The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

The Number One Club for owners of Triumph's range of small saloons from the 1960s and 1970s.
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 12:54 am 
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TDC West Mids Area Organiser
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Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 1:13 pm
Posts: 13316
Location: Over here...can't you see me?
The club publish a list of parts that through effort of various members, all of whom are volunteers, we are able to keep in stock and send out, usually on demand. A couple of points to note:

1. Despite the costs of both Royal Mail and UPS increasing with regular interval, we strive to keep the costs to members constant for as long as possible. This is why carriage inclusive prices are quoted as keeping pace with 'item cost plus postage costs' would be a never ending constantly changing task. No retailer I am aware of publishes postage costs for each item they supply for the same reason; you learn their postage and packing rates at 'checkout'

The costs the club publish are therefore the costs required from members for supply of each item and members should consider they are receiving them effectively with free postage. The same prices are charged at shows as they are for items posted as this provides the Club with a buffer to mitigate cost increases.

Now you may think you are entitled to a discount if ordering several parts at the same time as you think postage should be combined, but if you want that kind of service you should expect the cost of all parts to increase significantly as the club would probably have to pay someone to administer it. The parts orders are taken in Dorset, but the parts are stored and distributed separately from Somerset, West Midlands, Warwickshire and Hampshire. The system is simplified as the person taking the order doesn't know the size or weight of the items, but has a schedule of fixed prices to enable them to process the order and issue mandates for dispatch. Also, whilst we do combine some items where practical, the resulting saving offsets increased costs and allows the prices to be kept constant longer; please also consider that many items cannot be sent combined due to the risk of damage likely to be caused in transit: a cill reinforcer packaged with a boot floor repair for example would likely result in damage to the cill as well as being a b'stard to wrap (UPS insist all items are boxed or wrapped in cardboard). With the number of parts the Club now supplies, the number of possible combinations for different orders is huge; in order to quote postage for each order on its size and weight criteria, the order line would have to request that from the member(s) who hold the stock, who would have to package, weigh and measure them before advising the order line of the cost who could then in turn revert to the prospective customer member prior to taking payment; if the membership want this kind service would volunteers to take over the administration of it please form an orderly queue!

Some parts are also subsidised by others; if for example you order a single wheel arch lip, the price you pay no longer covers the actual costs. Other slower moving parts have capital overheads that have yet to be compensated for; the GRP 1300fwd front valance, the rear roof vent panel and the transmission tunnel still have yet to sell sufficient volume to cover the costs of their moulds.

There are other costs the club has to bear: both PayPal and card payments invoke a fee, and the latter requires a card processing machine which carries its own costs. I spend over £40 a year on parcel tape. Certain parts are sent out in boxes which have to be bought in to ensure they fit within Royal Mail's sizing regime, for example seat diaphragms; all of these costs are covered within the stated cost of the parts.

Where combined costs can easily be calculated, for example with cill sections, savings are offered to members and the published price lists clearly state this; they are unique in that their length dictates rates that are wholly disproportionate to the weights involved.

2. If it is not separately itemised on the parts list, we do not supply it.


So please, don't make our valued volunteers' jobs harder; if you don't like the costs published, no one is forcing you to place an order.


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