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imapplied · 6 years ago

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A Complete Guide to Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)

A lot goes into running an ecommerce business.

So, you’re a solo entrepreneur selling marked-up wiffle ball bats that you find on clearance at sporting goods stores. Or, maybe you’re an artisan with a small team of workers who craft high-quality picture frames. Perhaps you’re a large coffee maker manufacturer that handles tons of orders on a daily basis.

Regardless of what products you move and how you source them, you have a lot on your plate. You need to develop your product. You need to optimize your Facebook advertising campaigns. You need to manage your business’ finances.

Translation: you don’t have time to manage inventory, pack and ship every single order, and oversee customer service processes. Whether you’re already selling on Amazon or you’ve seriously considered it, there is a solution: Fulfillment by Amazon, or FBA.

What is Fulfillment by Amazon?

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is one of two core fulfillment options offered to Amazon sellers. The other is called Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM)—a system by which the seller (you) takes care of packing and shipping orders directly to customers. FBM sellers essentially use Amazon as a place to reach consumers and generate demand.

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Amazon actually sums up FBA pretty well in Seller Central: “You sell it, we ship it.”

Here’s how it works.

FBA Step 1. Send your products to an Amazon fulfillment center.

It goes without saying that the products you’re sending to Amazon should already be listed in your Seller account. You don’t want your products sitting in an Amazon warehouse if they’re not, uh, for sale on Amazon.

You’ll need to label all your products, which you can do independently or through Amazon’s FBA Label Service. Then, you ship your inventory either through Amazon or with a carrier of your choice.

FBA Step 2. Amazon takes care of storage.

When your inventory gets to the warehouse, Amazon scans the labels you attached, weighs and measures each package, and stores everything accordingly.

You’ll use online inventory tracking to stay on top of your stock. It’s up to you to ship more inventory to the warehouse when necessary.

FBA Step 3. Somebody orders your product on Amazon.

Amazon takes care of picking the product from inventory, packing it for shipping, and sending it to the customer.

Plus, after the order has been placed, Amazon takes responsibility for customer service.

How Much Does Fulfillment by Amazon Cost?

When calculating the costs of using Amazon FBA, there are several categories of fees to take into consideration. Let’s look at each category in turn.

General Fulfillment Fees

The fees you’ll mainly be dealing with are general fulfillment fees, which depend on two factors: the size of your product and the total shipping weight.

Standard products are things that weight a few pounds at most: a wallet, a sweater, a tea kettle, and so on. These are grouped into four tiers:

Small standard

Large standard

Larger standard

Largest standard

Weight

< 12 oz.

12 oz. to 1 lb.

1 lb. to 2 lb.

2 lb. to 20 lb.

FBA fee

$2.41

$3.19

$4.71

$0.38 per lb. over 2 lb.

Then, there are oversize products: a microwave, a TV, a comically large tea kettle, etc. Again, Amazon groups these products into four pricing tiers:

Small oversize

Medium oversize

Large oversize

Special oversize

Weight

20 lb. to 70 lb.

70 lb. to 150 lb.

> 150 lb.

Long Side + Girth

< 130 in.

< 165 in.

> 165 in.

FBA Fee

$8.13

$0.38 per lb. over 2 lb.

$9.44

$0.38 per lb. over 2 lb.

$73.18

$0.79 per lb. over 90 lb.

$137.32

$0.91 per lb. over 90 lb.

Now, it’s time to calculate the shipping weight.

For standard products weighing under 1 lb. and special oversize products (weird grouping), the shipping weight is simply the sum of the product weight and the packaging weight.

Shipping weight = product weight + packaging weight

For everything else, the shipping weight is the packaging weight plus the product weight OR the dimensional weight (whichever is greater).

Shipping weight = product weight + packaging weight

Shipping weight = dimensional weight + packaging weight

BY THE WAY

Dimensional weight = (length x width x height) / 139

Let’s say you sell a lunch box that weighs 2 lb. on its own. That makes it a “largest standard product.” The dimensions are 12 x 6 x 6 inches, creating a dimensional weight of 3.1 lb. The dimensional weight is greater than the product weight, so that’s what Amazon uses when calculating your total shipping weight.

