US Members: Your favorite shipping option?

[NY_Dan]

This thread is very timely, as I've just experienced the worst delivery bs ever with FedEx. I will do everything in my power to receive goods by any other carrier. Problem is, because they suck so much, they give retailers discounts to capture their business. My package was days late, they lost it, they tried but were unable to reroute it, communication was lousy, customer service on most occasions could barely speak English, much time was wasted waiting in vain for package -- and these were the positive parts. I'll not bore you with the worst.

 

[burancap]

USPS Priority. No doubt about it.

 

[Larry Cloetta]

The one sure takeaway I have gleaned from this threat is that, on any given day, they are all abysmal. Or, perfect.

 

[henryp]

Which is .... based on your personal actual experiences, what is your favorite shipping option?

USPS does a good job but in my experience their online package tracking is woeful. UPS is consistently best in that regard.

BTW, from the WSJ:
UPS, FedEx Struggle to Keep Up With Surge in Holiday Orders
On-time rates fall slightly even as carriers extend delivery windows and relocate staff to handle record demand

http://www.wsj.com/articles/ups-fedex-struggle-to-keep-up-with-surge-in-holiday-orders-1481630401

 

[kshapero]

USPS... has never let me down

Well it IS the easiest to use. Their website for shipping things is very good. God forbid, I would ever have to go to an actual post office. Biggest problem there is the stupidity of many of the folks in line.

 

[enasniearth]

In the us shipping to the us
Usps priority mail is less money than ups or fedx
Usually sellers ship ground fedx and ups which takes a week plus , priority is here in 3 days .
If I miss a delivery the post office is close by
Ups has limited hours and is in the worst area of town ,
Fedx has a facility 30 minutes away , unless someone is leaveing you can't get through the gate , so you sit there in your truck waiting for someone to leave and get in the gate , once inside they find it pretty fast .
Fedx and ups just leave things on my side deck if signature is not required ,
I was expecting a 21 3.4 super angulon back from an overhaul , the repair person was not sending the tracking info .
At 8 in the morning drinking coffee I looked out the window and saw a lump in the snow with a cardboard edge , thank that it was in a sealed plastic bag inside .

 

[raydm6]

I just mailed a 2.5 lb. package from Massachusetts (USA) - a Kodak Retina Reflex III w/50mm 1.9 Schneider Xenon - to Chris Sherlock at Retina Rescue in New Zealand.

He suggested I send it USPS 1st Class Mail. Should take approx. 7-10 days.

UPDATE: Received an email from Chris yesterday that my camera arrived safely. Took approx. 7 days.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

FedEx allows homeless man to sign for a package he then stole

 

[peterm1]

I am Australian based not USA but make this observation. I seldom find I can buy from the USA on eBay as the shipping charges quoted tend to be far too high. Especially when the same or similar item is available in another country (even Canada) at a similar base price. This is especially problematic for small and moderately cheap items where the cost of shipping can far outweigh the cost of the item itself. (For example a $10 lens filter which the seller wanted $40 to handle and ship).
I am not sure how much of this is due to legit. but inflated transport fees set by the postal service etc as opposed to sellers just trying to make a killing but it seems especially prevalent in the USA. I seldom have the problem with sellers in other countries.
Having said this I have had no disasters in shipping from USA (touch wood) although neither have US transport services struck me as being especially fast either - even with high shipping fees.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I am Australian based not USA but make this observation. I seldom find I can buy from the USA on eBay as the shipping charges quoted tend to be far too high. Especially when the same or similar item is available in another country (even Canada) at a similar base price. This is especially problematic for small and moderately cheap items where the cost of shipping can far outweigh the cost of the item itself. (For example a $10 lens filter which the seller wanted $40 to handle and ship).
I am not sure how much of this is due to legit. but inflated transport fees set by the postal service etc as opposed to sellers just trying to make a killing but it seems especially prevalent in the USA. I seldom have the problem with sellers in other countries.
Having said this I have had no disasters in shipping from USA (touch wood) although neither have US transport services struck me as being especially fast either - even with high shipping fees.

The US Postal Service is expensive on international shipping, and so is UPS. I've sent single prints to buyers, on letter-size paper in a small box and it cost as much as $40 through the post office.

