Package shipping

[Bitsyncmaster]

USPS increased their prices on May 31 but it looks like first class mail now includes tracking at no extra charge.

I've also ordered some items that get shipped UPS and Fedex and they change to USPS near the end destination. Don't know whats up with that. I guess it saves UPS and Fedex trucks from making remote deliveries.

I've read international USPS shipping increase will be about 7%.

[dustybarn]

USPS increased their prices on May 31 but it looks like first class mail now includes tracking at no extra charge.

I've also ordered some items that get shipped UPS and Fedex and they change to USPS near the end destination. Don't know whats up with that. I guess it saves UPS and Fedex trucks from making remote deliveries.

I've read international USPS shipping increase will be about 7%.

It's called UPS SurePost:

http://www.ups.com/worldshiphelp/WS1...S_SurePost.htm

I'm guessing UPS made a deal to use some of USPS' excess capacity to complete deliveries, especially to farther-flung locations.

[Dangermouse]

It's called "Last Mile Delivery", an increasing service where they focus on the final part of the delivery, which in logistics terms is the hardest

We had something delivered recently by LaserShip (who?) I think it started life as a UPS shipment and then they handed it off to LS

[FABombjoy]

USPS increased their prices on May 31 but it looks like first class mail now includes tracking at no extra charge.

FCM package services went up about 12%. Tracking has been free for years if printed online, tho. While you can't print First Class at usps.com, there has been an open-secret Paypal link for years that will:

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_ship-now

Fast facts on price changes: http://www.stamps.com/usps/postage-rate-increase/

All domestic Priority prices have stayed the same.

I've read international USPS shipping increase will be about 7%.

All services to all countries, unfortunately. They have finally region-zoned Canadian shipments which makes sense, so depending on where you are and where it's going some prices may decrease. I sent a turbocharger to Canada today and I definitely waited a week too long!

[DMCMW Dave]

From someone who ships a lot of small packages . .. .

Keep in mind that USPS "tracking" (using the term loosely) is nothing like UPS or FedEx tracking. With UPS or FedEx, they can tell you where the package is at almost any time.

USPS knows when you dropped it off, and when it got delivered, but everything in the middle is a mystery. We've given up shipping anything of value USPS as when they lose it, it's gone, and getting them to actually pay an insurance claim is next to impossible. Julee tries to make this as clear as possible to people who absolutely insist on USPS to save a few bucks. Sometimes remarkably few.

You can check USPS online, and when they lose a package, it will tell you "in transit" forever, even years later. If you call them on the phone, you'll get someone who looks at the same system and will tell you the same answer. They will helpfully tell you to "give it a few more days". It's even worse if you use USPS to ship outside the US, as when it leaves the US they may as well have well shot it to the moon as far as being able to track anything.

We've used UPS "Sure-Post" a few times, but it doesn't save enough to mitigate the risk, although since it hits USPS in your home town the chances that they will lose it are much lower. UPS will only be able to tell you when it got handed off to the post office.

[MML]

USPS knows when you dropped it off, and when it got delivered, but everything in the middle is a mystery. We've given up shipping anything of value USPS as when they lose it, it's gone, and getting them to actually pay an insurance claim is next to impossible. Julee tries to make this as clear as possible to people who absolutely insist on USPS to save a few bucks. Sometimes remarkably few.

You can check USPS online, and when they lose a package, it will tell you "in transit" forever, even years later. If you call them on the phone, you'll get someone who looks at the same system and will tell you the same answer. They will helpfully tell you to "give it a few more days". It's even worse if you use USPS to ship outside the US, as when it leaves the US they may as well have well shot it to the moon as far as being able to track anything.

Tell me about it. A vinyl LP was shipped from Austin, Texas recently to me in Ireland, sat "in transit" for about a week longer than it should have. When it finally did arrive, it had a Costa Rican ink stamp on the box. Must have taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque...

[FABombjoy]

From someone who ships a lot of small packages . .. .

What meter service did you use? I use stamps.com and can insure things via 3rd party. Any rate, any destination, for less than USPS charges (when insurance is even an option).

FWIW I've built a business shipping small packages across the globe and over the last 4 years and my postal service misdelivery percentage is approx 0.2%. Most of that is before I changed some of my shipping materials which has led to a better success rate. Proportionally, international loss is the highest. Germany, Ireland, and Finland are the countries of greatest loss (for me anyway). Currently batting 1.000 on the supposedly "troublesome" countries of Italy and Spain.

