Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Walmart Over-charging Overseas Military Customers on Shipping
« Mark Kirk Lies to get Senate Candidacy | Main | Media and Police Misrepresent Utah Husbands Right to Remain Silent »
Man this ticks me off, it seems some large retailers inflate costs to ship to APO addresses. Walmart is the worst offender and should be ashamed of themselves for this. APO stands for Army Postal System and is the part of the U.S. Military Postal Service.
Overseas military customers ordering gifts online from certain retailers might get an unpleasant surprise when shipping and handling fees are tacked on at the end of the purchase.
Those same customers might be most surprised to find that retail giant Walmart had the biggest markup.
On a $120 purchase, Walmart.com charged $10.35 to ship to an APO address, compared with $2.10 to a stateside address. For most items, Amazon.com charged the same to ship to an APO address as a stateside address. And Target.com offered free shipping on a $120 purchase to an APO address.
That's not the worst of it...
Earl Small, the postmaster at Wiesbaden Army Airfield, said that the shipping and handling charges have nothing to do with the military postal system or the U.S. Postal Service.
“A company can charge whatever they want,” said Small, who explained that items up to 108 inches are normally shipped at normal cost, but larger items often fall under a more expensive “balloon charge.”
According to Small, when companies ship to APO addresses, the order is shipped to New York, after which the Department of Defense picks up the tab to get the package to an APO address.
On Walmart.com, the company says shipping costs will be higher to APO addresses due to higher transportation costs.
“There is no higher transportation costs,” Small said. “Companies are abusing the system and making a killing.”
Oh great, now we will probably get a Postal Czar.
A quick note about our sponsors sinusfresh.com who are the official e-commerce site for SinoFresh Nasal Spray. They never over-charge military personnel. Military personnel get free shipping on orders of 3 or more!
Technorati Tags: apo army postal system over-charged shipping walmart military customers
[Trackback URL for this entry]
Thanks for letting us know about stevemadden.com. I'm sure our readers will avoid them like the plague.
I truly believe that we have reached the point where technology has become one with our world, and I am 99% certain that we have passed the point of no return in our relationship with technology.
I don't mean this in a bad way, of course! Societal concerns aside... I just hope that as the price of memory drops, the possibility of transferring our brains onto a digital medium becomes a true reality. It's one of the things I really wish I could experience in my lifetime.
(Posted on Nintendo DS running R4i SDHC DS SPPost)
Here is another store that is a big rip-off for APO shoppers, www.stevemadden.com. Here is there shipping policy for APO:
Military/Air Force Base Customers
The cost for shipping is $14.95 for each item in the order. Your order will ship via UPS from our facilities to our shipping station in Connecticut where the merchandise will be inspected and then reshipped out to you via the United States Postal Service (USPS). Please allow 1-2 weeks for delivery.
This is $14.95 per item, not $14.95 for your whole order. I was going to order boots for my daughter, but with this over priced postal charge I will take my business else where.