DHL officially dead for DCBS (how is UPS doing?)

[BobBretall]

I might give HC a go if DCBS doesn't pick up a second shipping choice -- hopefully fedex.

I think you are going to need to give HC a chance if you don't like UPS, which now appears to be the only DCBS shipping option.

I explicitly asked DCBS if they would consider FedEx as a second option, their response was as follows:

No, we will not be offering FedEx. We have looked in to their rates and they are cost prohibitive.

PS: Current HC customers, can you verify that they use FedEx?? I'm really curious how HC could be using FedEx for their shipping in DCBS thinks they are cost prohibitive, especially given that shipping costs are roughly the same with the 2 companies (within a few bucks a month).

[IanG]

PS: Current HC customers, can you verify that they use FedEx?? I'm really curious how HC could be using FedEx for their shipping in DCBS thinks they are cost prohibitive, especially given that shipping costs are roughly the same with the 2 companies (within a few bucks a month).

I've been getting my HC shipments via FedEX Ground service. Last month I was on the twice a month shipping for $9.95. My box has been coming in two days time but I'm on the east coast. After Thanksgiving, I got my box on a Saturday. It was the strangest thing because the they were driving a Budget rent-a-truck instead of the usual FedEx truck. I was psyched to have the rest of the weekend to read my books. This month I'm trying the one a month shipment because it's free for being over $75. It's killing me waiting a month for my books. I may just have to go back to twice a month shipping.

On a side note, HC emailed me the December order spreadsheet today. I had emailed them to say hey what's up. I agree that waiting until the 13th of the month is a way too long. Hopefully not a trend for that.

[Trev]

I explicitly asked DCBS if they would consider FedEx as a second option, their response was as follows:

No, we will not be offering FedEx. We have looked in to their rates and they are cost prohibitive.

PS: Current HC customers, can you verify that they use FedEx?? I'm really curious how HC could be using FedEx for their shipping in DCBS thinks they are cost prohibitive, especially given that shipping costs are roughly the same with the 2 companies (within a few bucks a month).

That's horsecrap. I just came from a meeting at a customer who has to change from DHL and *they* are going with Fedex. It may be that Fedex will only give DCBS a deal if they go exclusive with them or guarantee a certain number of shipments, but it sounds suspect to me that they would be cost prohibitive. At the very least it seems DCBS could offer Fedex for a premium approaching what HC charges.

Honestly, I don't understand why they don't offer 2 or 3 day service as well. I would probably go to $25/month if I could get 2 day service and get my books Thurs or Fri instead of Mon or Tues.

Out of curiosity, where is HC located? If they are closer to Texas or a major hub, that may factor in for me. I essentially lose a day getting my package from DCBS in Fort Wayne to a hub and then from there to Austin, sometimes with a stop in between.

[Trev]

I would, however, believe that the processes at DCBS aren't yet mature enough for them to take on UPS and Fedex as options.

[Alec Burkhardt]

PS: Current HC customers, can you verify that they use FedEx?? I'm really curious how HC could be using FedEx for their shipping in DCBS thinks they are cost prohibitive, especially given that shipping costs are roughly the same with the 2 companies (within a few bucks a month).

As with Ian, all my HC shipments have been via FedEx. I would have received my after Thanksgiving shipment on Saturday as well, but I have packages sent to my work, so they arrived on Monday. Of course, I'm currently in Iowa City for work, so the distance wasn't that great. I expect were I back in Tucson, the package might not have arrived until Tuesday.

I also received the HC spreadsheet today, and noticed that it is also available on the website. Have no idea what the earlier Dec. 13 notice was about, although they are still later than DCBS this month.

Out of curiosity, where is HC located? If they are closer to Texas or a major hub, that may factor in for me. I essentially lose a day getting my package from DCBS in Fort Wayne to a hub and then from there to Austin, sometimes with a stop in between.

Heroes Corner is located in South Bend, Indiana. So it is pretty much down the highway from DCBS. The hubs for FedEx (HC) and DHL (DCBS) resulted in slightly different routes from Indiana to Tucson, but pretty much the same time frame from either. I don't know the UPS route yet, but I do have concerns. Having known someone who's worked in the UPS hub in Dallas (where packages are still sorted by hand), I'm leery of having packages go through there, as they literally toss the boxes around.

[Frank Castle]

HC ships from Mishawaka, IN and the west coast boxes appear to all be going thru the Chicago, IL hub.

[Trev]

Crazy that they are both in Indiana. There's a diamond pick up point in San Antonio. Makes we want to start an online biz for the western half of the US that builds on that model. Who'd like to get their books a couple of days earlier?

[JohnMayo]

Crazy that they are both in Indiana. There's a diamond pick up point in San Antonio. Makes we want to start an online biz for the western half of the US that builds on that model. Who'd like to get their books a couple of days earlier?

I always figured that if you set up locations in a few key places you could run a mail order comic business that got comics to people on a next day basis. Just put a location in each UPS or FedEx zone near the hub. It would take a little work to automate the split of the orders based on best location to ship out of but that wouldn't be too difficult to do. In theory customers could get the shipments on Thursdays in most locations. Of course, in practice it might not be that simple...

[BobBretall]

I would, however, believe that the processes at DCBS aren't yet mature enough for them to take on UPS and Fedex as options.

