With the cost of shipping ever increasing, 8-foot power track for track lighting is by no means exempt from this growing expense. Discover why the great expense and find out how you can save money by substituting it with 6-foot, 4-foot and 2-foot power track in this informative video :)
7 Fast & Easy Steps to a complete track lighting system
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Two Shipping Myths Big Business Doesn’t Want You to Know
Who doesn’t like saving money? How many times have you left a website because they didn’t offer free shipping? As a small family-operated online retail company, we get hundreds of questions a day. However, the most popular questions we get are about shipping prices. Almost everyone wants free shipping. Today we are going to share the top two myths big business doesn’t want you to know.
Myth 1: Free Shipping Always Saves Me Money!
The other guy offers free shipping, why don’t you? We get this question every day, and every day we tell our customers the same thing. “Shipping isn’t Free.” In all our years of business, we haven't found a single carrier who is willing to ship our orders for free. In fact, every week, our shipping carrier sends us that pesky little invoice requesting payment for service.
So how does that other guy get away with calling it free shipping then? Here is what they don’t tell you. Let’s say you order a recessed trim for $21.41 with free shipping, and live in a state with 10% sales tax. The cost of the trim is $2.41 and the shipping cost is $19.00. However, you are getting free shipping so these two costs are combined into 1 line item. The 10% sales tax on the $21.41 trim is $2.14, making your total order $23.55. It is only $2.14.”I can’t get a cup of coffee for that much.” “I am getting free shipping, so I don’t mind giving away my money.”
What if the other guy decided to charge you shipping? Let’s find out. Back to our favorite $2.41 recessed trim. Because they charge you shipping, the $19.00 is a separate line item. This means the 10% sales tax is only being applied to the $2.41 trim, making the order total $21.62 instead of $23.55. You just saved $1.93!! Still not a cup of coffee, but savings is savings.
Now that we know sometimes free shipping isn’t always the best deal. I bet you are wondering “Why does it cost $19.00 to ship that $2.41 trim.” You are not alone. Let’s see why.
Myth 2: The Cost Of Shipping Depends On The Cost Of The Order.
How could something so inexpensive, cost so much to ship? This recessed lighting trim has to go into a box so it gets to you undamaged. No one wants to delay their DIY project due to a cracked or dented trim. To prevent this mishap, the warehouse puts bubble wrap, air cushions, or paper inside the box to prevent movement. Then they tape, and label the box. We want to focus on the shipping cost, not the handling costs, right? We use UPS to ship this trim; however, all the common carriers are about the same.
How are shipping costs determined? All the popular shipping carriers have a shipping calculator on their website. This calculator asks for the delivery location, the dimensions of the box ( Length, Width, and Height), and the weight of the box. With that information, they will tell you how long and how much it cost depending on when you want the package. We use ground service as it is the least expensive. In our $2.41 trim example, we enter the following information: Miami, Florida, 11” x 8” x 8”, and 1 pound. Why Miami? We have been shipping a lot of boxes there right now, but you can go to UPS.com to test this for your location.
If the box weighs 1 lb, why is the billable weight 5 lbs? All shipping carriers combine the weight and the size of the box to determine the actual cost to transport your package from us to you. The industry calls this “dimensional weight.” After plugging all this information in the shipping calculator, the cost to ship this trim ground from New Mexico to Miami, Florida is $19.00.
What if I put a $5,000 diamond ring into the same box, would it cost more? The delivery location is the same, the box dimensions are the same, and it weighs less than a pound. Using the handy shipping calculator, we find that it still costs $19.00 to ship UPS ground from New Mexico to Miami, Florida.
If shipping isn’t free, why do we offer free shipping? First, we know that is what people want. Many times that is the first thing consumers seek out when buying online Second, we need to stay competitive, and offering “free shipping” on some of our products helps us do that. We are a small family business and we have to try to compete. If you run a small business you know how hard this can be.
Why do we still charge shipping on some items, if people want free shipping? Well, we want to give our customers the opportunity to find the best deal for their project. Many times a customer can save money having shipping as a separate line item, especially when buying larger quantities or heavier items.
