US Mail/Priority Mail for Low Weight Orders Now On Store

[Halliday]

Originally posted by AGD-OfficeGal
2. With US mail there are no guarantees when you will get the package - or IF you will get the package. That's the tradeoff for the low price. If it gets lost in the mail, you have to buy it again - we will NOT replace it for free.

That's depressing. How would I even know if my order was EVER shipped?

[AGD-OfficeGal]

Two ways you would know it was shipped:

(1) You would receive it.

(2) After about five business days for priority mail, or ten business days for regular mail, you could email me or call us.
=======
Yes, you can certainly order one O-ring and have it sent by mail. That's one of the primary reasons JoAnn and I *wanted* to make mail service available, was for people who had very small orders and were paying over $6.00 in UPS charges for a single O-ring. We felt guilty, and believe me, we aren't making any money off those sales. Tiny orders are never profitable.

Marcia

[shartley]

[DK1]

I agree, USPS is great. So far, I've actually mailed a few items off on a saturday and had people receive them on the following monday.

As far as tracking, I don't think USPS offers it, but they do offer Delivery Confirmation for $.40 I think. You can track the package with it, but it only updates once a day, at the end of the day, and sometimes it's a day or two behind the actual package.

DK1

[shartley]

Originally posted by DK1
I agree, USPS is great. So far, I've actually mailed a few items off on a saturday and had people receive them on the following monday.

As far as tracking, I don't think USPS offers it, but they do offer Delivery Confirmation for $.40 I think. You can track the package with it, but it only updates once a day, at the end of the day, and sometimes it's a day or two behind the actual package.

DK1

Actually they do have tracking. They have Tracking for Express Mail, Global Express Guaranteed, and Global Express Mail. They have three types of Track and Confirm services with many choices for each.

http://www.usps.com/shipping/trackandconfirm.htm

[DK1]

sure, I thought AGD had only decided to use Priority and regular mail. Thanks

DK1

[AGD-OfficeGal]

Our store IS only offering regular and Priority Mail and here's why. Anything else requires us to take the package to the post office rather than having it picked up by the mail carrier. We do not go to the post office every day - generally no more than twice a week. This means your package could be delayed considerably if it is packed on a Friday afternoon, for example, and we don't go to the PO till the next Tuesday or Wednesday. On the other hand, the same package, prepared on Friday afternoon for regular or Priority mail, has missed the mail carrier, but one of us could easily walk it down to the corner and drop it in the box that same day.

Remember, we are intending US mail/Priority Mail to be used for low weight/low value orders, so hopefully nobody is going to be losing a lot of money if something gets lost in the mail. You *should* think twice before having something of high value sent by mail. UPS is a better choice in that case. Packages sent by UPS and lost WILL be replaced at no charge.

Exception to US mail rule: If we send your order to the wrong address, we will replace it for free.

Marcia

[cphilip]

Marcia, delivery confirmation is free on Priority Mail if its done online account wise. Or it was last time I used it anyway.... It costs money if you go to the counter (55 cents) but not online in your USPS Business account. Often overlooked feature. And I assume you are doing it that way and printing out the label yourself? It will scan delivery confirmed if you add it. Would it not be best to use that? So you can at least prove it was shipped and delivered?

I have excellent luck with US mail. Never lost a thing. But I do always use delivery confirmation.

[cphilip]

Ok I just rechecked the USPS site. And it is free still. Here is a copy and paste direct from the USPS sites FAQ's about online label printing services

Q. Why isn't there an additional fee for Delivery Confirmation when I print a Priority Mail online label?
A. When you print an online label, an electronic record of your transaction is sent to the United States Postal Service. This meets the requirements for electronic option Delivery Confirmation service; no additional fees are required when used with Priority Mail.

Q. What if the retail employee tries to charge Delivery Confirmation fees for my online label?
A. Since the online label is a new feature, some USPS employees may not yet be familiar with it. Point out the "e/" endorsement on your label next to the Delivery Confirmation text. This indicates that this item is an electronic option Delivery Confirmation mailpiece. The retail associate should refer to the July 26, 2001 Postal Bulletin for further information. Regular Priority Mail postage rates apply.

