$11 may seem like a lot to ship a $24 book. But sometimes I look at shipping from the opposite perspective and am amazed at how cheap it really is. How much would somebody have to pay you to deliver a book to BPL? I would have to deliver a whole lot of books at $11 each to make it worth the week long round trip drive from PA to MT back to PA. As consumers, we really benefit from great economies of scale from postal carriers. Heck, I can't even justify making the trip to my nearest REI to pick up an item in the store when I could just have it shipped directly to my house.
My reference above doesn't address the concern of a retailer charging in excess of its shipping costs, but I sometimes think shipping is too cheap. What are the environmental costs of having so many of our consumer goods individually dropped off at our doorstep?
