I understand the comments on shipping costs. Although My Diedrich IR-12 is FINALLY set up after a few years of delays and I'm roasting my own (but not yet officially selling to the public) I was buying beans from a few different sources. One of my favorite roasters - who will remain nameless because they're great folks and do a fantastic job with the beans - charges a set price per pound for shipping, offers no discounts for multiple pounds and won't even use Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes (although they do ship by USPS). They could have shipped me four pounds for what I was paying them to have two pounds shipped and they'd be getting free shipping cartons from the post office to boot.

When I buy beans week in and week out all year long and my cost is jumping by $3 to $5 per pound because of higher shipping costs - it matters to me and it's completely unrelated to how much I spend on espresso gear or other equipment. Just curious - as long as the topic is under discussion.... what do you folks consider to be realistic shipping costs assuming the beans are comparably priced between different vendors and of comparable quality? (albeit different flavor profiles).



...split from My Apologies to Black Cat by moderator...

If you're only ordering one pound at a time, Shipping from Intelly can be a bit much.

Im in NY, and for 4lbs, its, IIRC, $11 and change, which I find acceptable, though not wonderful.


Remember, you can buy more then you'll drink in 14 days, break it down into portions, and freeze it. More and more people are doing this with great results.

Im actually going to start doing it on a regular basis... I guess I'm getting more finicky, because the last 4 or 5 orders Ive made, the coffee was pretty much done, to the point where I don't even enjoy the straight shots, on day 10. So I think Ill still order my usual 4lbs, but freeze maybe a pound of it to take out on day 10 when the rest is done for. But I digress.

Just saying, if you wanna buy Intelly but dont drink enough to justify the shipping, consider buying larger amounts and freezing. There is an article on Freezing in the "Features" section, as well as multiple threads around here somewhere. Simply put, Mason Jars seem to work well, from what Ive read.

I know that I'm buying a lot more things online. Being on the east coast can further complicate coffee orders. UPS/USPS ground from the west coast takes too long. Priority is ok if they do flat rate and I get a couple friends to combine an order. Shipping options and efficiency certainly make a great roaster much better IMO.

There are many coffees I don't buy because of the shipping. It's as much the cost as the options. UPS is too slow or too expensive across the country.

When I'm dropping a Benjamin on coffee, a flat rate USPS box is the least the roaster can do to meet me half way. For the terminally frugal, Caffe Fresco has $1.75 / # shipping on the 6# Mamma Mia.

Lately, if I can't get ½# put ups, I put 1# in ¼# jars and freeze the remaining pound bags. Pull a ¼# jar as needed. On the last jar, pull another pound, defrost thoroughly and repack and refreeze in ¼# jars. The coffee is always at its best.

I paid $24.57 for a pound of Black Cat, the shipping and the coffee itself. It was DOA by the time UPS managed to get it from Chicago to California 8 days later. What a waste.

PT's currently has a flat rate of $6 on as little as 3 pounds of coffee.

I usually order 5 lb bags and immediately divide it into 1 quart canning jars for later use. I do not freeze as I've never seen an advantage to doing so.

I generally consider $5 USPS Priority flat-rate to be reasonable for shipping coffee, and it's surprisingly fast. For me, it's not worth ordering from the west coast unless USPS is available - as others have already said, UPS can get expensive and slow. I generally like to avoid having my coffee sitting in a sorting warehouse over a weekend, so I usually end up ordering by Monday or Tuesday (with Counter Culture I can push it as far as a Wednesday roast and ship), allowing even UPS to arrive on time (but I still wouldn't be confident about it cross country).

Phaelon56 wrote: Just curious - as long as the topic is under discussion.... what do you folks consider to be realistic shipping costs assuming the beans are comparably priced between different vendors and of comparable quality? (albeit different flavor profiles).

A realistic shipping cost, and one that I am willing to pay, is the cost for USPS Priority Flat Rate (small, medium, and large, respectively, are 4.80, 9.85, and 13.50). It stays realistic as long as the roaster uses a size appropriate to the order. I consider shipping costs greater than these to be excessive. Of course, it is always nice to see the occasional free or reduced cost shipping special.

Where there are good coffee choices, I give preference to vendors who will ship USPS Priority Mail. For me, this is mostly for green coffee since I roast my own, but I think most of the same logic applies.

To and from the west coast is normally a 2-day ride via Priority Mail. And they deliver on Saturday

Jim

JimG wrote:To and from the west coast is normally a 2-day ride via Priority Mail. And they deliver on Saturday

Not if they can't stop bleeding red ink. It's an old story now, but they've been threatening to cut a day of mail delivery for awhile.