A dimensional weight of 3.1 lb. plus a packaging weight of 0.9 lb. makes a total shipping weight of 4 lb. Because the lunch box is a “largest standard product,” the FBA fee is $4.71 plus $0.38 per lb. over 2 lb. The lunch box is 2 lb. over 2 lb., so the total shipping cost comes to:

$4.71 + ($0.38 x 2) = $5.47

Storage Fees

Amazon charges you money based on how much space you take up in the warehouse. Your storage fees are based on the volume (cubic feet) you occupy, and you’re charged every month.

For example, you’re charged your September storage fee a week or two into August.

Fortunately, this math is a lot simpler than the math we just did:

Month

Standard products

Oversize products

January – September

$0.69 per cubic ft.

$0.48 per cubic ft.

October – December

$2.40 per cubic ft.

$1.20 per cubic ft.

You can figure out how many cubic feet a given package takes up by dividing the volume (length x width x height) by 1,728 (12 x 12 x 12). So, if one package measures 16 x 10 x 10 inches, that’s a volume of 1,600. Divide that by 1,728 and you get 0.93 cubic feet—or 64 cents.

You may wonder why it’s more expensive to store smaller products. Amazon says it’s more difficult and costly to store these products in proper fashion. We’ll take their word for it.

Removal Order Fees

You can pay Amazon to return some (or all) of your inventory to you. Alternatively, you can pay them to dispose of whatever products you haven’t sold or won’t be selling going forward. Either way, you’ll be charged on a per-item basis.

Order

Standard product

Oversize product

Return

$0.50

$0.60

Disposal

$0.15

$0.30

Miscellaneous Fees

Unplanned preparation fee: If you send your inventory to an Amazon warehouse without the proper labeling or preparation, they’ll fix it and charge you accordingly.

Returns processing fee: If a customer returns something to Amazon and it qualifies for free returns, Amazon will charge you a returns processing fee equal to your original fulfillment fee.

Long-term storage fee: If your inventory stays in an Amazon warehouse unsold for longer than six months, you’ll be charged. If you don’t expect something to sell before the six-month mark, you can ask Amazon to return it and pay the removal orders fee.

The Advantages of Fulfillment by Amazon

After discussing almost nothing but fees for the past several hundred words, you may be thinking that FBA benefits Amazon and only Amazon.

Not so fast, partner.

FBA Advantage #1: More Time to Grow Your Business

Using Amazon FBM means handling all the inventory, the labeling, the packing, the shipping, the tracking, and the customer service. If you’re operating your ecommerce business out of your living space or a small office, you likely don’t have room for all that noise.

Plus, by handing off those responsibilities to Amazon, you give yourself way more time to focus on the things that improve and grow your business: product development, market research, online advertising campaigns, SEO, partnerships, and so on. If you can’t allocate enough time and energy to these practices, your business simply won’t be sustainable.

FBA Advantage #2: Earn Consumers’ Trust

Americans love Amazon. More importantly, Americans trust Amazon. When you order Scooby-Doo slippers with two-day shipping, you sleep soundly knowing that your feet will be both cozy and whimsical in 48 hours.

As an FBA seller, your product listings will prominently display “Fulfilled by Amazon” for all prospective buyers to see. The effect this has on your sales is irrefutable—shoppers automatically trust you more. And shoppers like to buy from sellers they trust.

FBA Advantage #3: Automatic Prime Eligibility

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. households have Amazon Prime. Overall, nearly 85 million consumers are using the premiere service.

Nobody who pays for Amazon Prime is going to buy products that aren’t Prime eligible. Why settle for standard shipping (5-8 business days) when you can get your mason jars in a fraction of that time? Plus, the Prime logo taps into that trust factor we just talked about.

Don’t miss out on tens of millions of trusting, eager consumers.

FBA Advantage #4: The Coveted Buy Box

The Amazon buy box is the white box on the right side of a product details page where the “Add to Cart” and “Buy Now” buttons live.

In other words, it’s where the money is made on Amazon. To be precise, 82% of Amazon purchases made on desktops are done through the buy box. That number is even higher for purchases made on mobile.

Amazon uses an algorithm to determine which seller is represented in the buy box and for how long. The details of the algorithm are for another blog post, but one factor is pertinent here:

FBA sellers get a lot of preference when it comes to the buy box.

The Disadvantages of Fulfillment by Amazon

We should be clear—Amazon FBA isn’t a celestial bounty of good times and warm hugs. Before opting for this fulfillment option, you should understand the two principal disadvantages.

FBA Disadvantage #1: Fees on Fees

As you may recall from a previous section of this blog post, Amazon FBA costs money. In fact, all fees considered, the costs can run pretty high.

