Escalon shipping vs others

[beeftime]

I just ordered 3 #10 cans of 6 in 1 and 3 Bella rosa cans. The shipping was $1.50. I was floored. How do they get away with that? Now if I order just 1 can from Pennmac, the shipping is 3 times the price of the can. What is going on here? Escalon's shipping charge makes me feel like I am almost ripping them off b/c It's so low. Why are places like pennmac and goupmetitalian charging terrorist like shipping while Escalon is almost nothing?

[c0mpl3x]

because pennmac loses a lot of customers over long range shipments, and poor QC/price control in the local market.   

[Pete-zza]

I just ordered 3 #10 cans of 6 in 1 and 3 Bella rosa cans. The shipping was $1.50.

beeftime,

From whom did you buy the tomatoes, directly from Escalon or through an intermediary?

Peter

[beeftime]

I bougt them from Escalon's website. The shipping is insanley low. I live in south Jersey - not far from penmac and they still charge ripoff prices for shipping. Just 1 #10 can is like $15 shipping. It feels like a hate crime compared to the $1.50 shipping for 6 cans. People praise penmac but they are obviously scamming everyone. $5.00 for a can is fine but $15.00 to ship that can is a crime compared to escalons shipping.

[Pete-zza]

beeftime,

The reason for my question is because the only size can I see at the escalon.net website is 28 ounces, not #10 cans: https://www.escalon.net/shop.aspx. From what I can tell, the only 6 in 1 size cans that pennmac sells online is the #10 cans: http://www.pennmac.com/page/27. A #10 can (http://www.pennmac.com/items/3227), at 105 ounces, is equivalent to 105/28 = 3.75 28-ounce cans. I did not complete the PennMac form to see what the shipping of a #10 can of 6 in 1s is to Texas, where I live, but you would have to do an apples-to-apples comparison of the total costs purchasing 6 in 1s directly from Escalon with the total costs for shipping the same amount of 6 in 1s by weight from PennMac. Also, sometimes the shipping costs that PennMac assesses might allow you to purchase other items without increasing the shipping charges.

I might also add that in the past some members have reported buying the 6 in 1s in 28-ounce cans at some Kroger stores and some specialty food markets, at a cost that was less than $3.33 a can, or even $2.50 a can when buying six cans at a time from Escalon.

I'd be interested in seeing how you make out by doing an apples-to-apples cost comparison as noted above.

Peter

[beeftime]

My mistake. I did not know much about canning size. 

[Pete-zza]

My mistake. I did not know much about canning size. 

beeftime,

After I last posted on this subject, I went back to the PennMac website and played around with several hypothetical "orders" to see how the shipping charges changed based on what I "ordered" and in what amounts. What I found is that buying just a single item from PennMac, such as a single #10 can of tomatoes, may not be practical from a shipping cost standpoint. For example, I found that I could buy two #10 cans for the same shipping cost as one #10 can. That might be fine if I want two cans but if I really only want one can, there is a premium to be paid in buying just that one can from PennMac. I also added several more items to my hypothetical "order" and found that the more I "bought", the less the shipping charges on a proportional basis. So, I concluded that buying a lot of stuff is better than buying only a few things from a shipping cost standpoint.

The other thing that is important to keep in mind is that PennMac sells a lot of different pizza related ingredients and other items. I think they have one of the best and diverse offerings of pizza ingredients that I have seen in one place on the internet. By contrast, at Escalon, you can only purchase two kinds of tomato products. My advice is to determine what ingredients you want in total, and try to find the best total price, including shipping. If you want a lot of things, it is quite probable that you will do best with a place like PennMac, where you can get everthing in one place, rather than trying to find the best price per item, where you will encounter multiple shipping costs and a higher overall cost as a result.

On the 6 in 1s, it still makes sense to do a total cost comparison between Escalon and PennMac, or any other source. For a few 28 ounce cans of 6 in 1s, it is quite likely that you will do better with overall cost on an equal volume basis with Escalon than with PennMac. But at some point, there will be a crossover that gives the cost advantage to PennMac. That is why you can't really berate PennMac in this instance. It all comes down to what you want to purchase and in what amounts. You might also find that you prefer to have small cans rather than #10 cans. Unless you intend to use a full #10 can, it is more convenient for most people to go with the 28 ounce cans from a place like Escalon. That way, you don't have to find ways to store the unused portion of a #10 can.

