Paid for UPS shipping and the package was immediately sent to the US Post Office.
I shipped something internationally from the UPS Store and I was offered to choose to ship via UPS or the Post Office. UPS was about double the price, but I chose UPS for reliability and good past experience over the years vs. USPS.
The tracking says that the shipment was immediately transferred to the Post Office with a new USPS tracking #.
I paid double. I was never told this could happen. I would have just used the post office.
It could be UPS service with a USPS handoff. International shipping probably works best when USPS is used to go through customs. They might hand it back to UPS for delivery or not. I use USPS all the time for international, no issues.
Thanks for that. I've shipped internationally with UPS several times and shipping always stayed within the UPS network. I thought it might be something new in this Supply Chain Crisis era.
It's significant money for a 20-pound box with that UPS fuel surcharge that the post office doesn't charge. EMS (the post office) and Global Express is a lot cheaper.
Does FedEx do this too? The FedEx quote I got was about the same as UPS before I chose UPS.
OP here. The strange thing is that I originally got a UPS tracking #, and a day later UPS handed it over and the US Post Office gave it a new Post Office tracking #.
So it looks like the UPS Store just handed it over to UPS as normal, and the UPS decided to transfer it to the Post Office (immediately, locally near me).
The UPS Store probably doesn't even know about this. But if it happens normally these days, I guess I learned my lesson. No need to pay more for UPS anymore.
When I was importing motorcycle parts from the EU I had the same issues and finally had FedEx pick up form the vendor and ship to the US. Got here faster and cleared customs fast.
I was importing form the UK, Italy, Austria, France and Estonia.
Domestically there has been both UPS and Fedex shipping where USPS does the final delivery. I feel like that’s become fairly common but it only happens at the very end before delivery is made. I had that happen just last week with a shirt from Macy's.
This should only happen when you choose UPS or Fedex lowest cost and quality shipping option. I believe this only happens with international shipping, only recall this happening with cheap items sent from ebay international sellers.
Actually, its not advantageous to use postal services for international shipping, just the opposite. Fedex, UPS and DHL act as brokers for these shipments, speeds up customs process. I've had terrible experiences with postal services, packages nearly always in customs for at least a few days, sometimes for weeks, even months. I never ship international with USPS, and always try to upgrade service on shipments to me.
Now that is sad. When I order parts from Mouser and request the cheapest shipping, it's always handed off to USPS and.UPS never updates delivery even though I do get a UPS shipping notice.
So, now they do this with domestic ground shipping, that's lame! When you pay for UPS ground shipping it should be UPS all the way. Who knows whats going on in shipping today, employees out because of covid, trying to increase profit margins. We may have to upgrade service above ground to insure full UPS, Fedex or DHL in future. USPS is absolutely horrendous where I live.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
