For those of you who have a business or access to someone who does, set up an acct w DB Schencker aka BAX Global. I shipped a 120 lb sub to Houston, second day standard (couldn't use their economy service due to high value). They picked it up yesterday at 5 PM here on the east coast,and it was delivered in Houston TODAY by 3 PM eastern time. Total cost was about 30-40% less than either FEDEX or UPS GROUND, which was posted as 3-4 days. And they picked it up @ no charge. YMMV, but I've always been happy w their service
how do you ship?
i don't usually use (well, okay probably never) fedex, but a guy i just sold to wanted it fedex. so i took my preamp to kinko's to ship it and was told that fedex only insures up to $500? are you kidding me? i had this verified by fedex by phone. is this common knowledge? so how do you guys ship? i have always sent either usps or UPS and have never had a problem with either. as an aside, just last week i had some new Axiom HT speakers delivered to me. i watched as the fedex guy wheeled them up to the bottom of my stairs with a hand cart. then, as i am staring at him, PLOP goes my speakers face down on the sidewalk in their box. PLOP goes my speakers as he flips them end over end to the top of my 10 feet of stairs. luckily Axiom has great packaging so no harm done. but even from a customer service standpoint, WOW.
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It really is a flip of the coin isn't it? The bottom line is what does it take to get from point A to point B with the least amount of hands on. Deliver the package to the location as often as possible. Yes, it is a pain...but you subtract handling from the truck to the center. Ask the party to pick up also from the center if possible (though policies differ here). And visa versa for items sent to you. Eliminating variable in any situations will always decrease risk. Still a flip of the coin at the end of it all. |
Vanermuelen- good point about limiting handling by p/u or deliver to station. HOwever, UPS and Fedex (and probably others) both use high speed, computerized sorting facilities with multiple elevations of conveyors. Occasionally, a box falls off a conveyor and falls to the floor. IMO, and its just MO, that's where most of the damage occurs. But the idea of p/u and delivery to their central station will remove the local driver/contractor from the equation. Tvad- Thx, good tip. I'll look into Team Worldwide. |
Here's some insight into what happens to your UPS package. Swamp, you are right about the sorting - those packages go through miles of conveyors sometimes and they are well above hard floors in a warehouse. That said, I've had terrible experiences with drivers with FedexGround handling packages poorly right at my door. Not all, but quite a few. Never happened with Express or USPS Priority (my personal favorite). UPS has been a mixed bag for me but largely I've had pretty good luck with them. |
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