Word to the wise...avoid UPS Store and others...

If you're gonna ship a part across the country, take the time to find a UPS or FedEx depot near you rather than using a local UPS Store or other types of shipping places that offer FedEx and UPS shipping...

They are not owned by UPS or FedEx...they are individually owned and operated Franchises, and can charge whatever they want ABOVE and beyond what UPS and FedEx quotes on their website.

I am a UPS Shipper...have been for years. I started a little sideline business a while back of buying and selling old car parts for fun and knew how much certain things cost to ship.

I take the bigger stuff to my local UPS Store to have them box/pack it up for me, mainly because UPS loves to deny claims because "It wasn't packed properly". If they pack it and they ship it, they can't deny a claim.

So, I sold a '32 Grille to a guy in Finland and he wants me to ship it to our own beloved Cuzin' Brucie in NJ. I took it to the UPS store and had them pack it. Awhile later they call and say it's ready to pick up, and by the way, they can ship it for me and the shipping charge will be only $227.00! I politely declined their offer and brought the grille home and plugged the numbers into my system and fiound the ACTUAL UPS shipping charge to Brucie from my house is $139.61!

Just for shits and giggles I went to another Mailbox type store and had them give me a quote from both UPS and FedEx (they handled both).

Their UPS quote was cheaper by $7.00 at $220.00...FedEx was $215.00.

I have found lately that my local store charges 35% to 65% above actual UPS rates for the same service you would get at a UPS depot.

Anyone want to go into partnership on a UPS Store Franchise with me?

 

How do you expect them to make money... they have to mark it up!!

I thought everyone knew that Larry?

 

I learned that lesson a long time ago....I guess you need to live it to see how bad it is

 

Hard to figure, not-knowin'

Thanks Larry!

 

How much do they charge to box and pack large items (like the 32 grille)?

 

I told all this to my UPS Driver and he said they are supposed to charge what UPS charges...they are supposed to make their money from packing and selling you other services and from their Mailbox business. He told his Supervisor this and he said that they weren't supposed to do it, but there wasn't anything UPS could do about it.

 

$44.05...

 

I miss DHL!

They had the best prices and the best service. They put UPS and FedEx in check.

You can still receive packages in the US but you haven't been able to send via DHL for a few years now.

 

I guess they competed themselves out of business? Maybe there's a reason the others are so high

 

WOW! I thought that was the standard. Cause how would they make money on shipping stuff if you're not using any of their other services and bring your own boxed stuff in?

 

Me too, my wife and I used to date one of their sevice reps

 

Uh, I'm not quite sure I wanna know what you mean.

 

It was a her. Homey dont play tummy sticks.

 

Ha Ha! Got ya'!

 

This thread got creepy real fast.

 

Open a UPS account. I used to have one. Doesn't cost anything and think they'll even come get the packages from you. If you do even a moderate amount of shipping through ups it's probably the better way to go.

 

I just shipped 2 door windows for a chevy truck to south carolina that came to my house for a friend by mistake. so it was still packed by the manufacture. Sent it By ups and it was 44 dollars and change, surely a grill shell cant be that heavier can it?

 

On a more serious note, I have a UPS depot near me. Look and see if you do. They are fast, know what they are doing, and cheap.

 

I bet it was a over size price.

 

funny you bring this up. i work at car quest, today, a dhl van and driver pulls in and asked us about an adress he couldn't find. we told him where it was and he left. guy i work with says he thought they went out of buisiness. he had a uniform on and the pakage was dhl labeled.

 

everytime i get packages from ups it looks like its been through a tornado . my last package from fedex they broke the glass inside even though it was well packaged , must have dropped it or that it fell over. now greyhound they shipped a door to me in 3 days across country and treated me very nicely even helped me with the package. nothing was damaged by greyhound and day of me picking it up was on a sunday


Jen

 

It was 33 lbs shipped wt with 500 dollars ins and that was out of a mail box ect. store

 

Instead of just avoiding them, maybe check prices. I just checked the UPS Store near my house; a 26 lb oversize box going to MD from CA was $69.92. checked UPS directly on the web site and they were HIGHER at $72.62 - exact same dimensions and weights to the same Zip code and both listed as residential. So maybe the whole UPS Store franchise system should not be condemned.

 

They didn't go out of business, they just pulled out of the US. DHL is big and based out of Germany. DHL still sponsors a Connie Kalitta Funny car. DHL came to the US and spent billions of dollars in one shot. All new facilities, new trucks, new vans, new equipment etc. Well when the price of fuel first shot up in 2008 many companies either went belly-up or got hurt bad. DHL got hurt and didn't want to take a chance on what they considered a new market, so they bailed out and sold off almost everything at a huge loss.

 

Ha I figured that one out when I first got on the HAMB. UPS quote of 20 bucks to ship a turtle deck to macon, MO from here and the UPS store was 80 bucks.

I contacted UPS about it and they told me that the store could charge me anything that they thought they could get from me.

 

Im not bitchin i thought that wasnt bad at all, but thats prob the 2nd thing i've ever sent in my life. lol

 

Try using them to ship something into Canada you better have your pants down when the man in the brown suit arrives because you will be taking it up the ass.

 

The grill shell went to Finland....slightly farther!!!

 

Oh sorry thought you said NJ. duh! my bad!

 

He did say he shipped it to NJ so a guy from Finland could pick it up