Great-Vacs 8.99 Shipping on Entire Order !

Entire Order Ships for only 8.99!How can we do this?At GreatVacs we are always talking and thinking about how we can save our customers money without sacrificing quality (what we specialize in). We dont strive to be the cheapest BUT to deliver the most VALUE to our customers.So with the price of gas affecting all of us the topic of shipping has gee up several times this year at Great Vacs. It has affected all of us. In fact several members of team Great Vacs have started driving motorcycles to work to save on gas. If affects all of us. We have seen costs increase like all other businesss. The cost of bubble and boxes and increased. The cost of parts have increased (most parts have plastic in them). The cost of shipping has seriously increased, we are now up to almost a 10% fuel surcharge on ground shipments.So how could we save our customers money? How can we avoid raising our prices like everyone else has had to? We have met and discussed this topic several times this year. So we started doing some research and this is what we found.Problem 1 - Take a pack of vacuum cleaner bags. We found that most sellers charged about 7 dollars shipping on average for a 9 pack of bags. Usually the cost of the bags were around 12 dollars. So 12 dollar bags and 7 dollars Shippinghow is that good for the customer? Its not the sellers fault either though..on average it would cost about 6 dollars to ship those items. So what would be a good solution for both seller and buyer?Problem 2 We notice on our vacuums that we sell that the average cost of supplies now is close to 6 dollars to box up the vacuum. Now about 95% of other sellers on okay use used boxes (really bad idea) or a normal single wall 34 ect (ect is box strength) that is usually bought from a gepany called Uline. Having shipped over 12,000 vacuum cleaners we have learned a thing or two about shipping. Using a normal single wall box or used box like those you will get about 10% breakage. So we actually make our own custom boxes. It costs about double but our breakage is less than 1% (very very good). Most of them are actually double wall boxes (48 ECT) or a really strong single wall box (44 ECT). The other thing we do that is different is we actually order a larger box than most sellers use. Why would we do that? So we have extra room for extra packing. Almost all parts are wrapped several times in bubble wrap so the box needs to be bigger. So our boxing costs are about double from other sellers BUT our quality is not sacrificed. We get a lot of family referral business where everything needs to be perfect.So thats the good news for you ..but the bad news is..shipping gepanies now charge instead of actual weight, by dimensional weight. For example say the package weighs 24 lbs but the box size is big enough that we get charged for a 38 lb package (this is actually our average that we see). Last year when the shipping gepanies did that it really raised our cost of shipping. Now what we have found is usually there is 2 to 3 inches at the top of the box just for packing paper.Problem 3 When buying supplies for there vacuum ( like bags or belts) we notice the average person will order supplies for there vacuum every 3 to 6 months. So say you need a pack of bags every 6 months. So every 6 months you order a pack of bags, you spend your 7 dollars in shipping and the UPS truck has to drive out to deliver your pack of bags. Not a very efficient use of resources (your time, our time, delivery guys time, delivery truck usage and of course more fuel). But this is what we saw on average. So we did a little test on our website. If customers had an incentive to stock up with enough supplies to last a year or two, would they? So on our supplies sales on our website we started a promotion for our test. $50 dollar orders got free shipping on supplies. The results were very pleasing. Over 70% of supplies orders took advantage of it. So we knew we needed a shipping solution that was good for the customer and by stocking up when they ordered it would save them a lot of money. Summary of Problems1. 1 pack of bags (say a 12 dollar average) costs a average customer 7 dollars in shipping. Not good for the customer.2. For quality packing like we do, dimensional shipping, and fuel surcharges its expensive for sellers to ship items.3. When customers order supplies for there vacuum one at a time it is more expensive than stocking up.SOLUTION = DROP OUR SHIPPING PRICESWhat? Are we crazy? While other sellers are raising there prices to cover high costs of shipping, why would we even consider such a thing?When this idea was first brought up we thought it was crazy too. Here is what our thinking is.We think we have the greatest customers. Anytime we need a review for a vacuum for a potential customer or ask for a survey on changes we are considering.we just drop emails to our customers and they always are willing to help where they can. So understanding that we know the only way this will work is with your help.We wanted to create a solution that was great for our customers and solve the above problems.We did our research and found that we could 1. Ship a 2 lb priority mail packaged (what a normal pack of bags ships in when you buy 1) and a 8 lb ground package for only pennies difference (because we ship so much we get discounts other sellers dont). 2. We also found that say a vacuum on average weighs 24 lbs but the box size we get charged a dimensional weight of 32 lbsthat we could add 8 lbs of supplies into the box for FREE. You the customer are paying for that free space so you might as well fill it up with supplies and pocket the extra shipping money.SOLUTION -We will create shipping at 8.99 only on the entire order (our average shipping rate on vacuums we charged before this was 35 dollars) if you will stock up when you buy your items. We are hoping that if our customers buy extra items in bulk we can take the profits from those extra items and subsidize the shipping costs that you pay. In other words if we drop our shipping to 8.99 and no one stocks up and just buys 1 item only then in a few months we will need to raise shipping back to 35 dollars. However from what we have seen our customers want value but at the same time saving money. So we think this is a perfect solution to you the buyer and for us the seller.So could you help us out and when you need to place your order, do it in bulk? If you buy a vacuum stock up with a few years in supplies. If you need supplies for your vacuum you already own could you stock up with a year or two of supplies? Its good for everyone involved! We are excited about this new program, saving you money and still providing Great Vacs and Great Service as always.Thank You,Dustin ChaffinGreat Vacs - Manager