Vans Aircraft 'Handling Charge'..... What??? 😩

FYI- This may apply to just a few of us but today I ordered $124 worth of small parts for my upcoming annual on my RV-4 from Vans Aircraft via phone order. Upon checkout the female sales associate told me that since I used my own FedEx shipping account for shipping charges Vans would charge an additional $10. I asked 'why' and she said she didn't know but shipping 'told her to say that' and thought it might be because Vans gets a shipping discount and since I wasn't using it I was being charged a 'handling' charge. OK. I cancelled the order and called Aircraft Spruce and got the same items for $2 cheaper and without the 'handling' charge added. Love my -4, glad for Van's, but that's just weird. YMMV

Jetj01 said:

OK. I cancelled the order and called Aircraft Spruce and got the same items for $2 cheaper and without the 'handling' charge added. Love my -4, glad for Van's, but that's just weird. YMMV

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So you saved $2.00?

Van's is a for profit business, so needs to make a profit to stay in business.
There is no crime in that.

If Van's were to go out of business, I wonder if Aircraft Spruce will have any airframe specific RV-4 replacement part available when you call them?

Doesn't Vans go to significant effort to select the most cost effective sources for its parts? Why is it disappointing that owners do the same?

rvbuilder2002 said:

So you saved $2.00?

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Doesn't sound like what he said. $2.00 before the $10 handling fee makes $12, or approximately 10%. Not insignificant at all.

krw5927 said:

Doesn't Vans go to significant effort to select the most cost effective sources for its parts? Why is it disappointing that owners do the same?

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It's not.

What's disappointing isn't that someone chooses the cheaper option, but rather goes online and complains about the "losing vendor". It kinda felt like bashing to me.

The OP wasn't bashing the losing vendor. He was complaining about a handling charge which seemed to be added on to make up for the profit lost by him selecting to pay for shipping on his own account.

erich

erich weaver said:

The OP wasn't bashing the losing vendor. He was complaining about a handling charge which seemed to be added on to make up for the profit lost by him selecting to pay for shipping on his own account.

erich

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Fair enough. Re-reading it, I can see it both ways.

I own a business and we allow our customers to use their shipping accounts, but we have cases where the customer "forgets" that they authorized the charge, or "unintentionally" gives us the wrong account, or "forgets" to pay their shipping bill. What happens then is that FedEx and UPS then bill us for all of that and then it becomes our problem to make phone calls, and deal with all the back end accounting. I would bet that Vans isn't "making money" off these charges...breaking even is more like it. Having said that, we don't charge our customers for using a third party number, but I know many businesses do, and there's a legitimate reason for doing it.

RV Wannabe said:

Doesn't sound like what he said. $2.00 before the $10 handling fee makes $12, or approximately 10%. Not insignificant at all.

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Ok, Ill give the benefit of the doubt that the $2 difference was before adding the handling fee or Aircraft Spruce shipping charges, but that still doesn't make it a $12 difference. He wasn't likely getting the shipping for free by using his personal shipper # so the difference is likely much smaller.

ChiefPilot said:

It's not.

What's disappointing isn't that someone chooses the cheaper option, but rather goes online and complains about the "losing vendor".

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My main point, but I realize now I didn't convey it very well.

Mark Dickens said:

I own a business and we allow our customers to use their shipping accounts, but we have cases where the customer "forgets" that they authorized the charge, or "unintentionally" gives us the wrong account, or "forgets" to pay their shipping bill. What happens then is that FedEx and UPS then bill us for all of that and then it becomes our problem to make phone calls, and deal with all the back end accounting. I would bet that Vans isn't "making money" off these charges...breaking even is more like it. Having said that, we don't charge our customers for using a third party number, but I know many businesses do, and there's a legitimate reason for doing it.

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This makes perfect sense to me. Choosing any shipping vendor other than the one you know adds time/confusion and therefore cost. If you believe that Van's should be a lean operation that passes the savings on to customers, then the handling charge is the Vulcan way: "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one".

We ran a small family business for over 20 years and became aware real quick that the folks in the big brown truck required certain expenses to be paid even if we weren't shipping that week. It was also a big headache to try to talk to a real person when any of their employees made a mistake and mischarged us.

It was amazing how many little charges mounted up over a month's time. So if Van's needs to charge me an extra 10-12 dollars handling fee, I can understand.

i suppose it could be about transparency. van's says shipping is $20.
maybe some would find it more acceptable for them to say.$18 shipping, $2 handling.
if i am understanding all of this.

Shipping

I'm with Jetj01 on shipping building an exp airplane shipping charges is a huge part of the cost.I have been in business and a UPS shipper to my customers for 25 yrs and have always charged for shipping what it cost me . I had one large company that sells aircraft parts owner call me and say they only charge what UPS charges and I was setting in my office looking at the rate chart and it was twice what it would cost for me to send him the same thing.Large companys like the ones we are talking about get deep volume discounts on shipping compared to me. I told him to charge for parts the price he needed to make a profit but don't screw me on shipping.
Bob

Wow

(I should have known better than to post here but....).

Gents, ummmm, my original post said FYI, as in, for your information. Secondly, it only applies if you have your own shipping account with a shipper (and yes, Vans uses FedEx). Thirdly, I built this RV-4, so yes, I have sent $10s of thousands to Vans, well aware they are a for profit business, and have paid LOTS of shipping in the process, as many of us have. The simple point of this post was I, and maybe a couple other guys, was not aware that if I use my shipping account Vans would charge an additional $10. Furthermore, when I asked WHY, the sales rep didn't know herself and could only surmise. While I may not be poor, $10 more of a $124 purchase wasn't acceptable to me, the consumer, so I found another vendor, Aircraft Spruce, that was $2 cheaper and didn't charge me the $10 handling charge. So a net savings of $12. And yes, I still have to pay my cost for shipping. That's 20 minutes of gas money

As I stated in my original post, love my -4, thankful for Vans.... Just an FYI on saving a few bucks.

Now, everyone go back to VAF forum surfing and try to simmer down. Holy heck