[TypeOne]

I can recite all the problems with Performance Bicycles that everyone has experienced, but now I have discovered a new pain - slow shipping for in-store pickup.

I dislike their high shipping and handling charges based on the purchase price rather than the item weight or size.
So I might as well travel to the physical store in my area and save on the shipping cost.
But the physical store doesn't have much in inventory - mostly their store-name clothing and a few odds and ends - so online is the way to shop for anything decent at PB, try using one of their online discount coupons, and suck it up and pay for the shipping.
But there is a third option - order online, ship to the store free, pick it up there and don't pay for shipping. Super idea!

I purchased a new helmet that I found on sale on PB and selected in-store pickup. I made the online purchase July 21. I got an immediate email confirmation thanking me for my order. Four days later, on Sunday, July 25, I received an email saying that my item had shipped, and I would receive another email when the item arrived that would contain instructions on picking up the item. The message indicated that the item shipped via FedEx Ground, and the anticipated store arrival date was August 11, a full 3 weeks after I placed the order online. There was no FedEx tracking information listed.

Does FedEx do anything that slow? Does any online purchase ever take that long? We are well past the "expect 4-6 weeks" today. This is crazy - I upgraded to a PB membership and get the shipping upgrade to 2-day shipping when I ship to my home. But even with a membership, shipping to the store puts it all on the slow track. I'm not in a rush to get this helmet but I'm complaining anyway.

 

[stevesbike]

they disclose the snail like pace of instore shipping. Why didn't you just ship it to your house with the free upgrade with team performance for $9? You can return the order and reorder it to be sent to your house if you want the helmet sooner.

 

[ukbloke]

The arrival date is overly conservative. It will probably arrive around a week earlier than that. I continue to be surprised that they ship each of these orders to store as an individual FedEx Ground item. This doesn't seem like a good way to run a business to me, especially in cases where they could just fulfil the order with stuff already at the store. Nonetheless I use the free-ship-to-store option frequently, usually when stocking up on consumables when all the discounts/coupons line up and delivery timeliness is not a concern. Originally they didn't have the $50 minimum which made it easy to abuse. One time they had $10 off any purchase with free shipping - and the obvious thing to do was to buy something that cost $10!

 

[TypeOne]

Good points

Yes, I suppose I should wait to see when it actually arrives.

It's not a rush, I'm just trying to save a buck or two on shipping and for some reason I'm incredibly impatient.

I wonder if PB has a regular inventory shipping schedule to the stores, like every few weeks, and they just throw my order on the truck with the rest of it. That would make more financial sense for them than to ship separately via FedEx. That said, this might very well be something that is sitting on the shelf in the store right now, and they could pull it immediatlely. In that case, I'm the idiot for not checking the store first.

 

[ukbloke]

I wonder if PB has a regular inventory shipping schedule to the stores, like every few weeks, and they just throw my order on the truck with the rest of it.

I don't think so. I've had orders split up, put in different boxes, and arrive in consecutive days. I'm sure that everything goes standard FedEx ground or equivalent, and is completely separate to their general distribution. This contrasts with REI ship-to-store where it is clearly integrated into their normal distribution chain and schedule.

In that case, I'm the idiot for not checking the store first.

In my experience, my local Performance store is pretty good about scanning the incoming items soon after arrival which triggers a pick-up email within the hour. Usually there's a follow-up collection notice when they scan it out after collection.

 

[rstel66]

Ship-to-store is done with a store's distribution. Fed-Ex Ground was the one used at the stores I managed at. Depending on the store size would determine how many times a distribution was sent per week usually once a week for a small store. The ship-to-store items would be included with the distribution. Once scanned in the store's system an email would be generated and sent to the recipients email address, as a receiving lead, I would give a courtesy call. The day the order is placed would determine when it would be shipped. That's why there is a three week delay in receipt, to account for the time as an order may be delayed for the next available distribution. That's the cost for the convenience of free shipping to the store. TP items would be shipped separably from the distribution, in most cases unless a distribution was being sent on the same day, then it would be included with the distribution. (Clarified some info...)

 

[ukbloke]

Cool, thanks for the inside scoop!

 

[Erion929]

Ship-to-store is done with a store's distribution. Fed-Ex was the one used at the stores I managed at. Depending on the store size would determine how many times a distribution was sent per week usually once a week for a small store. The ship-to-store items would be included with the distribution. Once scanned in the store's system an email would be generated and sent to the recipients email address, as a receiving lead, I would give a courtesy call. The day the order is placed would determine when it would be shipped. That's why there is a three week delay in receipt, to account for the time as an order may be delayed for the next available distribution. That's the cost for the convenience of free shipping to the store. TP items would be shipped separably from the distribution.

That's what I would've figured. If you want to save $10-12-15 on shipping by having it go to the store, you'll get it in ~3 weeks when the rest of the store stuff comes. Just plan accordingly....no free cake.

**

 

[TypeOne]

Thanks for the scoop, Rstel. It makes sense if I am waiting for the normal distribution schedule; I didn't expect PB to use FedEx, though.