of their stores here down in Anchorage. Get a clue Brookstone.
 
#4 ·
ditto.

The worst is when you do call and they say they don't ship "out of the country" and I want to SCREAM "we are a STATE you *&^&*!"
 
#7 ·
I have the same complaint, it just makes me so mad...you see it on ebay all the time as well.....or they charge 30 $ extra for shipping a small, lightweight thing to Alaska, when you know it's exactly the same price, whether it's shipped to TX or AK
:

I do a lot of online shopping, and I run into that problem all the time
 
#10 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by akwifeandmomma View Post
I'm always pleasantly surprised when a company actually charges normal rates to ship here, and when their "free shipping if...." offers work for us.

Amazon rocks for that, as does Oompa (toys), Gymboree, Old Navy, Eddie Bauer...
Barnes and Noble, Lands End, Children's Place, and LL Bean all have reasonable shipping, too. I often have things shipped to my mom and then she sends them up, but that is partly because I hate shopping around for things, and partly because she sends stuff up here on a fairly regular basis anyway, so it's not a big deal to throw something else in.
 
#11 ·
Me too. I had one company who would ship here, but only UPS, which costs an arm and a leg. Usually more than the cost of the item itself, up to 400%! And UPS packages always arrive beat all to h3ll.

They suggested I pay to ship it UPS to someone else, then have them ship it US Mail to me. I told them I wasn't about to pay double shipping when they could just provide customer service and offer 2 different shipping options like any other internet retailer.
They obviously don't need my business very badly.

I just bought something on ebay and the seller, after I paid, sent me a note asking for more money because I'm in Hawaii. I've written both him and ebay to complain because it's the seller's responsibility to state in the listing if there is an extra charge for shipping to Hawaii beforehand, not after I've already paid the advertised shipping amount. It feels like a bait and switch, and the seller didn't offer any insurance, but states he isn't responsible for packages that don't arrive, so I think if I don't pay the upcharge I'm never going to see my package.
:

The whole thing just feels off. I'm hoping they'll mediate an acceptable solution to this one.
:

I know bulk rate mail and flat rate priority mail boxes don't cost any more to mail here than anywhere else, so many things can be shipped here for the same price as anywhere else. It's large, heavy things that are the exception.


A lot of people hate Amazon, but they are one of the few places where we can get shipping discounts. Over $25 is free shipping. I use them a lot.

I got dsd a bunch of shoes on sale, several pairs that were regular price $40 to $65 each for $13 to $19 a pair and a tee shirt ds wanted, all shipped free.Knocked out a bunch of Christmas shopping quickly. I always check my books by totaling up the used price with the standard 3.99 per book shipping against the new price with free shipping to see which is cheaper. When the used book is only a couple of bucks cheaper than the new book, you're better off ordering new and getting your shipping free. But 2 or 3 pairs of shoes pretty much guarantees free shipping.
 
#12 ·
Adding to the list of "good" stores:

Office Max (free shipping for orders over 50)
Joann's (if you have a coupon code or belong to their free shipping club)
shutterfly (with coupon code for special offer)

And:
Since you all seem to be buying online as much as I do:
Are you also using those websites to click thru for cashback?
(e.g. if you want to order from barnes&noble.com, you go on that cashback site first, and click thru to B&N from there, and for that you'll receive a certain percentage of your order as cash back? Even for ebay buys
)

I've been doing that for years and have saved lots and lots of $ through that


Unfortunately, not all retailers work with those sites (e.g. Gymboree and amazon don't), but lots of others do. Also good for magazine subscriptions, etc.

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be allowed to post specifics here, but if you want more info, you can send me a PM
 
#13 ·
I've just stopped doing business in general with companies that won't ship to us.... or rape us in charges. I always complain though.... just to have my voice heard... and that maybe they'll pull their heads out of their butts.

I've got one work around though, as many companies have free shipping in the states, but don't ship to us period... I use our freight forwarder (we use them for our business because we were getting taken to the cleaners on all of our freight that comes from Montreal.. which they were shipping UPS) and so once I get it free to Washington, it only costs me 30 dollars per hundred pounds to get it to Wasilla.
 
#15 ·
Makes me nuts too. I wanted a down-alternative comforter from Target.com (SIL got us a g/c for Xmas, even though we don't have a Target in the state,yet) and they flat out wouldn't ship it.

TRU is horrible about the cost of shipping, as is Victoria's Secret and Bath and Body works (adding $6 "surcharge" to ship my light panties, whatever!!!3 pairs of panties don't cost $14 to ship!)
 
#16 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by MangoMommy View Post
Makes me nuts too. I wanted a down-alternative comforter from Target.com (SIL got us a g/c for Xmas, even though we don't have a Target in the state,yet) and they flat out wouldn't ship it.

TRU is horrible about the cost of shipping, as is Victoria's Secret and Bath and Body works (adding $6 "surcharge" to ship my light panties, whatever!!!3 pairs of panties don't cost $14 to ship!)
That REALLY surprises me, because Target has been one of the places that I was able to take advantage of the free shipping option... on my Britax car seat no less (a HUGE box)
 
#17 ·
I've found Target will ship most things but I coudln't get why not the comforter. It wasn't that heavy, LOL.

Sometimes I'm surprised. I want an iron bed for DD and I called LLBean and they told me they WILL ship it to HI and the extra charges aren't bad.
 
#18 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by MangoMommy View Post
I've found Target will ship most things but I coudln't get why not the comforter. It wasn't that heavy, LOL.

Sometimes I'm surprised. I want an iron bed for DD and I called LLBean and they told me they WILL ship it to HI and the extra charges aren't bad.
That is what threw me for a loop... her car seat was over 40 pounds! with free shipping. Go figure.
 
#19 ·
Karen, how did you manage to get a car seat shipped up here? When I was looking for a new one for Aiden I couldn't find anywhere that would ship to Alaska. Wal-Mart wouldn't even let me have it shipped to the store so I could pick it up. I ended up getting one in Michigan when we were there this summer and bringing it back on the plane.
 
#20 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by tallanvor View Post
Karen, how did you manage to get a car seat shipped up here? When I was looking for a new one for Aiden I couldn't find anywhere that would ship to Alaska. Wal-Mart wouldn't even let me have it shipped to the store so I could pick it up. I ended up getting one in Michigan when we were there this summer and bringing it back on the plane.
I've actually had two of them shipped up, because nobody up here carries the Britax Regent that I wanted, and we needed one for each vehicle.

The first one I got through Target... with free shipping. The second one I got about 8 months later through Amazon, again with free shipping.

I didn't believe that they were actually going to do it, but tried it and both of them shipped it free. I was like
:
:
:

Looks like Target is doing it again http://www.target.com/gp/browse.html...emseq=53781687
 
#24 ·
My mom told me last night that she bought into some discount flying deal. It cost $900 but promised the lowest cost flights around..

yeah, but the deal doesn't extend to Alaska. So she gets the deal if she flies herself to Seattle or Portland first, but not until that point...

they didn't tell her this when she bought it.
They called her in Alaska- KNEW what her area code was..

Won't give her her money back.
 
#25 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by alaskanteach View Post
My mom told me last night that she bought into some discount flying deal. It cost $900 but promised the lowest cost flights around..

yeah, but the deal doesn't extend to Alaska. So she gets the deal if she flies herself to Seattle or Portland first, but not until that point...

they didn't tell her this when she bought it.
They called her in Alaska- KNEW what her area code was..

Won't give her her money back.

OMG!
 
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