@texgeekboy posted:Totally agree in regards to selecting UPS or FedEx over the USPS.
That's not been my experience. I use USPS Priority Mail exclusively and have for years, and have had excellent results with them.
@breezinup posted:That's not been my experience. I use USPS Priority Mail exclusively and have for years, and have had excellent results with them.
I've had issues with all the shipping services, so I usually pick the method of shipping on price. The key is proper packaging, that will usually get the shipment through intact. The emphasis is on usually, sometimes despite your best efforts they manage to destroy a shipment.
Besides shipping preferences - I sold a bunch of realtrak over the last few days. According to the bay, my total sales were $480 less $25 for taxes and less $122 for shipping so actual sales were $333. They charged fees of $64. While fees are 13%, the true fees (applied to everything) based on what I sold are near 20%. I prefer to pass those savings to my non-bay buyers, but it is what it is.
@breezinup posted:That's not been my experience. I use USPS Priority Mail exclusively and have for years, and have had excellent results with them.
Based on your local PO I guess. I've had more than one pricey USPS shipment vanish, and many other USPS deliveries wind up at someone else's house. UPS for here is much more reliable, FedEx as well but for some reason they're not used as much.
Freight cars, I use USPS priority mail...anything expensive (locos) I use FedEx home delivery/ground. On larger boxes FedEx or UPS is much cheaper than USPS. Over the years (30+) of shipping various items FedEx and UPS are easier to deal with if something is lost or damaged. You just have to know the rules of shipping...minimum 2" of space on each side of the box (top and bottom) and UPS/FedEx technically require a new box. I ship enough that I buy boxes in bulk so I typically use new boxes. When I ship a box, after I pack it...i shake the box hard and if it moves inside the box I will open it and add more Pnuts. If it doesn't move, it typically will make it unless it is run over by a forklift...I've seen it! I also add a few $ to ebay shipping to cover the cost of packing materials. That's why it's referred to as shipping and handling IMO.
