We’ve always used our UPS quoted rates on our website. For multiple kits, this was imperfect and for individual kits shipped across the country (we’re in Florida) it was expensive. After discussions with some customers this year who are also small businesses losing out on customers due to shipping costs, we learned of other options to get better negotiated rates. As a result, our ground shipping costs are now ~$15 for small domestic packages, even to the other side of the country. In order to pass along this savings and make our prices more predictable for small businesses and home users, as of yesterday, any order placed on our website and shipped by UPS ground for shipping in the US will be charged a flat rate of $15 for shipping. Hawaii and Alaska are in their own pricing category, but we’re going to offer the same $15 ground shipping to all 50 states (and DC) regardless of how many kits you order. For customers in Florida or Georgia, that may only mean a savings of $2-3 when ordering a 5-pack of EZ Gluten, but for customers in California, Oregon, or Washington, this is a savings of $20-$30 with even larger savings on larger orders.
We’re working on updating the pricing on our expedited shipping options over the next week, but the vast majority of you use ground shipping and, especially when ordering a 5-pack for $63, the ~$40 quote for shipping was something we wanted to address immediately. We’ve struggled to keep our prices as low as possible, raising prices only once since we first released EZ Gluten nearly 15 years ago (our lowest price/test was $10.25 and is now $10.76 following a 5% increase), and we are very excited that the current change to shipping is a significant price reduction to the majority of our customers. We will continue to do what we can to keep costs down (and share savings when possible). Our commitment to our employees, our customers, and our quality defines everything we do.
For those of you wondering, we are now using PirateShip for our UPS labels/rates instead of the UPS negotiated rates provided directly to us by UPS.