Never quite understood this "Handling" charge myself.
Don't the people that pack and ship the orders work for the company and aren't their salaries and wages part of it's cost base already?
If so, their selling price should be based on their total costs (fixed and variable) plus a margin for profit and these "Handling" charges should already have be included.
Seems like there's some double-dipping going on here......don'tcha think?
No, I don't think it is double-dipping. I've seen where folks have compared shopping carts of Midway, Grafs, Natchez, and Midsouth for the same items. I have also done this myself when comparison shopping. Most of the time, the total cost including shipping is fairly even ... within a few dollars typically. Now there might be a few items where one or the other is significantly cheaper, or having a sale while Midway is not. But generally, they are all about the same. So they can either price in the handling cost on the product, or make it a fee like they do at Midway, or some combination of the two.
It still pays to shop if you have the time and inclination. I use them all and like them all. I don't think it is deceptive, just different than what some folks expect or are used to. For certain, it makes sense to make larger orders from Midway, else that handling charge inflates your per unit cost. I've never had trouble making large orders when purchasing. But if you only need one item and can't find it around town, then it bites. Perhaps the other online vendors are better for that.
Here is a link to a comparison done on the shootersforum. It is the first post of the thread:
Comparison of Online Vendors - shootersforum. Now this is only one comparison. On a different day with a different basket of goods, the order of least to greatest cost vendor might change. But it illustrates the point that they weren't all that far apart.
As my father once told me,
"What they don't make on the peanuts, they make up for on the popcorn."
