Why is shipping so expensive in US? I live in China, and virtually every online stores here offer free shipping, even for for example a screwdriver which worth less than 5 dollars. I once researched into it and found that if you are a store owner and have many packages to be delivered everyday, the price can be as low as 30~50 cents per package.
And it's really efficient. Basically no shipping would take more than a week. Average time would be 3~4 days.
Your country's highest minimum wage is what the lowest possible earner in the US (federal minimum) makes in about 1 week, assuming just 40 hours of work.
That's also why food delivery is cheap/free in Asia as well as cleaning. I'm an expat in Hong Kong and these people basically own modern slaves. ~$550 + food and shelter for a live in worker that works 6 days per week.
Anyone in the US that touches the delivery process is getting decent money compared to a low skilled Chinese worker.
I am visiting China and only about half of my taobao orders have had free shipping. In some cases where I paid for shipping, there was a free shipping option, but the price + shipping was lower for another listing of the same item where I had to pay for shipping.
Also, shipping is not always quick. Sometimes, the merchant doesn't have the item in stock that they listed and rather than delist or tell you, they just leave your order in the system until you contact them. Then they tell you to ask for a refund. I have had it happen multiple times over the past 2 weeks with enterprise-grade network equipment like SFP transceivers and media converters. I even had it happen with a TP-LINK TL-EP110.
And it's really efficient. Basically no shipping would take more than a week. Average time would be 3~4 days.