What would you Pick? Shipping

[funfactorychannel]

Just finished packing.. One of my choices for label today made me pause a little before picking.

If you were me what would you pick? A faster up front, or a faster all arrived by date?

I ended up picking USPS 

[albertabrightalberta]

@funfactorychannel 

You cannot choose UPS (even if the price is the same as USPS) because your listings show USPS. You do give buyers a choice of Priority or First Class (which is no longer available and has been replaced by Ground Advantage). 

[funfactorychannel]

ebay converted those first class to ground advantage. Some have UPS as a choice since the change I am still working my way editing them. maybe by time i finished editing them all they change it again.

[adamcartwright]

@funfactorychannel 

I always go with "Buyer Selected."

[wastingtime101]

Ship using the service advertised on the listing / buyer selected, obviously.

But let's pretend you offered generic "standard" shipping with no service or carrier specified. The choice (to me) is still obvious: USPS Ground Adv

UPS Ground Saver is a dual-carrier shipment and it's not insured once it's passed from UPS to USPS so if that package is lost or damaged good luck trying to file a claim. Same price. Roughly same delivery window, but Ground Adv generally takes days less than Ground Saver. There's no question.

[fm2000]

USPS Ground Advantage, hands down. No silly after-the-fact surcharges and much less risk of false "adjustments" Fedex and UPS often hit people with. Free USPS package pickup, too, no trip to UPS or Fedex.

[bonanza125]

USPS Ground Advantage in addition to that's what buyer selected. Go with that one.

[kensgiftshop]

You pick whatever was offered in the listing, or what the buyer chose.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Ground Advantage.

Both of the others could be hybrid deliveries using USPS for the last mile with ambiguity as to who is responsible if things go wrong and potential inability to collect on an insurance claim.

[richard1rst]

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@funfactorychannel wrote:

Just finished packing.. One of my choices for label today made me pause a little before picking.

If you were me what would you pick? A faster up front, or a faster all arrived by date?

I ended up picking USPS 

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Unless there is a very substantial difference between USPS versus UPS and/or FedEx I regularly use USPS even if UPS and/or FedEx are a little cheaper.

There are 2 reasons for this.

First on the short term, if I have a bunch of stuff going to USPS and 1 or 2 going to UPS/FedEx the dollar or two I might save is more than eaten up by the extra gas, time and mileage to make the separate trip to them.

BUT on a more defensive note, These boards are awash with complaints from posters about UPS and/or FedEx adding mysterious additional charges after the fact - and sometimes substantially extra.. And they are essentially not appealable. The peace of mind I get by avoiding the possibility of these unappealable charges more than offsets the dollar or two I might save.

Yes, USPS does occasionally have back charges but those are appealable and I have pretty much always won my appeal.

[lakefor94]

"Same price. Roughly same delivery window, but Ground Adv generally takes days less than Ground Saver. There's no question."

@wastingtime101 

There are a lot of times where UPS can get the package to the destination USPS office quicker than USPS GA can.

Also, UPS does not hand off every Ground Saver package to USPS. UPS delivers a portion of those, end to end.

(Just finished a week-long visit with a 32-year UPS driver)

When I ship AMZ orders, AMZ has the arrival date figured to the day and UPS Ground (nearly always) and Ground Saver (many times) beat USPS GA, especially this time of year. YMMV.

Everything I ship via AMZ Buy Shipping is INR protected and On Time Delivery Rate protected. 

I have to be very selective this time of year on eBay because of the distribution center traffic jams USPS incurs every year.

UPS will put a helper with a percentage of drivers this time of year. They know how many they need and get the job done.

USPS is more of a crapshoot though they get the vast majority delivered on time or a little late, imo.

[wastingtime101]

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@lakefor94 wrote:

Also, UPS does not hand off every Ground Saver package to USPS. UPS delivers a portion of those, end to end.

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Correct and it's becoming more common for UPS to take it all the way in non-rural areas.

There are numerous factors to consider, but I still stand by my "general" suggestion that the rate is the same in that screenshot and the liability coverage is greater with USPS, so USPS is the better option. Probably more convenient, too if already dropping off other packages with USPS.

In my experience Ground Saver takes longer than Ground Adv, but as you said, will be different experiences depending on the region.

Once you get into price differences - and Ground Saver starts beating Ground Adv once you hit 13 oz by a few pennies with the amount of the discount increasing as the weight goes up, that's a different discussion.

Of course all of this is moot when the seller specified a service on the listing. Seller has to stick to that service - or rather stick to the carrier and use that service or better, no downgrade.

[lakefor94]

"There are numerous factors to consider, but I still stand by my "general" suggestion that the rate is the same in that screenshot and the liability coverage is greater with USPS, so USPS is the better option. Probably more convenient, too if already dropping off other packages with USPS."

@wastingtime101 

I never even considered the liability coverage since I never have any lost or damaged packages. I ship in boxes, packed correctly with the exception being zip ties, they can go in a bubble mailer.

I reckon that end to end coverage is important for some sellers. I never think about it other than, as I have said many times, all the expensive items and anything I care about go UPS Ground.

[12345jamesstamps]

USPS...I can visit them in person if there is a problem with the shipping.

I can also drop off packages and get a scanned immediately.

I don't have to deal with a phone call or eBay.

I can't imagine thinking about saving a few nickels and dimes in shipping.

[lakefor94]

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@12345jamesstamps wrote:

USPS...I can visit them in person if there is a problem with the shipping.

I can also drop off packages and get a scanned immediately.

I don't have to deal with a phone call or eBay.

I can't imagine thinking about saving a few nickels and dimes in shipping.

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@12345jamesstamps  if you are still buying Ground Advantage at the counter, it is a lot more than nickels or dimes. 

"I don't have to deal with a phone call or eBay."

Who would you have to call?  Why would you have to deal with EBay? 

I print a discounted label, tape it to the boxes, USPS picks up at my house, 6 days a week.