Rinkya Shipping Has Gone Ballistic

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guitar hiro

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My last Rinkya shipment was 3 months ago: $185 to ship a package that weighed 9300 grams.

Just paid $215 to ship a package that weighs 6400 grams.

Same size box, with nearly 1/3rd less weight, cost $30 more. :roll:

Shipping companies typically increase rates around March, April time frame but this is nutz.

Get ready to open up those wallets boys & girls. :lol:
 
mdvineng said:
They're also blaming a shortage of containers for the increases.



I have heard & read about this but only in regard to sea/surface shipping; not as it relates to air freight.

my stuff gets shipped via air freight, namely FedEx air so, it's in a M-1, or similar container.


Sea going containers can be tied up for weeks, maybe months but aircraft containers are loaded & emptied rather quickly by comparison; typically within 24 to 48 hours, max.
 
There could be a knock on effect though!

And a crisis is always an opportunity to put up prices.
 
I don't see the current situation as being anything other than (1) a typical yearly rate increase (2) that was made worse, dollar wise, because of a pandemic that was an easy excuse to increase rates to a much higher degree than typical rate increases.

I could be wrong but my gut tells me I'm close to 'spot on.'
 
Don't forget Rinkya puts a service charge on every shipping order. An additional 25% on top of inflated shipping charges is a bit much. Their commission fees on high end items is ridiculous too. I still buy with them when necessary but prefer Buyee services more.
 
the 25% additional at packaging is already a baked in given; no surprises there. I'll gladly pay that for Rinkya's virtually bullet proof packaging.
That is 'insurance' in my book & I don't mind paying that, as a premium.

however, a $30 up charge for basically 1/3rd less weight is a kick in the ***, IMO.
I have been placed on notice. :lol:
 
I will have to say the guitar I have on the way is extremely rare, possibly a one off, and it is not in a hard case. :eek:

Having said that, I have never had a single issue with Rinkya packaging in over 11 years, and with over 100 plus guitars shipped.

Scott & the Rinkya warehouse crew do an impeccable job of packaging guitars; they always arrive free of any damage. 8)

Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself. :lol:
 
Here is an excerpt of Scott's reply to my email asking about shipping costs.
"Unfortunately Fedex raises their prices weekly due to fuel and extra handling surcharges. It is a way for them to offset the losses they are experiencing due to COVID, since they have closed down economy. It is affecting everyone.
Fedex charges based on dimension not actual weight. Generally guitar packages are the same dimension depending on the size and shape of the guitar. So a 6.5kgs guitar vs 9.5 kg guitar would cost the same if the size of the box remains the same."


So, I'm a bit miffed with Scott's explanation because both boxes that I refer to in my OP have the exact same dimensions, yet Scott states, "Fedex charges based on dimension. not actual weight." He did however state, "Fedex raises their prices weekly due to fuel and extra handling surcharges."
I guess I'm not getting something there but it is what it is. I was getting to a point where I don't have any room to stash guitars any how so, maybe this is a good excuse for me to slow down on my buying, or maybe just have a temporary freeze on buying for a while.
 
mdvineng said:
Don't think that I could sleep with a guitar not in a hard case :eek:

I have had plenty of guitars shipped to me from Japan without a hard case; have had zero issues, so far. :)
Watanabesan used to call me 'lucky boy' so, maybe he was on to something. :lol:
 
guitar hiro said:
Here is an excerpt of Scott's reply to my email asking about shipping costs.
"Unfortunately Fedex raises their prices weekly due to fuel and extra handling surcharges. It is a way for them to offset the losses they are experiencing due to COVID, since they have closed down economy. It is affecting everyone.
Fedex charges based on dimension not actual weight. Generally guitar packages are the same dimension depending on the size and shape of the guitar. So a 6.5kgs guitar vs 9.5 kg guitar would cost the same if the size of the box remains the same."