We know you have choices out there, and hopefully, after reading this you are a more informed consumer that will choose Total Lighting Supply for your next lighting project.
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Tags: Free Shipping, Big Business, Savvy Shopper, Getting a Deal, Saving Money, Dimensional Weight, Small Business, Shop Local, Family Operated Business, DIY Projects, Myths
We have made this video to help make your transition to Recessed Led Retrofit Trim Modules smooth and easy. See how to identify your recessed housing can from a wide and growing list of recessed cans we have collected over the years. Know confidently if your recessed downlight can be converted. Now lets get started ?
Checkout our specially designed page to help you identify your existing Recessed Lighting housing can so that you get the right LED Trim modules for your downlights. We help take the guess work out of the conversion process ?
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Use your existing 12volt AC low voltage outdoor lighting system to bring Christmas string lights to your yard, business, patio and more. These unobtrusive lights We show you the ins and outs of this unique low voltage Christmas light helping make it easier and faster for you to install and operate :)
Get your LED 12volt Christmas Lights and make your place magical!
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Our unique Maximus LED square trim module works great with hard to fit recessed housing cans that are 5-inch and 6-inch sizes. Comes see if this is the LED recessed trim you have been waiting for to convert to your recessed lighting downlight to energy saving LED ?
Available in 2700K and 3000K options.
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Robert Bengtson’s new gallery in Sausalito, California is a “don't miss” when visiting the area. All of us at www.TotalTrackLighting.com are thrilled at being invited to assist with the lighting plan. Robert contacted us using our “7 Easy Steps to Track Lighting Design,” included a simple but complete drawing based on our short instructional video, and we put together a materials list and made some recommendations.
The real credit, however, goes to Robert. His organizational skills and vision, paired with his excellent communication enabled us to provide just the right lighting components. He then transformed our products and recommendations into a simple, inexpensive track lighting system that works perfectly in his space.
Lighting a gallery is the perfect application for track lighting. With track lighting, you can choose the color temperature, beam spread and brightness. You can use one or more fixtures to illuminate the art and other elements in the space just the way you want. Your gallery is not static, and track lighting allows you to “paint with light” and control both the light and shadows to make your space welcoming, interesting and attractive every time you make a change to the presentation.
As you can see by Robert’s photos below, he takes the entire space into consideration, making the art the center of attention, both inside and out. We are grateful for Robert allowing us to be involved in this extremely successful project.
If you want know more about The Art of Detail and the work of Robert Bengston and other fabulous artists, you can visit his website at www.TheArtOfDetail.com. Better yet, visit in person at The Art of Detail, 308 Princess Court, Sausalito, CA 94965.
If you have a track lighting project and would like to work with an experienced company that has done track lighting all day, every day, since 2008, we hope to be on top of your list. Start right here. We usually have the quote done the same day. We look forward to working with you!
Here are some photos of Robert’s space:
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Rated for outdoor use the stainless steel ESL40W transformer is built to weather the harshest weather while lasting a very long time with its magnetic core. Included in all ESL units is an easy to use mechanical analog timer, manual reset button, enclosed terminal compartment, grounded three-prong power cable and photocell. The ESL40W is fully serviceable and provides 12volt low voltage and a 15volt boost so you can bring power to your LED low voltage outdoor landscape lights at a great distances. See our video link below on when to use this 15volt option. Available in 40 to 300watt configurations.
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Learn pretty much everything there is about our H-style 3-wire track lighting Flex Connector Power Feed in this informative and detailed overview video :)
Find out more about our TLSK110 Flex Connector Power Feed
7 Fast & Easy Steps to a complete track lighting system
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Learn pretty much everything there is about our H-style 3-wire track lighting End Power Feed with junction box cover in this informative and detailed overview video :)
Discover our TLSK138 End Power Feed with Junction Box Cover
7 Fast & Easy Steps to a complete track lighting system
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Learn pretty much everything there is about our H-style 3-wire track lighting End Power Feed in this informative and detailed overview video :)
Discover more about our TLSK101 End Power Feed
7 Fast & Easy Steps to a complete track lighting system
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