My rule of thumb is, over 2 pounds or over $25, go UPS. Can't beat their built in insurance, I have had 2 claims with them and they were handled quickly and well.
USPS insurance is overpriced and hard to collect on. You fill out a form, send it to the buyer, they fill out their part, send it back to you, -Oh and did we mention you have to wait a LONG time before you can even initiate all this? Then they will probably tell you the item was not packed right.

I had someone send me a basted quilt for handquilting once, it arrived not even in a box. Literally, some cardboard was wrapped around it and taped.
I mentioned it to the sender and she said she had taken it to a Pack'N'ship place, they told her, "Oh we have the perfect box for that.."

The store I work for (a local office supply store) also does UPS shipping for the public. We do charge a flat rate fee over the actual cost of shipping that covers our time spent and the fees that we pay UPS for them to stop by and pick up from us every day. However the fee for insurance is very reasonable, and claims are usually taken care of quickly, although you do often have to argue with them a bit about how well the package was packed...the standard response is insufficient packing material! We ship out several packages a day and usually have 2-3 claims per year. And sometimes it WAS insufficient packing material put in by the customer.
The only way a regular size package would be $72 to ship would be if it was sent Next Day Air and was heavy to boot.
I'm guessing that the $40 from the post office would be very comparable to what our charges would be.

could be a rant. maybe not. that depends on how heated the conversation gets. ;-)

the very important thing we can all get from this is that it pays to shop around for shipping, just as it does for the things we want to buy or send.

there's "too much" and "more than i'm willing to pay". they aren't necessarily the same thing. ;-)

yes but how come when i wrote Refused on a box and took it to the UPS Store, they delivered it right back to me?? my UPS guy who came to my ex work place told me they would do that. duh!

I have filed a claim with usps - and it was paid - eventually. But it did require a fair amount of effort on my part to collect. I was also given conflicting information - one clerk told me I had to surrender the entire shipment - another one told me I only had to surrender the broken piece to the post office.

Had a lot of positive experiences with UPS and USPS. Not so much with FedEx until the last few years.

Just remember to stay away from the box 'em up shops and you're in charge of seeing everything through.

UPS does not translate into Canada. Here's what happened to my DH today.

- The phone rings, it's UPS with a parcel, will be in town in 20 minutes, please meet the truck to pick it up. They will not deliver to our house (we live 40 minutes from town). Hm, can't get to town in 20 minutes.
- DH calls a friend in town and arranges for the parcel to be delivered there.
- friend cannot find cheque book when the truck arrives. Will not take cash ($5.48). Driver instructs to write down credit card # and pin# to pay. Friend refuses. Package leaves with truck.
- package is now 2-1/2 hours from us with no idea of when or how we might retrieve it.

DH asks over and over again when ordering to please do not use UPS but I think for those of you in the continental USA it is a cheap option. It isn't actually UPS that delivers here, but some local company with the contract and they don't do well at their end of the bargain.

My daughter sent an appliance to be repaired by PO. when it arrived it was crushed.She had insured it. Never got any satosfaction or money from PO. It was an expensive item $200. She was out the item, poatage, and insurance cost.

to repeat the only important point: shop around for shipping options.

time to move on, folks. ;-)

pretty please, with sugar on top? :lol: