Another product load on the way to a happy customer.

On occasion, we receive a call from someone asking if we offer “free freight”.

The short answer is rarely.

But more important is the reason why.

We strive every day to source the absolute best, quality products and offer them at the most affordable prices possible.

And part of our service is to deliver them to you at the very best possible price, including freight.

There really isn’t such a thing as “free freight”. Our business and all our competitors are in business to make money – to be profitable. We look at freight, just like labor, electricity and office supplies, as a business expense.

And just like labor, electricity and office supplies, we try to keep the freight expense at a bare minimum. That is why we work with UPS and USPS to leverage our shipping volume to obtain the very best shipping prices for our clients.

On products that need LTL delivery, we send each shipment out for multiple quotes and then share these costs with our clients so they can select the delivery company that best matches their needs. And yes, nine times out of ten you select the lowest price.

We could treat freight as a source of revenue and simply mark up the freight rates. Or we could take all the freight bills and divide them by the number of shipments and come up with an “average” rate that everyone pays. But we believe that this is a complicated way to charge some customers (who are close to us) more and lower the cost for clients who operate further from us. And I am sure our accountants might want us to add a “factor” to the average rates so we never get caught paying more for freight than we collect.

In the end, we prefer to look at freight as a controllable expense, not a source of revenue.

So if you are a customer in Michigan (where we are based) you are going to pay less for freight on a Mandals Mainline Hose than one of our clients in Texas because you are closer to our warehouse.

However, we still love our Texas customers just as much as our Michigan customers. This is why we work closely with our vendors. When it makes sense, and we can save a client some money, rather than shipping from our warehouse, we will have the vendor ship directly to you. Less freight and everybody wins.

With all that said, we also offer “free freight” when it is possible. There is a difference in buying “one widget” and “one hundred widgets”. For larger orders, occasionally we can offer “free freight”, as long as we can continue to make a profit as well.

Questions about freight costs? Give us a call at 517-458-9741.

We work hard to provide the very best products, at the very best prices, including freight, for every customer.