Data from tech company 'shippit' shows fewer online retailers are offering free delivery as the cost of freight goes up.
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00:00This bra here, which is a size 6D, this is probably going to cost about $8 or $9 to ship,
00:09depending on the destination.
00:12This bra here, 28N, could be as much as $25, depending where it's going.
00:16And do you charge 28N more to ship it to them?
00:19Absolutely not.
00:20No, we're certainly not going to charge anyone any different just based on the size they
00:24wear.
00:25We smooth that out with a flat rate shipping charge.
00:27So you absorb the cost of...
00:29We do.
00:30Yeah.
00:31I think our challenge is to look at innovative packaging and different carriers to try and
00:35work to get that cost down.
00:40So when online shopping first took off, lots of retailers got us hooked on it by offering
00:45up free shipping.
00:46Now it is entrenched and some retailers are now making us pay a lot more for shipping
00:52or they're upping the amount that you have to spend to get something delivered to you
00:57for free.
00:58We charge $8.99.
00:59For?
01:00A flat rate, or it's free shipping if you spend over $99.
01:03Have you considered raising the $99 free shipping threshold?
01:07Absolutely.
01:08Yeah.
01:09It's something that is certainly on our agenda and I think we might have to do soon-ish.
01:13Whether that goes to $120 or $130, hard to say.
01:17But we love to hold it at $99 as long as we can.
01:20And why can't you just give me free shipping on everything?
01:23With Australia Post rising their prices significantly, particularly recently, we don't have the margins
01:30to do that.
01:31It's a huge challenge.
01:33Free returns are also being phased out by fascia retailers like ASOS.
01:38Environmental advocates say this might actually be a good thing because free returns have
01:43been incentivising us to buy stuff we don't necessarily know we want and then return it,
01:48wasting a whole lot of plastic and fuel in the process to do this.
01:54What's the weirdest return you've ever had?
01:57We've definitely had scissors, light bulbs, pencil cases, bracelets.
02:04How?
02:05I don't know.
02:07People accidentally put their scissors in with the bra?
02:10I think so.
02:11Yeah, they obviously get their prepaid label and I think they just get so flustered with
02:16trying to get their return back that they just kind of put random things in there.
02:20Six years ago, retailers were telling us that they'd get something delivered to us in two
02:25days' time.
02:26Now they're saying more than five.
02:29But actually, delivery times are getting shorter, meaning that businesses are basically under-promising
02:35and over-delivering.