 

[peterm1]

The US Postal Service is expensive on international shipping, and so is UPS. I've sent single prints to buyers, on letter-size paper in a small box and it cost as much as $40 through the post office.

Thanks Chris. That would explain it. Your mention of $40 for a small item (which is about $60 in Australian currency at present exchange rates) does not surprise me as it is a figure I recall being quoted to me before for quite small items shipped from the USA. In which case it makes it hard for US sellers to compete.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Thanks Chris. That would explain it. Your mention of $40 for a small item (which is about $60 in Australian currency at present exchange rates) does not surprise me as it is a figure I recall being quoted to me before for quite small items shipped from the USA. In which case it makes it hard for US sellers to compete.

Two weeks ago, I sold an 11x14 inch print to a woman in Canada. She wanted me to ship it by UPS. It cost us $35 for UPS Ground shipping. Ground shipping is available from the USA to Canada because there's no ocean to cross. I can't imagine how expensive it would have been to use UPS to send to Australia, Asia, or Europe.

 

[sepiareverb]

USPS, UPS, FexEx Express, FedEx Ground.

Here in town FedEx is much better than when I lived out in the country. FedEx Ground uses private contractors around here, and some of them were horrendous. Simply refusing to deliver to me because it took too long to drive out to my house. Packages would always get a Delivery Exception and I'd have to drive over to New Hampshire (1 hour each way) to pick them up myself. Nowadays I do get packages reliably, but FedEx Ground is slowest of the lot.

USPS Priority is fastest by far, and cheapest to boot. All the post office and UPS folks around here are top notch - friendly, reliable, and careful. Most all the FedEx folks as well. Our regular mail carrier is a hoot, always fun to run into him when out walking.

 

[tunalegs]

FedEx is the worst.

As for best, depends on what you're shipping. UPS is often cheapest for really large items, but USPS is cheapest for smaller items.

 

[Rob-F]

USPS, FedEx, UPS in that order.

This. Priority Mail is fast and reliable, and the packages are gently handled.

USPS and FedEx both deliver on Saturdays, putting them ahead of UPS.

FedEx has a comprehensive selection of cartons in all sorts of useful sizes and shapes.

UPS won't insure any packages unless they pack them. Ripoff. Not a problem with USPS or FedEx.

When ordering from Canada, UPS sends the packages through US Customs, and charges you a hefty broker's fee for doing so. There is no requirement to send Canadian packages through Customs, who doesn't even look in them. I just request the packages be sent by Canada Post. When they cross the border, they automatically transfer to USPS, who brings them to your door. Another UPS ripoff.

I ordered a roll of address labels from Office Max, for my office. Office max sent them via UPS. They didn't arrive. Instead, I received a post card claiming they couldn't deliver them because I had moved. I had not moved. Note: they managed to get the post card to me (via USPS) but could not get the address labels to me via themselves. I drove down to Office Max to see what could be one. They determined that UPS had returned the address labels to Mankato, MN (where they evidently are made), and asked that they be sent to my office. Once again, I got a post card telling me that I wasn't there. I had to drive downtown to the UPS office to get them.

Note the irony here. It was a roll of address labels with my office address on them. UPS didn't want to believe that bringing them up to my office suite with the same address and suite number as were on the labels, as well as on the package containing the labels, was the right thing to do. But they could believe that if they sent me a card to that same address via USPS, it would get to me. Which it did.

Phooey on UPS. Double Phooey!

 

[tunalegs]

USPS and FedEx both deliver on Saturdays, putting them ahead of UPS.

In theory. But since FedEx takes about 500,000,000,000,000 times longer to deliver anything relative to UPS or the USPS, delivery on Saturday is a moot point. I only use FedEx to send things to people I hate.

 

[one90guy]

I ship USPS Priority mainly. But our post office is terrible, they say they delivery packages but carry them back. The last time 5 times we have stopped our mail they continue to deliverer it. Last Christmas we travelled through the 25th, when we got home front porch covered in packages, medicine, and mail. And yes I complain, call up over the post office, that helped a little while. Rant over, sorry.

David

The FedEx service comes from some distance and have lousy service, our UPS driver I can count on for deliveries.