DIV I CDs!

[Granny Smith]

I'm not 100% sure where products are being shipped from; however, I went back to our shipping department that uses UPS extensively and checked on the cost to ship a CD to where I live from Illinois. I did this because someone stated previously that DCI does indeed charge actual shipping.

What I was charged: $5.72 (plus $3.00 handling)

What I researched:

UPS Ground—$4.16

USPS Priority—$4.05

USPS First Class—$1.11

A self-sealing CD mailer is $0.18 each (before quantity discount). The place I work for pays $.08 each for our CD mailers.

Clearly there are people that you pay to do the shipping as well as equipment and warehousing, however, one could say that's a cost of business and comes from the profits of the CD itself.

I am not sitting in my chair with a clenched fist furious over what I was charged. I'm simply exercising my right to gripe as DCI exercises their right to make money—after all, I willingly paid it (which I was not forced to do).

[BOBSMYTH]

I'm not 100% sure where products are being shipped from; however, I went back to our shipping department that uses UPS extensively and checked on the cost to ship a CD to where I live from Illinois. I did this because someone stated previously that DCI does indeed charge actual shipping.

What I was charged: $5.72 (plus $3.00 handling)

What I researched:

UPS Ground—$4.16

USPS Priority—$4.05

USPS First Class—$1.11

A self-sealing CD mailer is $0.18 each (before quantity discount). The place I work for pays $.08 each for our CD mailers.

Clearly there are people that you pay to do the shipping as well as equipment and warehousing, however, one could say that's a cost of business and comes from the profits of the CD itself.

I am not sitting in my chair with a clenched fist furious over what I was charged. I'm simply exercising my right to gripe as DCI exercises their right to make money—after all, I willingly paid it (which I was not forced to do).

First, is it possible your shipping department is in a much larger company than DCI? UPS has a different rate schedule for different size customers - with DCI paying a higher rate than most companies because of its relatively small volume.

Also, does your $4.16 UPS Ground charge include the fuel surcharge that UPS adds on after their base rate? If the real charge should be $4.16 instead of $5.72 then UPS is ripping off DCI. DCI is still just passing on what it is getting charged.

Yes, DCI could take all of the other related costs of this transaction out of their "profits" instead of including actual UPS charges plus handling however (as a previous poster suggested), they would very likely have to sell the CD for $25 in order to keep the shipping charges in the $2 - $3 range.

[Granny Smith]

First, is it possible your shipping department is in a much larger company than DCI? UPS has a different rate schedule for different size customers - with DCI paying a higher rate than most companies because of its relatively small volume.

Also, does your $4.16 UPS Ground charge include the fuel surcharge that UPS adds on after their base rate? If the real charge should be $4.16 instead of $5.72 then UPS is ripping off DCI. DCI is still just passing on what it is getting charged.

Yes, DCI could take all of the other related costs of this transaction out of their "profits" instead of including actual UPS charges plus handling however (as a previous poster suggested), they would very likely have to sell the CD for $25 in order to keep the shipping charges in the $2 - $3 range.

I suspect the volume that DCI ships out is comparable to what our company ships, but then again, I'm only guessing.

This is hardly a hill worth fighting over. I'm merely making some observations and I'm certain this is a HUGE waste of time, but isn't that what message boards are really about—wasting time?

I know that we have had FedEx, UPS and USPS representatives come in to meet with us about shipping. Great for us because we can get more competitive rates. The other thing we did, once customers started calling and asking the same question I'm asking here, was to offer them alternative methods of shipping. It didn't have a huge impact on our revenue stream, but it did help a little and created a level of good will to our customers—thus the benefit of complaining (I'm sure I could think of a euphemistic word for complaining, but let's call it what it is)).

Our company charges actual shipping, plus a nominal handling charge ($1.50 I think). We have talked about raising the shipping or handling a buck or two to make some money (perfectly legitimate) but we haven't because it's like buying something off of eBay for $1 and then reading the fine print and realize you're paying $15 for shipping. The actual product may cost $16, but I always feel like I'm getting hosed on the shipping.

This brings up another question, which I shall start on another post...

[cat699]

how abt semi final shots for apds 13-17?

[bawker]

Will DCI be offering any official explaination as to why there's no full Division I CD's?

[sburstall]

Will DCI be offering any official explaination as to why there's no full Division I CD's?

Have they ever given a reason for why they have done things in the past??

