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Old December 19, 2011, 11:51 PM   #1
Tuzo
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Midway USA hazmat fee

While checking out an online order from Midway that included 1000 primers and 1lb of smokeless powder, I was charged a $50 hazmat fee. That was $25 for primers plus $25 for powder in the same order. Quickly cancelled Midway's order and bought primer and powder from Midsouth and was charged a $25 hazmat fee for the combined order.

This seems to be an inappropriate and excessive hazmat fee charged by Midway. Do other companies selling primer and powder charge a separate hazmat fee for individual items? If I had ordered four items subject to hazmat fees would Midway have charged me $100? Seems like a method to squeeze money out of a customer.
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Old December 20, 2011, 01:13 AM   #2
hoghunting
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Midway does not stock powder and primers. The order will be shipped from the manufacturer or a distributor, so you get powder from the powder distributor and primers from the primer distributor. It will be 2 separate shipments, thus the 2 hazmat charges.
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Old December 20, 2011, 01:37 AM   #3
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Thanks for the information, Hoghunting.

Seems that one of the premier shooting material suppliers (Midway USA) should emulate some of their counterparts and provide a greater scope of service. Are there other commonly ordered items that Midway does not stock but ships from the manufacturer with added fees?
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Old December 20, 2011, 05:53 AM   #4
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Midway has the best prices on almost Nothing at all,,,,and they have the worst shipping prices in the industry. The only thing they have going is that they have everything.

We as the shooting community need to all send them the message that we are through dealing with there greed. It would only take a month or two of ALL of use refusing to use them and they would make the change.

Grafs, Natchez, and Midsouth always seem to be a better bet than Midway anyway. And Grafs has a flat $4.95 shipping and Free hazmat promos several times a year.
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Old December 20, 2011, 07:18 AM   #5
Brian Pfleuger
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For powder and primers, try www.powdervalleyinc.com

It's rare for anyone to beat their prices.

Actually, brass and bullets are usually cheaper from them too.
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Old December 20, 2011, 07:26 AM   #6
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Powder Valley is where you may want to shop

Midway is the worst place to shop this stuff
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Old December 20, 2011, 09:51 PM   #7
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Quote:
Midway has the best prices on almost Nothing at all,,,,and they have the worst shipping prices in the industry.
Midway is horrible. Even their dealer prices are higher than most other companies retail prices. I will not do business with them unless nobody else has what I need. I just went to order a replacement RCBS .223 decapping pin. $8 bucks for the pin, $16 shipping! Midsouth shooters would send it for $9. So I added $50 rounds of clearance SD ammo- shipping price stayed the same.
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Old December 21, 2011, 02:57 PM   #8
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Used to buy a great deal of reloading supplies from Midway but no more. The dual hazmat fee is the last insult - a single source supplier should not charge fees from multiple sources.

Ordered Missouri cast bullets from Powder Valley; powder, primer (CCI 34), and Sierra jacketed from Midsouth. Happy with the results from these suppliers due to prices and shipping costs that are less than Midway's.
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Old December 26, 2011, 03:29 PM   #9
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Quote:
Midway does not stock powder and primers. The order will be shipped from the manufacturer or a distributor, so you get powder from the powder distributor and primers from the primer distributor. It will be 2 separate shipments, thus the 2 hazmat charges.
All the folks bashing Mid-Way should read the above quote. Mid-Way has some of the best prices on parts and supplies. Yeah shipping can be a bummer at times and I have no problem accepting there dealer discount. With all the companies that carry reloading supplies why would one order from Mid-Way? Same goes for all the bullet suppliers. Folks need to shop around and as far as Mid-Ways shipping goes for the account holders just order over the $40 minimum
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Old December 31, 2011, 10:11 PM   #10
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I don't mean to sound naive, but shouldn't primers and powders be shipped in separate packages. Two boxes would mean two hazmat fees. Back in the day we never transported blasting caps and dynamite in the same vehicle.
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Old December 31, 2011, 11:15 PM   #11
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Powder and primer may be shipped in a single box provided that the primers and powder are in seperate boxes. In other words, two boxes in one box. This is how Midsouth ships powder and primer for a single $25 hazmat fee.
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Old January 1, 2012, 01:43 AM   #12
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I have had nothing but good luck with Midway! Their customer service, IME, has been top notch. Also, after shopping around, I have found them to be cheaper than others on MOST items. Even if they are higher, its not by much and I gladly pay it because of how well they have treated me in the past. Just my 2 cents.
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Old January 1, 2012, 09:22 AM   #13
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Years ago I was a good customer of Midway.
No more. Their shipping and fees are outrageous. And their prices are not competitive. There are other vendors out there with same products at better prices and much-much lower shipping costs.
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Old January 1, 2012, 11:26 AM   #14
Brian Pfleuger
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rifleman1776 View Post
Years ago I was a good customer of Midway.
No more. Their shipping and fees are outrageous. And their prices are not competitive. There are other vendors out there with same products at better prices and much-much lower shipping costs.
Me too. It's hard for me to imagine that anyone thinks MidWayUSA has "some of the best prices". They're almost always more expensive than other well known companies and after adding in shipping I can't remember the last time they weren't.