So, I'm a bit miffed with Scott's explanation because both boxes that I refer to in my OP have the exact same dimensions, yet Scott states, "Fedex charges based on dimension. not actual weight." He did however state, "Fedex raises their prices weekly due to fuel and extra handling surcharges."
I guess I'm not getting something there but it is what it is. I was getting to a point where I don't have any room to stash guitars any how so, maybe this is a good excuse for me to slow down on my buying, or maybe just have a temporary freeze on buying for a while.

Freight companies use a Volumetric system to price shipping, it's a combination of size and weight. As for prices going up, here they allowed hairdressers to reopen for business and surprisingly their prices are up as much as 40% TF I'm bald :lol:
 
mdvineng said:
Freight companies use a Volumetric system to price shipping, it's a combination of size and weight. As for prices going up, here they allowed hairdressers to reopen for business and surprisingly their prices are up as much as 40% TF I'm bald :lol:

Well, I suppose being bald could be a good thing; at least you don't toss away good money for haircuts & such. :)
Silver lining in there somewhere. 8)

Myself? I'm 60 years old & my hair hasn't been as long as it currently is since 1995 when it was down near my butt.
This whole pandemic crap has caused me to make a bit of return to my youth, even my 'long hair hippy' days. 8)

Thank goodness mom & pop blessed me with the genetics I inherited. :)
Still smoke like Hell too. :lol:
 
Got a really big surprise today; shipment showed up less than 48 hours from posting. :eek:

That has to be one of the FASTEST ever deliveries from Japan to me.

As expected no hard case, just a flimsy gig bag, all is well, and only 7 lb. - 8 oz., and that's with a 12 oz. Bigsby. :D

One other thing; all four pots are (original) A500K ohm pots. Deviser is weird, like that. :lol:
 
Good result 8)
It would be interesting to see what the rotation of the tone pot delivers, usually lin pots are nothing, nothing, nothing, everything in the last quarter.
 
mdvineng said:
Good result 8)
It would be interesting to see what the rotation of the tone pot delivers, usually lin pots are nothing, nothing, nothing, everything in the last quarter.


As far as associated terms I was under the impression that the term 'linear' was associated with B pots. I assume 'linear' is what you meant with 'lin?'
This Deviser build has all four pots marked A, audio taper aka logarithmic, which is very common with Deviser made Gibson style products, from my experience.


Below is a quote from EEPower concerning tapered pots & associated markings. I underlined the last sentence since that explains the common markings.

"Tapered potentiometers are marked with an additional letter, either as a prefix or suffix. The table below lists some common marking codes. Unfortunately there are several different methods of marking which also have some overlap and can therefore be confusing. The most common marking method is the Asian method which uses B for linear taper and A for audio taper."


Here is another interesting item mentioned from the same article.

"The most used non-linear taper is the logarithmic (log) or audio taper. This is mainly used for audio volume control, to obtain a more natural 'linear' perception in sound intensity change when you adjust the volume. Because the human ear is sensitive to sound intensity in a logarithmic fashion, at low sound intensities a small change in intensity is perceived as a big change in loudness, while at high intensities a large change is required for the same change in perceived loudness. To compensate for the ears logarithmic behavior, audio taper pots were developed. While it is called logarithmic, it is actually an exponential curve (the opposite of the logarithmic behavior of the human ear)."
 
Just paid shipping for a Strat & it was $235 :eek: WTF?
Of course, the neck was not detached, which I guess I should have requested that, as that would have decreased the cost.

In May, 2020, I had two Strats shipped in the same box with detached necks & it was < $150; < $75 per guitar.
Now it costs $235 to ship one Strat with the neck attached.
That's over 3 times the costs to ship the same basic type guitar.
I think I need a rape kit. :roll:
 
They'll be using the Volumetric calculation for the box size. it always gives high prices than just the weight but then again they have to shove the things into containers whether it's for a Ship or Air frieght. so in this case, size does matter :wink:
 
I contacted Rinkya before the guitar shipped.
Scott said they could detach the neck & repackage.
The turn around time was <12 hours and I was refunded $80.
$155 to ship a Strat with a detached neck is still expensive but it beats $235. :wink:
 
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