Although we’re of the opinion that these costs are ultimately worth it, we understand that your business may not be in a position to take them on in addition to essential expenses like manufacturing and marketing.

FBA Disadvantage #2: Forfeiting Control

It’s not (that) weird to think of your ecommerce business as your child. You’ve built this thing from the ground up, and you’re rightfully proud of that.

As such, you may not be ecstatic about the idea of handing over the reins for storage and shipping. If a lack of personal oversight and control makes your uncomfortable, Amazon FBA isn’t for you.

So, is Fulfillment by Amazon Worth It?

The answer to this question really comes down to three factors: how much you’re shipping per month, how big your profit margins are, and how niche your market is.

You need to move at least 40 items per month to qualify for FBA. If you’re just barely hitting that minimum threshold, it may not be worth the hassle (and the fees) of preparing your inventory according to Amazon’s strict guidelines. You’re probably better off handling these responsibilities by yourself, or through a smaller fulfillment company that’s more flexible.

FBA isn’t a good idea for ecommerce sellers with small margins. If you’re not making much money per sale, it’s a safe bet that FBA fees are going to bring your margins down to zero, if not into the red. Although shipping everything on your own isn’t free—in terms of money or energy—you shouldn’t take on any fees that aren’t essential to your business.

Sellers of super niche products (e.g., vintage zines geared towards old-school goth music fans) don’t necessarily need FBA, either. Remember that one of FBA’s biggest advantages is the eligibility for Prime. If an Amazon shopper sees a bunch of fairly identical products, and only a handful of them are Prime eligible, she’s going to immediately write off those that are ineligible.

But, not that many people use Amazon to sell ‘70s goth zines. The people who are in the market for your niche product probably don’t care that much about Prime eligibility; they’re just happy to have found what they were looking for.

Now, if you’re a seller in a competitive market who moves tons of items per month and drives sizeable margins, then yeah—FBA is a fantastic investment. It’s a surefire way to free up your schedule, earn prospective buyers’ trust, and win more sales on the product details page.

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from https://www.imapplied.co.za/seo/a-complete-guide-to-fulfillment-by-amazon-fba/

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adambstingus · 7 years ago

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Here’s what people think is the most expensive part of living in your state

You’re not the only one going nuts about about the price of beer in Virginia.

Thanks to the powers of predictive search, what most people found to be the most questionably expensive resource in each state has been revealed. DIY firm Improvenet has released a mapof what Google autocomplete returns for “Why is (…) so expensive in X state?”

From housing to gas to liquor, the map looks at which states to avoid if you’re trying to save money on a specific commodity:

Improvenet

The graph yields inconclusive data for four states: South Dakota, Iowa, Tennessee, and New Mexico. That’s no surprise. All four states rank low as far as cost of living; Tennessee and Iowa are among the 10 most inexpensive states to live in the nation.

A closer look at the map’s findings can reveal some interesting insights:

Improvenet

Beer: Virginia and Pennsylvania

Virginia has some of the lowest excise taxes on beer in the country, at only $0.26 per gallon. But a growing Virginia craft beer industry may be the culprit here; the low yield of the state’s breweries equals costlier local brews. But still, many in neighboring Maryland and Washington, D.C., skip state lines for the cheaper beer in Virginia.

Being a beer geek in Pennsylvania must be tough. The state whose motto should be changed to “Live Free or Die Hard” is notorious for its prohibitive laws on both beer and hard liquor. You can only buy beer from bottle shops, taverns or a beer distributer in Pennsylvania, where you only have the option of buying a case or keg. No single bottles. No six-packs.

Car Insurance: Kentucky

Why is car insurance so expensivein the Bluegrass state? Not only is Kentucky the third most expensive state in the nation for car insurance, Louisville is the eighth most expensive city. Local news outlet WDRB reported that the pricey auto insurance rates are due to Kentucky being a “no fault” state for car accident liability.

“If you’re in a vehicle accident in Kentucky, your insurance picks up the first $10,000 of your medical bills whether you were at fault or not,” explained Louisville Kentucky Insurance agent David Cronin to WDRB.

Car Registration: Nevada

Nevada is ranked the fifth most expensive state for car owners in the nation, and a recent 2009 tax hike increased of registering your car in the state. The cost of registering a $25,000 car is $383 dollars in Reno, compared to $195 in Oregon, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Car Tags:Mississippi

License plates will set you back in the Magnolia State. According toMississippi Watchdog, the culprit is a state legislature controlled “ad valorem” property tax, resulting in tag costs of $400 or more for some residents. The pricey tags has led to car tag fraud becoming a regular occurrence in the state.

