Money Suckers
Free Delivery If You Spend A Bit More Than You Wanted
Shipping costs sit per parcel rather than per item, so a threshold set just above the typical basket turns one order into a larger one at almost no extra cost.
Your basket is a few pounds short of free delivery, and the site is helpfully suggesting what could close the gap. That gap was measured before you arrived.
Shipping cost sits per parcel
Picking, packing and carrying a box costs roughly the same whether it holds one item or five. The cost attaches to the parcel, not to what is inside it.
A retailer losing money on a small order can turn it profitable by making it a larger order rather than by charging for the delivery.
Waiving the fee above a threshold is therefore not generosity. It is a way of paying for the parcel out of the extra items instead of out of a separate charge.
The threshold sits just above the usual basket
Retailers know their typical order value precisely. Setting the free delivery point a little above it means most customers arrive slightly short of it.
Slightly short is the productive position. Far short and the shopper gives up, comfortably over and the threshold changed nothing about their behaviour.
The number is reviewed as the average moves, which is why thresholds creep upward over time in a way that tracks spending rather than shipping costs.
A removed charge beats an equal discount
Offered the choice between a delivery fee removed and a discount of the same size on the goods, people reliably prefer the removed fee.
A charge for something already bought feels like a penalty, while paying more for goods feels like buying. Avoiding the penalty is worth more than the arithmetic suggests.
This is why so many retailers build the delivery cost into the item prices and advertise free shipping, rather than showing lower prices and a stated fee.
The filler item is chosen for you
The suggestions that appear when you are short of the threshold are not random. They are selected to be cheap enough to seem trivial and profitable enough to be worth adding.
Small consumables work best, because they are things you would eventually buy anyway, which makes the addition feel like planning rather than spending.
The result is a basket that grew by more than the delivery fee would have been, assembled largely by the site rather than by the shopper.
Returns make the sums difficult
The model works only if the extra items stay bought. A larger basket assembled to clear a threshold contains more marginal decisions, and marginal decisions come back.
Free returns turn a successful threshold into an expensive one, since the retailer pays to send goods out and pays again to bring them back.
Which is why free delivery and free returns are increasingly separated, with one offered freely and the other quietly attached to a condition.
Questions readers ask
Are card surcharges legal?
It depends entirely on the country. Some ban them for consumer cards, some cap them at cost, some permit them. Check your local consumer authority.
Can I insist on a free paper bill?
In several jurisdictions there are protections for customers without reliable internet access or in vulnerable circumstances. It is worth asking explicitly.
