“Lucky we live Hawaii,” is a favorite expression of residents of my home, our 50th state. And lucky we are in many ways. Nearly perfect weather year round. Dramatic scenery punctuated by pristine beaches abutting crystal clear, azure blue waters. And some of the friendliest people to be found anywhere this side of the great hereafter. In fact, the great hereafter is probably a lot like: here.
Lucky indeed, unless we happen to be one of the 200 million shoppers in the US who like to shop online. Granted, Hawaii has only about 1.5 million residents, and I’m sure a lot of us don’t shop online, but some of us do (some being equal to over 1 million shoppers). And I suspect we would online-shop even more if so many online retailers didn’t, apparently, consider us unworthy. THEY DON’T SHIP TO HAWAII. I don’t want to mention any names (OVER the concern of STOCKing COMtroversy) but they know who they are. Perhaps they think that because most of us live “on the beach in grass shacks,” we don’t own computers. Or if we own them, the beach surely doesn’t have wi-fi.
I’m guessing it has something to do with location. Hawaii is, after all, a long way from “America” (don’t get me started, that’s another story). Although many maps of the US depict Hawaii and Alaska just a few miles off the coast of Southern California, this isn’t actually the case. You need a boat or a plane to get to Hawaii unless you’re a really, really good swimmer. I suspect some retailers fear that shipping to such a faraway place must be nearly impossible or, at least, very expensive.
The Post Office, it seems, doesn’t realize the extreme difficulty of shipping to Hawaii and offers to deliver “flat rate” parcels for the same cost as to the next town over. UPS even ships to Hawaii for “ground rates,” even though they have to make use of an above the ground vehicle. But let’s be fair. If companies that don’t ship to Hawaii are seriously OVERSTOCKed, they may not have time to uncover the truth about shipping to Hawaii. I believe, however, that the information is available, online.
No comments:
Post a Comment