Cost of Living: Vermont

Living in the Green Mountain State may have its charms, but it comes at a price. Vermont is ranked the 10th most expensive state in America. The small state is almost 75 percent forest and has one of the nation’s tightest housing markets. The average price of a home in Burlington, the largest city, was $485,749 in 2015.

Electricity: Arizona, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts

It’s no mystery why Arizona is on the list. The desert state relies heavily on air conditioning, which makes up a quarter of its total energy consumption, to get through its hot and arid summers. The costs of an Arizonan’s electricity bill can sky-rocket during peak air-conditioning hours, like in the middle of a sweltering summer day.

New Hampshire and Massachusetts residents have the opposite problem. Freezing winters and price volatility in New England’s energy markethas led to steep energy bills for residents of both states. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average cost of electricity delivered to consumers in November 2015 was 18.15 cents a kilowatt-hour in New Hampshire and 18.32 cents a kilowatt-hour in Massachusetts, compared to 15.55 cents in Maine and 14.40 cents in Pennsylvania over the same period.

Insurance: New Jersey

Insurance is expensive in the Garden State. The state’s health insurance premiums were historically among the highest in the nation, even before the Affordable Care Act.

Due to a high mandatory liability premium, the state has the costliest auto insurance in the nation. There are also more cars and more accidents, so many New Jersey residents buy more coverage than is legally required.

Land: Texas and Montana

Long gone are the days when cheap land was one of Texas’s draws; the state is losing more rural land than any other state in the nation, according to the Texas Tribune. In fact, the world’s most expensive ranch is located in North Texas. At more than 500,000 acres, the abode fetched a staggering price of $725 million.

The vast expanse of federally-owned public lands makes things costly in Montana.

Gas: The entire West Coast and Mid-West, Idaho, Utah, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, and Alaska

From sea to shining sea, pretty much everyone seems to be wondering why the price to pump is so expensiveor why it was in the recent past, at least. Due to a surplus, gas is cheaper than it’s been in years. Theaverage national price of a gallon is $1.70 in February 2016, which is less than half the national price for 2011, 2012, and 2013, according to AAA.

But the nationwide average of gas prices is a misleading snapshot that leaves out the big Western states. For example, the cost of a gallon is $2.36 in California this month, which is still lower than the $2.81 it was last year during the same period. Oil refineries are less concentrated out West, which has contributed to the high cost to transport gas in those states. The high cost to transport gas is also why gas has traditionally been the most expensive in places like Alaska and Hawaii.

San Jose Mercury News attributes California’s expensive gas to a few factors: The Golden State’s gasoline tax of nearly 60 cents a gallon is among the highest in the nation, the blended fuel costs an additional ten cents, and there’s an additional ten cent carbon tax. California also only has roughly a third of the oil refineries now than it had in 1982.

As for the high gas prices in the intermountain West? It’s a mixed bag of supply problems and limited pipelines. Especially in states like Idaho that have no access tocrude oil or pipelines, the price to pump is notably high.

Milk: Arkansas, Louisiana

Dairy farms rapidly closing in Arkansas throughout the 90s led to a state-wide milk shortage. Most of the milk in Arkansas now comes from out of state.

Milk in Louisiana is also expensive due to a state-mandated price floor. The state lost roughly80 percent of its dairy farms between 1980 and 2007. The average cost of a gallon of milk is $5.15 in Baton Rouge and $3.76 in Little Rock.

Weed: District of Columbia

Marijuana was pricey in the nation’s capitol, but a recent legalization has cut the price of recreational marijuana by more than 40 percent.

Liquor: Alabama

Spirits are costly in the Yellowhammer state, which imposes a 21.4-cent state tax on liquor. Alabama currently has the fourth highest excise tax on alcohol nationwide.

Housing: North Dakota and Wyoming

Why is housing expensive in North Dakotaof all places? Blame the oil industry. Rents in Williston, North Dakota, were the highest in the country in 2014, even topping Silicon Valley. But that’s no longer the case in 2016. An influx in oil workers lead to the biggest real estate boom in North Dakota history, which in turn led to a dramatic drop in rental prices. A 3-bedroom rental in Watford City is $1,400 in 2016, compared to $2,500 in 2015.

