UPS shipping - is Ground or 2nd Day safer?

[rockinrebel]

I use the Postal Service overnight.
For the same price the Postal Service can get a guitar from Georgia to California overnight.
UPS takes a a week.

[MFG]

We typically ship UPS Ground unless someone wants to upgrade and we have very few problems. Martin and Taylor also ship UPS Ground and it's along way to Florida, but we almost never have any problems with incoming guitars either. I would say, though, that there is no question that air (overnight or 2-day) is always safer than ground - simply less handling time...
Jon

[denny1948golf]

For those of you that ship FedEx, be aware their insurance limit for stringed instruments is $1000. They don't offer additional insurance above $1000. Since most of the guitars I ship are $2000/$3500, FedEx is no longer an option.

[theGuardian]

I had a nice, long post typed & my Laptop died...and the post is gone-- SO,
I will quickly say that as a UPS employee working mostly in Next Day Air (NDA), I recommend shipping Next Day only. There is far less volume in the Air dept & packages don't go through automated Belts etc. But NDA doesn't mean the package won't see a Feeder Truck. IF the shipping distance can be achieved on the ground in 1 day, then it will stay on the ground. The significant difference though is that a NDA will be kept seperate the entire time, so again- It will be handled better.

And there is always declaring "High Value" and then the package will be handled with the best care available. PM me if you have any questions.

[Bwana]

For all the USPS fans. Who do you think carries their (USPS) express shipments. USPS does not have a fleet of aircraft.

FWIW, FEDEX has had a contract to carry USPS priority items for the last 15 years.

OVERNIGHT, definately by air

2nd or 3rd DAY EXPRESS, if the item can arrive at destination by second day it will probably go by ground. ie DFW to ABQ, PHX, DIA, or LAX.

#2 FWIW, the cargo holds are preasureized with the rest of the aircraft to not go above 8000', so the 30,000' claim is unrealistic.

just my 2 cents on a Tuesday morning

Bwana

[BGS]

Originally Posted by Bwana

For all the USPS fans. Who do you think carries their (USPS) express shipments. USPS does not have a fleet of aircraft.

FWIW, FEDEX has had a contract to carry USPS priority items for the last 15 years.

OVERNIGHT, definately by air

2nd or 3rd DAY EXPRESS, if the item can arrive at destination by second day it will probably go by ground. ie DFW to ABQ, PHX, DIA, or LAX.

#2 FWIW, the cargo holds are preasureized with the rest of the aircraft to not go above 8000', so the 30,000' claim is unrealistic.

just my 2 cents on a Tuesday morning

Bwana

USPS Express is $90 to $120, FedEx Overnight is $200 to $300. Who cares what's painted on the sides of the planes?

[Bwana]

Your talking apples to oranges.....USPS EXPRESS 2-3 DAYS, VS OVERNIGHT

UPS and FEDEX have a 2-3 day product also

But, I believe the original post was pros and cons of ground vs air

[revive]

I stopped shipping guitars with USPS a long time ago.

First, they are always nitpicky about box dimension. Not only nitpicky, at times they were very careless (and blatantly wrong) in measuring the dimension. Boxes that are well under 108" in combined length and girth would be marked 109", 110", etc, and then automatically assessed $60-$90 extra charges. The nitpicking, the carelessness, the constant argumentation that accompanies the experience, gave me a lot of headache not to mention also cost me time, energy and money.

Secondly, the USPS customer service is also extremely poor. It's really mind boggling to see how badly my local USPS treats their customers. I mean, GOLLY... I lived many years in a developing country, and I've never seen customer service worst than my local USPS.

Nowadays, I only use USPS for small items such as pickups, preamps, etc.

Fedex is my go-to-shipper for guitars and keyboards. They are very reliable, excellent customer service, and priced reasonably (always better than UPS, and many times even better than USPS).

[BGS]

Originally Posted by Bwana

Your talking apples to oranges.....USPS EXPRESS 2-3 DAYS, VS OVERNIGHT

UPS and FEDEX have a 2-3 day product also

But, I believe the original post was pros and cons of ground vs air

Not quite true!

99% of the time, USPS Express is indeed overnight. For that other 1%, like when you walk into a South Florida post office at 5:30pm wanting to ship Express to Washington state, they'll tell you it's going to be two days instead of just one.

Maybe you're thinking of Priority? It's usually two to three days.