It's not that they are charging for the shipping, it's the "handling" that they are screwing you with. (hehe notice the pun "screwing") sorry couldn't resist
Companies everywhere get away with that crap. All the ad's you see stating "free just pay extra shipping and handling" and that's usually in the range of 10 or 15 extra bucks. Like it cost's them 10 bucks in labor and such to put a couple of screws in an envelope! Welcome to "free trade"