Peter

[beeftime]

Pete, thanks for testing that out. No argument that they are the #1 place to buy pizza related items. I often spend hours there just looking at that grande cheese and ezzo pep. I would probably pass out if I ever went there. But the 'buy more and pay less shipping' is the most common scam on the net. It creates the illusion of saving but you are really just buying more stuff. I just wonder if Escalon is loosing money on shipping or is $1.50 for 6 28oz cans is the norm? Would you reccomend Bonta pizza sauce

[Pete-zza]

beeftime,

I am not sure why Escalon, which is owned by Heinz, even sells small cans of their two sauces online. At one time, there were two versions of the 6 in 1s, and I once read or was told by an Escalon employee that they were thinking of adding even more products to that line. Instead, they dropped one of the two 6 in 1 products and never expanded the line. Maybe they offer the two products as part of an overall advertising and promotion strategy. Most companies like Escalon and Stanislaus routinely give large cans of their products to pizza operators to sample, so I don't know where their online program fits into the bigger picture.

I have never tried the Bonta sauce so I don't have an opinion on it.

Peter

[Pete-zza]

But the 'buy more and pay less shipping' is the most common scam on the net. It creates the illusion of saving but you are really just buying more stuff.

I don't know how PennMac works with its carriers to establish what to charge for shipping, so it would be presumptuous for me to call what it does a scam. Also, I know that there are some items, like cheeses, that require special handling with more packing materials that raise shipping costs. Also, there may be minimum shipping charges and handling fees involved. But charging less based on volume is a legal and time honored practice. That practice is part of the business models of the big box stores like Costco and Sam's. I know that everyone would like lower shipping charges but items like #10 cans of tomatoes and bags of flour just happen to weigh a lot, and packing and shipping fresh cheeses across the country is not an inexpensive exercise. As best I can tell, PennMac makes good on things that go wrong.

I read an article recently that said that the Amazon Prime membership plan often works against members' economic interest and apparently is a profitable part of Amazon's business. Apparently many people end up buying more from Amazon as a result. But no one has claimed that that plan is a scam. I tend to reserve the term scam for where people are cheated out of their money, in some cases one's entire life's savings.

Peter

[Tscarborough]

The way shipping works is not a mystery or a scam.  The initial cost is incurred no matter what is delivered.  Once that cost is accounted for, then additional revenue derived from the delivery allows the per unit cost to decrease, and if the order is large enough it allows for the freight charge to be absorbed into general overhead instead of being listed as a line item charge.

Same as it has been for thousands of years going back as far as recorded history (plus it is just common sense).

[dmcavanagh]

Escalon ships a carton of 6 28oz. cans of 6 in 1's for $16.50.

[Mad_Ernie]

Would you reccomend Bonta pizza sauce

The best way I can describe the Bonta "sauce" is as a rich tomato paste.  I ordered two #10 cans from Pennmac almost a year ago and I still have the second can in my pantry.  There are actually 2 or 3 Bonta sauces.   THere is not much too them.  Just tomato and maybe a tiny bit of basil.  I think Pennmac offers 2 of them.  I would suggest if you want to try one, find some folks who would be interested and share some with them, otherwise you'll have to freeze once you open the can (unless you plan on making 50 pizzas in the next few days).

-ME

[Pete-zza]

Escalon ships a carton of 6 28oz. cans of 6 in 1's for $16.50.

Dave,

When I ran my hypothetical PennMac orders as discussed earlier in this thread, I found that it became cheaper to use PennMac once you reached the equivalent of about 12 small (28 ounce) cans of the 6 in 1s. Specifically, twelve 28-ounce cans of the 6 in 1s from Escalon came to $33. Ordering three #10 cans of the 6 in 1s from PennMac, with shipment to NJ, where beeftime lives, came to $29.98. Of course, one might prefer to buy the small cans from Escalon over the three #10 cans from PennMac and pay a slight premium for the convenience of working with small cans than the large cans. When I buy the 6 in 1s, it is the small cans from Escalon, and I limit my purchase to six cans and reorder as necessary. This avoids the hassles of having to store unused 6 in 1s in the #10 can size.

Peter

[Essen1]

Peter,

I ordered six 28oz can earlier today straight from Escalon.

The total came to $16.50. $1.50 of that was shipping.