[drumcat]

i agree...the apds quality is significantly lower than the cds from last year....does anyone know the reasoning behind the cut of the 13 and lower corps from the cds

One last time... I don't get it. Give me an example of a CD track from last year, and an APD from quarterfinals this year, and tell me which two to compare. Is this a perception that WMA isn't as good? Are you comparing the streams to your CDs? I'd respect your opinion a lot more if you'd do anything but drop a blanket accusation about quality... Maybe your computer speakers/soundcard aren't the same as your other music system? Maybe you need to burn out an APD to a CD and side-by-side compare.

The WMA format at 192kbps far exceeds the quality of an mp3 even at the same bitrate.

So please... let me listen. I have every APD from this year. I have last year's CDs. Tell me what you're talking about.

[bawker]

One last time... I don't get it.

Since you're obviously involved with DCI proper... at least in an ancillary fashion, a big part you're missing is the psychological aspect of it...

"Well, here's the Top 12...sorry, you other 1300 kids...we know you tried, but here, have this APD." The tangible feeling of "having made the CD's" is part of the equation, too.

The greatest APD format/quality in the world still has two problems:

It prevents some people with the "big corps" mentality from picking up on a new favorite. Southwinds show ws really cool...as were others...but how is anyone going to ever know now who buys this "big boy compliation"? It further promotes the divide that is already apparent between those who make Finals and those who don't.

..and...

It prevents the 13-23 kids from listening to their competitors in that bracket without spending more that 30 bucks. Yes, these aren't Finalist groups...but as I said a few pages ago, if we're going to be pedagogically tied to the "Up With People" aspect of the drum corps experience, maybe we should follow through on that here and try treating everyone as the equals we proclaim them to be.

At the very least, pressing a 13-23 CD with a small run (@500 or so) couldn't hurt, IMO.

[drumcat]

Since you're obviously involved with DCI proper... at least in an ancillary fashion, a big part you're missing is the psychological aspect of it...

"Well, here's the Top 12...sorry, you other 1300 kids...we know you tried, but here, have this APD." The tangible feeling of "having made the CD's" is part of the equation, too.

The greatest APD format/quality in the world still has two problems:

It prevents some people with the "big corps" mentality from picking up on a new favorite. Southwinds show ws really cool...as were others...but how is anyone going to ever know now who buys this "big boy compliation"? It further promotes the divide that is already apparent between those who make Finals and those who don't.

..and...

It prevents the 13-23 kids from listening to their competitors in that bracket without spending more that 30 bucks. Yes, these aren't Finalist groups...but as I said a few pages ago, if we're going to be pedagogically tied to the "Up With People" aspect of the drum corps experience, maybe we should follow through on that here and try treating everyone as the equals we proclaim them to be.

At the very least, pressing a 13-23 CD with a small run (@500 or so) couldn't hurt, IMO.

Bawker, I appreciate your argument. The prior statement was strictly a question about audio quality, not the psychology of formats. I also don't disagree with you in your points to some extent. Yes, it will be more expensive to buy the CDs and the APDs to make up the top 23 than it would be to just buy the CDs of the top 12. I get that. Going by prior years, there was no choice. You bought them all, and it was more expensive. Got it. You liked it the other way. Since I'd want all of them, I might like it the other way as well. Your point though was that DCI was dis'ing the kids in 13-23 because their show isn't on a disc. I get it.

However, your SW analogy is flawed. You're assuming that people would listen to it because they bought it. They'll be more likely to listen than they would otherwise. That's true, but you assume that lots of people are drum corps nuts and will listen that deep into a 4 disc set. I don't think that's the case. I have no proof or market research or whatever, but that's my gut feel. This doesn't prevent anything, but it doesn't necessarily help. I concede that.

Your other point -- "It prevents the 13-23 kids from listening to their competitors in that bracket without spending more that 30 bucks." -- this was true last year. Last year, the CDs cost about $45 right?

Final point -- is DCI dis'ing Division 3 because most of them aren't on a CD?

I agree that I'd personally rather get a CD because I'm the kind of guy that enjoys listening to 21st place. Apparently many people are not, and are more interested in buying the "big guys" and quickly. I don't know what market research was what, but someone in Addison felt that something about it was compelling enough to try this. CDs used to be your off-season present at Thanksgiving or Christmas. When I was a kid, I asked my parents for the CDs every year. Now they ship on August 21st. That's a big change. I hope it works for all involved.

Edited August 21, 2006 by drumcat

[Whiskey]

Count me in as another person who is upset by only having the Top 12 on CD. I'd pay the extra money and be willing to wait for my CD's if all the corps were included. It may not happen this year, but if people continue to gripe, things may change for next year. Even though it may be hard to believe, DCI does and is listening.

I also don't mind the S&H charges. I like my when my merchandise comes in a box (those boxes actually become handy during X-Mas time), instead of some envelope.