Check that invoice. You may find a hidden surprise in there.

We have all watched those late night infomercials where they will give you an incredible price for Ginsu Knifes,  “Just $19.99″…plus “Shipping & Handling“.  “But Wait, there’s more”  They will send you two sets for the price of one…just  pay additional “Shipping & Handling“. They could give you the stuff because they make so much on “Shipping & Handling” charges.

A lot of compainies today are saying “Free Shipping” in their advertisements; sometimes with minimum order sizes or sometimes just “Free Shipping” period.  Have you ever wondered who really paid for that “Free Shipping”?  Did UPS just bring it to you out of the goodness of their heart?  No!  Somebody paid for that shipping, and it was you.  Either in higher prices, or hidden charges, or Actual shipping charges added to your invoice, (the most upfront way), still, you paid for the shipping.  Some companies out there just add a “Handling” fee on every invoice to cover the shipping because most of the time the people that order and use the products, seldom ever see the invoice.

So the next time you see “Free Shipping” you might want to go take a look at an invoice and see if there is something hiding in there.