I am a huge fan of the US Post Office and particularly the flat rate boxes. I have in the past used UPS and Fed Ex for business and personal use, but I find that priority mail and express mail by the United States Post offices is much less expensive and so reliable. The flat rate boxes are even more of a bargain since they go by size and not weight. I have been able to send packages cross country even at priority and they usually make it in two days. What is your experience?
Whenever shipping packages, I do compare prices online usually. In my experience, if it can fit into a flat rate box for USPS, it's almost always a better deal to go USPS. However, I remember one time I had ordered a juicer on Amazon. The item had to be returned, and the seller was not willing to give me a prepaid return slip. It was such a massive (and heavy) box that it ended up being about $35 to send via USPS "standard" post, and about $28 via FedEx ground, so I went with FedEx. However, had the juicer been able to fit into a USPS flat rate box, it would have obviously been much cheaper to go with USPS. I have a friend that owns a small business, and he intentionally designed his product's packaging to fit into the USPS small flat rate box so that he could keep shipping costs the same throughout all 50 states and not have to worry about distance based rates, residential surcharges, rural surcharges, and whatnot. He also likes that priority mail is 2-3 days, which is the same speed as UPS 3 day air for a fraction of the price.
I love the post office because they have great flat rates and I like tracking my packages, I have great experience with them because they always have my packages delivered on time.
I, on the other hand, have had a lot of bad experiences with the post office here and that is the reason that I will only use private carriers. It really is a shame too because flat rate boxes are a whole lot cheaper.
Probably a mix of both, the postage system in my country is pretty good so no issues there. It really just depends on whatever the shop decides on in terms of shipping, usually I get the option of slower/faster shipping but not in terms of choosing who I go with. I really haven't had a negative experience with either though so no complaints.
I have had a really unpleasant experience with USPS before when I ordered something and after 2 weeks it had not arrived, despite it saying it was delivered on their website. So I called them and nobody knew anything, I called local USPS and they could not inform me anything. It was crazy. I don't know how they managed, but the only thing I know is after calling them 3 times in a week the package showed up looking like it had gone to war and back, with something broken inside. They are so disorganized!! I never had problems with UPS or FEDEX before, so I would say I trust those more.
Not sure what sort of problems you have had, but priority now includes tracking at no extra charge. Maybe it is a particular problem at your local post office, but if you have not tried in a while go check the USPS site. It is such a bargain and it is the one government service I would love to see continue. Hope you have better luck.
I deal mainly with Canada Post here rather than the USPS, but I generally opt for these guys rather than a private carrier. With the decline in regular mail, I might as well give these folks something to do. Regular shipping within Canada through Canada Post is usually less than 48 hours so I don't even need to use their 72 hour rush service. If I am ordering from the US, customs is the usual lag in delivery not the postal service itself.
