Whats Up with USPS?????

Scotcha

Scotcha

Joined
Oct 25, 2013
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Just a rant. No reflection on the Forge who ship in a timely manner.

The long delays & exhorbitant costs are starting to put me off. USPS charged almost $80 for 2 knives which should be delivered within 3-5 Business days. The parcel was picked up on the 3rd & has not left the US as yet.

Before that Priority mail. Parcel was picked up on 15th Jan & delivered on 4th of Feb. They used to be better earlier and in comparison my parcels from the UK similar size cost $15 and delivered within 7 days.

I don't mind paying the cost if packages are delivered as quoted but this has just really annoyed me.

Can anybody suggest an alternate shipping method and are other international buyers having the same problem? Would the Forge be open to other shipping methods if possible?

I am only posting this publicly so as to avail of the knowledge base.
 
I've no alternative suggestions but it's a bummer that shipping time has slowed shortly after a significant price hike.
 
I recently shipped some knives to the UK and Australia via priority simultaneously. They were still saying they hadn't left the US for days after they had made it to their new homes. They both shipped out of the Miami port, but the one to Australia made it about a week or so before the one made it to England. The ones I have shipped to The UK and Switzerland via Priority mail have typically made it in ten days or less.
 
I got a hiking buddy from the flea market a few weeks back. USPS actually managed to ship it back to the sender. It took just under two weeks to get from Arizona to Texas. Mishaps do occur, but they seem to be occurring more often. I also got a knife from dlt on friday which I expected not to receive till Tuesday or possible Wednesday and I got it yesterday in the mail.

The price increase also is disappointing, I shipped a box for Christmas to my God children in NC and it was almost $100. Last year the same time/ same approximate weight and size was only about $50.

They can be very hit and miss, hope your new babies make it sooner then later.
 
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Seems all too typical, huge price increase and major down shift in service. Mid Jan. I ordered a piece of equipment from a company in eastern Indiana. They shipped USPS and the package went to Iowa where it got lost. After a week of tracking with no results, the company sent another package via UPS and it arrived 3 days later. Two days after that, the initial package arrived at my door. Never showed tracking after Iowa. Refused it and it's headed home, hopefully. Just sent a package to Wilton, NSW yesterday via USPS and the customer and I have our fingers crossed. UPS and FedEx seem to be more reliable and the new price increases from the Post Office make them look more attractive.
 
We've looked at switching to UPS, but the costs were almost double. Now, that was on our normal domestic shipments. But a $6 box went to $11. We can certainly make allowances and ship the few international with UPS rather than USPS if you'd rather that.
 
I've been getting my neighbors mail for about 3 months. Not my next door neighbor, but one on another street in our small neighborhood. I caught up with our route driver the day ... I think he's from Nigeria. .. but doesn't speak English and I'm guessing that includes reading it. We've had a steady change of route drivers for the past couple of years .. and each time it was due to theft. smh.
 
I never enjoy international shipping. Just this past month I had a sebenza disappear on me from Canada when it arrived to a sort facility 30 miles from my home after clearing customs. Costs are prohibitive, takes more time to do the label, and from all I can tell packages becoming "lost" are frequent especially for lower cost postages such as first class international. Poor service as noted generally and rising cost is just digging a deeper hole for the USPS

However, local postal services are pretty good here. My mailman knows my entire family's name, even our dog. Packages get walked to the front door and placed appropriately. No hiccups getting domestic mail sorted all the way to our local post office and ultimately our home - we get numerous packages every week. Where you live along the shipping channel is a factor.

Can't say the same for the other big services; packages tossed up the stairs, left out in the elements when the front door is 6' away. I guess as long as they reach their destination. ...

The temp carriers for the local USPS can be pretty horrible too to be fair. A Fiddleback related USPS story involved my normal carrier out on vacation and the lazy fill in employee placing my first Woodsman on the curb by the mailbox and driving off. Was so pissed.
 
Our regular route driver is super. She always brings packages up the drive to the door. Just a day or two before Christmas, I left a small gratuity in an envelope with her name on the front just to show our appreciation. Did not realize she was out, watched the substitute carrier pick up the envelope from the mail box. She never received the envelope. Talked to the Post Master, talked to the area supervisor and nothing happened. No wonder things get "lost".
 
