It's not, really, when you consider what you're getting for your shipping price.

A person got up this morning, had breakfast, put on a uniform, went to work, got in a truck, and drove that truck to our warehouse in Vancouver, BC, and picked up a load of parcels headed to different parts of the world.

The truck in question was driven to a depot, where complex and clever sortation methods routed your order through machinery, mostly, into the largest and most efficient sub-shipment containers, to a depot near you.

The process above repeated itself, but this time in reverse, and multiplied by the number of packages that delivery person had to deliver that day - right to your door.

None of the infrastructure, overhead, materials, repairs to machinery, trucks of all sizes, handling materials - to say nothing of the fair wages paid the carriers, sorters, maintenance people, and so on who are the smart, hardworking lifeblood of the giant concern that is a national postal service or multinational courier company - is free, and neither is the service they provide, nor could it be.

And none of this yet has reckoned with the cost of regulations where an order must cross an international boundary - often buried in the overall cost.

As a private, small business, we cannot compete, and have no interest in trying to compete, with massive companies who employ their considerable leverage and massive shipping volumes to force shipping costs, and thus wages, ever downward.

Simply put: free, or ultra-low-cost shipping is nothing of the kind. Someone else pays for it, and in the case of a national postal service - emphasis on the service - we all do.

We do everything we possibly can to keep our costs, and thus the prices we offer to you, our beloved customers - reasonable, affordable, and fair, and that includes the cost of shipping our products to you.

We believe that you, dear reader, customer, and friend, will see that there is definite and tangible value in having a box of goodness shipped directly to your door.

We thank you for your business and trust!