Cult of Tarot Forum

I just tried to buy a deck from Schiffer Publishing, their Red feather division.
The deck cost $31.

When I went to the "Calculate shipping costs" I got this:




Seriously, what is the point for a deck creator going to a professional publisher if they can't do better than this for overseas buyers?
As an indie, I have worked out a drop-ship deal from China where my (and most) decks are produced. Shipping costs are rising from there also but I can still ship decks almost everywhere in the world for under $20. Sure, it takes about 2 weeks for delivery but we aren't talking about medication or anything urgent. I've found people are quite used to this now for delivery time, at least if you tell them up front.

You would think a publisher as big as Schiffer could work out something better than this because I can't see anyone paying that much for shipping a tarot deck. Why are they only using FedEx?

I'm just complaining, but I'm really confused by this.

Even USPS from the US to the UK is $57. It really is ridiculous. FedEx or UPS from the US to the UK is exorbitant. Last time I tried to mail UPS the same package was almost $100! I don't get it.

Even before COVID, I noticed shipping prices starting to increase dramatically.

A few months prior to the first news reports of COVID, I ordered a tarot that was only available from Amazon-France at the time. The deck I received was severely damaged from the manufacturing process. Because it was an international transaction, Amazon said that I would have to pay for the cost of shipping to return it first, and then they would reimburse me. The absolute lowest shipping price I could find at that time from the US to Europe was $39.00 (through USPS). The problem was that Amazon was only willing to reimburse $10.00, which is what it cost them to ship from France to the US.

Around that same time, I attempted to order Nina Hagen's autobiography from an eBay seller in Germany. After the auction was over, the seller contacted me and stated that his postal service wanted far more to ship the book than he had allowed for. He wanted to know if I wanted to pay an additional $15.00 in shipping or if he should cancel the transaction. I also noticed many other international eBay sellers started increasing their shipping costs around this same time (increases of anywhere from $10.00 to $20.00 per item in some cases).

Of course, since COVID, things have gotten far worse. There is a huge shortage of truck drivers here in the US, so delivery companies are having to pay higher wages and benefits to attract or keep drivers. Naturally, this cost gets past on to the customers. I am not sure if this is the only reason that the cost to ship from the US to Europe is far higher than the cost to ship the same item in the other direction. I have not yet heard any reports of driver shortages in Europe, although I have heard of a reduction in the number of cargo flights in and out of certain countries due to COVID.

What really confuses me is when I see eBay sellers from China selling items with a "Buy It Now" price of less than $5.00, but the ad says, “Free Shipping.” How can the sellers make any profit under those circumstances?

fire cat pickles wrote: ↑20 Jan 2022, 16:12 Last time I tried to mail UPS the same package was almost $100! I don't get it.

Thelder wrote: ↑21 Jan 2022, 06:12 Even before COVID, I noticed shipping prices starting to increase dramatically.

This was a few years ago, so pre-COVID.

Thelder wrote: ↑21 Jan 2022, 06:12There is a huge shortage of truck drivers here in the US, so delivery companies are having to pay higher wages and benefits to attract or keep drivers. Naturally, this cost gets past on to the customers.

These are the current conditions. Read the entire post! @fire cat pickles

Thelder wrote: ↑21 Jan 2022, 22:53

Thelder wrote: ↑21 Jan 2022, 06:12There is a huge shortage of truck drivers here in the US, so delivery companies are having to pay higher wages and benefits to attract or keep drivers. Naturally, this cost gets past on to the customers.

These are the current conditions. Read the entire post! @fire cat pickles

I did read the entire post, I just wasn't responding but to a small portion of it, hence quoting only the way I did

What I meant was this problem started pre-COVID, only it has gotten worse, and I think I agreed with you. In my area pricing has always been pretty high. I live in an extremely rural area.

If I have the chance I will swing by UPS and see how much more the shipping is to the UK now compared to three years ago.

I used to ship my decks to the US from where I live in Germany. For the longest time it cost €6.20 (about $7 usd). That price was with tracking.
On Jan 1st 2019 the price jumped to over €16 (about $18 usd). ANd without tracking, that's about €4 extra.

Imagine my surprise when I went in the first week of 2019 with my €6.20 already counted out in my hand and the only explanation I got was that the price went up. In fact it had tripled literally overnight. This was all pre-pandemic. @fire cat pickles

It now costs around €25 for a single deck. (about $28 USD)

I used to ship chocolate and other german goodies to my son and others in the US quite frequently. If I kept the box under 1 kilo it was pretty reasonable but now the cost is absolutely bonkers. It's such a pity because it's really cut off people's ability to send little presents and things to loved ones far away. I used to do it all the time.

The thing with tarot decks and big publishers though is if they wanted to they could set up distribution in other parts of the world to help bring shipping costs down for the buyers. People were complaining about shipping costs for decks already years ago but now it's just out of control.

Big publishers need to find a solution or I can't see the advantage of buying from them or even having your work published by them. If I can find some shipping solution as an Indie seller, they can too for sure.

Thelder wrote: ↑21 Jan 2022, 06:12 I am not sure if this is the only reason that the cost to ship from the US to Europe is far higher than the cost to ship the same item in the other direction.

