Got to love the audacity of landing on a barge in the ocean instead of land. So why is he doing this? Is it possible he wants to be as neutral going forward? Will he start building rockets on a seaborne platform as well? Go full Bond super-villain on us. Seriously though, why not buy an island.
The first stage landing location must be relatively close to the launch site because the velocity of the first stage at burnout is mostly vertical.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_private_launch_site
I read somewhere too that this time they used an older rocket. The land landing from last month was with a newer, less powerful rocket (but I imagine more efficient, hence the newer x less powerfull paradox).
Also some places you are not allowed to land with a rocket.
The motivation behind saving fuel by landing on a barge is that the fuel thus saved can be transformed into additional speed of the upper stage, enabling a larger payload.
No, it's not: Additional performance (i.e., payload capacity) does not get them more money from a customer if that customer's payload doesn't require more performance.
If you want to be pedantic you might argue that more performance allows for more customers, but then not "every kilogram" is extra profit, because the spectrum is not continuous.
So, a better way to put it would be "every excess gram severely decreases your range. Oh, and everything counts, fuel included."