Hazmat fees are a gold mine for somebody.These 'hazardous' materials aren't handled any differently than any other freight.
Got some primers the other day that I ordered. In the box were a couple papers that showed the
box met the government requirements for a box used to ship HAZMAT.
(first time I had seen any of those, normally just the red label with the contents paper)
So part of it is to cover the cost keeping the government happy, permits, etc. (I do agree those little red labels must be expensive)
So there are extra requirements the shipper has to meet.
HAZMAT needs to go ground so it does have to be handled different.
I would also bet that the shipping company has to meet requirements to keep the government happy as well. No doubt keeping them happy costs $$
An extreme example but normally a truck gets loaded up with what ever, in general no laws about how many TVs, boxes of shoes etc can be in the truck.
(other than weight, not a truck driver so there are probably more things I am not aware of)
I would imagine they need to make sure for example not to many boxes of powder/primers go out on one delivery truck.
Hazmat fees are a pain, but considering I can get what I want shipped to my door not to terrible a price to pay.
I seem to recall someone mentioning at one point in time some other countries don't allow powder/primers to be shipped to individuals, I don't recall where the poster was from however.
A burger fries and a soda is about $8 any more so if I have to pay $30 to get the powder and primers I want delivered to my door it works for me.
I don't need to spend time calling to see if the LGS has what I want before driving there (may have to call a couple) and I don't spend time driving and burn up gas doing it, and maybe go to more than one place to "fill" my order.
During the last shortage I made a 120 mile round trip to a small town near me to get pistol powder. (none to be found online)
About 3 hours of my time, $15 worth of gas. It would have been cheaper to pay the HAZMAT + shipping if I could have found any powder to order online.
Most of the time you don't have to order very much to cover the HAZMAT fee
5K of primers or 5lbs of powder usually does it.
Yes it would be nice if there were no HAZMAT fees, but hey it would be nice if there was no income tax to,
We all have to do our part to help out our poor Uncle Sam.