[AGD-OfficeGal]

Sounds great but ... we don't do our postage online. We have a postage meter, and labels are generated by our point-of-sale/accounting/shipping/do-everything software. I'm not knocking what you say, Phil, believe me. However, the discussion is now becoming a little more involved than it should be for a public forum, plus I'm getting out of my depth. ::insert figure of woman buried in snow here::

EDIT: After email consultation with Phil (THANKS!) I'll discuss this possibility some more with Jo next week.

Marcia

[homis]

I just want to share my experience(s) with USPS.

I recently bought a MM body online (from MI) and a MM body (From AZ). Both were shipped (to Chicago) via USPS and arrived in two days. Then I ordered some small (hose & o-rings) parts from AGD and shipped them via USPS. Remember, AGD is about 25 miles from downtown Chicago. It has now been 6 business days since the supposed ship date and no parts. I just got off the phone with AGD (who were nice about the whole thing), but to all who are reading this -> DO NOT USE IT IF YOU A) NEED THE PARTS B) LIVE IN CHICAGO C) BOTH A & B. To top it off, I just read that if it's lost in the mail, AGD doesn't offer a refund. So, either a) my parts will have taken 7+ business days to go 25 miles b) They will be lost and I get to spend $60 for five feet of warp house and some o-rings.

Now that I think about it, I remember I was having my Rolex fixed by a family friend in Cleveland a while back. He sent the watch certified, insured, blah blah blah. Anyways, it ended up taking two weeks+ to finally locate the watch, and when we did locate it, I had to drive down to the main Chicago post office and pick the damn thing up myself.

F*** the USPS, and don't think having a tracking number helps one bit. Two words : UPS Ground.

[Strider]

There is a story like yours out there for pretty much every shipping company...

[homis]

True, but you also need to realize that the Chicago PO is legendary for being one of the worst in the country. When you get down to it, the thing that separates the USPS from UPS, FedEx, Airborne, etc is that it is not a private company. I have found in the majority of my dealings that experiencing an issue with a private company versus a public company shows that private companies do a better job with their customers because they have to->they can't rely on federal funds. My above post are two recent examples that come to my mind from personal experience. When I expand the category to include family and friends, the list of problems and issues related to the Chicago PO grows practically geometrically.

[cphilip]

The post office was privatized.

I have shipped at least two hundred packages in the last year and a half via USPS. Lost none... had one go missing for 10 days and another for two weeks. Both of them ended up getting there. But delayed.

I ship smaller quick stuff through them as I prefer it. Its often quicker and so far is pretty dependable. Larger stuff that I can take my time on I go UPS. Larger packages I want there VERY quick without reguard for cost and Overseas I go Fed Ex. I have had similar issues with each of them. Especialy UPS when it comes to timed shippments. They do not seem to care if I paid for three day for a reason. They bring it when they want anyway.

[homis]

I was aware that the proposal for full privatization of the USPS was occurring in 2002/2003, but couldn't find a resource that indicated that full privatization had occurred. Since the USPS was started by the federal government, it's employees are intertwined in the federal system, and the USPS is overseen by Congress, I'd say it's a lot closer to being a federal agency/department than FedEx.

Now, to get back the discussion at hand, I stated in my original post that I wouldn't recommend the USPS if you a) need the parts b) live in Chicago. As others have commented here (echoing my statements), sometimes parcels arrive promptly via USPS, sometimes it takes two weeks. If you need a part by a specific date, you're playing roulette. I made a further statement based on the Chicago post office, and because it is the office that routes my mail/packages (and every time I have to deal with it they are virtually worthless), I wouldn't recommend shipping USPS in Chicago. Yes, the private package companies have their share of problems, but they seem to do a better job of fixing problems. Plus, they can manage to deliver a package from 25 miles away in less that 6 business days.