United Parcel Service (UPS) is now very expensive

[Manfred58sc]

^^^^^ I assure you that s already happening^^^^^^UPS came into being due to a very long strike in the 50's at greyhound n the first place. And once they hike rates, they never come back down.
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Fat chick owner/operator

[Tram]

UPS was founded in 1907 actually... Greyhound 7 years later.
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Немає виправдання для війни! Я з Україною.

[Manfred58sc]

I don't know the exact percentages but greyhound actually ran freight only bus's before the 1950's strike. They controlled the majority of the items up to 150lbs, the strike lasted a year and 1/2 during which UPS ramped up capacity and grabbed that part of the market. Greyhound was never really the same after that. The owner/operator classic car world will learn to live with banged up doors and Saturn seats in their VW's.
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Fat chick owner/operator

[chrisflstf]

Anybody use UPS Simple Rate? Seems there is a catch somehow. Its about half the regular cost. what am I missing?

[wheel607]

USPS is cheaper, a 12 inch x 12 inch x12inch largest size is UPS 24.95. It is less than that USPS. The smallest size USPS is also less than the $9.00 UPS charges.

[FritzCP]

I second Tram's advice on using Pirate Ship to ship UPS or USPS. We had a commercial UPS account for 20 years, and it saved us 20-25% long run average by switching to pirate ship instead of getting billed through UPS directly so we deleted our UPS account entrirely and just drop boxes off at the local UPS store vs getting picked up every day ($3 per day charge).

The savings through PS on anything expedited or international is around 60% of retail cost which is HUGE. No residential upcharge, no billing hassles and mistakes through UPS bean counters, no dealing w/ sales reps, no back end billing hassles. Through PS, Small parcels are more often cheaper than USPS - you read that right... I couldn't believe it either but it compares them and its true. Also, you can print USPS labels through PS for a small discount (like ebay gives) which saves BS standing in line at the post office as well.

All in all a huge win, and i tell everyone i can about PS. the marketing is corny, but its user friendly and the customer service is pretty good through the email/ chat function.

Greyhound was awesome for large items, and will be missed. At least Uship is available for odd sized stuff.
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Fritz Custom Products
Fritz 10 - Tin Screw Torquer
Fritz 124 - Crank Pulley Puller
Fritz 70 - 6306 Bearing Puller
Fritz 44 - Dizzy Puller

[wheel607]

Can Pirate Ship be used for people that ship about two or three times a year? I believe that is most of us. Is the expense crap factor worth it? Most ship only a few packages a year.

[FritzCP]

Not sure if there is a minimum to use Pirate ship. I dont think they really care as any volume is extra volume to them. you pay for the packages with CC every time you print a label. Accounts are free to setup. If you only ship small items a couple times a year, its not worth the hassle. Instead find someone with a PS account that does, and befriend them. Or become that guy and tell all your friends and family.

the UPS Simple rate is not cheaper than UPS ground, in fact its much more expensive vs the same dimensional weight. The simple rate is just a marketed flat rate for ease of computing charges. If you run a comparison of the box sizes vs weight, its a rip off and PS would be 70% of the retail UPS rate anyways. Its not the good value that USPS offers (or used to when small flat rate was $4.25... remember those days?)

Moreover the Simple rate box sizes they use are advertised OUTER dimensions. seems innocent enough until you go to buy standard size boxes from some place like Uline and they are rated as INNER dimensions. ergo, the super popular standard sizes boxes (like 8 x8x 4) which are way cheaper to buy in bulk (vs 7x7x3) and more available DO NOT QUALIFY for simple rate pricing as they are technically oversized. A box would then cost you $1.50 vs $.45 each

food for thought
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Fritz Custom Products
Fritz 10 - Tin Screw Torquer
Fritz 124 - Crank Pulley Puller
Fritz 70 - 6306 Bearing Puller
Fritz 44 - Dizzy Puller

[chrisflstf]

I just shipped at set of pistons and cylinders to texas from san diego. Ups was the cheapest at $58 ( online est). I saw the Simple Rate on the internet, but when I inquired at the local UPS store, the lady there knew nothing about it and claimed she was just at a company seminar, so...

If Simple rate - aka flate rate, exists at UPS, I dont know how you get it.

[Manfred58sc]

I have found UPS to be the worst in terms of delivering w/o damage and providing transparency in cost. They always find some way to tack on a fee or increase that renders the estimates incorrect. I understand an estimate is an estimate, but when I weigh and measure and then they do the same ( with the same values) the next day and its more.....that shows me the pricing is continually calculated by an algorithm to maximize profit. Many other industries operate that way. Shipping is a miserable experience these days.
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Fat chick owner/operator

[wheel607]

I totally agree "shipping is a miserable experience" these days!!! You feel as if COVID has nothing to do with it. Just a reason to take from you hard earned dollars. It will get to a point, and its rapidly getting there, where no shipping will take place. I mean, come on, $58 to send a set of P&C.......Somebody has to pay for that Amazon shipping....you!

[consvws]

Get a FedEx account. I ship large items regularly with them & it's usually very cheap.

[Manfred58sc]

$475 ( Fed/ex) to ship a Beetle hood 1/2 way across the country?????? That is nobodys definition of "cheap". Face it, there will be very very few sales of $100-$200 parts ( fenders, hoods, doors etc.) when shipping is 3X that.

If parts can't move affordably, parts cars stay parts cars or get crushed. This disruption will have notable consequences in about year.
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Fat chick owner/operator

[consvws]

Are you strapping the hood to a pallet??? Or putting it in a huge square box. I posted in another thread a while back that I had just shipped seven decklids for $130 down to so. Cal.

Are you going by some online shipping calculator or did you actually wrap up the hood & go down to the station? $400 plus seems pretty steep for one hood anywhere in the country IMHO.

[Manfred58sc]

Wrapped in cardboard, shipped 700 miles. It was not very heavy, it blew all the dimensional limits. It may as well been a box as far as cost was concerned. This is a very recent quote/payment.
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Fat chick owner/operator

[Manfred58sc]

so usps has a new add on of $5 for anything over 22", also they have some mumbo-jumbo 'real time" metric that blows estimates. I went to ship a part that I have shipped many time for about $20 and today they wanted $49.50!
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Fat chick owner/operator

[consvws]

Dam! Time to start throwing these parts in the trash bin

[Manfred58sc]

This de=evolution of usps service and pricing has been underway for at least 6 years and is unrelated to any administration as far as I can tell. I'm sure the answer is complicated and outside the scope of this post. Just making the samba community aware of the realities I face as an active parts seller. " Boots on the ground" reporting has great value in todays fog.
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Fat chick owner/operator

[wheel607]

I went to the USPS yesterday, and a small box, not more than 12 x 12 x 20 an weighing less than 10 lbs total, cost $39 to ship frm Virginia to Missouri. Now if that example isnt enough to convince you of the CROOKED shipping rates, I dont know what is. It is comming VERY soon that the used parts market cant pay these shipping rates! Again, COVID is just a convenient situation to RAISE rates and STOP shipping.

[Abscate]

A single 12x22x20 box is a large shipment. If you ship 50 of them then you’ll get a good rate.

People are just seeing real shipping costs and squealing like pigs, wondering why everything isn’t free like Amazon

Used car markets will adjust. Your $50 part you paid $5 for is worth $0 in your garage.
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