[Shep]

Dave S, this might amuse and/or interest you, but a couple months back Adafruit (fairly large hobby electronics supplier) wrote up a blog post outlining all the problems they've had with USPS, essentially calling them out on it. They did say that a few years back, things were far better (which in my experience has some truth to it), but overall it's just awful to deal with, and they provided screenshots of tracking info to prove their point. Two-day shipping taking over a week to arrive, unexplained voids in tracking updates, I've experienced this myself also. USPS plain and simply sucks for packages. Letters through them aren't so bad though.

USPS is cheap, but in this case, you get what you pay for. Just wish UPS had a simple "flat rate box" like USPS does so I can know shipping costs off the bat, without weighing and measuring every part I have.

[DMCMW Julee]

What meter service did you use? I use stamps.com and can insure things via 3rd party. Any rate, any destination, for less than USPS charges (when insurance is even an option).

FWIW I've built a business shipping small packages across the globe and over the last 4 years and my postal service misdelivery percentage is approx 0.2%. Most of that is before I changed some of my shipping materials which has led to a better success rate. Proportionally, international loss is the highest. Germany, Ireland, and Finland are the countries of greatest loss (for me anyway). Currently batting 1.000 on the supposedly "troublesome" countries of Italy and Spain.

I use stamps.com as well. I have no problem with their service. It is the Post Office system itself.

Within the last month I have had at least 3 Priority Mail packages go "missing" for a week or so. Speaking with the claims people, all I get is "just wait a little longer". So much for guaranteed 2 or 3 day delivery! I believe the problem is that they don't follow their own process. Various employees choose to not scan the boxes so that means no one knows where the packages are until they show up. I put a claim in for a package and heard nothing until I called back 5 days later only to be told that the claim had been resolved. Interesting since the customer still didn't have his parts. Well....since no one had scanned the package since its 1st arrival at the post office, it was determined that it was still there and the case was closed. No attempt was made to figure out what happened to the box until I called again. Response? Again, "Just wait a little longer".

It finally showed up over a week later.

Internationally, it is even more iffy. If a customer insists it go P.O. I will ship only if the customer agrees to take all the liability if it gets lost. By the way, once you add the insurance it is rarely the bargain you think it is.

[DMC5180]

From someone who ships a lot of small packages . .. .

Keep in mind that USPS "tracking" (using the term loosely) is nothing like UPS or FedEx tracking. With UPS or FedEx, they can tell you where the package is at almost any time.

USPS knows when you dropped it off, and when it got delivered, but everything in the middle is a mystery. We've given up shipping anything of value USPS as when they lose it, it's gone, and getting them to actually pay an insurance claim is next to impossible. Julee tries to make this as clear as possible to people who absolutely insist on USPS to save a few bucks. Sometimes remarkably few.

You can check USPS online, and when they lose a package, it will tell you "in transit" forever, even years later. If you call them on the phone, you'll get someone who looks at the same system and will tell you the same answer. They will helpfully tell you to "give it a few more days". It's even worse if you use USPS to ship outside the US, as when it leaves the US they may as well have well shot it to the moon as far as being able to track anything.

We've used UPS "Sure-Post" a few times, but it doesn't save enough to mitigate the risk, although since it hits USPS in your home town the chances that they will lose it are much lower. UPS will only be able to tell you when it got handed off to the post office.

While UPS & FEDEX have had excellent package tracking fidelity over the years, USPS has finally updated there tracking system to closely mimic that of the others. Gone are the mystery days of IN TRANSIT. It was woefully slow updating information. Both UPS & FEDEX have rural delivery agreements with USPS. After all the postal carrier makes a delivery to your address 6 days a week. That cuts down on time and fuel cost for UPS/FEDEX.

Recently I had a private party USPS package get STUCK IN LIMBO. That was interesting to follow in the tracking system. The package was Sent from Reno NV to LA > SFO>LA>SFO>LA>MIL>hometown and finally delivered to me. 14 days in transit.

The reason for this was because the private party shipper reused a shipping box and did not clean of all the old shipping address info. So the system could not determine what the correct delivery address was. When I finally got The package It had multiple BAR CODE tags on it instead of just one. It took me calling USPS to finally get a system hold put on the package. So that a real person had to touch the package and get the routing corrected. I don't fault USPS for this because it was caused by reusing a DIRTY box. It is imperative that a reused shipping container have all previous shipping info removed or covered over/blacked out.