These are just some of my impressions of these companies after doing some business with them. Obviously, different people will have different experiences. Take it for what it is, a review.
Alaska Bush Service focuses on Costco and charges a flat 17% service fee on the price of what you bought, plus the actual shipping. I've ordered from them in the past, and it always seemed a little high somehow, though they claimed to charge only 15% of costco prices plus actual shipping. What I learned was the prices they used were from their catalog, and they were inflated from what Costco's actual prices were! So it is 17% of their catalog price, regardless of what it really costs in the store, meaning they are making a lot more off of you than the advertised 17%. When I figured out how much I was being overcharged, I cancelled the order and they gave me a refund. To check it out for yourself, just request a catalog, and then take it into Costco with you the next time you go. Maybe they've changed this in the 2 or 3 years since I tried using them. On the plus side, they also used to charge you extra if you paid via credit card, though they've stopped doing that now. They also have excellent customer service and a strong "mom & pop" feel, and they are willing to drive around to specific stores (like Carr's, New Sagaya, Fred Meyer) at your request. 8/15/07 Update: I tried to request a new catalog to use for the price comparison page, but they are not accepting new customers (or reactivating old ones) at this time due to a multi-week backlog of orders. GRADE: C+
I recently went with Express Yourself Expeditors on a groceries and drinks order from costco. We did the shopping ourselves and left the food in the carts. I made sure to get over 1,000 pounds so as to save a little money on the postage. There were 12 cases of water, 12 cases of sports drinks, and 1 cart full of groceries. The bill was $528.01. They charged my credit card $727.15 to mail everything. I asked them for a detailed receipt, they said it would be included in the packaging. I got an invoice that said they were charging $690.76 for the packing and postage, $15.21 for a "fuel surcharge" that wasn't mentioned on the costco paperwork, and $21.18 for "payments made by other than check or bank transfer will be charged a 3% fee."
There were 22 boxes in all. I emailed them and asked how it could possibly cost so much. I was figuring a service fee of about $85 (16%), a packaging fee of $44 ($1.99 per box), and that meant that the other $560 or so was just for postage for 22 boxes. That would be $25.50 per box, about double what it should cost via bypass mail. After a week delay, I heard back from Chris Jett, the general manager, who said they had overcharged me by about $155.00. He gave no explanation as to how/why this happened. They credited me. So the new total charge was $572.19. The shipping now came out to $412.50, calculated by multiplying my order's weight (1250#) by $.33. I knew this was still a little high, especially considering it was going via bypass, which avoids the $2.87 per box "heavy fee". Dividing this shipping total by 22 means that each box averaged 57 pounds and a charge of $18.75. The actual charge on each box averaged around $14. I looked at each box's postage sticker, the amount printed on each metered sticker. So they were dinging me for almost $5 per box.
I emailed them back and basically just said "Am I right that this is what you're doing, and would parcel post have been the same price?" Chris replied that parcel post would have been the actual postage price for shipping. To repeat, he was claiming that parcel post would be cheaper for me as a customer than bypass, despite the fact that it is more of a pain for his company, and each box costs his company $3 more to send. I'm a trusting guy by nature, but I'm skeptical about this. However, I did place another call to them asking about their service and what they charge. I spoke to a woman who said that the postage charges would be the same as what the post office charges. So maybe that is indeed how it works. I guess the only way to know for sure is to place a parcel post order with them, which I won't. If you do, let me know what you learn!
Anyway, they were polite and professional via phone and email, but you can probably tell how I feel about them. The actual profit on my order, AFTER they returned over $150 to me, was still in the neighborhood of $260. If I'd done it all myself on the cheap (see here), it would have only cost me the cost of postage, or about $16 per box (I wouldn't get the bypass mail rate like they did) times 22 boxes, equals $352. The revised charge was $572.19, so I really "paid" $220 for them to do it for me, or about a $10 markup per box. I thought I was going to pay around $130 (16% plus $1.99 per box). Oh well, I learned something. It was my frustration from this experience and the general difficulty of knowing exactly how much the different firms charge and which is the best deal that led me to put all of this time into this web resource.
GRADE: D- Average charge per box = $26 (even after $150 refund)
I've used JB Bush (243-7233 or 800-478-7234, fax is 243-5744, email is jbbush@gci.net) a few times, via faxed orders to their company, as well as faxed orders to Sam's, as well as grocery carts left at Sam's full of my stuff. If you look at the Sam's Club Alaska Bush Catalog, it describes the charges on the page opposite the table of contents. It sounds very high. Basically it comes to 44% of the total purchase, PLUS $8 per "heavy item." When I've bought drinks there, every 2 cases of gatorade or water counts as a heavy, and every three smaller cases of orange juice counted as one heavy.
Recently buying $698.52 worth of drinks at Sam's cost $111.76 in service fees (16%), $195.59 in postage fees (28%), $192 in "heavy item" fees (24*$8, helps pay for the postage), for a total of $505.52. This order came in 24 separate parcels, with an average weight of right around 60 pounds. I paid an average of $16.15 per box, so they made almost nothing on the postage fees. Note that I would have paid way less for shipping if I'd bought bottled water because much of the shipping charge is based on item cost. These were all very, very heavy parcels that were strapped together (remember my order was entirely made up of drinks, unlike the order described above). If I'd done it myself, I would have had to use at least 30 boxes to lower the average weight to 48 pounds. This would have increased my cost, of course, to something near $450. So I feel like I paid a premium of about $50 for them to prepare over 50 cases of drinks for mailing and transport them to the post office and mail them. THAT is a good deal. And these guys have no sneaky fees for "fuel" or using a credit card to pay the bill, or for packaging, etc etc. So I think they're great, compared to the competition.
The downside is they don't generally go to Costco. Also, their charges worked differently when I faxed an order into JB Bush directly. In that case, you pay 15% of the total as well as a 2.5% "fuel surcharge" as well as what they claim is true postage. But one time the postage charge was an estimate that seemed a little high to me. Faxing orders directly to JB Bush might be a little faster, and allows you to get items from Sam's AND Costco, and you can use any credit card you want. Faxing to Sam's forces you to use Mastercard or Discover, but it might keep the charges a little more predictable.
GRADE: A- Average charge per box = $21
I've also used Wal-Mart. Quoting from the narrative page... They charge you the in-store cost of items, plus a 10% fee for boxing and mailing, plus the actual shipping costs via USPS. This is a really good deal, compared to the other guys. They have a bush order form you can save, print, and fax in. And there is a page for FAQ regarding bush orders. You can also go in person to the Wal-Mart by the Dimond Mall (just south of the Dimond/Old Seward intersection), fill carts with stuff, and take them to the bush order department in the back and they'll take care of it from there. This is great if you don't have a lot of time. The problem of course is that Wal-Mart doesn't exactly have tons of groceries. (Aaaaaand they are the ultimate symbol of capitalism taken to its worst extreme) You can pay up front or COD. GRADE: A