Watch Out for UPS Shipping Pricing

[doxford jim]

Agree 100%.
I have refused to accept packages sent via UPS and they had to send them back at their cost. Not only do they not get paid for that, I have challenged the charges on my credit card and have won each time. So the vendor loses a sale and UPS/FedEx don't get their outrageous charges - a double win for me. Plus, I gets to write about it on websites such as this :thumbsup::cool2::drink: and that doesn't cost me a penny.

 

[SPYDERLK]

I recently got a big surprise on an item from McMaster Carr. The note I sent them explains it:

"I recently received PO 0107LB in 2 shipments. I recall that 1 item, a hex die 2667A414 was to be shipped from a different warehouse than the major balance of the order. I received the item in a small padded envelope. The problem is that this $1.37, 1/3 ounce item incurred a shipping charge of $10.65. This is a mistake right?"

... MC, a class act refunded that shipping, but said it was no mistake. $10.65 is what UPS charged them.
,,,larry

 

[RickB]

Here is a tip if you are shipping something large but light - UPS has adopted something called dimensional pricing, meaning they calculate the price based on both dimensions and weight and you pay the higher of the two.

It might sound trivial, but I send a package recently and paid $35 for UPS Ground service. When I got home, I punched in the dimensions and weight on the USPS site and found I could have send the exact same package 2nd Day Priority Mail for $12

BEWARE of the new FedEx and UPS Dimensional Weight Pricing: You May Be Paying More Than You Think | Endicia Blog

Nothing new, but the standards are much tighter beginning Jan 1 2015. I ship UPS almost every day and the size audit adjustments are very much more frequent. In addition to the 5% base rate annual increase for at least the 3rd year in a row. And the aforementioned 'fuel surcharge'. Watch for rural area surcharges. It costs nearly $15 to ship one pound to a residential address in a town 12 miles away that happens to be in another state. I can ship that same pound to a commercial address in Jacksonville, FL for less.

 

[AGRIMAN]

I'm not a UPS fan by no means, but if you think they are bad, just try DHL one time.

 

[dragoneggs]

Granted you can do cheaper at the UPS facility or USPS than using a neighborhood UPS Store. But for me and the fact that I am running some company business through them, the convenience of having an 'house' account and located close by and with some history with them is worth it for me. By history I mean, if I have shipped to the address previously it is in their records. I can walk in, smile, bypass the customer line, and leave an informal 'ship to' note with them and wave goodbye. Around xmas time this has been very gratifying.

 

[PILOON]

Cross border is a definite NO NO with UPS but oddly enough within Canada their rates are OK. It is crossing the border that kills, and that gos both ways.
On EBay my sole negative was an article that I shipped to USA via UPS (at his request) and the buyer wanted me to pay him the fees.

 

[dragoneggs]

Cross border is a definite NO NO with UPS but oddly enough within Canada their rates are OK. It is crossing the border that kills, and that gos both ways. On EBay my sole negative was an article that I shipped to USA via UPS (at his request) and the buyer wanted me to pay him the fees.

Yes cross border is expensive. Actually painfully so going to Asia.

 

[newbury]

I'm not a UPS fan by no means, but if you think they are bad, just try DHL one time.

They all tend to have their good and bad points.
For a while early in the war DHL was the only sure way I could get equipment into Afghanistan.
But then I've had DHL say they delivered and had a signature from my secretary. I live in a single family house on a small residential court with no businesses around with no secretary. Days later they "found" it in a truck.
I've had UPS lose $100,000 worth of computer equipment for weeks.
I've had to personally go to the Fed Ex delivery site at a post in Alaska to find equipment because I knew what it looked like.
The worst part comes when they start "subbing out" their work and you get Joe Schmo delivering. I've had packages delivered miles away to totally unrelated addresses and luckily the honest homeowner looked me up.

What REALLY pains me is when one of the firms has "guaranteed delivery" which only mean guaranteed excuses.
I had an expensive package that was a surprise for SWMBO's birthday to be delivered by FedEx. BASED on THEIR tracking it was in a warehouse/sorting facility in a small building about 2 miles away 2 days before B-day. Based on their tracking it went out on a truck every day, for 4 days. Every day they had an excuse. I probably could have gone out and waved to it as it went by.