The one significant advantage they do have is that they do almost literally have EVERYTHING. Sometimes I order from them because I can't get everything I need from any other single place and paying double shipping is even more expensive than MidWay's pricing.
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Old January 2, 2012, 11:10 AM   #15
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I agree with peetzakiller, the following statement by Don P is just WRONG:

Quote:
All the folks bashing Mid-Way should read the above quote. Mid-Way has some of the best prices on parts and supplies.
I always search multiple dealers before I buy anything. I have Midway's dealer prices. At least half of the time their dealer prices are higher than other peoples retail prices. And once you add their ridiculous shipping costs, you're better off spending $5 of gas to go to the LGS (if they have your item) and paying sales tax.

I can understand a $4 fee for a small order. I understand that. But then to charge me $16 to ship a metal pin that could go first class for under a dollar? Or even UPS for under $10? Midway does exactly what most eBay sellers do, try to make additional revenue on shipping. I wonder how that is reflected on their annual taxes?
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Old January 2, 2012, 12:42 PM   #16
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Quote:
I agree with peetzakiller, the following statement by Don P is just WRONG:
Your opinion and opinions are neither right or wrong. Peetzakiller is right about powder and primers.
Last night I was putting an order together. Using the 2 big suppliers MidWay USA was saving me $32 compared to Brownells. No order placed yet just shopping for now. personally I would never think of ordering powder and primers from MidWay. Parts and general shooting supplies yes. The only advantage that Brownells has is on a small part they will ship USPS saving money. Local stores in FLA think that there products are lined with gold with the way things get priced. By the way the order I put together on a wish list at MidWay was going to cost $14.96 for shipping.
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Old January 2, 2012, 03:33 PM   #17
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Quote:
There are other vendors out there with same products at better prices and much-much lower shipping costs.
Care to share those vendors with the members. More buyers, bigger volume cheaper prices
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Old January 2, 2012, 04:10 PM   #18
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No, it's fact.

I randomly picked one item: RCBS .357 Carbide Sizer Die

Midway: $42.49, dealer price. UPS Ground, $15.17 from MO
Natchez: $31.99, retail price. UPS Ground, $17.99 from TN
Midsouth: $33.96, retail price. UPS Ground, $10.22 from TN

Heck, for $45 Sinclair will sell me the whole carbide set.

This was one RANDOM item. I picked it because I have a .357 set and use it often. I had no idea what the costs would be ahead of time but I buy a lot of shooting supplies and never use Midway anymore because their prices are REGULARLY so high. I could do this all day long.

In fact, I now get emails from Midway telling me I left stuff in my cart and do I want to finish the purchase? No. But the fact that they have taken this measure makes me think a lot of people are leaving items in their carts....
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Old January 2, 2012, 06:33 PM   #19
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Midway is horrible. Even their dealer prices are higher than most other companies retail prices. I will not do business with them unless nobody else has what I need. I just went to order a replacement RCBS .223 decapping pin. $8 bucks for the pin, $16 shipping! Midsouth shooters would send it for $9. So I added $50 rounds of clearance SD ammo- shipping price stayed the same. Copied from #7 post--


All RCBS parts and freight free-call RCBS!!!
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Old January 2, 2012, 07:16 PM   #20
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All RCBS parts and freight free-call RCBS!!!
I know. And I have had them send me free stuff. But I forgot to lube a case and it got jammed in there. The only way to get it out was to screw down the rod, which bent the rod. It's my stupidity that led to the damage and I don't feel right making them pay for my stupidity.
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Old January 3, 2012, 07:45 AM   #21
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Just went to Natchez and Midsouth and prices are the same as Midways on the items that I AM LOOKING for. As far as shipping yes it sucks at times. All of us could go to various web sites and find products that are less in money than Midway, Natchez, Midsouth, Brownells.
Shipping is high for a set of dies as you stated. My order at Midway is going to be a little over a dollar more in shipping than your set of dies Swamp Yankee and I have 32 items. This is why everyone of us gets to shop and spend there money where they want to.

On the Midsouth site, 2 packs of cleaning patches, 1,000 patches per pack. not heavy in weight. $21.20 for patches and $9.17 in shipping, reasonable, hell no it isn't. Thats why I wait and put a large enough order together to make the shipping cost be off set by the number of products purchased.
Question, if you had a 30 mile ride to the grocery store would you drive the 60 miles round trip for say butter, milk, or bread or would you wait until you had a list of things to buy so the trip is more cost efficient?
To me its the same as gun parts and the situation being discussed
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Last edited by Don P; January 3, 2012 at 07:59 AM. Reason: ADDED INFO
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Old January 3, 2012, 08:39 AM   #22
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Just looking at Midways site and if you have an item weighing 13oz or less you can ship by choosing USPS. I have no idea what the cost is but the option is there. At the bottom of the home page is shipping costs options
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Old January 3, 2012, 10:28 PM   #23
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Midway USA

I used to work at Midway USA and the primers are kept on premises so that could be one hazmat fee but the powder is kept off site in a warehouse due to the fact that Midway USA sits right on I-70 so this is probably the other charge for the hazmat fee ... i really dont know though they could have changed things since i worked there because it been 4 years.
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Old January 4, 2012, 08:04 AM   #24
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Quote:
Just went to Natchez and Midsouth and prices are the same as Midways on the items that I AM LOOKING for.
How much are those patches with shipping on Midway? Can you put up your list for comparison?

Last edited by SwampYankee; January 4, 2012 at 08:12 AM.
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Old January 4, 2012, 08:58 AM   #25
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Wish list with stored item
18-bore brushes
2- packages cleaning patches (different size)
4- 4 hole turrets
1- roller handle
4-CM magazines
4-safariland speed loaders
4-safariland speed loader holders
3 -index ratchets
1-NcStar pistol scope
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