I'm willing to admit after taking a look at my comment that I could be perceived as being sarcastic. But it wasn't. I acknowledged your advice when I was unaware of that policy. That makes an enormous difference in my desire to want to do business with them.
I have never once wandered on SR's site and thought "oh wow, that's not a half bad price"
It's always sticker shock. In fact, their prices are usually in line with an auto parts store. which I could just.. you know.. go and pickup if I wanted to pay $15 per spark plug.
Shipping costs do vary depending on your shipping region compared to the warehouse. For me,. Even after sales tax, core charge and shipping, RA is still cheaper. So much so, that I could wave my hand at returning the core and still be ahead. Hell, this isn't even including the typical 5% "how did you hear from us" code. But again, as long as SR will price match something, they will likely always come out on top.
Frankly RA's shipping system bothers the hell out of me. I welcome another option. It loves to separate items that originally were from the same warehouse and charge extra. That said, what they charge for each shipment I also can't scoff at as someone that ships dozens of packages a week. If summit wants to price match my whole cart, by all means, they can have all of my business and I will be trying them out with the parts for my friend's 1500.