I just got home from Mail Boxes Etc. I hope my anger doesn’t cloud my sensability. Last summer I shipped a rod to the San Diego area from Eastern Washington through Mail Boxes Etc. and I think it cost $20 or so. Now I want to ship a rod to Calgary and the same outfit (MBE) wants $47 not including insurance. You can’t tell me that the cost of customs inspections in $27 per parcel. I’m going to the US Post Office tomorrow to see what they have to say. I feel sorry for the fellow that wants to buy the rod. He has to wait for the rod because of Middle-Man Capitalism. Any suggestions short of making the drive myself?
Life, is the time He gave you to determine where you want to spend eternity.
offering just my opinion here, but the post office is the only way to go for shipping. i shipped a reel to canada recently and it cost me around $10 if i remember right. can’t be beat for domestic shipping either. priority mail with a delivery confirmation is very competitve with the other shipping services. faster too and no i am not a postal employee.
[This message has been edited by dpenrod (edited 26 January 2006).]
One thing you might try if you want to stay with UPS is not using one of the All-in-one shops like MBE. Check web for the nearest UPS office. Rates at the UPS office are much lower than the franchises. Our Office Depot is a UPS office store and charges the same as going into the “big city” of Paducah for the UPS office. Of course you don’t get all the fancy wrap it and pack it services.
I live in Canada and I buy quite a bit of stuff of E-Bay and I find the easiest and quickest way to receive things from the USA is by just regular mail. I had bought a fly rod on E-Bay from California and it was delivered to Prince Edward Island, Canada in 6 business days. I find if you put insurance on the item with a tracking number it will get stuck in customs and cost you more money and it will take a week longer to get the item. I will apoligize to anybody that works for UPS before I say this. I had bought an item on E-Bay for $24.00 and when the item was delivered by UPS I was charged $49.50 for custom charges and other fees that I cannot remember at this time. All I know is, I will never bid on anything that has UPS delivery only.
One note of caution. While the USPS is reasonable in their rates, they assume zero responsibility for any damage or loss of a shipment if insurance has not been purchased. You would be very wise to purchase the appropriate amount of insurance on any USPS shipment. They ran over a blank I purchased from another builder destroying it and assumed no responsibility. Just a word to the wise.
im in P.E.I also, and just recieved two rod blanks, with components, from michigan. cost him $7.00 to post it,(it might help if you tag it as a gift), and i paid $7.03 for customs handling…USPS
Joe,
Two years ago, I won (at a real nice price), an Ebay auction for a new custom made fly tying station that was gifted to a man in Washington State (he doesn’t tie). He charged a flat $10.00 for shipping. He emailed me that he had it packed & shipped through one of those places. His email to me said the shipping was $34.00 HIGHER than he anticipated, and he would check before he did that again, chalking it up to experience. Of course, I sent him a check for the difference, WITH a note reminding him to use USPS next time. We agreed that you would expect anupcharge as compared to USPS prices, but WOW!!..I wonder how those places stay in business. I wouldn’t think their repeat business is much. I would guess folks shipping rods (2 pc) might use them as the boxes can be almost impossible to find.
Mike
Mike
I use the mail boxes ext, or the UPS store as it is called now, purely for the convenence i can get them to pack it and they fill out all the forms (excpet my signature if going though custom). And they give 4 prices, for ground, and 4 prices for air. Sent gifts to my nephews in the washington state, from alberta. 22 bucks after they packed. it was 24 x 26, and was heavy, i still have the recipt.
Also as an aside I might offer something else for you to consider. It might not apply in this particular situation as it is outside the U.S. but for domestic transactions on Ebay sales you are better to use the Postal Service. Having worked as a contractor for the USPS for nine years I can tell you that there is a group called the Postal Inspectors. They are the ones who become involved in Mail Fraud cases. As long as one leg of the transaction was done using the U.S.Mail. The inspectors must prove their value by handling cases. Not so with other Govt agencies. In the event a fraud is committed you are more likely to get help from them than anyone else.
Rusty <><
“PC” is for Plant City not Politically Correct. if you wanna catch something ya gotta get a hook in the water
I’m with everyone else in suggesting USPS. The website has quite a bit of information and you can even pre-print labels, etc. For US shipping, you can’t find a better deal than Priority Mail.
About Mail Boxes, etc. I know they need to make a profit, but holy cow! I quit going to ours about 2 years ago after they tried to gouge me $40 for a $10 USPS priority package.
Earlier this week I received a large white USPS envelope that contained this years Feather-craft catalog. On the outside, they had a pre-printed apology from a postal manager that basically stated that they process millions of pieces of mail a year and every once in a while a mishap occurs. It must have got caught on something and the last page was ripped. Other than that, it was fine. I’ve always had really good service from them whether it was shipping or receiving stuff.
I had to ship two large speakers. Fed Ex seemed to me to be the way to go… I called the local “mailbox” store & they were nearly twice the price of the FEDEX charge! I have also just sent a rod to MT. it was $7.45 priority mail via the USPS.
The franchise has to make a buck or 50 it would appear.
Later,
Peter
As one poster above alluded, UPS purchased mailboxes etc. and converted them to UPS Stores. UPS annpunced that they were reducing the rates to bring shipping charges at those stores in line with the rates charged if you went to one of their terminals.
I have not comparison shopped a store and a terminal, but the rates are PURPORTED to be the same. If they are the same rates, then going somewhere else to ship via UPS would not be a solution.
UPS has a bad rep for blaming everything on the shipper and denying insurance claims.