PSA: USPS Priority Mail

[lost in music]

ok, see. that LAST thing I didn't know. So I order those boxes online and they send them to me for free?

I've often shipped a pedal using the Flat Rate box that costs $12~ or whatever, just because the small Flat Rate box that costs $6~ doesn't have the right dimensions to accommodate a pedal. Only time I've used smaller is when someone ships me a pedal and I manage to hold onto the box until my next sale.

[untilshewokeme]

ok, see. that LAST thing I didn't know. So I order those boxes online and they send them to me for free?

I've often shipped a pedal using the Flat Rate box that costs $12~ or whatever, just because the small Flat Rate box that costs $6~ doesn't have the right dimensions to accommodate a pedal. Only time I've used smaller is when someone ships me a pedal and I manage to hold onto the box until my next sale.

Yup, usually doesn't cost a penny to order the priority boxes online (or at least it didn't the last time I ordered them). They take about a week to get to you when you place the order but hey, its free.

Yea, the flat rate boxes are how they get you. $12 for medium flat rate and $17 for large flat rate. Those $6 small boxes are probably only good for books or maybe bricks of gold but who ships either or those.

It costs me about $5.25 to ship in the Northeast, $7.50 to middle America and $9.75 to ship to the west coast for an average pedal via priority mail so flat rate would only be worth it if I am sending multiple pedals across the country (like I will be for secret santa, so I am going to stuff that box to the brim to get the most out of the flat rate).

[repoman]

I don't notice a difference in quality or shipping time between USPS, FedEx, and UPS. They all seem about the same in that regard. Different pricing seems true..just a product of how they're set up (UPS, Fedex for big heavy stuff, USPS for small stuff).

I have noticed that FedEx 'ship centers' usually have guys in them that want to rip you off though. I brought a bike frame to get shipped and the guy at the ship center wanted almost $200 bucks. Went home, printed my own label and the shipping was about $50. I've usually gotten quotes for shipping that are way over what a home printed label costs.

Weirdest shipping I've had was with a parcel service called EMS. I bought a bike frame from China and it arrived 3 days later and that cost $80. ...But I've also had stuff from China take over 3 months to arrive, I think that might have been being held up in customs though. Everytime I've tried to ship something internationally the cost usually exceeds the amount of the thing. The quotes I get are completely bonkers sometimes.

[aens_wife]

Agreed. We do a LOT of shipping. UPS is for bigger, commercial packages. USPS for small stuff.

Never use the flat rate boxes unless you are shipping something really heavy.

Fed Ex is the worst though (at least in our area). Way more expensive than UPS and I hate their website.

To be fair, we have had several packages lost by the USPS, but that is just to be expected for us.

[Strange Tales]

Buying shipping labels online is the way to go. Just saved $20 shipping Express Mail to Japan versus going into the store and shipping it. Saves time as well.

[DRodriguez]

I tend to have the opposite. USPS will always get me the package, but about a day later than they say they did. If it's bigger, they won't even try and deliver it, and they'll give me a notice saying they tried.

FedEx is the most reliable for me.

UPS will never deliver, even when I'm home. And then I need to either take the multiple hour trip to the nearest UPS location, or schedule it to be delivered to a local bodega instead and pick it up there. Annoying for large packages because no one has a car in NYC.

[Ugly Nora]

How do you explain all the traffic then?

[echodeluxe]

i usually just use regular USPS. i will try to use flat rate as much as possible, but with insurance it usually comes out to $13 for me.

[waltdogg]

UPS does stupid, shitty stuff, like leaving packages behind or delivering way too early or way too late. Fedex ALWAYS crushes my boxes. Both lose tracking on their packages as they cross the southwest. USPS is always relatively quick and cheap. But more and more often they've been leaving shit behind, crushing it, etc. and to make matters worse their tracking system has been getting lax/less accurate.

I hate ordering and I hate shipping. But nothing beats being able to print cheap USPS labels via PayPal, as long as you have some sort of small scale for accurate weighing.

[waltdogg]

Oh hey, I made the discovery today that you MUST have an account with USPS to actually use print and ship, click and ship, whatever the fuck it's called. I'm really pissed about that. They wont accept my regular password and the form just has security question after security question.

[PeteeBee]

This all was a good read. I've definitely shipped with all the main ones in the last year or two, based purely on convenience as I run other errands. I will now go just usps. I've frequently been surprise by things costing way more than I expect, and the quoted arrival date being farther out than I expect. Never paid enough attention to even figure out which place was the cheapest/best.

[snipelfritz]

USPS in general has always been super fast for me. If it's just a few extra bucks for priority, then fuck yeah, give me the chocolate!

[Hyphen Nation]

Yah. I have the unfortunate issue of location. My post office is significantly further from me, and inconvenient over the weekend. This means when I ship pedals on the weekend it means I end up losing a fair amount of $$$ in the shipping. Think I spent between $15-$18 per pedal I just sold, versus the more humane USPS priority. USPS is unfortunately just far out of reasonable weekend range for me. It's worth it to me to spend more than the time I'd spend driving back and forth to post offices plus the added inconveniences that entails.

[untilshewokeme]

Yah. I have the unfortunate issue of location. My post office is significantly further from me, and inconvenient over the weekend. This means when I ship pedals on the weekend it means I end up losing a fair amount of $$$ in the shipping. Think I spent between $15-$18 per pedal I just sold, versus the more humane USPS priority. USPS is unfortunately just far out of reasonable weekend range for me. It's worth it to me to spend more than the time I'd spend driving back and forth to post offices plus the added inconveniences that entails.

Could you request a pick up from your mailman? I know it can be done but I have just never tried it since my post office is only a mile or two away from my house, so I don't know what the logistics are.

[Hyphen Nation]

I don't know how fast it is. I am more interested in the weekend. If I sell a pedal, I want to get it into the mail asap. Most often things sell on the weekend and my options are limited. I may just start waiting till mondays, as there is a post office by my work.