The free shipping era at dell is coming to an end. Next month Dell is going to start charging to get a computer purchase shipped to your house. This penny pinching manuever is supposed to save the company money. There will be a new “pick up at the post office” option to debut soon. This will appeal to consumers who work during the day and don’t want their new purchases sitting on the stoop to get taken.
Dell Inc. will stop its practice of sending low-end computers to customers homes without charge in order to cut costs, the company said on Thursday.
Starting on October 10, Dell’s free shipping offer on basic models will apply only to people willing to pick up their computers at the post office, said Jennifer Davis, spokeswoman for Dell’s U.S. consumer business. Customers will have to pay extra for home delivery.
I personally have not been a big fan of Dell. I’d rather purchase a computer “hands on,” eager to see how it looks up close, and try the keyboard out for comfort. Obviously, many folks buy from Dell, we’ll have to see if it hurts their sales or not.
See over here for more info.
Apparently, you haven’t heard of do-it-yourself. I suggest you go do research about motherboards, processors, graphics cards, and other stuff that’ll make a computer tick. I tell you, if you know enough about this stuff, you could assemble a high end PC that’s less than $1,000. I’m not bullshitting, because that’s what I did. Dell, HP and all those PC companies can kiss my ass…
Tim, for the record, I have never purchased anything from Dell personally. I have purchased Compaq computers in stores, that I ended up heavily rebuilding. My last desktop is a home built Shuttle machine. The post is not about whether you can build a better “home brew” box for less (most of us can and do), but rather, about Dell’s new shipping policy. Also, even folks that build their desktops end up buying a notebook that comes assembled, and this relates to them as well.
I know dude, I know the article’s about Dell’s shipping policy. I wasn’t refuting that. I was just trying to point out that a do-it-yourself PC comes out cheaper, and you get to learn more about PC assembly and stuff. You even said it yourself, “I have purchased Compaq computers in stores, that I ended up heavily rebuilding.” Don’t you feel you were ripped off? You bought something that’s already supposed to be working but it turns out that it still sucks. If that happened to me, I’d be pissed. All I’m saying is, try building your own PC, from scratch. Not only will you be able to save money, you’ll also see that the system is a labor of love and you’ll get to feel it’s sentimental value. Finally, these people that end up buying notebooks you say, obviously feel the need for mobile computing. That’s a totally different story. There isn’t much of a market for do-it-yourself laptops anyway.
Oh, yeah. I also got myself a Shuttle and turns out, the system tends to run a little hot, so I switched back to an ATX case.
Digitalicious
Thanks for your comments Tim. I also feel that building a computer is a “labor of love.” I don’t feel badly that I had to rebuild my computers, there is always something to upgrade. In the end, Dell sells a lot more computers than the do it yourself market out there. Too bad they’re ripping the public off on the shipping to bolster their bottom line!
I agree. If only the general publice would realize that they were being ripped off. Well, C’est La Vie…