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Shipping art in today's climate
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12 posts in this topic

USPS mangled several art pieces and other packages coming to me last winter. Things have been much better since. They definitely are best bang for the buck, as far as ship time vs cost goes.

I even got a piece via USPS a couple months back that was barely packed in a manila envelope with a single piece of cardboard in it. It arrived from Boston dead flat, with perfect clean corners. Compare that to the crush-proof tube that was mailed to me 6 months earlier, that arrived both crushed and water logged on a dry day, at the end of a dry week here. So it got soaked somewhere else in the country and stayed that way. That was a total mystery. They had a bad run for a couple months and I don't know why.

For the most part our mail and packages get delivered smoothly and regularly. USPS tracking is spotty at best tho. 

FedEx is usually smooth and fast, even the slower methods.

UPS is always dodgy. Sometimes fast. Sometimes slow. Often I have no idea where it is. I never use UPS when I have options. I used to sometimes ship ground (only in masonite) to keep costs down for people, and have just stopped. It's not worth any money saved, to me. Too much headache.

My main rule of thumb is the less time a carrier has the package, the happier and smoother things tend to run. Pick the slower/cheaper methods and they can drag on and on, and the timeframe they have to be damaged in transit goes up exponentially. Factor in packaging quality and the rest.

-e.

 

 

 

 

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I ship a decent amount of stuff through USPS, but it’s mostly toys and comics, with some art here and there. I find them very reliable, but agree with the point upthread that their tracking is the suck. I did notice a downturn in delivery times last May to July, but they seem to be back on track since. And their price point is hard to beat. It’s rare I have an issue, and I ship around 5-10 things a week.

I’ve had issues with UPS, so I stay away from them. FedEx is reliable, too, but it costs a good bit more.

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Waiting for art sent from Atlanta on October 7. Sitting there with a deliver by October 15. Tracking now showing Dallas, Tx. Never had a bad experience like this until now. USPS rep. very nice laid blame on handling election ballots.

maybe this weekend?

I was expecting this to come priority but was sent ground😢 As long as it gets here.

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16 minutes ago, grapeape said:

Waiting for art sent from Atlanta on October 7. Sitting there with a deliver by October 15. Tracking now showing Dallas, Tx. Never had a bad experience like this until now. USPS rep. very nice laid blame on handling election ballots.

maybe this weekend?

I was expecting this to come priority but was sent ground😢 As long as it gets here.

Sorry about that 🍇 🦧. I think it has more to do with ground delivery than unusual delays ☹️

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51 minutes ago, John E. said:

Sorry about that 🍇 🦧. I think it has more to do with ground delivery than unusual delays ☹️

Thanx buddy. You’re right I’m just so used to easy going USPS transactions. This was a small purchase so I wasn’t as hands on with controlling the shipping. As long as I get it no harm no foul.

 

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5 hours ago, grapeape said:

Thanx buddy. You’re right I’m just so used to easy going USPS transactions. This was a small purchase so I wasn’t as hands on with controlling the shipping. As long as I get it no harm no foul.

 

I've had some slowdown recently from USPS as well, but it still got to me eventually. As long as it's in their possession and not showing delivered yet, you should hopefully be good.

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