Perusing items for purchase in Purism’s store, I noticed that even the tiniest items, such as SD Memory Card, Librem Key, Librem 5 battery, etc., incur a “shipping fee” of $24.82, even for delivery within California, where Purism, and supposedly the store, is located.
What’s up with this “shipping fee?” It seems a bit usurious.
Laptop screws: $4.90, plus $24.82 shipping fee?!
EDIT: Actually, now I can’t tell if that fee is accurate or if my browser simply isn’t updating the shipping when I change items. Maybe I’m blocking a script from running or something.
Typically a fee like that is to cover the cost of the person in the warehouse pulling and packing the item for shipping. The time it takes to find an item and pack it isn’t likely to meaningfully change based on the size of the item (up to a point).
I noticed that 4 years ago when I needed some small parts. I think their overhead is too high to handle small orders efficiently and cheaply. I don’t think there is much they can do about it until their business volume increases considerably. I do hope they learn to start thinking about logistics and strategy before then.
I experienced something similar a year or so ago. I was buying the new modem that had come out, and wanted to get other items. So, I was coordinating with support. When I asked about the high cost of the shipping the person I was working with said they would check with their team to see what the actual cost of the shipping would be. It went from $40+ dollars down to $4 or $5 dollars.
It seems like there is some sort of glitch or error in their ordering system that is doing the calculations wrong?
I would just contact support when you are ready to order and ask if what the system is showing is the actual shipping costs. They might be able to help you.
Yes, I also noticed this issue several years ago and would opt to shop in bulk to keep shipping costs reasonable.
This is a known issue, but thank you for bringing it to our attention. Purism is investigating options for improved integration between the shop and the shipping processor to automatically quote the most economical carrier and pass the savings to the customer, and certain items such as SIM cards may qualify for free shipping at that time.
