Shipping....

I've had good luck shipping with the USPS and I hope making that statement doesn't jinx me.

Not so with UPS. Not only are UPS rates much higher than shipping USPS, there is a reason why they offer free insurance.

Recently we shipped an item from Indiana to North Carolina. The item was trackable and made its speedy way from the Midwest to the southeast where it promptly disappeared. We were notified by the customer that the item had not reached its destination even though the tracking information indicated the item had been delivered.

UPS claimed that they had delivered to the next door neighbor and records showed that a "Blake" had signed for the package.

There in was the problem---there was no "Blake" living next door to the customer. After further investigation revealed that the UPS driver had deposited the package with some one loading refuse left street side by the neighbor, I contacted the UPS supervisor in charge of the area.

The UPS supervisor was neither appalled or apologetic. In fact in all my correspondence and contact with UPS, UPS was more concerned that the claim was paid rather than this situation should be rectified so that it would never occur again. When told that I had always had professional service from the USPS, the supervisor told me "well, then you should ship with them."

Having worked in customer service positions all of my life,with an understanding of what should have occurred, I was appalled by the lackadaisical attitude. If I was the company covering the UPS losses I'd be upping my rates.             

Sooner or Later You'll Need to Ship

If you have a small business sooner or later you'll need to ship. You will soon discover that fees are all over the place, regulations are many and can be difficult to wade through, and service can be non existent.

After several years of experience, my shipping company of choice is still the good old USPS. Nothing beats the Postal Service's prices, the service, once you're out of the post office, is reliable and consistent, and most rules and regulations are easily found on their website.

Just about everyone can come up with a horror story on any shipping service, but I don't have one yet on the USPS. They won't leave something with a neighbor. They won't leave a package on the doorstep. They will only get a signature from an intended recipient.

And I'm currently finding why UPS gives up to $100 in insurance free on their shipments.

Stay tuned...more to follow.