Edmunds Scientific?

How has Edmunds Scientific been around for so long? It was around when I was a kid. I'm kind of guessing it was started after WWII when all the army surplus stuff must have hit the markets.

I ordered a couple of cheaper items the other day for the first time since I was a kid. I remembered even then that even though they had a few cheaper unique items that much of the stuff was pretty expensive for what you would expect from a company like that. That was pre-internet of course.

Now I notice while putting in my recent order that they charge sales tax on all items regardless of where you live, have expensive shipping ($10 or something like that for small items) and ship UPS Ground (which has got to be the slowest way to ship in the US).

Talk about a company that hasn't modernized at all. You can pay $5 or so for USPS Priority Mail at most any company and get your stuff in 3 days or less. Even if you pay $3 and choose First Class Mail (when offered) you generally get your stuff that quickly.

UPS Ground is the slowest (and most expensive) way to ship smaller items.

This isn't really a rant as I'm not upset :) but I won't be ordering anything from them anytime soon I don't think unless I can't find it anywhere else and with a little effort I'm sure I can. Maybe not without going to China however now that I think about it.

It sure would be nice if they got with the times however. It's amazing how most companies now get it and that is that if you keep shipping at cost rather than trying to make money with it you get many more orders. Even if a few of them end up being smaller orders you still generally will create a regular customer rather than one who only returns when the shipping isn't going to be a significant portion of the order.

Anyone here still order much from Edmund Scientific these days?

I love Amazon since when you Google they show up with the price and how many other stores carry it. You can order it through Amazon but actually buy it at one of the other stores if the price is lower. In my case I always pick one of the other stores so I won't be charged sales tax (Amazon is located here). Shipping is generally free or low and I get my stuff fast.

...and then there's Edmunds...:)

Did not know Edmunds still exists..

I remember drooling over that huge telescope on one of the catalog covers when I was a kid!

Plus those DIY rockets and bottle launchers!

Drinking birds, pendulums and prisms!

Getting Sears and Edmunds catalogs were a huge deal when I was a kid!

Same here. Especially the Sear Christmas catalog! By the way Edmunds is still selling those drinking birds and I just ordered a prism and a diffraction grating!

Anytime I order anything from any place that charges for shipping I have the hardest time dealing with it after being spoiled by the Chinese government subsidized shipping scam.

I wouldn't consider it a "scam". If the Chinese government should decide to subsidize my shipping from companies here in the US I'd take that too. :)

I think it's a scam because it gives Chinese manufacturers and companies an unfair advantage. I can order a box of batteries from Battery Junction which is a 2 hour drive from my house and it is $10 dollars to ship I order the same box from DX or KD and they ship free. This is a huge advantage that cannot be overcome and is partially responsible for the collapse of the American economy.

No worse the the US government bailing out Chrysler or subsidies to our farmers at the same time we are encouraging farmers in Africa to become self-sufficient.

The batteries you order from Battery Junction will also be more expensive and the shipping at $10 is more than it needs to be as well. Battery Junction doesn't pay $10 to get those batteries to your door.

I get some Battery Junction items from Ebay seller All-Battery. Shipping is cheaper than BJ.

Battery junction doesn't need to charge that much for shipping . they can send almost everything they sell priority post for 5.50 .