UPS Store=HUGE RIPOFF

[patrickgm60]

I definitely set a personal record today. Shipped an expensive electric cross-country overnight with UPS. Total: $312.63. As someone pointed out, you can't drive or fly for that, so...

[min7b5]

The thing about UPS is that you can’t go to a “UPS store”, or any of the ma and pa shipping places, because they add a hefty profit into the shipping charge.

You have to go the UPS service desk-there’s probably just one or two of them in your area. It’ll be a huge place in a industrial area. If you have you’re box, and you packed already, you should be able to ship it anywhere for around $50. Maybe more for something heavy or with a lot of insurance. I shipped a classical guitar from Portland to Santa Cruz last year for $30....

[thorny]

I have shipped several guitars and always use UPS. They have the best tracking out there and I like their service. Fedex usually requires me to be home to sign for a package. UPS will leave the package in a safe location without a signature as long as it is a good neighborhood and is a house and not an apartment. I used my own box and packing, and shipped UPS ground from California to Chicago for $37 dollars with $800 insurance. I have recieved goods via Fedex and they seem fine also and usually the same price as UPS but my UPS driver seems to go out of his way to accomodate me. USPS tracking is basically a joke. They tell you when the package was shipped (supposedly) and then when it was delivered. What good is that. Hell I know when it was delivered, when I am holding it in my hands. LOL!!

[sdelsolray]

Originally Posted by Earthworm

So what? Because I work for a living and make money playing music, I'm supposed to not complain about UPS Store prices? Not sure I follow the logic.

You pay more at the UPS Store for the convenience (location, ease of use), the service (packing, data mining, form completion) and materials (box, peanuts). You can pay less by doing this all yourself and going to the local USPS, UPS, FedEx or DHL office. Your choice.

Many things are getting more expensive. That's unfortunate, but it's simple reality.

My hourly rate for my day job has increased just about every year in the past 7 years. I make more money, but much of that is absorbed by the higher prices for things. Take acoustic guitars, for example. Many builder's prices have doubled in that same time (7 years).

[Earthworm]

I understand inflation. I also understand the pressures of retail.

However, the UPS store seems to be WAY over the top in their pricing. This is my opinion and it has made me find other options on more than one occasion where, if their prices had been somewhat more reasonable, I would have used their service.

I can raise my performance rate to $500 per 3 hour show (up from the $150-200 I usually charge). I'm just not going to get many takers.

[zenpicker]

Fedex Ground is my new best friend. In general I have always found Fedex to be more reliable (and more courteous) than UPS - this has been borne out through many years of using both of them (and DHL) in business. When Fedex introduced their Ground service with competitive prices I tried it out and have never been disappointed. I shipped a Strat from Chicago to Florida for about $28 via Ground a few months back and it went perfectly.

A couple Christmases ago I had to ship a really small and light gift to Canada and went to a UPS store. I nearly fell over dead at the shipping cost - worth more than the gift. The markup is indeed extreme. I went across the street to Fedex and sent it normal Fedex (not ground) for half the price.

Of course, anything can go wrong at any time with any shipment...these are huge companies with lots of human variables. But I have to say, the thought of shipping UPS never even crosses my mind nowadays. They have lost my faith and goodwill as a customer.

As for boxes...my philosophy is, one guitar in, one guitar out. Reuse the box your new guitar came in when you ship the old guitar you just sold to raise money for the new one! Recycle, man.

[flaggerphil]

If one wants a box to ship a guitar in, and doesn't want to spend money on it, one should go down to their local guitar store and ask them for a left over box that one of their guitars arrived in. I do that all the time. I've done it here and in two other states.

If one goes to a UPS store, one is going to pay for the box. It's a store. They sell things. One of the things they sell is boxes. Their price is a bit high, but, hey...you're paying for convenience here.

[Smurf42]

"the post office does not want your packages. my carrier has a fit over having to deliver boxes (he's also none too happy with my catalogs or books either). if he had to lug a guitar box to my door he'd flip out."

That is why there is one less mailman on my route, a few of us got sick of him not doing his job and damaging out mail......if they can not do their job, then complain about them, you are paying their salary every time you send or receive the mail, right?