Today, while cleaning my machine, I dropped and broke the Lens Removal tool. Fear not, cause the replacement from Glowforge is only $15USD, or $18.75 in Canada… not too expensive. The shock came when I clicked on the shipping… $114USD, or $143.87 Canadian… just to ship, (via ground, not express) an item that weighs less than an ounce! I really wish I new this little tidbit before I ordered my Glowforge, cause if I did I never would have ordered one. Glowforge needs to find better shipping options. If Amazon can provide free shipping, or much reduced shipping costs, why can’t Glowforge?
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FYI - You don’t NEED to have a lens replacement tool. You can access the lens and remove it by first removing the printer head cover, then the mirror, and push the lens down and out of the printer head using a cotton swab or something else that is non abrasive.
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As previously stated, you don’t need the replacement tool. When pushing the lens out as instructed, be sure you catch the lens in your hand or have a soft place for it to land. Should you damage the lens, you will need to replace it and the shipping costs are high.
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I appreciate your advice, but you missed the point. Shipping costs, from Glowforge to Canada are unacceptably high. Is Glowforge using shipping to boost their profit margins? Or is the Free Trade agreement between US and Canada not worth the paper it is written on?
Nope, didn’t miss the point, just don’t care about it. Shipping from the US to Canada has always been at least five times greater than shipping to anywhere inside the US and its territories, which is why a lot of people will not ship internationally.
If you want to complain about shipping costs, you have two options, contacting someone at Glowforge who is directly in charge of coordinating shipping to Canada, or contacting the shipping company they use.
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The Problems and Support category of the forum is for getting help with using the Glowforge or for a problem with how the Glowforge is performing. It is not a general gripe section for all things problematic with the supply chain and costs.
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Glowforge has had more tearing their hair out shipping to Canada and lost more as a result from what I have seen. Those who have friends just over the border have had things shipped there and dealt with customs themselves. I can imagine that living in Seattle it would be doubly frustrating. But it is a government thing.
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Nice, but very one sided. Please, tell me why I can I ship something, from here to Glowforge in Washington, ground, for only $14.50? And yes, this is the business rate, with brokerage. Make all the excuses you want, there is some wrong with Glowforge’s shipping.
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This is nothing new.
Glowforge has some contract in place and doesn’t care enough to make exceptions for the handful of international customers.
It reflects negatively on them, but (again) it doesn’t appear to concern them enough to change things. It’s nothing new.
(Shipping here in the US for a lid cable was more than the cable. I shipped an identically sized package over to the UK for less than what GF charged to ship that cable to me here…)
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it’s been an issue for a very long time and for some reason, GF doesn’t seem that motivated to change it. not sure what’s going on there.
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Shipping and handling costs are not simply the cost charged by the post office or courier service. Many companies include in their costs the cost of warehousing parts, paying personnel etc., etc. It is a business decision like many others - including no telephone support or how marketing is conducted. As consumers we can voice our opinions and preferences, but nothing else.
I have also griped about this many times in the past. Unfortunately no one at GF cares. I have over $400 USD worth of credit which I haven’t used because it won’t cover the shipping charges. Luckily so far I have only had to replace the black ribbon connector on the lid and that was way too expensive on the shipping side.
Perhaps an exchange you can work on. they get materials and you get something you want from Amazon or similar. I an sure Amazon has shipping workarounds unavailable to Glowforge 
I do use amazon.ca all the time.
Very good, now explain the difference in shipping when, as I said, I can ship to Glowforge, with brokerage, for a 1/10 the cost… but, yet, to ship from Glowforge to continental US is drastically less… are you suggesting Glowforge is using Canadian orders to offset US customers?
I am saying companies charge what they charge. They don’t claim they are simply passing their cost of shipping on to the customer. They don’t offer any excuse for the charge. They simply state the charge. Their charges to the US are also quite high - especially for small items like the lens.
I said the cost of shipping is more than just what the carrier would charge, and the company can charge what they feel is reasonable.
it’s also fair to trash them when their costs seem unreasonable, which i think in this case is a fair assessment.
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True that. As I said, we can voice our opinion (outrage) and preferences. Which we do.
Glowforge doesn’t own a warehouse and doesn’t ship anything from Seattle, so your cost to ship something over to their office isn’t very relevant.
Materials and parts ship primarily from DCL Logistics in Louisville, KY. We are never going to be privy to the terms of their contract with DCL to know why they charge so much to ship to Canada.
If Amazon can provide free shipping, or much reduced shipping costs, why can’t Glowforge?
Amazon provides free or cheap shipping by locating a warehouse within 50 miles of every customer and using their own trucks, or local contractors, to drive the packages from those warehouses to customers. They have over 185 warehouses, their own fleet of planes to move inventory between them, and tens of thousands of drivers for last-mile delivery. That’s not something any other company in the world can match.
The cheapest way to get something from Glowforge’s store to Canada is probably to make friends with someone in America who can buy and re-ship for you, or use a forwarding service that does the same. For heavier items, some have been known to have them shipped to somewhere near the border, then drive down to collect in person.
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