OK, I talked to Cameron yesterday, and they are going to be looking into FedEx, we'll probably hear more in January. The previous response I got (FedEx is cost prohibitive) was from someone going off of old information. In point of fact, if FedEx is not out of range on cost for HC, cost should not be the prohibiting factor for DCBS either.

On the DCBS processes are not mature enough front, I think that is wrong.

If anything, the DCBS processes are too automated. Since they have shipping integrated automatically into their web-site and systems, adding FedEx is non-trivial, and involves programming (Including understanding the programmatic interfaces at FedEx) and then testing of the integration before it is unleashed on their customer base.

BTW, I believe DCBS has somewhere from 5x to 10x the number of customers that HC has, so it's a much bigger deal to make changes that are ensured to work smoothly.

[BobBretall]

Crazy that they are both in Indiana. There's a diamond pick up point in San Antonio. Makes we want to start an online biz for the western half of the US that builds on that model. Who'd like to get their books a couple of days earlier?

If there was an on-line service comparable to DBCS/HC in the West that would guarantee me my books arriving by Friday/Saturday, I would probably switch to them (or at least give them a try).

All the East Coasters get their books WAY earlier than me, and it's kind of irritating

Opening a Western branch in a solid "hub city" is something that the DCBS/HC folks should consider, though I'm not sure if there is a solid business case for this. Seems like the benefit of running a mailorder business is to be able to hit all your customers from a single hub. I guess it comes down to how much extra business would a company get by offering faster shipping to the West.

Seems like maybe this would be more of a business case for a new company to come in and cater to the "West Coast centric" customers.

[BobBretall]

Honestly, I don't understand why they don't offer 2 or 3 day service as well. I would probably go to $25/month if I could get 2 day service and get my books Thurs or Fri instead of Mon or Tues.

Hell, I'd consider bumping up to $40/month to get my books by Friday instead of the following Tuesday.

[Frank Castle]

Nice work Bob, hopefully Fedex becomes a real option.

And I too would love a West Coast Hub. If my boxs leaves Wednesday, I'll get it the following Wednesday 9 out of 10 times.

[zack kruse]

Since they have shipping integrated automatically into their web-site and systems, adding FedEx is non-trivial, and involves programming (Including understanding the programmatic interfaces at FedEx) and then testing of the integration before it is unleashed on their customer base.

That, precisely, is the biggest hurdle to overcome and does not come without considerable cost--both in direct cost and indirect cost. What I mean by indirect costs is the internal and customer-use updates that would have to be set aside as well as the time and cost involved with dealing with customer care for potential FedEx shippers.

To echo what Cameron had told Bob, the demise of DHL's domestic shipping sort of took us by surprise as much as it did many other people. So, while we're considering our options for offering FedEx shipping for 2009 we do have lots to consider and variables to deal with in order to make that happen--and happen in a way that is smooth and efficient for everyone involved.

Once we have our ducks in a row with our current programming projects, then I think it's safe to say that we'll be moving forward in re-extending our shipping options.

[HassanT]

All the East Coasters get their books WAY earlier than me, and it's kind of irritating

So, since I was home sick today, I shouldn't mention to you that I already received and read half of my comic book stack

Zack and Bob, thanks for the update about DCBS future plans.

Zack - I am sure that it is not easy to convert the process to include FedEx into the mix. DCBS runs a very efficient process and to remain efficient, any changes have to be vetted before they can be executed.

As for UPS, no problems so far, except for the fact that their holiday schedules are pretty bad. But that has nothng to do with DCBS.

Thanks,
Hassan

[Trev]

Since they have shipping integrated automatically into their web-site and systems, adding FedEx is non-trivial, and involves programming (Including understanding the programmatic interfaces at FedEx) and then testing of the integration before it is unleashed on their customer base.

That, precisely, is the biggest hurdle to overcome and does not come without considerable cost--both in direct cost and indirect cost. What I mean by indirect costs is the internal and customer-use updates that would have to be set aside as well as the time and cost involved with dealing with customer care for potential FedEx shippers.

To echo what Cameron had told Bob, the demise of DHL's domestic shipping sort of took us by surprise as much as it did many other people. So, while we're considering our options for offering FedEx shipping for 2009 we do have lots to consider and variables to deal with in order to make that happen--and happen in a way that is smooth and efficient for everyone involved.

Once we have our ducks in a row with our current programming projects, then I think it's safe to say that we'll be moving forward in re-extending our shipping options.

Not to dis DCBS too much, but Bob, this is what I meant by process maturity. I actually know a little bit about this subject as a major customer of my company is in the same situation as DCBS and is switching from DHL to Fedex. In this case, though, they are very mature and making the change involves more testing than coding -- about a 5:1 ratio in terms of time. And most of that is due to the size of the company and the logistics involved with people wrangling, code promotion, etc. and less about actual work. There's a case to be made that DCBS could be nimbler in this area bec. they are smaller and their customer base is smaller.

It's about making your process as shipper agnostic as possible and coding the solution in a way that the shipper is as modular as possible. So that the business is agile enough to switch to a new shipping partner within a matter of weeks instead of months.

I'm not saying that DCBS has the resources of this company and should be as agile. What I'm saying is that it shouldn't take until June or July for this change to happen.

I'm glad to hear that the previous comment about being cost prohibitive was a little off base.