A shortage of low and moderately priced housing is the culprit in Wyoming.

Rent: New York

Duh.

Photo viaImprovenet

Update: Language in this story jokingly conveyed that Pennsylvania’s state motto is “Live Free or Die Hard”. The original language has been updated to make this clear. The state’s actual motto is “Virtue, liberty, and independence.

Correction: Beer can also be purchased to-go, although in smaller quantities, in bottle shops and bars in Pennsylvania.

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/2017/07/04/heres-what-people-think-is-the-most-expensive-part-of-living-in-your-state/ from All of Beer https://allofbeercom.tumblr.com/post/162606452347

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samanthasroberts · 7 years ago

Text

Here’s what people think is the most expensive part of living in your state

You’re not the only one going nuts about about the price of beer in Virginia.

From housing to gas to liquor, the map looks at which states to avoid if you’re trying to save money on a specific commodity:

Improvenet

A closer look at the map’s findings can reveal some interesting insights:

Improvenet

Beer: Virginia and Pennsylvania

Car Insurance: Kentucky

Car Registration: Nevada

Car Tags:Mississippi

Cost of Living: Vermont

Electricity: Arizona, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts

Insurance: New Jersey

Insurance is expensive in the Garden State. The state’s health insurance premiums were historically among the highest in the nation, even before the Affordable Care Act.

Land: Texas and Montana

The vast expanse of federally-owned public lands makes things costly in Montana.

Gas: The entire West Coast and Mid-West, Idaho, Utah, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, and Alaska

Milk: Arkansas, Louisiana

Dairy farms rapidly closing in Arkansas throughout the 90s led to a state-wide milk shortage. Most of the milk in Arkansas now comes from out of state.

Weed: District of Columbia

Marijuana was pricey in the nation’s capitol, but a recent legalization has cut the price of recreational marijuana by more than 40 percent.

Liquor: Alabama

Spirits are costly in the Yellowhammer state, which imposes a 21.4-cent state tax on liquor. Alabama currently has the fourth highest excise tax on alcohol nationwide.

Housing: North Dakota and Wyoming

A shortage of low and moderately priced housing is the culprit in Wyoming.

Rent: New York

Duh.

Photo viaImprovenet

Correction: Beer can also be purchased to-go, although in smaller quantities, in bottle shops and bars in Pennsylvania.

Source: http://allofbeer.com/2017/07/04/heres-what-people-think-is-the-most-expensive-part-of-living-in-your-state/

from All of Beer https://allofbeer.wordpress.com/2017/07/04/heres-what-people-think-is-the-most-expensive-part-of-living-in-your-state/

0 notes

jimdsmith34 · 7 years ago

Text

Here’s what people think is the most expensive part of living in your state

You’re not the only one going nuts about about the price of beer in Virginia.

From housing to gas to liquor, the map looks at which states to avoid if you’re trying to save money on a specific commodity:

Improvenet

A closer look at the map’s findings can reveal some interesting insights:

Improvenet

Beer: Virginia and Pennsylvania

Car Insurance: Kentucky

Car Registration: Nevada

Car Tags:Mississippi

Cost of Living: Vermont

Electricity: Arizona, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts

Insurance: New Jersey

Insurance is expensive in the Garden State. The state’s health insurance premiums were historically among the highest in the nation, even before the Affordable Care Act.

Land: Texas and Montana

The vast expanse of federally-owned public lands makes things costly in Montana.

Gas: The entire West Coast and Mid-West, Idaho, Utah, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, and Alaska

Milk: Arkansas, Louisiana

Dairy farms rapidly closing in Arkansas throughout the 90s led to a state-wide milk shortage. Most of the milk in Arkansas now comes from out of state.

Weed: District of Columbia

Marijuana was pricey in the nation’s capitol, but a recent legalization has cut the price of recreational marijuana by more than 40 percent.

Liquor: Alabama

Spirits are costly in the Yellowhammer state, which imposes a 21.4-cent state tax on liquor. Alabama currently has the fourth highest excise tax on alcohol nationwide.

Housing: North Dakota and Wyoming

A shortage of low and moderately priced housing is the culprit in Wyoming.

Rent: New York

Duh.

