Here we go again.

If you’ve been stopping by for a while, you’ve probably seen one of my rants about Amazon.com’s refusal to ship any food-related products to Hawaii. This includes non-perishable items that could easily be delivered by mail or by UPS Ground, both services that Amazon regularly uses. Doesn’t matter that I’m willing to pay the delivery cost. They just won’t do it, for some as yet undisclosed reason, although they’ll deliver other much larger items, sometimes without shipping charges.

So yesterday I had the experience again. All I wanted was to buy a package of reporter’s notebooks, those handy notebooks that you can easily stick in a pocket.

So I hopped online and checked Amazon.com. There they were, just what I wanted. A pack of 12, shipping weight 2.5 pounds. That’s nothing for an outfit that will ship a mattress to Hawaii. I added a pack to my shopping cart, headed for checkout, and got the dreaded message in red:

This item cannot be shipped to the address you selected. (Learn more.) You may either change the shipping address or remove the item by clicking Delete.

Initially I dismissed this as just another aggravating Amazon policy, and turned to other online sources.

Not so fast. OfficeDepot.com? Won’t ship to Hawaii. Staples.com? Won’t ship to Hawaii.

The message kept being the same as I worked down the list of places selling this simple item.

*OfficeSupplyInc.com currently does not ship to PO Boxes, APO/FPO, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico or international addresses.

Shoplet.com offers standard UPS Ground shipping on all items, but won’t ship to Hawaii even though their preferred UPS service is available.

Somehow these online retailers refuse to use the available UPS Ground service, which is readily available to Hawaii as to other parts of the US.

So even if they’re unwilling to just drop the things in the mail because they standardize on UPS, there’s just no rational reason I can come up with for refusing to ship to Hawaii.

I can’t help suspecting that there is some sort of restraint of trade issue at work, perhaps a distributor’s deal that restricts availability, I don’t know.

What is clear, though, is that this is a general policy that directly and unnecessarily impacts Hawaii consumers.

The state, or the federal government, should investigate the reasons behind this restraint of trade and determine what, if anything, can be done to change the policies of online retailers.

While I was freshly steamed from my foiled search for notepads, I ran into United Airlines, which has been my choice as primary carrier to the mainland for decades.

I remembered that in years past, United would give you a break on reservations you had already paid for if a subsequent fare sale would save you money. Several times, we requested and received a credit when prices dropped on tickets we were holding. It was a good deal for consumers, and I wondered if that policy still exists.

After a bit of searching, I came across the company’s answer in a list of “frequently asked questions”.

And the answer seemed to be good news. Yes, a credit is available, it said.

If I have purchased a ticket and a new, lower fare is introduced, can I obtain a credit?

When we introduce new fares or reduce current fares in a particular market, you may change a previously purchased ticket (purchased on or after March 20, 2009) to the new fare if:

* the change is made prior to departure;
* you do not change the flight, date, origin, destination or stopover points;
* reservations are confirmed in an appropriate class of service;
* all fare rules are met; and
* the lower fare is not a united.com-only fare.

Good deal!

But then I read down further into the fine print, after the instructions for requesting the credit. After the telephone number to call came this understated disclosure:

A $150.00 administrative fee will be assessed for domestic (U.S./Canada) tickets.

So you can apply for a credit if fares drop but it will cost you $150!

Lesson: Read carefully to the very end before declaring victory.