[Jared Russell]

As Peter pointed out, shipping costs wind up being a huge part of a team's annual expenses. When you buy from AndyMark or McMaster-Carr, you often end up with capital that you can re-use from year to year (at least for training and prototyping). But when you spend $1000+ on shipping, that is money you will never see again.

There are a couple of things you can do to help mitigate this:

1. Find local suppliers! For bulky items like raw stock, nearby metal suppliers will save you a fortune on shipping in the long run (and if you sweet talk them, you can often work out deals to buy "at cost" or even have the materials donated to you). If you have a McMaster warehouse nearby, you are in luck!

2. Plan ahead. Ground shipping is much cheaper than next day air. The faster you go from "napkin sketch" to BOM, the more slack you will have in selecting less costly shipping methods.

3. Order in bulk. Many sellers (like OnlineMetals.com) offer free or discounted shipping for large orders.