Postal Systems

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I have too much experience with shipping and receiving with USPS, FedEx, and UPS. I never send anything without tracking and prefer to receive parcels with tracking as well. With any of them I think it is simply a failure on the part of the carrier to update the tracking from one point to the next. Some workers are just not efficient. I'd say 90% or the time the tracking is there and it is up to date. The other 10% who knows ? IME UPS and FedEx air are the best with tracking, USPS and FedEx ground are usually good but inconsistent. Fortunately for me everything I've sent, and that has been sent to me, has arrived safe and sound.

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i think your right !!!

when i used to sell /buy a lot of duck calls i found this to be the case as well ... only prob i ever had was with one call that was getting delivered an hour from my house , i didnt insure it or put delivery conformation on it cause it was a customer id delt with 15+ times ... well the call must of got lost cause it took 3WEEKS to arrive , i was sick to my stomach the whole time ...

only other issues i ever had was with customs in Canada !! EVERY call i ever sent up north got stopped in customs and the buyer had to dish out extra bucks to pick it up .. maybe im on a terrorist list in Canada or something ..lol

gooser

Every item goes through the customs people here and they then decide if duties and taxes are applicable on a case by case basis. It is not an issue unless the customer in Canada is not aware that they may be liable to pay those duties and taxes but it does add a day or two to the delivery time. I have had inbound items that I tracked through customs and it was 24 hours for customs to process and send it on. I don't think it is anything personal.

tbert33

Just had a package come from Wales through London and on to Toronto where it cleared customs all in the space of 3 days and then it took as long to get to me in Canada. So I have no complaints about the Royal Mail service from the receiving end. I could agree that postal rates are getting quite high though.

Bob

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Originally Posted by BobH

gooser

Every item goes through the customs people here and they then decide if duties and taxes are applicable on a case by case basis. It is not an issue unless the customer in Canada is not aware that they may be liable to pay those duties and taxes but it does add a day or two to the delivery time. I have had inbound items that I tracked through customs and it was 24 hours for customs to process and send it on. I don't think it is anything personal.

tbert33

Just had a package come from Wales through London and on to Toronto where it cleared customs all in the space of 3 days and then it took as long to get to me in Canada. So I have no complaints about the Royal Mail service from the receiving end. I could agree that postal rates are getting quite high though.

Bob

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i wasnt sure how it works , i just know every time i sent that way the customer always says this is the first time they had to pay extra to get it or pick it up ..lol.. i was making a joke , i dont think it is personal either but it always made me feel bad when i set a price , get there $ then they have to pay more .. :(

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Originally Posted by gooser

i wasnt sure how it works , i just know every time i sent that way the customer always says this is the first time they had to pay extra to get it or pick it up ..lol.. i was making a joke , i dont think it is personal either but it always made me feel bad when i set a price , get there $ then they have to pay more .. :(

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I know what you mean about feeling badly when that happens. I have always realized that I may have to pay and that is the way it is. It has gotten better lately though may be something to with free trade or increased duty free allowances here. It is always a crap shoot though.

Bob

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Originally Posted by BobH

I know what you mean about feeling badly when that happens. I have always realized that I may have to pay and that is the way it is. It has gotten better lately though may be something to with free trade or increased duty free allowances here. It is always a crap shoot though.

Bob

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i know one of the guys told me he thinks it has to do with the value i declare and something about im better off saying it is a gift with little value .. but i never tried cause i have always insured for more then it was worth so i didnt want to contradict myself on customs papers ..lol ..

gooser

To the first part maybe and to the second part that could be a problem. Customs do not have to accept the declared value of an item and they can place their own valuation on it and you pay the duty and taxes based on their valuation. Two guesses as to which would be the higher of the two. That is very unusual but it is an option they have.

Bob

try apc. they are very good.

got a call from the driver to say he couldnt find my address on satnav and to ask for directions.


was quite busy so i asked if i could pop to there depo at the end of play and pick it up. he said perfect and told me where it was.


walked into delivery yard and into office. had no ticket etc and they were very friendly and even checked to see where the driver was and because he was on his way back they asked if id like to take a seat.

When I ship using USPS, they tell me I can't get tracking if it's shipping out of the states, every time, maybe it's my method, but they certainly aren't offering any other option's. I'm actually having a problem with a purchase coming from the U.K, the tracking number isn't working, and in 4 days it will have been a month since placing the order. The merchant said that the tracking number would work once it got into the states? I've sent packages to Hungary and Canada and they've gotten there in less time.

ya i sent my razor off to be honed (only had it for 3 weeks) usps did a good job losing it, now im sol :(

Considering the volume, USPS does a pretty good job. I've had way more problems with both UPS and Fedex.

I've heard horror stories about the Royal mail in the U.K. I've been told in cities like London for instance most corporations use private courier services because the service is so bad. Most items I get from there don't go through the public system but use another private service.

Having worked for Customs I can tell you here in the U.S when parcels come through the USPS they all go into a big warehouse and the guys pull the paperwork and unless there is something glaring about the parcel or paperwork it sails through within 24hrs of less. The volume simply doesn't permit close inspection of everything. They have occasional pushes where they more closely look at parcels from certain areas of the world or some other factor but those are now and then. If you go through UPS or Fedex they have their own Customs broker and basically do it themselves which is why those parcels sail through without delay and you are way more likely to get a bill from the brokerage house.

Countries like Canada get big bucks from Customs Duties so they take their time to check everything really closely which is why you can really wait for clearance.