What's the most you've ever overpaid for shipping/a service to land a toy?

Okay, the question is rhetorical/meant as reflection, but I think - for the most people who have been around this hobby long enough, and considering we are getting items by and large made in Japan shipped outside of that country and around the world - we're all familiar with the 'cost of doing business' in this fashion. In fact, without putting too fine a point on it, the thought of how much actual money collectors have shelled out over decades just for shipping alone would probably scare away most average family members.

But in any case, a recent experience in particular had me really steaming/frustrated with what we have to accept as part of this hobby. I have bemoaned here and elsewhere - at great length sometimes - about the hits we have to take for silly things like import duties and 'handling charges' on 50 year old toys. It can reach the point of ridiculousness. And it is just something that is legitimately out of our hands for the most part. But this is actually about the charges for postage itself. Most of us had to go through a period of reduced, or no, service, due to interruptions on air routes out of Japan as a result of the war in Ukraine. While things have resumed for the most part, there is no question that the 'rates' shops like Mandarake are charging are far higher than they were prior to this. Whether those are actual costs to them, and reasonable for the items is debatable at times. If you want stuff shipped from Japan around the world, there is obviously going to be a very real cost, and that makes complete sense.

The issue though is when shipping or service fees greatly exceed the value - inherent or personal - of what we are purchasing. How much is the limit you are willing to spend on a toy/item, is there one, and where do you draw the line? It's purely a personal exercise, and will greatly depend on an individual and the item itself. Many times you might (like me) buy very small 'toy prize' items that are tiny and weigh almost nothing. It's just a fact of collecting on a budget and having niche tastes, even for this hobby. In those cases, sure it costs a bit [and more now] for something that is barely anything, but all right, overall the costs can balance out. You still have to weigh its value to you versus the total spend, like anything else. That aside, other situations can be more complex. For example a grail comes along and you have the opportunity to adopt it, but for whatever reason you are looking at a massive surcharge that you'd have to eat on top of the toy price. Would your own inner moral quandry and frustration stop you from purchasing said toy? Do you bite the bullet and just accept it as all part of the hobby? Where does the grey area lie, and what happens then? I think we've all faced our challenges are probably more than one of us have been burned by transactions due to transport and shipping alone, whatever the details. Anyways, this happened to me recently and was a source of real tangible stress which I probably did not need in my life. I found the situation both interesting to reflect on as a fan and collector but as an individual that also has a real world to balance out. How far does the average person go to build their collection, and what are the costs, both real and intangible? There's no simple answer of course, like most aspects of this hobby, but worth thinking about it.

 

(and the opposite too, of course. g-d brexit!)

Hahaha, both of these are so true. Well, at least I am glad I am not the only one.