I can understand the pain and suffering of paying for exorbitant shipping. I've always been a big, big fan of merchants and Ebay sellers that charge you what it costs to ship and don't try to make a profit from shipping or my favorite, "handling."
I can also sympathize with folks living in Alaska who find themselves at a disadvantage in many ways because of the great distance between where they live, and where most all of the product of trade in this country is centered.
However... Can't we see this from the viewpoint of the carrier just for a moment, just for a little levity? I live in the middle of the midwest and the closest city in Alaska is some 3,300 miles from me. And save for the little bit of midwest you pass through in a northwestern direction from here to there, there's a whole lot of NOTHING in between.
I cannot, for the life of me understand how and why the USPS will agree to ship a 70 pound box of bullets some 3000+ miles for $9. Truth be told, I can't imagine how on earth USPS keeps this deal running even for the rest of the country. Given the cost of fuel and the economy as it is and where it's headed, this rate is GOLD right now and hell yes, each and every one of us should whore it out until it's gone.
If you were to ship something from NY to LA, your package would have to cover almost 3,000 miles. That's a large distance, but there are millions and millions of customers and packages to be shipped at all points in between. Not at all so when shipping to Alaska. It's further and there's beautiful land and an entirely other country between the lower 48 and AK. At the end of the line is a veritable handful of custimers in Alaska waiting for their goods when compared to trade going most other places in the lower 48.
If the point here is that the USPS offers a silly-cheap rate but the merchants you wish to buy from elect not to offer it as a service, I'm fully on your side. That's a lousy way to conduct business.
But if your argument is, "Hey, we are Americans too, why can't our shipping rates be the same as everyone else?" then I think that is a completely ludicrous argument.
As for the flate rate $9 postal box, I think they are nuts to offer it, and hopefully they'll keep it. And we can keep using it to order cast bullets! It's an absolute steal. Even to ship it across town. It's incredible.
