Ship with airline or ship sticks?

[ronnbee]

used shipsticks last year christmas in fla--arrived there waiting for me :)

[teejaywhy]

> @pinhigh27 said:

> > @davep043 said:

> > > @ClarkGrswld4 said:

> > > i'm actually surprised shipsticks is still in business, not worth it at all except in rare situations

> >

> > For lots of people, the convenience of having someone else pick up your clubs at your home and deliver them to your hotel or golf destination is well worth the cost. We all pay for convenience at times, don't we? People buy lettuce that has been pre-shredded, we buy ground beef rather than grinding our own, we buy Starbucks coffee rather than brew our own. Shipsticks is just one more business that takes advantage of our desire to make our own lives "easier" in some way. I don't choose to use Shipsticks, but I can understand the attraction.

>

> But it's not more convenient. It's more money to have your clubs for less time and also in unskilled careless peoples hands. I'd way rather save my money, role dice and have them when I arrive. Everyone heard of airline losing them or breaking clubs but tons of people fly fine with them.

>

> I truly don't understand how they stay in business

 

I'm not sure how you can contend it's not more convenient to have them picked up at your house and have them waiting at the hotel or course vs. schlepping them yourself, on/off the parking shuttle, into the airport check-in, off the baggage claim, out to the rental car shuttle pickup, on/off the rental shuttle, in/out the car, into the hotel/course... etc.

 

You can argue value. And I would agree, the value is not there _for me_. I typically fly Southwest so I'm not paying extra baggage fees.

 

They stay in business because, as dave said, some people pay for convenience.

 

 

 

 

[VNutz]

> @pinhigh27 said:

> > @davep043 said:

> > > @ClarkGrswld4 said:

> > > i'm actually surprised shipsticks is still in business, not worth it at all except in rare situations

> >

> > For lots of people, the convenience of having someone else pick up your clubs at your home and deliver them to your hotel or golf destination is well worth the cost. We all pay for convenience at times, don't we? People buy lettuce that has been pre-shredded, we buy ground beef rather than grinding our own, we buy Starbucks coffee rather than brew our own. Shipsticks is just one more business that takes advantage of our desire to make our own lives "easier" in some way. I don't choose to use Shipsticks, but I can understand the attraction.

>

> But it's not more convenient. It's more money to have your clubs for less time and also in unskilled careless peoples hands. I'd way rather save my money, role dice and have them when I arrive. Everyone heard of airline losing them or breaking clubs but tons of people fly fine with them.

>

> I truly don't understand how they stay in business

 

I'm not surprised they stay in business, I'm actually surprised that UPS or FedEx hasn't seized the opportunity to come up with an alternative solution made to compete with them. ShipSticks literally never touches your clubs, they simply arrange for a carrier, in my case UPS, to pick up your clubs before you go and when you leave. UPS really does everything and ShipSticks upcharges for the arrangement. If you have a UPS account, theoretically you could do it all yourself provided you could get a driver to pick up from the course for you.

[davep043]

> @VNutz said:

> I'm not surprised they stay in business, I'm actually surprised that UPS or FedEx hasn't seized the opportunity to come up with an alternative solution made to compete with them. ShipSticks literally never touches your clubs, they simply arrange for a carrier, in my case UPS, to pick up your clubs before you go and when you leave. UPS really does everything and ShipSticks upcharges for the arrangement. If you have a UPS account, theoretically you could do it all yourself provided you could get a driver to pick up from the course for you.

 

Both UPS and FedEx will be happy to ship your clubs, including pick-up and delivery,

 

https://www.fedex.com/en-us/how-to/ship-golf-clubs-luggage.html

 

https://www.ups.com/us/en/services/knowledge-center/article.page?name=how-to-ship-golf-clubs&kid=art165c233e8fb

 

It may be such a small part of their market that they've chosen not to advertise this particular service, so Shipsticks has the largest advertising presence. Besides, UPS and FedEx ship the stuff for Shipsticks anyway, they're already getting the business, why spend advertising dollars to get business they already have?.

[VNutz]

> @davep043 said:

> > @VNutz said:

> > I'm not surprised they stay in business, I'm actually surprised that UPS or FedEx hasn't seized the opportunity to come up with an alternative solution made to compete with them. ShipSticks literally never touches your clubs, they simply arrange for a carrier, in my case UPS, to pick up your clubs before you go and when you leave. UPS really does everything and ShipSticks upcharges for the arrangement. If you have a UPS account, theoretically you could do it all yourself provided you could get a driver to pick up from the course for you.

>

> Both UPS and FedEx will be happy to ship your clubs, including pick-up and delivery,

>

> https://www.fedex.com/en-us/how-to/ship-golf-clubs-luggage.html

>

> https://www.ups.com/us/en/services/knowledge-center/article.page?name=how-to-ship-golf-clubs&kid=art165c233e8fb

>

> It may be such a small part of their market that they've chosen not to advertise this particular service, so Shipsticks has the largest advertising presence. Besides, UPS and FedEx ship the stuff for Shipsticks anyway, they're already getting the business, why spend advertising dollars to get business they already have?.

 

Very true, and that's exactly my point I guess, before ShipSticks few probably thought of shipping their clubs. But when you control the actual service there's more money to be had, and if you've seen UPS and FedEx rates the last few years you can see they're seeking every dollar they can. There aren't many industries where a company simply allows somebody to make money off their work when they could have that money themselves. If there's enough money available for ShipSticks to exist by basically being an arrangement service I'd think there's money to market a similar service of their own. But you're right, the existence of ShipSticks and the education and awareness they've done is probably a win-win for both sides at the moment.

[davep043]

> @VNutz said:

> > @davep043 said:

> > > @VNutz said:

> > > I'm not surprised they stay in business, I'm actually surprised that UPS or FedEx hasn't seized the opportunity to come up with an alternative solution made to compete with them. ShipSticks literally never touches your clubs, they simply arrange for a carrier, in my case UPS, to pick up your clubs before you go and when you leave. UPS really does everything and ShipSticks upcharges for the arrangement. If you have a UPS account, theoretically you could do it all yourself provided you could get a driver to pick up from the course for you.

> >

> > Both UPS and FedEx will be happy to ship your clubs, including pick-up and delivery,

> >

> > https://www.fedex.com/en-us/how-to/ship-golf-clubs-luggage.html

> >

> > https://www.ups.com/us/en/services/knowledge-center/article.page?name=how-to-ship-golf-clubs&kid=art165c233e8fb

> >

> > It may be such a small part of their market that they've chosen not to advertise this particular service, so Shipsticks has the largest advertising presence. Besides, UPS and FedEx ship the stuff for Shipsticks anyway, they're already getting the business, why spend advertising dollars to get business they already have?.

>

> Very true, and that's exactly my point I guess, before ShipSticks few probably thought of shipping their clubs. But when you control the actual service there's more money to be had, and if you've seen UPS and FedEx rates the last few years you can see they're seeking every dollar they can. There aren't many industries where a company simply allows somebody to make money off their work when they could have that money themselves. If there's enough money available for ShipSticks to exist by basically being an arrangement service I'd think there's money to market a similar service of their own. But you're right, the existence of ShipSticks and the education and awareness they've done is probably a win-win for both sides at the moment.

 

It may be a business arrangement between the two sides. Shipsticks promises to give a certain minimum amount of business to a shipping company, and the shipping company promises to abstain from advertising those services direct to consumers through specific platforms. UPS and FedEx both describe the option on their websites, but I've never heard either advertise on TV or radio.