I sent a email to ACS customer service expressing interest in them setting up a program like Amazon Prime (free shipping). Here is their response:

We have been considering this as an option but have not nailed down the details yet. I will send you an email if and when this goes live. For now, I would just try to get your orders over the $500 threshold to qualify under our FREE shipping policy.

When my dad and I were working on the Luscombe it seemed like we were always missing a bolt or a washer; something small that cost more to ship than to buy. Often we would move to something else till we could combine items into one order but then we'd forget that washer or whatever. Wouldn't it be nice to not worry about the shipping cost because you are a 'Prime' member so you order that washer and in 2 days it arrives. I wouldn't want to be a member all the time but when you have a project going on I think it would be great.

If anyone thinks this is a good idea send ACS a comment: http://www.aircraftspruce.com/contactus.php

Good idea but I would think there'd need to be some sort of minimum for free S&H. You order a buck's worth of hardware, and even if they put it in a 10 cent envelope with a 49 cent stamp & drop it in the outgoing mailbox, they've still spent more money than the price of the merchandize in labor costs to pull the part & address the envelope.

Here's a tip for shipping from Spruce that a friend turned me on to: at checkout time when ordering online, click the shipping options button & compare prices. I just bought a couple small things totaling about 80 bucks and was able to get it shipped via USPS priority mail for $6.59. All the other options were way more, including the default UPS ground. I thought it'd come in one of those small flat rate boxes but it came in a padded envelope instead. I only recently checked out this shipping options thing but will keep it in mind for future orders.

I do think that Spruce's S&H prices are sometimes way out of line. Even when the total $ is pretty high, often the merchandise is not very bulky and it could all fit into one of the USPS flat rate boxes. There's 2 sizes of the $12 or so medium price boxes and you can fit a lot of small stuff into them. Small boxes are around $6, and large around $18 as I recall.

hotrod180 wrote:I do think that Spruce's S&H prices are sometimes way out of line. Even when the total $ is pretty high, often the merchandise is not very bulky and it could all fit into one of the USPS flat rate boxes. There's 2 sizes of the $12 or so medium price boxes and you can fit a lot of small stuff into them. Small boxes are around $6, and large around $18 as I recall.

I recently ordered a bunch of small hardware from ACS, and was presented with shipping quotes that were extraordinary (because it is going to Alaska). I just put a note in the comments form that said something along the lines of "I am quite sure that these items will fit in a USPS flat rate box. Please utilize that option, or contact me if unable." A day later I received the shipping confirmation and invoice with a flat rate postage charge for shipping.

As to the shipping a dollar worth of parts for free, that is why you pay to be a member. Your membership fee (or rather the collective membership fees) make it profitable, in theory. I think that is a great idea, but I am sure they would not go so far as to include Alaska in the deal like Amazon does.

For those of us not in the middle of some project, whether it would be worth it with Spruce is hard to guess. My Amazon Prime membership at $75/year just barely pays for the shipping I've saved, but it's worth it when I'm looking at a book or something small that only costs a few bucks but would cost that much to ship. There are also some additional benefits to Amazon's Prime, such as free monthly Kindle books and videos, but I haven't taken advantage of that, so I can't comment on whether it's really worth anything.

Over the years, I've bought enough stuff from Spruce and paid some high shipping costs that I'll send them a supportive email.

Cary


Edit: Done. Here's the text: I understand that you're considering the possibility of a program similar to Amazon's Prime, where for a yearly fee, there would be no shipping costs, even for smallish parts and supplies. I think that's a great idea--it would very likely increase my purchases from Aircraft Spruce. Let me know, please, if you decide to do that.

Cary