Sent a ton of packages via UPS and some FedEx without a problem. Sent one package to Norway via USPS. It came back 6 weeks later. Sent it again via USPS and my friend got it 3 weeks later. Sent two packages within the US via USPS with insurance. Both times the boxes were ripped open and the products inside damaged. Both recipients had to fight with the USPS over the insurance claim. The best one was the item I ordered from Germany which got returned by the USPS as undeliverable. The company I bought it from sent it again and it finally made it after a few weeks. Looked at the box and the original info had my addy perfect. So much for being undeliverable.
LAO
Warren Mumpower said:The mail from Carlyle, Illinois goes directly to a major sorting center in St. Louis, Mo. From there it comes back to Carlyle , the neighboring communities or the St. Louis area or other points around the World. Our mail is handled very directly by few hands. The closer to a bigger community the worse your service will be as more hands or machines touch it. We get mail to our customers in a 24 hour period. It can take our customers a week to get a reply back to us. Bigger is not better and crowded, is just that crowded. Welcome to socialism, they tell you what you can have and when you can have it.
I think, as Bart attested to, the type of service you receive depends on where you live. Here UPS sucks outrageously. Fedex and DHL are ok. I've never had a problem with a package shipped USPS, but regular mail to Seattle (286 miles) takes 3 days and to Portland (the same distance) is 5 days. Yet I can send a letter to Florida and have it arrive in 2 days. :/
I pity the people that live in large communities. I moved out as soon as I could.
Our community wasn’t so big…until 200,000 Californians decided to move here…
Why did you let them? What your blaming somebody else?. You made that bed, you’re going to have to sleep in it. I could say you could move here, but we don’t want you. We have a bumper sticker here - “Welcome to Clinton County, now go home” No it’s not the pervert, it was named after DeWitt Clinton. God, I hate to keep explaining that.
Around here each new person gets blood tested to make sure they are related to somebody and if not, a large pile of manure is dumped in their yard. It’s kind of a welcome and environmental acceptance test all in one. If you take a case of beer out and sit by the pile the maure pile enjoying the steam coming off of it, you make big points.
You might be a “Redneck”, if you bitch at your 14 year old cousin and your brother for smoking in front of their kids. Shoes are always optional. Axe handles required.
As a shipper, I’m OK with the risk which is on the buyer but I’d really like to have a satisfied customer. So I have mostly shipped UPS within US because of tracking. I don’t see any way to achieve this internationally… the tracking, that is. I’m asking now because I’m hoping to sell some stuff into the holiday season on Ebay and someone said, maybe on this thread, that international selling adds a lot of demand! So maybe I’ll say willing to ship to Canada, Europe and Australia/New Zealand. Not SE Asia because of prior problems… I’ll have to really think about this.
Ric, you’re preaching to someone who has roots in Bristol Virginia…
Not an ounce of redneck in my blood, but Jed Clampett was my 2nd cousin on my Ma’s side of the family.
On the serious side…my family tree back in the 1800’s looks more like a vine…
Jim Kelly said:Jim,
As a shipper, I'm OK with the risk which is on the buyer but I'd really like to have a satisfied customer. So I have mostly shipped UPS within US because of tracking. I don't see any way to achieve this internationally... the tracking, that is. I'm asking now because I'm hoping to sell some stuff into the holiday season on Ebay and someone said, maybe on this thread, that international selling adds a lot of demand! So maybe I'll say willing to ship to Canada, Europe and Australia/New Zealand. Not SE Asia because of prior problems... I'll have to really think about this.
The tracking is excellent i.e. I could track the one shipment back and forth between Germany and Canada, not just once but three times. The third time it actually arrived at the destination.
Between the shipper being half braindead and FedEx in Vancouver being too lazy to do even elementary things it was quite a story. It always puzzles me how these things happen with outfits who ship goods internationally everyday and handle international shipments everyday. But “half braindead” and “too lazy” can easily do it. 
BTW have any of you ever received the full disclaimer info that UPS provides to anyone who files a claim? Read the fine print very carefully and you’ll realize that UPS will not be responsible for anything regardless of what happens.
Our German distributor likes things shipped by UPS. I take pictures of every step of the packaging sequence. No more BS from UPS!
Ric Golding said:
Why did you let them? What your blaming somebody else?. You made that bed, you're going to have to sleep in it. I could say you could move here, but we don't want you. We have a bumper sticker here - "Welcome to Clinton County, now go home" No it's not the pervert, it was named after DeWitt Clinton. God, I hate to keep explaining that.Around here each new person gets blood tested to make sure they are related to somebody and if not, a large pile of manure is dumped in their yard. It’s kind of a welcome and environmental acceptance test all in one. If you take a case of beer out and sit by the pile the maure pile enjoying the steam coming off of it, you make big points.
You might be a “Redneck”, if you bitch at your 14 year old cousin and your brother for smoking in front of their kids. Shoes are always optional. Axe handles required.
Hey Ric,
Charming neighbourhood!
BTW why did Monika move to Cache Creek? Because it is real close to Clinton! hehehe Just couldn’t resist! Now, when the relevant jokes hit the GWN hinterland, you know that people have arrived!
Some of my e-bay sellers use Pay-Pal Postage, thru USPS, which give you tracking all the way from the US to Australia, even lets me know when it has cleared Australian Customs, great service.