Last year I wrote about how shipping charges that are a percentage of an order drive me crazy. I don’t understand why a company would want to penalize you for purchasing more products. I understand that rising gas costs and increased shipping charges have made free shipping more difficult. Cuts in special education funding have probably changed consumer spending on special education costs as well. That being said, I believe shipping charges should be based on weight. I think we should get a break when we spend over a certain amount. I will add items that I wasn’t thinking about buying if I know that I can get free shipping at a certain price point.
Linguisystems was sold to Pro-Ed and my first order resulted in some shipping sticker shock. I placed a 400.00 order and got slapped with a 40.00 shipping charge. I could’ve bought 4 new games to use in my speech room, a great textbook, a set of protocols or 40 packages of reinforcers at the dollar store. Instead I paid for shipping for 4 items that were not particularly bulky OR heavy. Thanks for ordering a bunch of stuff-here’s a hefty shipping and handling charge to thank you for your loyalty. A few days later I found out that Super Duper is starting to carry some of Linguisystem’s products. This is exciting news because the customer service was pretty poor and my order was wrong. I trust Super Duper to ship my order quickly and correctly. They have good customer service. The shipping costs have been rolled into the price of the product though, so there wasn’t really a savings that I saw.
We are upset as speech language pathologists but we should get upset as tax payers too: Does anyone else like to do “make believe” math to figure out how things are impacting us-I used to do it all the time when I was managing a clinic for a long term care company who had unrealistic pediatric productivity requirements. For example, Minnesota’s special education budget for 2013 was listed as 1.8 billion. I don’t know how much they spend on curriculum (and I’m sure speech language pathologists see even less.) But let’s assume that 1% of that budget goes to curriculum/assessments/books etc. 1% of 1.8 billion is 18 million dollars. MN has about 3,000 school districts so if we assume that each school district gets the same amount, they would get about 6,000 to spend on curriculum. So each school district would spend over the course of the year-about 600.00 on shipping and handling. That seems like a lot but spread out-maybe it doesn’t feel like a huge problem. But if we look across the whole state-we would be spending about 1.7 million dollars on shipping materials to our school districts.
Can we help?
- Be aware of shipping and handling charges and choose to order from companies who have reasonable shipping charges when possible. We still need protocols and tests and there are good materials at some of these companies. But I try to find elsewhere first. See below for a table listing protocols and the companies that sell them.
- Let companies know that you didn’t order from them because of their shipping and handling charges. Send them letters, put it on Facebook, Tweet them. Use a clever hashtag. I tried to come up with a good one but couldn’t. If you’ve got a great one, let me know and I will post it HERE.
- Share the story of what you could’ve bought (instead of paying exorbitant shipping) using the clever hashtag that has yet to be created. Make sure to tag the company so they see it.
- Consider purchasing digital downloads of materials to completely avoid shipping/handling charges. I love being able to print worksheets from my computer as I am doing therapy.
- Invite your friends-we know teachers, occupational therapists and physical therapists. I’m guessing they get frustrated with these shipping charges too.
Read what I had to say last year….
I recently placed an order at a certain company known for their assessments. I needed to stock up on Protocols as well as order 2 assessments. The cost of the order was around 1700.00 which is ALOT of money to spend on assessments.
The shipping charge was 85.00. I got pretty mad. 85.00 would buy me at least 2 Linguisystem books, 7 card decks or 42 Super Duper card deck apps. So I called the company to ask why the shipping rates were so outrageous.
The man on the other end of the phone insisted that their shipping charges were reasonable. We got a price break because we spent over 500.00. If I wanted to spend 2500.00, I could get an additional price break on shipping and handling.
I waited until the packages came so I could see the weight and compare based on the actual shipping cost. It came in 3 packages. There may be some slight variations based on size but I think this is a pretty accurate estimate of what it should cost to send a package via UPS ground shipping:
Package 1: 17 pounds: 16.00
Package 2: 13 pounds: 15.00
Package 3: 13 pounds: 15.00
So this company could have legitimately paid 46.00 to ship the assessments. Media mail might have been an even cheaper option. But instead they charged an additional 39.00 for handling fees.
In the past, I’ve always bulked up my orders to this site thinking that I was saving on shipping and handling. It turns out I was throwing money away. It got me thinking and I started looking at all of their assessment protocols and where I could purchase them for cheaper shipping and handling. Some are only available through them-but a lot were available through companies which offered free shipping.
