Dark Force Entertainment Discussion Thread

[miribeau]

Originally Posted by noirjunkie

No, he uses First Class mail, which generally only takes a few days to arrive. The faster option would be Priority, which he's definitely not using.

Then, what is VS using now? I've no complaint, as the packages still arrive safely, packaged well, but it used to take about four days and now it is between 7 and 9. VS gets them out quickly, but that 7 to 9 days is all USPS, after the packages have been scanned in. Once DF drops one in the mail it is 1 day. For a guy across the country it was 2 days a couple of weeks ago. The contrast is stark.

[noirjunkie]

Originally Posted by miribeau

Then, what is VS using now? I've no complaint, as the packages still arrive safely, packaged well, but it used to take about four days and now it is between 7 and 9. VS gets them out quickly, but that 7 to 9 days is all USPS, after the packages have been scanned in. Once DF drops one in the mail it is 1 day. For a guy across the country it was 2 days a couple of weeks ago. The contrast is stark.

They use Media Mail (or at least they have with my orders), which takes 5-10 business days to arrive.

[miribeau]

Originally Posted by GetHarryPalmer

films like Outlaw Josey Wales (graphic violence, nudity and rape) were rated PG.

There's one I saw a little too young. Loved every second of it.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by miribeau

Then, what is VS using now? I've no complaint, as the packages still arrive safely, packaged well, but it used to take about four days and now it is between 7 and 9. VS gets them out quickly, but that 7 to 9 days is all USPS, after the packages have been scanned in. Once DF drops one in the mail it is 1 day. For a guy across the country it was 2 days a couple of weeks ago. The contrast is stark.

Do you live in Siberia or something? For me they've used first class and priority mail and my black friday order didn't even take that long.

[Deadguy2322]

Originally Posted by noirjunkie

The cost to ship a 4 oz package, which is the weight of a single blu-ray, went from $2.66 to $2.96 (when buying postage online), so shipping went from free to $5 because of a .30 increase. If the price of all titles drop by $5, fine. But it looks like they stayed the same, which if true means you're just using this as an excuse to jack up the prices even further.

As a Canadian who just paid $1.10 just to mail a damned letter, we’d kill to have rates like the US does!

[Dark Force]

Originally Posted by noirjunkie

The cost to ship a 4 oz package, which is the weight of a single blu-ray, went from $2.66 to $2.96 (when buying postage online), so shipping went from free to $5 because of a .30 increase. If the price of all titles drop by $5, fine. But it looks like they stayed the same, which if true means you're just using this as an excuse to jack up the prices even further.

That's actually completely not true. They charge by regions now and if it's close to Los Angeles it didn't go up very much but everywhere else it has gone up significantly to the point where we would have to raise the overall price or add shipping. The last thing we wanted to do is bring back shipping charge but we would rather do that than raise the overall price and have people complain about that. Some of these older titles the margin of profit is very small and between high shipping costs, mailers and handling its just not economical for us.

[noirjunkie]

Originally Posted by Dark Force

That's actually completely not true. They charge by regions now and if it's close to Los Angeles it didn't go up very much but everywhere else it has gone up significantly to the point where we would have to raise the overall price or add shipping. The last thing we wanted to do is bring back shipping charge but we would rather do that than raise the overall price and have people complain about that. Some of these older titles the margin of profit is very small and between high shipping costs, mailers and handling its just not economical for us.

Here's the chart that shows the new costs: https://shippingeasy.com/blog/2019-f...rates-changes/

The biggest bump, which only goes into effect in two of the nine zones, is a whopping .43 for a 4 oz package. Everything else is .30 or less. That's a far cry from $5. My question still stands: will you be dropping the price of all titles by $5 to offset the shipping charge, or just tacking it onto your current prices?

[DetroitSportsFan]

[themp3000]

And it’ll only cost you $199.95!

Probably.

[Member-222782]

DF is looking more like a flea market where latecomers go to buy old stock nobody wants at inflated prices. New titles are a footnote.

[TwiStedByDeSign86]

CrowKiller, check your PMs. Mardi Gras Massacre.

[DMRI2006]

A 4 oz. package going from coast to coast via 1st Class now costs $4.06.

A 5 oz. package going coast to coast -- which a single Blu-Ray can easily weigh if it contains a booklet or is packaged even a tad more heavily -- is now $4.81.

I can see all of those USPS rates in my Ebay account when I go to ship a 1st Class package from MA to CA (Ebay gives users a discount, but those are the actual USPS rates before those discounts are applied).

So saying a Blu-Ray costs $5 to ship 1st Class actually isn't inflated at all -- especially not when you factor in the cost of the mailer and or any other shipping materials. The Media Mail increases are tiny, though, and really is the method that ought to be used to hold costs down (still costs $2.75).

[kraven]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

Not sure if you've tried shipping since last weekend when the new rates went into effect but DF is right on target here.

A 4 oz. package going from coast to coast via 1st Class now costs $4.06.

A 5 oz. package going coast to coast -- which a single Blu-Ray can easily weigh if it contains a booklet or is packaged more heavily -- is now $4.81.

