Originally Posted by Ramshackle

I live in Hawaii, and if the online bike companies even ship here (which many don't), they charge outrageous shipping costs even though there isn't much difference in US postal rates from Hawaii to the US mainland. They're just price gouging when they charge $15 to ship a small lightweight $10 part. Some of these companies will only ship using UPS or Fedex whose rates to Hawaii are insane. Like most people on the island, I depend on free shipping as part of Amazon Prime. When I can find bike parts from an LBS, the prices are 2-3 times higher than Amazon. Since the LBS's don't stock a lot of parts or accessories, they have to order it from the mainland. Why bother when I can get the parts faster and cheaper from Amazon? On the other hand, I wouldn't use Amazon as much if I lived in a big city with well-stocked competitive bike shops or where shipping was cheap. It's all about necessity.