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Apraxia Profile
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Pearson
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Auditory Skills Assessment (ASA)
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Pearson
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Boehm Basic Concepts
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Pearson
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Bracken
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Pearson
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CELF Preschool, 4, 5
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Pearson
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CCC-2
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Pearson
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Cognitive linguistic Quick Test: CLQT
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Pearson
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Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language (CASL)
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Super Duper , Janelle Publications, Mayer-Johnson
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CREVT
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Janelle Publications
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CTOPP-2
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Super Duper
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EOWPVT
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Super Duper, Mayer-Johnson
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ROWPVT
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Super Duper , Mayer-Johnson
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EVT
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Pearson
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Fluharty
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Super Duper , Mayer-Johnson
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Goldman Fristoe test of Articulation (GFTA)
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Pearson
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KLPA-2
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Pearson
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OWLS-2
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Super Duper
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PPVT-4
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Pearson
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Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI)
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Pearson
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Peabody Developmental Motor Scales (OT test)
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Super Duper
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PLS-5
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Pearson
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REEL-3
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Super Duper , Janelle Publications, Mayer-Johnson
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Scan C
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Pearson
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SPELT-3
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Janelle Publications Super Duper
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SSI-4
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Super Duper
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Test of Word Finding
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Super Duper
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TACL-3
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Janelle Publications, Mayer-Johnson
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TOAL-4
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Pro-Ed, Academic Therapy Publications |
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TELD-3
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Super Duper , Linguisystems, Mayer-Johnson
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TOLD-P4/I4
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Super Duper ; Linguisystems, Mayer-Johnson
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VMPAC
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Pearson
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After I researched that, I started to wonder about other shipping and handling charges. It pains me to say this, but the company was right. When you compare their shipping and handling charges to similar companies, they are a lot cheaper. I found companies that charge up to 15% of your total order for shipping and handling.
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Academic Communication Associates
Speech and Language, ESL and Special Education books and materials.
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Free Shipping over 75.00
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Academic Therapy Publications
Publications related to learning disabilities and special education
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10% on all orders
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Achievement Products
Special Needs products
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15% on all orders
Free shipping over 79.00
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Ark Therapeutics
Z-vibe, Oral motor and feeding products.
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Free shipping over 100.00
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ASHA
Speech and language books, videos, and promotional materials, also carries outside vendors products. Typically for 10% off the list price.
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· 14.99 or less 5.00 shipping
· 15-24.99 8.00
25-49.99 10.00
50-74.99 12.00
· 75-99.99 15.00
100-199 18.00
200-299 22.00
300.00- 499.99 28.00
· 500.00-799.00 35.00
800-899.00 40.00
1,000+ 60.00
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Autism Shop
Tons of books on Autism and related disabilities including books for kids, plus learning toys for children with Autism.
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Free shipping over 100.00
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Beyond Play
Lots of products for early intervention and special needs including feeding products.
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· 0-50.00 5.00 shipping
· 50-200.00 10% shipping
· 500-1500.00 10%
· 1500-2500.00 5%
· 2500 + FREE
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Discount School Supply
Craft supplies, Dramatic play materials, teaching materials Carries a lot of products found at Lakeshore learning.
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Free shipping over 79.00 with fuel surcharge. (extra charges may apply for larger equipment.)
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Great Ideas for Teaching
www.greatideasforteaching.com
Speech therapy books and games
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· 0-50.00 5.00 shipping
· 50-200.00
· 200.00+ flat shipping rate of 20.00
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Janelle Publications
Speech therapy books, games and activities
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Free shipping on assessments
10% shipping for all other products
Free shipping on orders over 500.00
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Lakeshore Learning
www.lakeshorelearning.com
Educational Products/games
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15% of total order
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Mayer-Johnson
www.mayer-johnson.com
Special Education products and Boardmaker.
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FREE shipping over 50.00
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Pearson
www.pearson.com
Speech and Occupational therapy assessments and textbooks
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· 0-500.00 6% shipping
· 500-2,499 5% shipping
· 2500 + 4% shipping
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Pro-Ed/Linguisystems
www.proedinc.com
Books, materials and assessments for Special Education and Speech Pathology-took over Thinking Publications products.
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10% on all orders
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Say It Right
Speech and language books and materials, carries the Entire World of /r/ Series
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10.48 base charge + .99 per additional item.
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School Specialty
Carries Special Education products, Early childhood products and Occupational therapy products. Specialty catalogs include:
Speech Bin
Integrations
Abilitations
Childcraft
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Free shipping over 49.00 (extra charges may apply for larger equipment.)
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Southpaw Enterprises
Sensory integration and neurodevelopmental products. Carries some oral motor products and early intervention toys.
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8.00 OR 14% whichever is greater
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Super Duper Publications
www.superduperinc.com
Speech therapy materials, games, and assessments
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FREE SHIPPING over 75.00
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Thera-Pro
Speech, Occupational and Physical therapy products
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FREE Shipping over 35.00
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Therapy Shoppe
Sensory and Occupational Therapy products and games for kids. Some social skills and speech products as well.
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· 0-35.00 7.49
· 35.01-50.00 7.99
· 50.01-75.00 8.99
· 75.00-100.00 9.99
· 100+ 10% of order
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Western Publications
Speech and Occupational therapy assessments
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10% on all orders
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I think it pays to shop around a little bit on shipping and handling. If you find some of these shipping and handling rates outrageous-please take the time to contact these companies and let them know your thoughts. Together we can make changes that would be difficult alone.
Possible hashtags… #ShipForFreeToSLPs or #ShipItLowProfitsGrow
That’s the best I could do.
I love those! I’m especially fond of the #shipforfreetoSLPs because I love rhyming!