To PETEJC: I don't hate paying for shipping, per se. What i hate is the suppler refusing to use the cheapest method (like the Post Office) or not giving you a choice, and charging way more than we know the shipper charges. Alaskans learn to deal with cost - we know we cost the suppler more, sometimes, but we can't get it here, and especially if we don't live in Anchorage. I'm not in the "bush" (defined as "off the Road System), but the stores out of Anchorage charge more and have less selection. I prefer buying local, but even shipping cost are less than spending an entire day driving round-trip to Anchorage (if the product is even there), so what else do you do except mail-order? Evenwih our address, sometimes a supplier gives free sipping if we exceed a certain dollar amount, or sign up for auto-"refill".
I've even been told we don't have UPS up here, a patently ridiculous excuse.
UPS puts it on my porch, because I've asked the driver to, our porch is sheltered from the weather, and house is so far from the road that no one can see it.