Rick Lowe said:
Our regular route driver is super. She always brings packages up the drive to the door. Just a day or two before Christmas, I left a small gratuity in an envelope with her name on the front just to show our appreciation. Did not realize she was out, watched the substitute carrier pick up the envelope from the mail box. She never received the envelope. Talked to the Post Master, talked to the area supervisor and nothing happened. No wonder things get "lost".
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I also have a wonderful route driver. Always brings packages to the door instead of requiring me to get to the post office to pick them up. But I admit when it comes to mailing out packages or ordering online, I much prefer UPS if I can afford it. I've found the USPS to be consistently unreliable with tracking, deliveries, and time estimates. Yes, it costs more. For my very occasional mailing it isn't a big deal, but I can imagine it would quickly add up if I were mailing out packages every week. Too bad.
 
I have been using USPS for my business since 2009 and last year I shipped over 1000 packages.

Between 2009 and 2014 the service was fairly reliable. However, in late 2014 and 2015, the level of service dropped off a cliff. Delivery times slowed significantly, the number of lost packages increased, and the staffing levels at the local office decreased. I have no idea what actually happened within the USPS, but something changed for the worse.

I will also add that the level of service varies GREATLY between different carriers and offices. The USPS office that services my home is OK, the one that delivers to my business is absolutely terrible. The sad thing is that there is no reliable recourse for customers that get poor service.

As Andy said, UPS (and other options) are A LOT more expensive, and I am not all that sure that they provide any better service.
 
I've been fairly lucky with USPS. Could be that I don't do a ton of bulk sending or ordering. There have been couple hiccups though. There's an address near us that has the same number but a different street and we've both received each others mail. Once I had a book get "lost" but showed delivered. Called Amazon and they overnight shipped another copy (awesome customer service), a few days later the other missing book showed up at my door in an opened box. Thanks for giving it back neighbor, not cool that you opened it! Haha.

I've also had hiccups with Fedex. Christmas I received a call from a guy in a town about 15 minutes away. Said he had a package with my name and phone number on it and half a subway sandwich. Apparently, the guys wife saw this happen, the Fedex driver left her door open when she drove off and left my package and her lunch laying in the gutter.

I can't think of a bad experience with UPS but I know they aren't perfect either!
 
Rick Lowe said:
Our regular route driver is super. She always brings packages up the drive to the door. Just a day or two before Christmas, I left a small gratuity in an envelope with her name on the front just to show our appreciation. Did not realize she was out, watched the substitute carrier pick up the envelope from the mail box. She never received the envelope. Talked to the Post Master, talked to the area supervisor and nothing happened. No wonder things get "lost".
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Our regular carrier is fantastic too. We also had the same exact same issue with a temp carrier taking the Christmas gratuity we left one year, so now we make an effort to hand it to her in person. It helps that I work from home though. It would be difficult for those that don't. Maybe give it early in the season when you know the regular carrier is working.
 
I sometimes have pleasant surprises where USPS delivers a day earlier than expected. The rate increases really have taken a toll on my ability to profit on my hand made goods though. In general, I don't see any other alternative because UPS and fex are significantly more expensive and slower in delivery speed.
 
Thanks for the replies. It's what I expected. Same situation here in Australia with not many options.
 
Fiddleback said:
We've looked at switching to UPS, but the costs were almost double. Now, that was on our normal domestic shipments. But a $6 box went to $11. We can certainly make allowances and ship the few international with UPS rather than USPS if you'd rather that.
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Thanks Andy. I don't want you paying out of your pocket. I will try and combine postage for say 2-4 knives and get them shipped express as it seems to work out fairly better than priority.
 
One other option for shipping internationally is DHL. They greatly reduced their presence in the U.S. about five years ago or so, but were very reliable for international shipments when I used them in that capacity. I'm not sure how they stack up costwise today but if reliability matters for international shipments, they might be worth a look.
 
Thanks FrostyPA. I have been looking at options, all very expensive though. DHL was one, it works out a lot cheaper if you have an account with them but I think that would be a waste of time for Phillip unless they regularly ship overseas.
 
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