I recently wrote a post about expedited shipping options and it got me thinking about the sometimes tedious hurdles involved in shipping to our most remote states.
Living in paradise has its price - that's what we often hear from business owners in Hawaii or Alaska looking to get binding supplies or bindery equipment from us. Getting things shipped from the mainland is no exception - shipping charges to bring things into these states can sometimes seem rather costly. If you think about it, there is no ground service highway that FedEx or UPS can use. They must put the packages into a plane along with the items for Next Day Air delivery. While CFS has several shipping options no matter where you are in the USA including free shipping to the usual, continental 48 states - there are a few things you can do to reduce the shipping costs for these two states.
Interestingly, both carriers offer a 'Ground-level service' to HI and AK, but in many cases, we have found that the 2nd Day Air Method. So it's always a good practice to compare the two rates before just proceeding with the Ground service.
We have a few customers who have used shipping service forwarders like ShipToHawaii.com These services will gather together several items shipping to the islands and then sends them in one bulk shipment, reducing the cost vs. transporting single packages. And being that their address is in California, orders sent to them qualify for our Free Shipping if totaling $50.00 or more.
Do you have any tips for saving on shipping costs to Hawaii or Alaska? Please share with us in the comments below.
