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Van's Updates: Kit prices and shipping changes

greghughespdx

Well Known Member
Advertiser
We're in the process of updating our kit prices due to increased costs, and our order forms will be updated and effective when they're online, which we expect will happen on Sunday evening. We've worked hard to keep our price changes to a minimum (it won't be the sort of price increases we've experienced from some other companies in the industry this year), but this set of changes will be a little higher percentage-wise than some of our previous increases. The costs of materials, services, labor, and international shipping have combined over the last year to result in significantly higher costs. As always, we're doing do everything we can to keep out kit prices affordable while also making sure we can stick around for another 49 years to provide fun airplane kits and support for RV builders.

In addition, we've made some changes to our crating and shipping processes, and how we handle orders for kits and parts/accessories. The short version is that once we have sent an order to the warehouse to prepare for crating or packing, we will no longer be able to make changes or combine orders. These changes are further described in a news post on our website .
 
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Hello, I ordered my wing kit about a month or so ago and paid a deposit. I have not yet paid the remaining balance due to the lead time I was quoted. I’m just wondering/ making sure that the “old” price is what I’ll be paying when I pay my remaining balance?

Thanks Greg.
 
Hello, I ordered my wing kit about a month or so ago and paid a deposit. I have not yet paid the remaining balance due to the lead time I was quoted. I’m just wondering/ making sure that the “old” price is what I’ll be paying when I pay my remaining balance?

Thanks Greg.

Price is set at the time the order is placed - no problem.
 
We're in the process of updating our kit prices due to increased costs, and our order forms will be updated and effective when they're online, which we expect will happen on Sunday evening. We've worked hard to keep our price changes to a minimum (it won't be the sort of price increases we've experienced from some other companies in the industry this year), but this set of changes will be a little higher percentage-wise than some of our previous increases. The costs of materials, services, labor, and international shipping have combined over the last year to result in significantly higher costs. As always, we're doing do everything we can to keep out kit prices affordable while also making sure we can stick around for another 49 years to provide fun airplane kits and support for RV builders.

In addition, we've made some changes to our crating and shipping processes, and how we handle orders for kits and parts/accessories. The short version is that once we have sent an order to the warehouse to prepare for crating or packing, we will no longer be able to make changes or combine orders. These changes are further described in a news post on our website .

Agh! I get to sit here with baited breath for two days to find out what the damage is going to be. Not looking forward to this. Oh well. It is what it is.
 
QB to SB - old price?

Greg,

I have an RV-10 QB wing on order (still working on other parts of the kit). If I decide to switch to SB wing when ready for a wing (if QBs are still delayed), would I get the old SB price?
 
Greg,

I have an RV-10 QB wing on order (still working on other parts of the kit). If I decide to switch to SB wing when ready for a wing (if QBs are still delayed), would I get the old SB price?

Hi David -- If you modify your kit order to a standard kit after the prices change, it's a new order. Your new order would be at the standard-build kit price effective on the date the new order was made. You'd still keep your priority "place in line" for delivery based on your original QB order date.

Note that our kit price changes will probably take place on Sunday night if we're able to execute according to the established schedule. Feel free to PM or email me if you have questions specific to changing your order(s).
 
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Deposit

Well Mr Greg, I’d like to make a deposit on the RV-15 kit, sight unseen. I know it’s gonna be great. Any provisions on a discount maybe the first 25 or so orders? 😄.
Just kidding. I was just getting you prepared for the onslaught of orders for this fine design. Thanks for all that you guys do at Vans. You folks truly are the class of the field.
Craig

Price is set at the time the order is placed - no problem.
 
I'd be happy to place an order today for a -15 kit...:)

We're in the process of updating our kit prices due to increased costs, and our order forms will be updated and effective when they're online, which we expect will happen on Sunday evening. We've worked hard to keep our price changes to a minimum (it won't be the sort of price increases we've experienced from some other companies in the industry this year), but this set of changes will be a little higher percentage-wise than some of our previous increases. The costs of materials, services, labor, and international shipping have combined over the last year to result in significantly higher costs. As always, we're doing do everything we can to keep out kit prices affordable while also making sure we can stick around for another 49 years to provide fun airplane kits and support for RV builders.

In addition, we've made some changes to our crating and shipping processes, and how we handle orders for kits and parts/accessories. The short version is that once we have sent an order to the warehouse to prepare for crating or packing, we will no longer be able to make changes or combine orders. These changes are further described in a news post on our website .
 
Does the $500 charge for using our own “freight forwarder” apply to internetional orders?

Last kit I was sent the vans quote for shipping was $1200 more than the freight forwarder I chose to use. Apart from asking vans for some invoices to forward them (to get the customs paperwork completed) I did all the leg work - and their truck showed up to pick up the crates on the allocated day. I was not aware there was $500 worth of additional work at Vans end to arrange the shipment?

Just curious as to what the $500 USD is for? (that’s $700 of my hard earned).
 
Second Trent's comments

I agree Trent, I can save a fair bit from the Vans recommended shipper. I did the organisation here, they picked it up within a day or two of being told it was ready (Some notice and it could have been quicker). That $500 or $700AU makes that tricky, my last shipment I saved nearly $1000AU over the Vans forwarder. In addition it may be seen as a cost for importation and we would have to make the argument with Customs that we don't pay tax on it.

If Vans could look at the freight companies, happy to make a suggestion, it would be hugely appreciated and ultimately result in a cheaper aircraft for us here in Australia.
 
Any changes to crate dates?

