The costs are wildly out of step with other US sellers, large or small. Living on an island, I have a pretty good idea what shipping costs should look like, and CGL is expensive. It's frustrating when people bring up a legitimate problem that gets in the way of them spending money buying supporting the brand, and the response from those who don't have the problem is to dismiss it. I think if there are better options, they should be explored.
No, that is not what I am saying . . . what I am saying is that you are complaining about something that is a legitimate concern but you do not have all the details. CGL shipping problems have existed for a while, its been known for years with the PDF/hard copy problems- I seem to remember cost discussions at that point as well. The 3rd party warehouse they use may not offer them that many options- like I said, CGL employees are not going and pulling product, putting it in a box and slapping a label on it. The warehouse may not even be in the same city let alone state!
Odds are, its the company that gave them the best deal to house the incoming product, break it down into smaller bundles that distributors then receive, and also offered some direct shipping options. But based on what folks say, I expect that 3rd Party warehouse does not do much direct shipping or offer CGL that many direct shipping options for product based on the contract. I deal with shipping companies making deliveries, and some of the suppliers that ship will show up with a forklift & liftgate to speed up their delivery while other companies do not which means their drivers spend more time unloading (and hoping you have a forklift) and some shippers (cheapest option) will just open the back of the truck to move your delivery to the edge with the receiver being obligated to move the product into their storage space.
CGL tries to keep the cost down, which means where they receive their deliveries is going to be the cheapest they can find . . . and b/c the business model does not include much direct shipping, they are not looking for the best/cheapest options for direct to consumer shipping. If they could offer cheaper shipping options, don't you think they would? Its not like they get to pocket the money for shipping costs, its what another company charges them.
Its already been suggested the work around for international customers is to use one of the businesses that re-ship from a US address. I know nothing about them, but it sounds like a sensible market solution since they can likely generate the volume to drive costs down.
