Is it Really Free?
This is one of the best marketing gimmicks that many of the top gun safe manufacturers have developed in the twentieth century of safe sales. If you have ever watched the older commercials for the diamond ring sales or engagement rings, then you will recognize good marketing that has influenced the prices of a product.
De beers diamonds came up with the phrases “diamonds are forever” and “diamonds are a girls best friend”. It was the marketing department that pushed into our daily reality that a man should pay three times his monthly salary for an engagement ring, preferably a diamond. A similar thing was done in the gun safe industry.
FREE shipping was a great tag line to be used in marketing a product that is very heavy, and very large. Very heavy and very large are great aspects when you are trying to sell a tank to the government or a bulldozer, but when you are trying to sell and ship a product across the United States, that is bad and becomes costly for freight. Basically the safe companies that offer FREE shipping are building the shipping costs into the price of the safe. Try comparing a safe of equal size and options given to one that does not give free shipping. In most cases the free shipping included safe is higher priced by about $200.
We have spoken with many of the freight shipping companies in the USA and they have all told us that if we were a safe company looking to ship across the nation, that we could do it for $200 bucks and the areas marked special by them would cost us about $225 and that we would lose some money on those areas.
They also informed us that there would be at least half of the areas that would only actually costs us $100 and that the price increase on our safes to those customers would yield us a profit and balance out the loss on the other safes. Some of the freight companies also suggested to us to build in a list of restrictions and allow up to 8 weeks for delivery and thus the costs for shipping would stay low and the customer would be paying the extra to cover our losses.
When we started getting into this FREE shipping subject more and more, there was no longer free shipping in all reality. Some companies are very up front and honest about these shipping costs, and they offer you to find options.
Are there Options?
There are always options, in my opinion. We would suggest that you look into the safe company you choose and ask about a price without shipping. Another thing you should be able to do is to ask for any discounts additional.
Almost every safe company executive we have spoken with has told us that there is some margin to move on price but that most customers never even consider asking. Call some of the moving companies in your town also see if there is a lower shipping price to a business or a truck terminal and you pick it up.
There is usually a price to a business with a dock or forklift, which is in many cases anywhere from $50 to $100 less for these types of deliveries.
You can then go and pick up the safe. You can also go to craigslist and look up handymen or furniture movers to pick it up and even place the safe for you. That brings us to another important subject; what about placing the safe.
Ideas for Placing a Heavy Safe:
If you are looking to purchase a safe that is under 500lbs, then a standard refrigerator dolly usually will be fine to move it without stairs.
If you are moving a safe that is 500-1000lbs, then we suggest either having many large friends come help you or a moving company. Having professionals move an extra large or heavy safe is not foolish, but good insurance. If you have the safe delivered and they bring into your garage and drop it there, as most freight companies will do, then there are some ideas for moving it and placing into your home if that is what you need.
We have seen some people move the larger safes using PVC pipe like the Egyptians used to move stones. We have also seen that some have even used old spare golf balls under them and they were able to move them 360 degrees. We do suggest you ask moving or piano companies for their ideas, as we are not movers here.