It's extremely expensive to ship from Europe to anywhere using the regular mail service and has been for some time, especially since Jan 2019 when the costs tripled overnight. (see my previous post just above)

Even shipping within Europe between countries is escalating all the time, which is weird because supposedly within the EU it seems like it shouldn't be, although it is a lot less than shipping outside the EU. I just shipped a deck from here to France and it cost €9 (about $10 USD) without tracking, but that same deck would cost about €25 (about $28 USD) to ship to the US.

The thing about my original post is the only option Schiffer gives to international buyers is FedEx, by far the most expensive way to ship. That is a major disservice to buyers and to the people whose decks they publish who are losing sales to this policy.

fire cat pickles wrote: ↑22 Jan 2022, 10:26If I have the chance I will swing by UPS and see how much more the shipping is to the UK now compared to three years ago.

@fire cat pickles Thanks for the clarification on the previous post. Sorry that I misunderstood.

The current cost for UPS will most likely be outrageous. In addition to the higher wages and benefits that I mentioned, it is my understanding that many of these shipping companies were taking advantage of unused cargo space on passenger flights to move many of their packages globally. Because passenger flights have been severely hindered because of COVID, these shipping companies are having to schedule additional dedicated cargo flights with their own planes, which is far more expensive than piggybacking on passenger flights that are already going to a particular country.

I think the only solution to this dilemma is going to be a major redesign of the distribution network, as Joan Marie indicated in the following quote:

Joan Marie wrote: ↑22 Jan 2022, 13:50The thing with tarot decks and big publishers though is if they wanted to they could set up distribution in other parts of the world to help bring shipping costs down for the buyers. People were complaining about shipping costs for decks already years ago but now it's just out of control.

@Joan Marie Your comment goes to the heart of the problem (and solution) not only where tarots are concerned but with shipping in general. By investing in additional distribution facilities, as you have indicated, it will offset the transportation costs and help to relieve the driver shortages (in addition to bringing more jobs to local communities).

Part of the problem with the trucking industry (at least here in the US) is that the distribution network is set up so poorly that many drivers have to work as many as 14 hours per day (11 hours driving + 3 hours non-driving) just to complete a scheduled run from terminal to terminal. Many drivers are also away from their home and family for days at a time; as such, it is getting harder and harder to find people who are interested in working as truck drivers. The shipping companies are therefore forced to continue offering higher pay and benefits, which we the customers are forced to pay in the form of higher shipping cost. This is a vicious cycle that will have no end until they address the deficiencies in the distribution network.

One other practice that the trucking industry could eliminate that would not cost them any money, but that I believe would help with driver retention, is the practice of putting all driver positions up for bid every year. Once a year, many trucking companies allow the senior drivers to bump less senior drivers out of their scheduled time slot, forcing the less senior drivers to take whatever positions are left. If the new start time is not workable for the driver because of family or childcare issues, then the less senior driver will need to try to find a job at another trucking company or leave the industry altogether. I know from personal experience that this major disruption to everyone's personal life each and every year is just one of the many reasons that the trucking industry is having trouble attracting drivers.

I believe there are two main factors. One already mentioned is the loss of flights during COVID. The other one is a system called "terminal dues" which is a subsidy system that has had to change and that has also had a big effect. It's difficult for me to see these prices coming down again. Having said that it is been a while now since the UK postage prices went up (Jan 2021) after three increases during 2020 (two of them enormous).

The VAT changes (and especially the ridiculous handling fees) are not the same issue at all, but this is another issue that is a new development and that does really put people off buying internationally.

Yes people used to regularly point out my postage prices were too high when I charged about GBP 5 to send to the US. Not long ago, but very different ...

mmm,,, oil crisis?(: read somewhere calculated we'll be out of oil by 2033?;) bad jokes aside,,,

it's related to USPS shipping crisis hitting pre holiday season+extra charges other shipping providers calculate in *crisis handle including EU or simply refuse to provide better shipping options in time they have to much work & too little people,,,
& there is new regulation for every parcel incoming to eu to be check & charged fees?
even before virus minimum shipping to my country from US was 25$ no tracking!:)
oddly my country (Not EU Europe) charge less for me to ship something to US with tracking if i keep it under 500gr!;) lol

China shipping providers were able to offer better shipping cost bc they use 3rd party service to combine bulk ship & have their own pod in destination country to handle extra work!(; imo it will not last long as i already noticed plenty China sellers not shipping to my country or it's extra expensive like fedex option!:)

eta: more conspiracy theories!;)
1st think of 1product your country import or export from country you think have hi shipping cost?:)

now think of something your country import from China?:)

point is: Everyone is Outsourcing! so *essential shipping routes aka with more frequent traffic will have better shipping cost & vice versa?;) lol

Things seem to be getting worse before they get any better, now with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Shipping from Japan to Europe through EMS for example has been suspended by Japan Post completely, because all recent restrictions on Russian airspace has seriously reduced the amount of flights between Japan and Europe (which normally pass over large swathes of Russia).

Though these are of course small problems to have compared to the looming threat of an actual WWIII...

increasing day by day