I think that too many people are so used to "free shipping" from the various online retailers, they expect it, and don't realise that the shipping isn't really "free", they are paying for it in the items themselves... either with a more expensive price on everything (like Amazon), or non-competitive pricing (at RRP without sales) so that the retailer makes enough profit from the total price of larger orders to pay for the shipping over certain order amounts.
If there was no such thing as "free shipping", the pricing of the items would be cheaper, because that shipping cost has to come from somewhere, and the retailer/seller is not just going to pay for it with their own money.... that's the buyer paying for it with higher prices - they just don't realise it.