Greg:

Is there any chance that these efficiencies (grouping crating of the same kits rather than whatever comes next in the queue) could cause our lead times to reduce? For example I have a 14 finish kit and FWF set for mid January. Should I expect to see this earlier?

I do understand also the change in not allowing hardware bag deletions. Hopefully this standardization will also reduce some of the errors I saw in the recent bags I received (wrong parts, etc).

Thanks for everything you guys do!
 
In before the Price increase?

Placed the fuselage order by email. Hopefully in before the price goes up. Was planning to do this in about a month anyway.
Anyone else ordering today to save a few bucks?
 
Does the $500 charge for using our own “freight forwarder” apply to internetional orders?

Last kit I was sent the vans quote for shipping was $1200 more than the freight forwarder I chose to use. Apart from asking vans for some invoices to forward them (to get the customs paperwork completed) I did all the leg work - and their truck showed up to pick up the crates on the allocated day. I was not aware there was $500 worth of additional work at Vans end to arrange the shipment?

Just curious as to what the $500 USD is for? (that’s $700 of my hard earned).

From the linked Van's page:

Fee for Use of Third Party Freight Forwarders

International kit shipments for which the customer requests to use their own freight forwarder, rather than Van’s Aircraft’s own freight forwarder, will incur a $500 administrative fee per shipment due to the fact that the additional work we must performing when working with these non-standard companies is time-consuming and costly. In addition, we have found that customers rarely save money when using their own freight forwarder, and the process of doing so actually tends to slow delivery. This policy is in effect immediately for the shipping of all orders.
 
Greg:

Is there any chance that these efficiencies (grouping crating of the same kits rather than whatever comes next in the queue) could cause our lead times to reduce? For example I have a 14 finish kit and FWF set for mid January. Should I expect to see this earlier?

I do understand also the change in not allowing hardware bag deletions. Hopefully this standardization will also reduce some of the errors I saw in the recent bags I received (wrong parts, etc).

Thanks for everything you guys do!

We're happy to do it.

As a general rule these process changes are meant to make things run smoother, more efficiently, and (as a result) with fewer errors. It's process of change, not an overnight light-switch sort of change. We are also reconfiguring some of our work areas in our already-crowded warehouse facility to enhance our ability to get kits and shipments put together and out the door. Over time I think the result will be improved timing of shipping. That's certainly the intent. But know that there are a variety of things that drive delivery times - from parts production to domestic and international shipping, to availability of third party parts and services, to the crating and shipping steps.
 
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I agree Trent, I can save a fair bit from the Vans recommended shipper. I did the organisation here, they picked it up within a day or two of being told it was ready (Some notice and it could have been quicker). That $500 or $700AU makes that tricky, my last shipment I saved nearly $1000AU over the Vans forwarder. In addition it may be seen as a cost for importation and we would have to make the argument with Customs that we don't pay tax on it.

If Vans could look at the freight companies, happy to make a suggestion, it would be hugely appreciated and ultimately result in a cheaper aircraft for us here in Australia.

We're aware of the high costs of shipping to Australia (and some other countries) as well as the sensitivity to those high costs, so I wanted to clarify and expand a bit here.

  1. We have a number of freight forwarders that we work with, which we will gladly continue to use with no service charges required because doing so does not require significant extra work on our end. Those companies include (but are not necessarily limited to) George S Bush & Co, C&H, OIA Global, NNR, and Henneway. In addition, sometimes air freight (FedEx or UPS, etc) is less expensive. In each of these cases, we don't charge the fee. Our intent here is to cover the unreasonable time and costs related to working with forwarding companies that can't execute without our committing of significant staff time to teach them how to handle the products and shipments, often for a one-time need.
  2. We work hard to keep our product costs as low as possible to make it more possible to buy our kits - for everyone. Our costs can get quite high in these unique-forwarder situations. Often we have to train someone at the company to arrange an unfamiliar and complex shipment with aircraft parts, and that "training" is never leveraged again. When we have to expend significant extra time and money to handle a one-off custom forwarder as a result of a request made by a customer, that cost is something we can't just absorb.
  3. The best thing you can do in situations where you're wondering about how it might affect you is to ask our kits team about your specific forwarder. Email them at [email protected]. They're busy folks, but they're glad to help.
  4. Note that when a shipment leaves the USA, we are legally bound to know the final destination for the shipment and we *are* held accountable after it's left our dock (regardless of the address we are delivering directly to). This is a fairly complicated responsibility and the US government takes it seriously. So, we can't just "not care" about the final destination and ship it to some intermediary location. We're not allowed to ignore it. I'm not sure why, but it probably has something to do with the regulation of terrorist kit airplane builders or something. Who knows.
  5. Once again - please ask our Kits team (by emailing [email protected]) about your specific situation and forwarder. If it won't take us an unusual amount of time and we're already working with the company, there's a decent chance it's an established freight forwarder and we won't have any need to charge the fee. If it's a company that quotes less for their service, yet it costs us a lot to process on our end, we'll need to charge the fee to cover our side of the work.

We've adjusted the language in our policy announcement to better reflect the fact that there are multiple forwarders for which we won't charge the fee, which is what we originally intended. It now reads: "International kit shipments for which the customer requests to use their own freight forwarder, rather than one of Van's Aircraft's several established freight forwarders, will incur a $500 administrative fee per shipment..."

Finally... It took a day or two for me to pull this together and validate that I had it right, all while dealing with some other time-consuming things. Hopefully this info helps clarify and answers some questions. If we don't reply to a specific question immediately or in order, it doesn't mean we're not paying attention or working on it.
 
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