UPS Store

[uflnuceng]

Ha... no... I don't get home most nights till 6:00pm, USPS has long been closed and the UPS Store is still open for another hour and half.

self delivery > (dhl, fedex, ups... your pref) > asking a hobo to deliver > usps

[Addissimo]

I'm all about usps for small stuff- can't beat priority... but for big stuff i stick to fedex... i shipped a 125lb package to socal for $60!

thats how i'm getting my 3.2 block here to.

yay fedex.

i dont touch UPS with a 10 foot pole.

[alex]

Fedex: has lower rates than UPS, but they seem to have all the dumbfucks with attitute working there. For example, after shipping tires bundled in 3 (cheapest way) with no problems for several years they decided that they won't do it for me anymore. After a lot of heated debates I just changed my drop off location.

Also, Fedex won't bill you like UPS would, gotta pay with CC, and the way they do billing is by creating a separate charge for every tracking number and yet separate charge for every surcharge on that tracking number. So if I ship to pieces I might end up with 20 charges on my CC so my CC company would freak out and shut it down due to suspected fraud. Then next day I go to chip another 10 pieces and the charges bounce because CC is shut down. So THEN Fedex bill me via mail and they impose a $5 charge for every bounce. Then they shut your account down and you can't send shit anymore! Then you gotta call CC and tell them that it is ok, and have them take the block off, then call fucking Fedex and explain to them for the XXth time what happened. One time the guy told me I should get a CC with larger credit limit so that the charges don't bounce. I was like, what the fuck, you haven't listened to me at all have you. Then, after several times of that shit they would say that they won't adjust the charges anymore and then I gotta have CC company send me proof that they shut the card down and have to forward it to Fedex and so far. I actually quit using them for a couple of years because I just couldn't take it anymore.

UPS: has been generally hassle free for me so far. Fedex has been a lot of hassle, but somehow I keep using it because they are cheaper and I can drop stuff off till 9 pm.

USPS: There's a 24hr facility about 8 miles from me so I can procrastinate all I want. Their rates are sometimes even cheaper yet, especially with flat rate boxes.

I also use Greyhound for large items.

Personal delivery works pretty good too (Hi Dave;) )

As far as UPS store they are great to drop shit off there, but don't have them prepare packages for you. They do in fact mark it up significantly.

[hamann318is]

Staple's has the UPS Store inside. They're nice and on the cheaps.

[jajou318]

USPS - never again.

Sent a money order via Certified (tracking number) and Priority so that I can get my item i paid for quicker. BUT they seemed to have misplaced the fucking envelope and it took 14 days for them to figure out that the whole time the envelope was at the destination's post office.

[Rigmaster]

Most of DHL's employees are the old Airborne express guys- they are IC's (Independent Contractors), get paid shitty wages by whatever company DHL pays to sub out the deliveries and pick ups in any given area. YMMV, but most of the DHL driver's I see around here are sketchy looking at best. I talked to a DHL sales rep right after the DHL/Airborne "merger" and he told me some of his customers were freaking out because one of their driver's was coming into their offices wearing his house arrest ankle braclet!!! :)

Anyone who says that delivery company "A" is the best, and the others suck must not have had a lost shipment (they ALL lose shit) or a damage claim (they ALL damage shit too....no matter how well it's packed), or a mis-delivered shipment (yep, ALL of them.......) or a billing problem (ditto). You may have a location that is better than the others, if so- stick with them!

It continues to amaze me how shitty some folks pack the stuff that they ship. I've gotten lots of things that were just thrown in a box, with NO packing material- and somehow most of them have managed to survive the trip. I recently got a large electric motor (like 10x the size and weight of an M20 starter motor) that was dropped in a box, then they threw in some foam packing material on top of it. When it arrived, the whole side of the box was blown out and the motor was hanging out! This thing probably broke open about 10 minutes after it was picked up- and this was from a company that sells and ships this type of stuff all the time!

I always make sure anything I ship is packed extra securely- it take alot of time to do this, but it's worth it if I avoid even 1 damage claim.

If you want a real eye-opener, check the rates for shipping something via your favorite ground service weighing 70 lbs, then check the rates for something going to the same destination weighing 75, 80, 85 lbs. The rates add like $3-4 per lb once you get over 70 lbs!! I once sent a bunch of heavy stuff- ring + pinion gears, diff input + output flanges, spacers, etc- to a rebuilder- I saved like $75 in shipping costs simply by repacking a couple of boxes that were too heavy (like 85-90 lbs each) into boxes weighing less than 70 lbs.


What about heavy/large stuff?? I've shipped an M60 block via truckline once- and it was not too expensive, but I still think it could/should have been cheaper.... Also- I've shipped a couple of bumpers via Greyhound without any problems. I used to hear ForwardAir mentioned alot- but not recently. Anyone have any other method for shipping big stuff cheap????

Bret.