Consider yourself insured

I've decided to include insurance with all priority mail and international orders, from now on! I had to raise shipping prices by $1 to cover this benefit, but it makes all orders more secure for everyone.

I realized when I was doing this that our shipping prices might seem kinda high to some people (they seem high to me!), and I thought maybe I should explain where all your money goes.

I get all my priority mail boxes for free from the USPS. They have a variety of sizes, which are usually convenient. The USPS has some pretty outrageous prices when it comes to shipping heavy things like pint glasses, so I usually have to send them in Flat Rate boxes to get the best deals. They even charge extra based on the shipping location, so someone in MA could end of paying twice as much as someone in CA to get the same item with normal priority service. I try to average out the actual costs, so everyone pays something fair.

I've considered offering a cheaper shipping option through another carrier, but UPS and Fedex don't deal with small packages. It would actually be $80-100 to ship a pair of pint glasses! Parcel Post is the cheaper USPS option, but I'd have to buy my own boxes, so the end price would be the same as the flate rate prices for most things. I'm going to look at small boxes this week, to see if I can find something to ship shot glasses in, so they don't have to go priority mail. That could save you a few bucks! Too bad pint glasses are a little too big and heavy for that.

It's been a few months since we've had this many boxes to ship out (you may remember this photo from back in December), but it's amazing how much time it takes to pack and ship things every day, even with just one or two orders. Recycled newspaper doesn't crumple itself! We're happy to have found a source for recycled packaging now, so all orders in the future (when we run out of the bubble wrap we've already purchased) will be packed completely in recycled materials. Yay for the environment!