Photo viaImprovenet

Correction: Beer can also be purchased to-go, although in smaller quantities, in bottle shops and bars in Pennsylvania.

source http://allofbeer.com/2017/07/04/heres-what-people-think-is-the-most-expensive-part-of-living-in-your-state/ from All of Beer http://allofbeer.blogspot.com/2017/07/heres-what-people-think-is-most.html

0 notes

allofbeercom · 7 years ago

Text

Here’s what people think is the most expensive part of living in your state

You’re not the only one going nuts about about the price of beer in Virginia.

From housing to gas to liquor, the map looks at which states to avoid if you’re trying to save money on a specific commodity:

Improvenet

A closer look at the map’s findings can reveal some interesting insights:

Improvenet

Beer: Virginia and Pennsylvania

Car Insurance: Kentucky

Car Registration: Nevada

Car Tags:Mississippi

Cost of Living: Vermont

Electricity: Arizona, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts

Insurance: New Jersey

Insurance is expensive in the Garden State. The state’s health insurance premiums were historically among the highest in the nation, even before the Affordable Care Act.

Land: Texas and Montana

The vast expanse of federally-owned public lands makes things costly in Montana.

Gas: The entire West Coast and Mid-West, Idaho, Utah, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, and Alaska

Milk: Arkansas, Louisiana

Dairy farms rapidly closing in Arkansas throughout the 90s led to a state-wide milk shortage. Most of the milk in Arkansas now comes from out of state.

Weed: District of Columbia

Marijuana was pricey in the nation’s capitol, but a recent legalization has cut the price of recreational marijuana by more than 40 percent.

Liquor: Alabama

Spirits are costly in the Yellowhammer state, which imposes a 21.4-cent state tax on liquor. Alabama currently has the fourth highest excise tax on alcohol nationwide.

Housing: North Dakota and Wyoming

A shortage of low and moderately priced housing is the culprit in Wyoming.

Rent: New York

Duh.

Photo viaImprovenet

Correction: Beer can also be purchased to-go, although in smaller quantities, in bottle shops and bars in Pennsylvania.

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/2017/07/04/heres-what-people-think-is-the-most-expensive-part-of-living-in-your-state/

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touristguidebuzz · 8 years ago

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Must See: An Underground Amusement Park in a Former Transylvanian Salt Mine

You probably know Transylvania for one thing: Dracula. But it’s always meant (a bit) more to me. My grandmother’s family hails from the region, so when a $414 upgradeable fare from Newark to Cluj-Napoca (via Munich) popped up a few months back, I booked a weekend trip to Transylvania’s (unofficial) capital city. And wow — what a special place!

In This Post

Getting to Cluj-Napoca (CLJ)

Back in December, United was offering upgradeable economy fares to very select destinations in Europe for roughly $400 round-trip. These “V-class” fares would normally run $1,000 and up, and given that there was instant upgrade availability to United Polaris on the long transatlantic legs, I didn’t hesitate to book this trip and redeem my Premier 1K Global Premier Upgrades to ride up front.

The Polaris flights were uneventful, operated by an older 767-300 aircraft. I managed to sleep most of the way over to Munich and a few hours on the flight home. I was especially impressed with my intra-Europe economy flights operated by Lufthansa subsidiary Air Dolomiti, though. The flight attendants were very friendly, and even though the flights were just over an hour long, I was offered a boxed lunch/breakfast and Prosecco. I found the Embraer E-195 to be very comfortable as well.

Somehow I think this might be my very first time on an E195. Very comfy regional jet! Next stop: CLJ. http://pic.twitter.com/t09z5gDMJu

— Zach Honig (@ZachHonig) February 24, 2017

Cluj Airport is definitely on the smaller side, and regular international flights that you can book with miles are only operated by LOT, Lufthansa (Air Dolomiti) and Turkish — so it’s Star Alliance or bust. If you’re flying United across the pond, you can redeem 57,500 miles each way to travel in business class — otherwise it’s 70,000 miles for business or 30,000 miles for coach, regardless of the UA partner you choose to fly.

I had a great time in Cluj, where I toured the city, ate some incredibly filling Romanian food and even spent a few hours exploring the haunted Hoia Baciu forest with a guide. But the highlight for me was the trip to Salina Turda, a salt-mine-turned-underground-amusement-park some 20 miles south of Cluj, which my airport Uber driver Sorin told me all about during our drive from CLJ to my hotel (Hampton by Hilton — 10,000 points per night) on Friday morning.

