Thread: Rant: The USPS and International Shipping

Well, we can shut the USPS down but consider it compared to say Canada Post or the Royal mail in Britain. You have to realize the volume they deal with and the constraints they have as a quasi govt outfit. Sure let Fedex take it over. You'll pay multiple times the amount to ship anything and of course they will fire probably half the employees and cut the salary of the rest and benefits (just what the country needs now eh?).

Personally I think for what they are tasked with they do a pretty good job. As far as international shipping goes there are all kinds of International Treaties governing how it operates and many foreign postal outfits are totally unreliable.

In many many countries the postal service is like a bargain mart for the employees to just pilfer it.

Dunno Alex, if you're not happy with uspe, I think ups and fedex would be happy to deliver your package. USPS does have a monopoly but that's on first class mail within US only and that's not what you're doing anyways.

Yes the insurance part does seem confusing, I wonder what is the insured amount good for. As glen said in US you have to prove the value of the item, either that you paid that much or that you sold it for that much, sentiments don't cary monetary value with them. Seems odd, because wen they're taking the insurance money they don't ask for proof.

On the other hand yes, there is the anomaly that for few oz, international express is cheaper than priority, I think it has to do with the way insurance is structured into it. If you go beyond very light packages you'll find out that priority is cheaper.

hhmmm.... Canada Post is worse. And slower. And, ironically, it's often cheaper to ship to the US from here than to fellow Canadians.

I think our American cousins have got a pretty good postal service.

FWIW, I refuse to have items shipped FedEx or UPS. My understanding is that each of the companies can and will re-asses the duty value, and charge brokerage fees to pay GST. I've been charged $20.00 in additional fees to have them pay less than $2.00 in GST on my behalf.

They both have this game of tag they like to play as well... I've had a package arrive in my city within a couple of days, but then it will spend 3 or 4 days riding around on the guys truck since, typically, no one is home during the day to sign for the package and it will require a trip to the depot to pick it up.... and pay my brokerage fees.

ya'll ain't got it so bad....

Just to keep the perspective of my rant- I am ONLY talking about INTERNATIONAL shipping here. I'm NOT suggesting we do away with the company all together. It's very common for a company to suck, but for it to be a necessary evil. I'm also NOT claiming that we have it worse than other countries. I can't speak much to that and really don't care to. Anyway, the SAME package through other companies would have looked to cost these prices at CHEAPEST (I'm pretty sure these include insurance- well I know the FedEx price does, UPS though only gives you back $100 max I hear- but they don't get there as quickly as how I shipped it with USPS):

FedEx- $75
UPS- $78
DHL- $65 (I think without Insurance)

So basically you see my point.

I've done my fair share of Int'l shipping. What I've found is: To ship a stone to Japan.
Fedex 110.00, UPS 98.00 USPS Express 48.00 and I insured the stone for it's full value all the way to Japan, How, Shipsurance....Very, very affordable...Here's a link: http://www.shipsurance.com/

I just recently found out that Postal Insurance ends at our borders....I did not know that.....

Alex, Email me, I got your back.......

Rich

If you ship International with fedex and UPS there are many things they do not cover however unless you go to their web site and read through the tiny print you would never know it. Watches for instance are not covered except for their basic amounts. They will gladly take your money and give you a receipt for the added insurance but if the item is lost they will reply to your claim with their policy and cheefully refund your insurance premium you paid.

Also since they both have their own in house customs brokerage it's to their advantage to find duty on any item that way they collect the duty and the brokerage fee which goes into their pocket. With USPS most things unless very valuable or unusual go under the customs radar.

I still don't think I get the point though. It seems to me that there are two things:
(1) The insurance amount is confusing, I'd think asking a person at the usps for clarification should help with that. I mean you need to buy so much insurance that if something happens to the package you get $1200 back. Seems like straightforward question with complicated answer, and from thebigspendur's post it appears the other companies may not be much better in this department. Either way reading the terms and conditions of the insurance offered (no matter the carrier) seems like a necessity. Like reading the terms of your mortgage, or any other contract. It may well be that the service one is looking for is not available at all (I know I can't insure a letter for $1,000,000,000 for example and get that much money when it doesn't arrive).
(2) It's not cheap enough. But it's the cheapest already. I mean if everybody else wants almost double the amount for similar service, the price point shouldn't be the issue. If you don't get the same quality of service as with the more expensive options, that's perfectly fine too.
I mean if somebody rants that your damascus razors are way way too expensive, but people still buy them because they're cheaper than say Tim Zowada's that wouldn't make you sell them at or below the cost of materials.
Same thing with USPS. The usual complaint against them is the exact opposite - that they keep the prices of package shipments below cost and subsidize the difference with the profits they get from the monopoly of 1st class mail.

The one consistant thing about posts such as these is at one time or another everyone rants against every carrier out there no matter private or public or inbetween.

The real problem is the clerks be they Fedex or USPS or where ever do not know or understand the regulations themselves. You really need to go on line and read them for yourself so you know.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

The real problem is the clerks be they Fedex or USPS or where ever do not know or understand the regulations themselves. You really need to go on line and read them for yourself so you know.

THIS is pretty much spot on. When I had gone to the PO a few times before shipping the package I had spoken to a few different workers about which direction to go and had gotten a few different answers for a few different reasons. I don't know which was less helpful- the inefficiency of the website, or the workers themselves!

Ivan- there isn't exactly a point so to speak- that's why it's a rant! lol What you said in #1 above is correct. The only thing is that when you ask to go about getting that much ACTUAL coverage it doesn't make sense 9 times out of 10 to the person behind the counter. They usually don't know how to go about doing it themselves anyway. #2 is a good point also- it doesn't mean that I'll always be satisfied with a companies service though- regardless of cost. Anyway I guess the lesson to learn here is that when it comes to international shipping, if the item is halfway valuable then you really need to do some research on your own to figure out the details that the person at the counter never gives you.

A few days late, but as Zib noted Shipsurance is the site Bob Keyes told be about.

Zib, every now and then Bob has mentioned someone in Fla. You?