Every six months, we regularly review our costs of doing business, which continue to rise for all manner of reason. Beginning June 1st, we are increasing our flat rate shipping cost to $9.95 from $4.95 for net orders totaling at least $25 or more. While we regret having to make this change, the fact remains that shipping costs continue to escalate for all the major carriers, especially for shipments we must send across the country to the west coast. When taken in conjunction with other promotional offers we may be running, we oftentimes end up barely breaking even on such shipments. As always, it pays to consolidate orders to help defray such shipping costs, particularly for less expensive items.