USPS of UPS?

When I sold my Eotech, I went with the USPS. But when I asked the lady if I could get a tracking # to give to the guy who bought it, she said they don't do tracking #'s. I know UPS does.

What about shipping prices, is there any real difference in the two? I have 2 more things that I will be shipping in the next week or so, and wanted to see how UPS was, compared to USPS.

It depends on the items. For smaller items, I go with USPS with delivery confirmation. That does get you a number that you can use to determine if and when the package was delivered. For larger items, I use UPS.

USPS whenever I can. Much less hassle, easy tracking, safe, low cost, Priority Mail or First Class if it's small enough, usually gets there in three days or less.

WooHoo!

Three days!

Tracking? Was the lady on something when she told me they didn't do tracking #'s? I did get the delivery confirmation, which tells me when it was delivered to the person. But I like the tracking #'s like UPS has, to be able to give to someone that buys something from me. I know I like being able to track something I bought.

UPS overnight....very expensive, but if I ordered something, it's probably gun stuff and I want to play with it now.....

Priority Mail has traking, but anytime I checked it on line it was never updated..

The USPS Delivery Confirmation, or Signature Confirmation, may not be exactly like UPS or Fed Ex "tracking", but they do give you a confirmation number you can look up online.


Yeah Will I hear ya....lol. Dude I got a couple of hurricanes to prepare for right now. I'll get to your HG next week bro.

+1

Unless it fits in a padded envelope or smaller I ship UPS.

USPS

Priority Mail is usually around $9.00 and I get 99% of my packages in 2 days. PLUS They deliver on Sat no extra charge. The only thing is: If it's a big item, buy the insurance. It's cheap and you may never use it but if you need to file a claim for lost or damaged, it's good to have it.

The tracking is almost non-existent with USPS BUT UPS ground is like 5 days and costs more.

PLus I've boycotted UPS for their awful customer service.

Yeah, I think I'll stick with USPS for now. I just did calculated postage on both UPS and USPS for my upper I just sold, and will be shipping in about week when I get payment. It was under $10 on USPS, but it was about $20 on UPS.

I'll have to check out the insurance option. Being that it's a complete upper, I don't want the guy to get screwed over if something goes wrong during shipping.

I use only USPS here. priority mail takes a week or so, regular mail can take a week to 2 months, and for a 10 dollar shipped USPS package, the same price with UPS is about 300 bucks. but im in the middle of the pacific ocean.

Hah!

After being on the receiving end of the last one, I can give you some good pointers!

Yeah, I ship to Guam a few times a year, and USPS is definitely the way to go on that one.

In the continental U.S., I've found that generally, it works out like this:

Under 2 pounds: USPS Priority Mail is usually cheapest at around $4.80 (versus $7-12 for UPS, since such small packages are generally going to a residential address, which UPS charges more for)

2-80 pounds: UPS Ground.

80 - 500 pounds: Bax Global is pretty good, especially if you're moving palletized goods.

500 pounds and more: Roadway, SAIA, Southeastern Motor Freight, Yellow Freight, or Central Freight.


For international stuff, if it's going to a U.S. protectorate or territory (like Guam, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, etc.) or a U.S. base, USPS is definitely the way to go. They're already going there anyway, so the rates tend to be pretty good. If it's going to another country (Japan, Hong Kong, Germany, Denmark, etc.), I find USPS to be pretty good up to around 100 pounds, at which point Bax Global gets pretty competitive.

Also, for larger shipments, you can always go to freightquote.com - they put the shipment out for bids, so you get choices in level of service and price.

Heck, it's what I do for a living...

Mike

The United States Postal Service has lost or stolen more packages sent directly to me or mine than all others combined, as a matter of fact, no others have ever failed, ever.

This has been discussed in previous thread too

If you do have to send by US mail, send it by priority, and use insurance and have it signed for.

perhaps the longer they have it,... the more likely someone may start to like your order and ,.. you never get it, or you get a small portion of the box or envelope in a bag stating that there was some sort of error,.... or worse yet, no indication of ANYTHING ever being sent or not delivered and you are left wondering,....WTF??

I do have to admit they are pretty good most of the time,... but when your grandma trusts the US P F^cking POST OFFICE TO DELIVER SOMETHING F^CKING IMPORTANT (Family related), and all you get is a ripped package in a bag, well,..... it makes you want to GO POSTAL!

and try to jump through the multiple hoops of getting the insurance, if the sender looses their receipt or can't find it,... guess what , YOU LOOSE!

the trick is to tell whoever is sending you something NOT to put "IPOD" or whatever on the customs form. they should put "used computer parts" or something that no one would want to make dissapear. I haven't had any of my packages stolen yet here but I hear about it alot. (knocks on wood)

USPS is fine for cheap items. But their record with me is very spotty. When my eBay business was in full swing I never trusted them with anything of value. I have found their tracking to be a joke! Quite often the item never gets entered into the system, or is delivered before it shows as leaving the origin city.

For expensive items and far better tracking I recommend UPS! When I was selling 2-way radios via eBay, I was selling $150 - $2000 items. There is no way that I would ever trust the USPO with items of that value! Their social promotion morons smugly knowing that no matter what their incompetent, lack of performance, or poor quality customer service, they will never be removed from their sinecure!

Well damn, now the negatives come rolling out, and have me rethinking.

But about not labeling the package, as to give away what's inside; I don't think I'd ever do that, regardless of what it was. The upper I'm shipping soon will be in the factory padded box it came in, double wrapped in that thick brown mailing paper. So unless someone get's nosey and tears into it, no one should be the wiser.

I'll have to look deeper into my options, I don't want to screw anybody out of something they buy from me.

Thanks for the insight fellas.

Take what Azrial said and change it to UPS and you have my feelings on the subject.


UPS is only open 9am to 5pm. So if you're not home to sign for delivery you have to go on Saturday or take an hour off work to go pick up the package. They are a bunch of liars too when you talk to them on the phone. I hate UPS with a passion and continue to ask for other means of shipping on packages ordered from sites that only list UPS as the delivery option.

If you don't like USPS tracking, i suggest doing it FedEx. At least they're easier to deal with than UPS.

What if I'm shipping a brand new saiga 12 to tromix for a conversion ?