Several more thoughts.
Wayne, you used to send out email promotions for 10%/20% off, etc. I haven't gotten one of those in a while. (hint...)
You may get some bang for the buck by doing the same thing but sending out email for "free shipping" instead. Same idea, but costs you less dollar wise. Plus, customers love to get stuff for "free."
Do you want customers to make small orders? (Of course I know you prefer BIG orders, but thats beside the point
). Are small orders profitable or at least break even? There are tons of times I would love to order 20-25$ worth of stuff, but talk myself out of it because of the shipping.
Did you ever think of doing "blow out items"? Stuff you may no longer wish to carry, sold at a heavy discount? Loss leaders? Stuff you buy in bulk and then sell cheap? Eastwood and ******** do this a lot, and I can tell you it makes me click the links (and often order).
What about free shipping if ordered this week! (Correlated with your slow periods, to boost flow through). If you charge for shipping, then you could give it away as a loss leader.
We all appreciate your model of fair prices, quick shipping, and great customer care. Doing more enticements to have people order would help you also. Seems your competitors are pushing this quite a bit.
Bo