I can see all of those USPS rates in my Ebay account when I go to ship a 1st Class package from MA to CA (Ebay gives users a discount, but those are the actual USPS rates before those discounts are applied).

So saying a Blu-Ray costs $5 to ship 1st Class isn't inflated at all -- especially not when you factor in the cost of the mailer. The Media Mail increases are tiny, though, and really is the method that ought to be used to hold costs down.

So 2 weeks ago it was free to mail things in the U.S. with USPS?

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by kraven

So 2 weeks ago it was free to mail things in the U.S. with USPS?

No 2 weeks ago people were *****ing that Dark Force didn't have $4 flat fee shipping like Hamilton Book.

[kraven]

Originally Posted by Ruined

No 2 weeks ago people were *****ing that Dark Force didn't have $4 flat fee shipping like Hamilton Book.

That's a nice misdirect.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by kraven

That's a nice misdirect.

On the contrary, it's directly applicable.

People *****ed about not having flat fee shipping and lower base prices, now people are *****ing that DF is implementing flat fee shipping and lower base prices.

Seems like people just want to ***** about DF no matter what they do.

[DMRI2006]

Originally Posted by kraven

So 2 weeks ago it was free to mail things in the U.S. with USPS?

No but the increases are substantial enough now using 1st Class mail to the point where many businesses online are going to have to either a) raise their shipping rates or b) raise the product price to compensate for the difference. DF is hardly alone here.

Either way the rates are what they are and DF isn't wrong that it basically costs $5 to use 1st Class to mail a single Blu-Ray. If it's a BD that's 2 discs or has a booklet (or just uses a heavier mailer) it's at least 5 oz. and that's $4.81 from coast to coast. Doesn't even include the cost of that mailer.

People on here are acting like they're making it up and inflating their rates -- they're not at all. Go to USPS and try to ship a 4 or 5 oz. 1st Class package from east to west coast, which is where the biggest increases are, and see what you get.

This doesn't apply to MEDIA, though, which is what Hamilton uses and is the most economical form of shipping and DF may want to implement that...it just takes longer (and leads to complaints from the impatient lol).

[kraven]

Originally Posted by Ruined

On the contrary, it's directly applicable.

People *****ed about not having flat fee shipping and lower base prices, now people are *****ing that DF is implementing flat fee shipping and lower base prices.

Seems like people just want to ***** about DF no matter what they do.

It has nothing to do with what was posted or my response. It's just more brown nose cheerleading.

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

No but the increases are substantial enough now using 1st Class mail to the point where many businesses online are going to have to either a) raise their shipping rates or b) raise the product price to compensate for the difference. DF is hardly alone here.

Either way the rates are what they are and DF isn't wrong that it basically costs $5 to use 1st Class to mail a single Blu-Ray. If it's a BD that's 2 discs or has a booklet (or just uses a heavier mailer) it's at least 5 oz. and that's $4.81 from coast to coast. Doesn't even include the cost of that mailer.

People on here are acting like they're making it up and inflating their rates -- they're not at all. Go to USPS and try to ship a 4 or 5 oz. 1st Class package from east to west coast, which is where the biggest increases are, and see what you get.

This doesn't apply to MEDIA, though, which is what Hamilton uses and is the most economical form of shipping and DF may want to implement that...it just takes longer (and leads to complaints from the impatient lol).

No one is acting like they are making up the rates going up. You are acting like they had nothing factored into the price already for shipping. They did. The price of the blus aren't going to drop that factored in money for shipping, so it costs $5 more now to order from DF.

[whedon]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

No but the increases are substantial enough now using 1st Class mail to the point where many businesses online are going to have to either a) raise their shipping rates or b) raise the product price to compensate for the difference. DF is hardly alone here.

Either way the rates are what they are and DF isn't wrong that it basically costs $5 to use 1st Class to mail a single Blu-Ray. If it's a BD that's 2 discs or has a booklet (or just uses a heavier mailer) it's at least 5 oz. and that's $4.81 from coast to coast. Doesn't even include the cost of that mailer.

People on here are acting like they're making it up and inflating their rates -- they're not at all. Go to USPS and try to ship a 4 or 5 oz. 1st Class package from east to west coast, which is where the biggest increases are, and see what you get.

This doesn't apply to MEDIA, though, which is what Hamilton uses and is the most economical form of shipping and DF may want to implement that...it just takes longer (and leads to complaints from the impatient lol).

I think the point that people are making is that postage was never free on df, it was factored into the price of each listing. People's worry with the recent change is that prices will stay the same as they were and see a $5 postage added on meaning that if you order a single Blu then you are paying $8-9 postage for that one film.

[delicreep]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

This doesn't apply to MEDIA, though, which is what Hamilton uses and is the most economical form of shipping and DF may want to implement that...it just takes longer (and leads to complaints from the impatient lol).

Vinegar Syndrome uses media mail, at 4 bucks. I've never had any issues ordering from them except the expected longer shipping times, but even that's hardly an issue. My January package took 5 business days to go from Connecticut to California. I have no problem with that.