So, I called Sorin up and asked him to join me there on Sunday. It took about 40 minutes to drive from my hotel in Cluj to the entrance of the mine, but I asked Sorin to keep the app running all morning, so he would get paid for our time inside. That brought the cost from 90 lei ($21) to 129.01 ($30), a very reasonable sum for the drive and more than three hours of Sorin’s time. Uber takes a 25% cut in Romania, so I gave him cash (the full 90 lei) for the trip home, bringing transportation costs to just over $50.

After the trip, I asked Sorin if I could pass along his info to anyone interested in booking a similar trip and he was thrilled at the opportunity. So if you’re headed to Romania and you want to check out Salina Turda (or anything else in the Cluj area), feel free to email Sorin at [email protected].

Salina Turda Amusement Park

Salina Turda first opened to tourists in 1992, but its history dates back at least to the 13th century, with one document referencing the mine on May 1, 1271. Electricity wasn’t added until the early 20th century, so workers had to excavate table salt using other light sources for hundreds of years. Those miners came to mind throughout my visit — I kept wondering what they’d think of the Salina of today.

Admission for two to an amusement park 400 feet below the surface, a day of parking and a 20-minute boat rental — sounds like a pretty expensive outing, huh? But this is Romania… all in, I spent $18.75. Adult admission will run you $7, but kids are just $3.50, making this a very affordable family day trip.

There are two routes into the mine — one entrance (below) requires climbing down many flights of stairs, so be sure to keep that in mind.

While there are two elevators available, it’s impossible to get to the main area without walking down at least a few flights of sodium-encrusted stairs — if you’re like me, you’ll probably be taking pictures the whole way down.

After a steep descent, you’ll come upon the main room, which houses a variety of amenities. At more than 250 feet long and 160 feet wide, it’s really a sight to behold.

There’s a large ping pong area, with six tables, a mini ferris wheel, an amphitheater with 180 heated seats, mini-golf, a children’s playground and more.

You’ll also find billiards tables, bowling, badminton, a gift shop and other activities.

Then, there’s a balcony at the far end of the main room that overlooks an underground lake, another 13 stories below.

The lake has boats available for rent ($3.50 for 20 minutes) — each boat holds three people, and, as you’d expect, you’ll be floating on salt water.

The boating excursion was the highlight for me, so it’s worth the wait (if there is one at all). We visited on a Sunday and arrived just after the mine opened at 9:00am — by 11 it was starting to fill up, so be sure to arrive early if you can.

Here’s what you’ll see looking up from the lake — the first balcony is 13 stories up, while the second (the small orange sliver) is another 13 floors above.

While You’re in the Neighborhood…

2.5 hours and some 500 pictures later, it was time to resurface and stuff our faces with a local delicacy Sorin had described as “meat from the side of the pig.” I was a bit delirious on my 10-minute ride from the airport to the hotel Friday morning, so I was expecting some Romanian speciality, perhaps involving a stew with potatoes. Imagine my (pleasant) surprise when the waitress brought out two gigantic plates of ribs slathered with BBQ sauce, with a side of French fries accompanied ketchup and an incredible creamy garlic sauce.

My new buddy Sorin was telling me about this Romanian speciality… "meat from the side of… https://t.co/6zL6XTEOoL http://pic.twitter.com/JJIzEO6do0

— Zach Honig (@ZachHonig) February 26, 2017

These were the best ribs I’d ever had — and at $7 for a massive rack, they were also the cheapest. I also added one mititei, a typical local dish of grilled pork, beef and lamb (about 50 cents). After tip (it’s customary to tip 5-10% in Romania), our bill at my new favorite restaurant (Pensiunea Pusca si Cureaua Lata) came to about $19, including a local beer for me and a Coke for Sorin.

Bottom Line

At $50 for transportation and my guide, roughly $19 for parking, admission and the boat rid, and a $19 lunch for two, my private excursion from Cluj-Napoca to Turda cost just $89. Unbelievable! Hotels in Cluj are incredibly reasonable as well (my Hampton by Hilton stay cost just 10,000 Honors points per night, which we value at $50), but there’s no question that flying to Romania is a bit of a hassle — and it can be costly as well, given that the cheapest fares I’m seeing now are in the $650 range. Flights similar to those I took (operated by United and Lufthansa/Air Dolomiti) start at $762 round-trip, with fares on most dates pricing much higher than that.

Still, if you’re up for a unique adventure or you can work Cluj into a larger trip to Romania or Europe, it’s absolutely worth adding to your list. Salina Turda will eventually be undergoing an expansion, so I’m already thinking about one day going back.

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