Iıve had much better luck with FedEx, and often they are quicker and more
cost effective than UPS. See my UPS claim story below. Iım also loving
USPS these days (see below).
No more UPS for me.
US Postal Service
=================
Iım a big fan of the fixed-price USPS Priority package ($12.35, any
weight, anywhere in the US), which includes insurance and tracking. I use
this for most of my media shipments now, and FedEx for most of my
equipment shipments. The other nice thing about USPS is that you can use
the self-serve kiosk after hours - the extra flexibility helps.
Admittedly, I was a bit skeptical about USPS for anything valuable, but
after a year of using USPS more and more, Iım very satisfied. The
self-serve kiosk may be enigmatic to use at first and could really use a
UX makeover, but like anything, after using it a few times, I got used to
the quirky menus.
I still use FedEx for critical media shipments when I need the item(s) to
go by air to minimize risk of damage.
Shipping 2nd Day Air
====================
IMPORTANT: If you are shipping something especially fragile or valuable,
ship it by 2nd Day air. One, it wonıt be sharing space with heavy
freight, where it might get impacted or crushed. Two, the package is
moving more swiftly through the system and thereıs less opportunity for
the package to linger in transit and get stolen or damaged.
UPS Claim
=========
Iıve had more claims against UPS (1) than against Fedex (0).
Trying to recover a claim from UPS is hard work, even if insured - it
requires lots of documentation and photos proving that the item was
properly packaged, and conviction to keep fighting for your claim. I
strongly recommend photographing the package before it goes out as
back-up, especially if the item has significant commercial value. UPS
makes a claim so difficult that I imagine many just give up.
I had some electronics rifled through and then repackaged so poorly that
it led to damage and 100% loss. After a 2-month battle, I finally
prevailed - and fortunately I had photo back-up and receipts because UPS
first claimed that I did not properly package the item, then they
questioned the value of the item. I later learned from one of the UPS
adjusters that they had a lot of theft of electronics at one of their
transfer facilities.
In my case, I had repurposed a very sturdy Sony box (the item I was
shipping was not a Sony), and that may have attracted potential theft -
and disappointment when they didnıt find some shiny consumer electronics
inside. The repackaging was fast and shoddy, and the perpetrator had
removed (!!) the inner hard styrofoam protection (which I had photographed
prior to shipping). When the recipient received the package, I instructed
them to photograph the torn up box, the missing styrofoam (there were a
few pieces of broken styrofoam left) and each step of unpacking it.
Fortunately, the recipient photographed the package when they signed for
it because the box looked so beat up.
IMPORTANT: I now ship items in plain boxes and crates, void of brand names
or content description.
In all fairness, I donıt know if making a claim against FedEx is any
better than UPS.
~ Eric
On 5/30/14, 5:39 PM, "Stewart Gooderman" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Personally, as a person in business who ships things fairly regularly, I
>prefer FedEx to UPS. It's going to be different for different people
>depending on from where you do the sending, to where you are shipping,
>and what kind of contract you have (or can negotiate) with the carrier.
>
>In San Francisco, UPS packages often come broken, smashed, and wet. FedEx
>packages never seem to. I've had UPS packages stolen from their drop
>boxes, and one UPS representative told me that, for a while, there was a
>crisis brewing in New York City as many packages were being stolen within
>the handling facility.
>
>FedEx has outlets all over the city, some open from 7 AM to 11 PM, as
>well as Sunday hours, so drop off is a breeze. Not so with UPS.
>
>Regarding taxes and such, both companies have share of blame here. First,
>FedEx is not the only large company evading taxes. If that's what you're
>looking at then you won't be buying any products from Apple, HP,
>Microsoft, as well as FedEx, and many, many others. UPS has fired workers
>just for standing up for their rights. FedEx treats their Ground workers
>as independent contractors, their Express workers as employees.
>
>DrG
>
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