Because they know you need multiple parts from many games and would rather buy from one store instead of multiple stores with multiple shipping charges. Also; Marco usually buys at a price somewhere between wholesale and retail then marks it up to get their profit.
Again; I'm assuming it's because they don't order "wholesale volumes" from these vendors; so don't get economy of scales.

No; I don't have insider knowledge... just spreading rumors I've heard a various places and what happened (by inference) with my Chicago Gun Game sound card.

I doubt Stern buys anything from pinball suppliers.
I bet they have parts built directly from the manufacturer to their specs

We should start a new thread on this... and make it very well known that we don't appreciate being forced to buy that FedEx or UPS crap.
They need to bring back priority mail shipping.

I'm sorry; why wouldn't it?
Customers should be able to voice their concerns. But, yeah, I do understand that some people are stuck in their ways.

I don't have pbls volume... But I've only had USPS loose 2 packages. Both international.
FedEx has lost one. Ups has damaged three and refused to cover the damage

Sounds like USPS depends on where in the country you are

As a vendor; I understand Terry's plight at PBL.
I too lost sleep during the covid shutdown ... packages were lost for at least a month.
Eventually; all got delivered and customers basically understood that all shipping companies were shit. Even Fedex and UPS had trouble delivering packages.

As a vendor; I do not profit off of Shipping. I pass the USPS generated amount from their API on to the customer with roughly a 1usd added on to cover a shipping box and tape. As a whole; I find that most of us (Pinheads) are cheap skates... we don't choose Priority mail and will default to First class nearly every time; even if the cost for first class is within a dollar of priority.

As long as usps continues to be reasonably priced and continues to deliver; I can't see my small business downgrading to UPS or FedEx any time soon. They are too expensive and don't stand behind their service any more than usps.

As long as Terry understands his customer base... then I can't really blame him for making the decision he made.

No such thing.

I'm not being combative; just trying to figure out how two stamps works in your mind.
All of my shipments have to go out as "packages" to be able to later claim retail value if they ever get lost. I don't think any vendor in the world is going to risk putting two stamps on an untracked item unless it's a specific request from the customer who absolves the seller from all responsibility when it's done.

I've never been able to ship anything for under 3.50 these days. Here's a screen shoot of my actual shipping costs for customer packages:
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So; not really something a real vendor can do in today's world.
If you know specifically how to pass a $2 shipping on to my customers; please shar.