Free Shipping

I have to take a few minutes to do a write up on "free shipping". You see companies offer it all the time. It doesn't excite me. I will tell you why. I have owned a company (well, several), but I have run a clothing company for almost 3 years now. I know exactly what it costs to ship 1 lb, 2 lb, even 20 lbs, depending on the carrier and the type of service you want. It is never free.

I loathe it when customers ask me if they can get free shipping. No. Plain and simple. I'll say it again. No. Why? Is it bad customer service? NO. I am actually doing you a favor. You see, free shipping is NEVER FREE. Ever. With all of the competition out there and dwindling margins, companies are not taking money out of their pocket to send you something free. What are they doing? They are building it into the cost of the merchandise (by tacking on shipping and handling fees onto the product) and then saying that they are offering free shipping.

They do the same thing with a sale. For instance...they buy an item for $12. They mark it up to $48. It sits on the rack for a few weeks/months at $48 and a few customers (we'll refer to them as "suckers") buys it at that price. The company will then mark it down to a blowout sale at $30 and you are thinking you are getting a bargain. Wouldn't it be great if the item just started at $24 or $30 in the first place?

First of all, why wait for end of season to wear something you want to wear now. (many women are in love with sales so they will sacrifice taking on certain trends as they only buy things end of season). I personally hate going through clearance racks. Nothing is ever organized (have you been to an off price store, like Ross or Marshalls lately? Good luck finding something in your size in the place it is supposed to be). It is maddening to see that adorable dress sitting alone on the rack in the 18/20 section, calling out my name, only for me to pick up the tag and see that it is a medium. That being said, I love shopping at Ross and Marshalls. :)

At Curvy Girl Clothing, we try and give you the fairest price up front. No gimmicks. No crazy sales. We don't build shipping costs into our products because we know we don't offer free shipping. With my company, you pay a fair price for your merchandise and then a fair shipping cost (based on weight) at the end of your order. We want our curvy customers to be in style NOW. We don't want you to feel like you need to save up for weeks to buy that special item you want. Looking trendy doesn't have to cost a fortune. We also want to stress that here are stores out there (not just us) that offer affordable curvy clothing. You don't have to wait for a sale. If you do, what you want will probably be gone.

Some women ONLY buy something on sale. This is somewhat disturbing to me. That tells me they only buy something because they feel it was such a bargain that they could not pass it up. If you don't need it or don't absolutely love it, don't buy it. The fact that something is so cheap is never the right reason to make a purchase. Now, if it is "so cheap" and is exactly what you are looking for, then when you wear it and someone compliments you on it, you must tell them exactly how much (or should I say, how little) you paid. It is a rule in the female code book.

How about - FREE GIFT with your purchase? Again. Free? Not so much. Maybe it is a horrible necklace set the seller got for $1 that they include with your item. Not only do they add that $1 to the cost of the item you actually want, but those earrings will make your ears itch for days. (you know the kind I'm talking about). So, you've just paid for a cheap jewelry set that you didn't want and you're itching. Tell the seller to keep their free gift and give you a discount instead. For instance, if they say it's a $9 value - ask for $9 off and see what they say. Unlikely they'll give it to you because it only cost them a buck.

Back to shipping....and the reasons we don't offer free shipping. The biggest reason, as listed above, is the simple fact that shipping is not free (or easy) for me or my employees. Packing supplies cost money (including the poly bag your items are shipped in). USPS provides free packaging for their more expensive services (as does UPS and Fedex), but if you don't use those expensive services, you have to pay for your own envelopes, boxes and tape. An employee has to be paid to print the label (the labels cost money as does the printer and toner), pull and pack the merchandise and prepare it for the courier. This part of the task is the most time consuming. It can take a full day to ship less than 100 packages and doing nothing else. The courier company charges for the pickup (depending on the courier company, this is a daily charge or a weekly charge). If you don't get a pickup, someone has to drive it to the courier drop off facility.

You know all of this. I know. You still don't care. Here is why you should: Would you rather be charged a reasonable and fair shipping charge up front and pay a cheaper price on your clothing? Or, would you prefer to pay a lot more for that clothing item with free shipping?

The frequent returner (and she knows who she is) will buy all kinds of styles and sizes and return all of the ones she dislikes. She doesn't measure herself because she figures - who cares - I have a free return label right here in my package. Shipping cost me nothing. I hate to tell you. Shipping just cost you a fortune. Those items you just overpaid for had shipping built into each and every single one. Why? The seller doesn't know if you are going to buy 1 or 100 of an item, and to offer free shipping on all items, it means the cost of shipping has to be built into each item. We're talking $10 or more here (about the cost of shipping a 1lb package each way). Across the board.

Who suffers? The women who know their measurements and true size. The women who pay attention to details. The women who know their body type and buy the styles that will look best on them. You are overpaying for merchandise because a company has to take into consideration all of the women who aren't like you. You are overpaying because companies have to run FREE SHIPPING promotions just to gather some interest so they mark up all of their prices ahead of time (knowing they will have this type of promotion).

I share this information not just from the perspective of a clothing company owner, but as a fellow consumer. I know I will continue to sell a lot of clothes as long as I offer a good selection for a fair price with great service. I don't need the gimmicks. Cut out the middleman and offer my customer a great price. That's what I want to do. As a buyer, however, I am so frustrated because I don't want to have to wait until the end of season to buy something I want now. I want prices to come down. I don't want to spend $49.50 on a cami that should cost me no more than $23. I can't afford a $300 cocktail dress that should cost me $89 or denim jeans that cost $200 but should cost me $49.

If you were a clothing company owner and saw the true costs of things (and there are many, don't get me wrong), you would wonder why some of these clothing companies are charging so much. It's highway robbery.

What can you do? Probably nothing. If you stop buying products during the free shipping promotions, it is likely the seller will have to come up with other creative ways of moving product (ways you will probably end up paying for in the end). My advice is to seek out those sellers who are truly offering you value without crazy gimmicks. Shop with them. Kick in the few bucks for shipping and save where it really matters.

Most importantly, love you and your body, every curvy inch of it. That has nothing to do with shipping of course, but it's worth noting on a regular basis. :)
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About the author

Lisa Toton is co-founder of Curvy Girl Clothing. She lives in Los Angeles, CA with her husband. When she is not obsessing over plus size fashion, she is writing sketches (some for Curvy Girl Clothing) or you can see her on stage at many of the top comedy clubs in the Los Angeles area where she has been performing as a stand up comedian for a better part of the last decade.

You can contact Lisa at lisa@curvygirlclothing.com.

About Curvy Girl LLC

Incorporated in 2005, Curvy Girl LLC is a lifestyle company catering to plus size women. Curvy Girl’s first venture was http://www.curvygirlclothing.com/, an online boutique taking the plus size fashion industry by storm. We offer fashion forward trendy styles, in plus sizes (14+). Our flagship retail store opened in Portland, OR in November 2007!

NOTE: Curvy Girl LLC and Curvy Girl Clothing is not associated with curvygirl.com.