Blue Coal and All Scale Rails Magazine

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Whatcha doing with an N&W 3 bay 70T hopper??

Nothing now -- every 3- or 4-bay hopper was sold off regardless of prototype; reduction in roster inventory combined with a re-grouping to a more pre-1920's prototype appearance. I do, however, keep some later cars for my anachronism train to run if/when I ever have another open house.

[webenda]

My order came in today.
No time now--will evaluate car, cost(including shipping) later.
For now here is a photo.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

My order came in today.
No time now--will evaluate car, cost(including shipping) later.

It is ..................bright!

[rex desilets]

Whatcha doing with an N&W 3 bay 70T hopper??

Nothing now -- every 3- or 4-bay hopper was sold off regardless of prototype; reduction in roster inventory combined with a re-grouping to a more pre-1920's prototype appearance. I do, however, keep some later cars for my anachronism train to run if/when I ever have another open house.

Complete with a diseaseal loco? Or is that a step too far?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Whatcha doing with an N&W 3 bay 70T hopper??

Nothing now -- every 3- or 4-bay hopper was sold off regardless of prototype; reduction in roster inventory combined with a re-grouping to a more pre-1920's prototype appearance. I do, however, keep some later cars for my anachronism train to run if/when I ever have another open house.

Complete with a diseaseal loco? Or is that a step too far?

Yup! Central drive Weaver RS-3 all tricked out for PRR. Also have an old All-Nation NW-2 - ever O scale modeler has to have had at least one of these in their hobby lifetime.

[webenda]

My order came in today.
No time now--will evaluate car, cost(including shipping) later.

It is ..................bright!

Now don't set me off on weathering toy trains again.

It is pristine*--I can find no flaw anywhere. I got a good one for the lowest price of the day.
*Except wheel tread shows it has a few miles on it.

Weight on USPS scale 38.3 oz (2 lb 6.3 oz)

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The car is 8 1/4 inches long.
NMRA suggested weight :
5 oz + 1 oz/inch = 5 + 1 * 8.25 = 13.25 oz (0.828 lb)

Item Price: $32.00
Shipping: $26.10
What I paid: $58.10

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USPS Shipping cost: $17.15

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Let the murmuring begin.

[robert.]

You should have questioned the seller about shipping price before you bought it. If you bought through ebay the may return some excessive shipping fees. I'm not sure what they allow for packing fees and handling.If your lucky you will find these limits on their website. One unique feature about blue coal is the fire to get hotter further away from the coal.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

$26 for shipping?

Even $17 is a lot!

I know that eBay permits some room for handling and such, but that seems excessive.

Yes, I'd complain back to the seller - individual or company/dealer/shop?

[webenda]

$26 for shipping?
Yes, I'd complain back to the seller - individual or company/dealer/shop?

How can I tell individual or company/dealer/shop?

[webenda]

:

[Tom Dempsey]

The cost of shipping a package includes more than just the actual postage charged.

[webenda]

One unique feature about blue coal is the fire to get hotter further away from the coal.

Advertising hype. Dying the coal blue does not make it burn hotter farther away from the coal. All coal fires are hotter away from the coal particle (or lump.) Air combining with coal gases moving away from a coal particle increases the temperature of the gases greatly.

https://web.anl.gov/PCS/acsfuel/preprin ... 7_0001.pdf

[Rufus T. Firefly]

The cost of shipping a package includes more than just the actual postage charged.

While true, that initial postal cost seems high. Also, $9 in handling is also just a wee bit high.

Boxes are free from the PO delivered to your door; postal labels are free to print and come with a discount on postal costs, and pick-up from your door can also be done. Bubble wrap and tape do cost, but as an example, I keep a large stock on hand so to spread costs across many, many packages - pennies per box at the end of the day and I'm not even a company but just an individual seller.

Ok, I left out time.......I don't charge for my time. If I did, I would sell nothing at all.

[webenda]

...that initial postal cost seems high.

The seller sent the package "Priority Mail", not offering less expensive shipping methods. Postage cost was set by the USPS.

The cost of shipping a package includes more than just the actual postage charged.

I know. At the risk of the seller calling me "stupid" I asked the question to satisfy certain individuals who think preparing the package for shipping should be free. (And curiosity to see if I will get a polite response.)

The guy asking $99.99 with free shipping included paper work, packaging, overhead, etc. costs in the asking price.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

...that initial postal cost seems high.

The seller sent the package "Priority Mail", not offering less expensive shipping methods. Postage cost was set by the USPS.

That's surprising since I do ship freight car models cross country using Priority Mail - never paid that high a rate. Priority Mail is frequently very competitive in price with the so-called less expensive (and slower) methods.

Something is not adding up right. Rates are determined by not only zones, but also size of the item. How big a box was this in and what was the shipping origin state? I usually use the Priority Mail shoe box boxes (delivered to your porch for free!) that apparently very few people are aware of existing.