Free Shipping Is the Most Expensive Way to Buy Cartons

Our competitors pricing isn't all it appears to be.

Sure, you get a price per carton, but is it the overall cost?  No.  One big chunk is missing and that is the freight.  Why pay the same freight as someone pays when they are twice as far away from the distribution center?  

LTL trucks typically like to transport lower pallet counts but not half and quarter pallets.  This is why the freight is the same for a half pallet to a full pallet.  This is the best way to maximize the freight. 

The below data shows where Iowa Egg Cartons differs from our competitors.  

Half pallet, 2,500 cartons 

Iowa Egg Cartons 

Free-shipping seller 

Carton price 

$0.20 

$0.35, shipping "included" 

Freight to your door 

$0.09 (~$225 ÷ 2,500) 

$0 shown, baked in 

Landed cost per carton 

$0.29 

$0.35 

What the order actually costs 

$725 

$875 

 

That is the $150 elephant in the room. When talking about free shipping, it is never free.  It is an average across the board.  Everyone pays the same freight whether they live across the street or across the country.  If you are one of the end users that lives very close to the distribution centers, then you are overpaying for freight. 

This is why we do freight by the shipment and not free shipping.  We break it down to its simplest form.  What does it cost to ship to the end users specific location and that is the cost passed along to the customer.  We do not do this to make it seem like we are trying to gouge extra money out of customers.  It is actually quite the opposite.  Honest, upfront freight quotes in real time will almost always beat "Free Shipping" landed costs.  

Here is a price breakdown that hits on the half pallet vs full pallet landed cost debate

Order 

Cartons 

Freight 

Freight per carton 

Landed per carton 

Half pallet 

2,500 

~$225 

$0.09 

$0.29 

Full pallet 

5,000 

~$225 

$0.045 

$0.245 

 

It is inevitably the end users decision but that extra nickel per carton sure adds up fast when we are talking about moving thousands of cartons at a time or per year.

Another option we have is for the customer to take care of the freight themselves.  Want to come pick the cartons up yourself because you are close enough?  Go right ahead.  Want to arrange your own freight with your LTL account pricing?  That works as well.  

Iowa Egg Cartons will always serve our customers with the most fair pricing for both cartons and freight.  The answer is clear.  Trust in Iowa Egg Cartons for the best landed pricing.  Not just sometimes.  Everytime. 

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