Holy Rate Increases, Batman

[Archive]

Posted By: Tom Boblitt

continues to be 35 cents per $100 over the first $100 which is included with the transportation cost (unlike the $1.20 you pay through the USPS for $100 insurance). The UPS stores (formerly Mailboxes etc.) charge more for insurance as they are franchise operations and that's one way that they make money. They (UPS Stores), in some cases, also have shipping through Fedex or DHL (although Fedex has pulled out of most UPS Stores) and they charge the same rates on insurance for those services as well.

When the UPS Stores were 'Mailboxes Etc', they charged the $1.50 per $100 insurance PLUS about 150-175% of what the published transportation rates were for UPS services. Now that they are UPS stores, they are charging about 100-115% of published UPS rates as they get better discounts to get more UPS business into the stores. So for uninsured packages or low value packages, they are a much better deal than they used to be.

A good alternative is to go to UPS.com, sign up for an account and do your own shipping there. You can print out a label and affix it to your package and then drop it off at a UPS store where you don't have to pay anything. You set up your credit card online and pay the same prices you would if you went into a UPS-owned facility. The UPS store gets a small fee (about a buck) for accepting the package and really having to do nothing with it. Or you can drop the package (if smaller) in any one of about 35-40,000 UPS drop boxes all around the U.S. If your package is above $500, you will likely be prompted to print out an insurance form that will need to be signed by a UPS representative.

While I'm a long-time employee of UPS, Fedex does offer the same services online and works very similarly and has just about as good of service quality as UPS does. You can currently find their drop boxes in front of almost any U.S. post office as they currently have a contract with the USPS to carry some of the priority and express mail and deliver some of the express mail. Look for that to change in the next couple years.

Delivery confirmation gets you absolutely nothing from the post office other than just that--confirmation of delivery online. That service is included with every package that UPS and Fedex ships at no additional charge. If USPS loses your package and all you have is confirmation on the package--you get squat. If you send it registered, insured USPS for $2200--I can without looking guarantee that UPS or Fedex will beat the rate on that service in a timeframe about 1/2 or less of the USPS. Not to disparage the USPS because they've made HUGE gains over last few years, but insurance through the post office is 2x-3x higher than the private express carriers.

Both UPS and Fedex DO place some limits on antiques and un-replaceable items (which is pretty much up for debate).

The other benefit you get with UPS and Fedex that the post office CANNOT match is intermediary scanning of your packages. Delivery confirmation only says it did or did not get delivered. UPS and Fedex offer real-time tracking with planning for scanning into and out of every facility along the way. At least if something happens, it does give each company some direction on WHERE it happened and allow for quicker service recovery measures.

Okay, enough self-serving advertising. I'm open for flaming from at least one person who has a grudge, but I think UPS and Fedex offer better solutions at lower cost in quicker modes than the postal service.