Randy G. wrote:To a great extent, this thread bewilders me. The price pr pound, to the door, is all that matters:

Total Delivered Price / pounds = price per pound.

Maybe at my age and situation my bewilderment level is more easily achieved at this time.

When I've looked at online roasters, the ones that don't charge additional for shipping seem to have a similar price / pound to those who do charge for shipping before the shipping is applied. At least thats been my experience. Of course it could also be that the roasters who don't charge for shipping may not have the same quality as those who do.

rwgamer wrote:Modest coffee should be removed from the list. There is now a $35 limit for free shipping.

Done (thanks). Although maybe I should leave a few dead ends up to keep Randy on his toes...

jchung wrote:When I've looked at online roasters, the ones that don't charge additional for shipping seem to have a similar price / pound to those who do charge for shipping before the shipping is applied. At least thats been my experience. Of course it could also be that the roasters who don't charge for shipping may not have the same quality as those who do.

Shipping is very expensive. For example, for 1 lb of coffee, usps, the cheapest, charges over $7 for shipping on the west coast, even more for shipping on the east coast, I live in Portland, OR.
Companies that don't charge shipping coasts either eat the shipping costs or raise prices.

Exactly. Same goes for USPS Flat rate padded envelope, but at least it doesn't go higher than their set price. I have found though if shipping 12oz, commercial can go with first class shipping that is cheaper and only usually 1 day more than Priorty. It would be nice if roasters at least offered that as an option.

USPS First Class is now available up to 13 oz, but you cannot generate a pre-paid shipping label for First Class from the USPS site. You can, however generate a label from the PayPal shipping link (even if you haven't sold anything via PayPal) here.

Commercial users can probably generate first class pre-paid labels from their chosen shipping software solution.

I stumbled across this website about three weeks ago. It's called DrinkTrade.com. They are like a middle man for many North American roasters...many notable ones, and they brag about their free shipping! The first time I ordered I got 30% off a bag from Highwire (and no shipping). If you order within 15 days of your last order, shipping is free. It arrived in a timely fashion, direct from the roaster. Bag was roasted on 7-8-19 and delivered to my door on 7-10-19...two days, really can't do better than that! They will send you an email to let you know when you are getting close to 15 days. I ordered a bag of Intelligentsia Black Cat on day 14 (again no shipping), and the coffee cost is the same as if I ordered from the roaster direct. Not sure how they make any money with this business model, but it works for me. Next time I'll order some George Howell from them.

One thing I've noticed, the coffee choices are limited from each roaster.

Just tried out DrinkTrade based on your recommendation. I thought it must be a gimmick at first but it's seriously exactly what I was looking for. Thanks so much!

BaristaBob wrote:I stumbled across this website about three weeks ago. It's called DrinkTrade.com. They are like a middle man for many North American roasters...many notable ones, and they brag about their free shipping! The first time I ordered I got 30% off a bag from Highwire (and no shipping). If you order within 15 days of your last order, shipping is free. It arrived in a timely fashion, direct from the roaster. Bag was roasted on 7-8-19 and delivered to my door on 7-10-19...two days, really can't do better than that! They will send you an email to let you know when you are getting close to 15 days. I ordered a bag of Intelligentsia Black Cat on day 14 (again no shipping), and the coffee cost is the same as if I ordered from the roaster direct. Not sure how they make any money with this business model, but it works for me. Next time I'll order some George Howell from them.

One thing I've noticed, the coffee choices are limited from each roaster.

I just placed an order for George Howell Antigua Guatemala from Drink Trade. 30 seconds of googling and I found promo code QUARTERING. It came up as YOUTUBE50 or something like that. But I ended up with Free shipping and $9.00 off my order. So 12oz of George Howell coffee delivered to my door for $9.25... hard to beat that! Thanks for the tip.

^^^ Thanks, but the code only works on your first order. I've used Trade before and was pleased with how things went. Typical "third-party coffee site" experience with fast drop-shipping straight from the roaster. The limited selection that Bob noticed a few posts back is what usually keeps me from making repeat orders.

I found another roaster offering free shipping. They are called Bixby Roasting Co. I've tried them several times and while their coffee is definitely fresh it doesn't have a lot of fruitiness, which is the main thing I look for in coffee. They have 12 ounces for 12 dollars so it's worth a try. They even have K Cups. It seems like their mission is to get people off of grocery store coffee.

https://bixbycoffee.com/

Rick