Why I love sellers who use UPS as their carrier...

[raucousimages]

I avoid UPS. About 4 years ago I purchased a Toyo 45E along with several holders and other accessories for my children to use. The box arrived crushed and the camera was smashed but the other items were fine. I filed an insurance claim with UPS and in one week an investigator came to take the camera, box and all items included in the sale without payment but would give me a recipt. I refused to give up the items until I recieved payment on my claim so he took all of the information and some digital photos, gave me a case number and said they would get back to me in a few days. Several days later I contacted UPS to find out what was going on and was told that because I refused to give UPS the package I forced them to give the payment to the seller. Thats right they told me to contact the seller for a refund. The seller told me they never recieved anything from UPS. I know the seller by reputation and have no reason to doubt her. Further attempts to contact UPS were in vain, They said that this insurance claim number was setteled and were unable to make further comment.

[walter23]

Of course now I know about brokerage fees, but there's no obvious disclosure of the fact that if you ship that way (I mean, choose it as a buyer) that you're going to get anally raped.

Maybe that's what the class action suit is all about.

[Lee Hamiel]

My story with shippers is this:

I have shipped a lot over the years both domestic and international for original illustration artwork.

Fed-Ex is the most reliable but not always the cheapest;

USPS is right behind them & more reliable than I expect them to be;

UPS is very expensive & not sure why I use them occasionally (recipient requests) but no problems;

DHL - the worst possible service I have ever received or sent with:

With all that said - I have been shipping/receiving via all of these carriers since the early days meaning since the early to mid 80's once they all got started beyond the usps.

Once I had DHL call me 4 days after a due date delivery asking where I was located (fed-ex/ups/usps had no problems with my location) - another DHL shipment from Germany took well over a month with not much help from their customer service & this was recently.

USPS although not highly regarded by many has been quite the dependable provider over the years without any problems & I will not hesitate to recommend them.

Fed-Ex has been my mainstay over the years & after countless thousands of shipments I will say they are the best if you need it there on the agreed upon terms & without fail they do deliver on time.

I know this has little to do with the "brokerage fees" but this is my user feedback for shipping providers.

What I understand is that only the usps will transfer packages without a brokerage fee as opposed to ups/dhl & not sure about fed-ex. I could be wrong on this but if there is a fee it's not a high amount as charged by ups, etc.

[David Crossley]

I got victimised (Calgary AB)by UPS on a $40 brokerage for a $75 top pack (horse stuff) this fall. I guarantee i will not be highjacked by them again!

USPS Global Priority has been fair, ontime and my goods received intact.


David Crossley/Crossley Photography....

[Greg Lockrey]

I do not see any :-) anywhere. So, I guess I have to take the above as an uncalled-for cheap shot. Italy's postal system is doing pretty well, thank you.

Italy was one of the six original Countries that FOUNDED what eventually evolved into the EU, so it never 'became part of it'.

In spite of having lived almost 25 years in the US, I never quite understood that minority of the population that --- out of a sense of (presumed) God-given primacy --- lectures the rest of the world on the latter's more or less real shortcomings. Oh well...there's plenty of truly wonderful people left between New York City and San Francisco anyway.

Cheers

P.S. Not to be completely OT, I am no longer buying stuff from the US unless the seller uses USPS EMS. I did read horror stories with USPS, but my experience so far has been quite positive. UPS prices have truly gone out of whack.

Marco,

I didn't mean to offend you or Italy. I wasn't talking about the postal system but customs. I lived in Italy for 10 years back in the 70's. I had my household belonging resting at the Customs import area for about 3 months due to a strike. That was ok with me because the total value of my stuff was about $1000.00 and the government paid my four star hotel bill for the entire time costing more than $5000.00. I made out. It was like if somebody had a grudge anywhere in Italy, the whole country went on strike to support the grievence.

Ciao,

[neil poulsen]

I'm probably one of the few who cares, but I don't like signing electronically. I've not done so, nor will I. So, I use USPS. UPS requires this kind of signing, when shipper insists on a signature. I also don't do international business.

[Jim Ewins]

why don't you place the blame where it should be- GOVERNMENTS. Why shouldn't there be free trade and free travel? Wha the h are borders?

[Capocheny]

why don't you place the blame where it should be- GOVERNMENTS. Why shouldn't there be free trade and free travel? Wha the h are borders?

Jim,

Hope you and your wife had a great holiday season...

As much as I understand your questioning free trade, travel and why there should / shouldn't be the presence of borders... the government doesn't dictate that UPS charges XX dollars over and above what another carrier imposes. If they did, it would be logical to assume that every carrier would have an identical brokerage fee charges. However, this doesn't seem to be the case.

So, the blame should be placed squarely in the lap of UPS, whose management sets the level of fees that are charged to their customers.

Cheers

[Dirk Rösler]

Use EMS. Just sent to San Francisco (3 days), Cambridge, MA (3 days), Shanghai (next day!) [this is all from Japan] - why bother with the others? Sure, they are customs delays sometimes, but no carrier fees.