USPS international

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ed4copies

ed4copies

Local Chapter Manager
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Since there is a thread on USPS, I thought you might be interested and have ideas on alternatives.

Friday late afternoon, we received an international (UK) order, with a notation to send Express mail. Customer was willing to pay the difference.

Product ordered included a couple "wedding white" acrylic. So, I gather there is a wedding on short notice, and I go about getting the package ready.

Take it to the post office (one pound, six ounces in an envelope) and get the following (took half an hour in real time, but here's the "skinny"):

Global Express will get it there "overnight"---well the real delivery is guaranteed for 4/21 (Wed). Well, really if it does NOT get there Wed, you don't get a refund---so what's "guaranteed" mean? Cost $75.00

"Express" will get it there in 3-5 days (this is the 17th). So it will arrive between the 20th and 22nd. Cost $36.00

"Priority" will get it there in 4-6 days. Cost about $14.

Short version, there is no way it will get there Monday or Tuesday. So, our customer is likely to feel like we did not satisfy HIS needs. In spite of spending an hour on Saturday (counting driving time).

We sent the customer an email last night asking what he would like to do, no reply yet. What would YOU do??? (Post office closes in 2 hours, if you miss that deadline, it probably won't get there at all next week)
 
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If the customer specified 'express', I'd send it express. It seems like somebody who wanted to get something ASAP would say 'send it the fastest way possible' or something to that effect. Just an opinion.
 
David Keller said:
If the customer specified 'express', I'd send it express. It seems like somebody who wanted to get something ASAP would say 'send it the fastest way possible' or something to that effect. Just an opinion.
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Global express or regular express??

(Everything is an opinion, I'm interested in how others read his request.)
 
Global Express and Regular Express will probably get the package out of the country at the same time. UK mail is slow no matter how you ship it. I would just ship it regular express. I think both are shipped by air, so why pay the extra fees.
 
Thanks Steve,

Other opinions are encouraged.

(I have done what I think he wanted, so I don't "waste" the available Sunday travel time, but I am curious how others would read it--also curious how many, like me, EXPECTED Monday delivery!)
 
I'd say regular express. However, the timing stinks, I'd have the customer make the choice. The UK may have something they call "express". Could be overnight, could be 1 week. IDK his/her expectations in that regard. Good Luck.
 
I really dislike going to our main post office here in Manchester, CT. Now, this is not a HUGE city, maybe 60,000. We have 1 main post office and lots of satellite offices. Whenever you go to the main post office, 90% of the time then have ONE clerk working. The lines are usually either out the door or darn near close to out the door.

I go to a local "Mail Room" outlet and ship everything from there. 2 blocks from my house, nice people, and I'm supporting a local small business. They accept all USPS stuff too.
 
Keep in mind that nothing may get oversees for a while due to the volcanic cloud... I believe that UK air space is still shut down
 
Ed. I can't speak for the UK, but express through USPS to where I live in Canada is still a min. of 10 days to get here. I don't dare ship FedEx or UPS as their brokerage fees are out of this world. I would think/hope your customer realized this and is just requesting the fastest way using regular options.

Plus once he gets it, he will see your shipping date, and know you did your best.
 
yep thats right all uk air space are no fly zones due to a dust cloud my local airport been shut for 2 days now as well as the rest of the uk too
 
masl said:
yep thats right all uk air space are no fly zones due to a dust cloud my local airport been shut for 2 days now as well as the rest of the uk too
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I KNEW that!

BUT it did NOT occur to me.

How long do you suppose "express" mail will take, delivered by STEAMSHIP!!!
 
My Experience

I work at a University and one of the areas I am responsible for is mail operations. I have our employees ship all international items by UPS and all U.S. items by USPS. UPS has an advantage on international due to the better abilities to track delivery.
 
OldGrumpy said:
I work at a University and one of the areas I am responsible for is mail operations. I have our employees ship all international items by UPS and all U.S. items by USPS. UPS has an advantage on international due to the better abilities to track delivery.
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Thanks!!! We may start doing that for Europe. Canada hates UPS and we haven't had much trouble there. But France is a real pain. UK has had intermittent problems, but they HAVE found the boxes (eventually).
 
OldGrumpy said:
I work at a University and one of the areas I am responsible for is mail operations. I have our employees ship all international items by UPS and all U.S. items by USPS. UPS has an advantage on international due to the better abilities to track delivery.
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If you send things to Australia via UPS your recipient is not going to be very impressed!:frown:

UPS charges the most exorbitant fees, never seen such an inventive company, I wouldn't use UPS if it was the last courier company on earth.

I regularly get packages from the US via USPS International Priority, usual time is 7 days, shortest has been 5 days, longest 16 days.

Canada is a very different story, I never get stuff from Canad if I can help it!
 
Ed, that package you sent to me arrived here in Japan on Friday...you sent it Tuesday (our time). That's great service! Japan has THE best mail service in the world.... but USPS is pretty darned good in all my experience. I'll also agree with Fred...Canada post is indeed, a different story.

Thanks Ed..:wink:
 
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chriselle said:
Ed, that package you sent to me arrived here in Japan on Friday...you sent it Tuesday (our time). That's great service! Japan has THE best mail service in the world.... but USPS is pretty darned good in all my experience.

Thanks Ed..:wink:
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I knew you wanted it in a hurry, so I tied it to the FASTEST HORSE racing out of this town!!!:biggrin::biggrin:

(Glad you got it!!)
 
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