At an online café checkout, a $5 shipping fee can sour a $40 basket faster than a $5 price cut.
The fee arrives as a separate charge, so the shopper feels punished before seeing the final total.
Behavioral economist Dan Ariely calls this “the pain of paying”: a visible fee feels worse than an equal discount feels good.
Amazon’s Prime membership turned delivery into a benefit rather than a bill. The final price may match, but free shipping makes the purchase feel cleaner.