So doing my first shipping and good lord it's expensive to ship a 9 pound box of brew!! Anyone know of tricks or secrets to mail it cheaper?
Did you open a FedEx account and print the label at home? There is a discount for having an account as opposed to having them process your shipment at dropoff. It helps also if you preprint at home and just drop it off, ready to go as you will face less potential questions on what you're shipping. Good Luck!
Yes, FedEx account, home printing, drop off the boxes (no questions asked, generally speaking)...you're good to go.
I'm in Dallas also and have got some trading experience, BM me and I can talk ya through some of the local tricks and nuances.
Wait until you start dropping off the 30 lb boxes....trading ain't cheap, but it sure is rewarding and enjoyable! Also, FedEx >>>>>>>>>>>>>> UPS every day of the week.
A few things I find to be better include shorter ship times. From my location almost all shipments are three days versus UPS which still has a lot of four day times. FedEx also has separate divisions for business and residential. I'll have a box by midday where with UPS I could be waiting until 8pm. And last, FedEx does home delivery on Saturdays, which I don't believe UPS offers.
UPS does Saturday delivery, but at an additional cost so in essence it's even more expensive. The biggest difference besides cost is that damaged packages are generally repacked and returned to sender with FedEx. Even with reports of FedEx employees taking a few intact bottles when repacking, you still would likely get some beers back. UPS will simply "discard" the entire package and you get nothing.
Am I the lone supporter of UPS? In this part of VT FEDEX Home has been sketchy at best. If you do any kind of volume, UPS has great pricing. I am not the only person to have issues with the Williston, Vermont FEDEX hub openning packages and returning them to sender, no leakage & proper packed. One time they heard the bottle squeak in the styro shipper and knew what was in it and returned it. Fedex will never get my money again.
I've never had FedEx even inquire/care what I'm shipping. I've had bottles break twice, both times they repacked and sent back to me without any questions. They have always been cheaper for me, as well. I sent via UPS 3 times, and got asked about the contents thoroughly each time. It's all preference though, as anything is. We all go with what feels best for each of us.
Yeah, for you UPS makes sense considering the VT FedEx problem with inspecting and opening packages. There have been many reports on the Williston location, especially over last Christmas time period. I did have 1 package returned to me completely intact. It turned out that it was caught by random x-ray scanning at one of the transfer points. As for UPS, it's always been more expensive, significantly. I have an account for both. Yesterday, I tried both UPS and FedEx for a 14lbs box to CA. UPS costs $10 more.
I don't have a home account but ship through a "Postal Center" that gives prices and times for UPS, FedEx and USPS. The guy there knows full well what I am shipping and typically gives me any discount he can (I set him up from time to time) and sometimes UPS is cheaper and/or faster and sometimes FedEx is. Personally, I have not found either to be consistently cheaper or faster for me. They are usually within a buck or two of each other so I typically go with which one is faster. I have had one box with breakage (out of over 100 shipped) and it was by FedEx. Neither the guy at the shipping place or I can figure out how they managed it as it was double boxed and the bottles were zip-locked. Must have been a hell of an impact. But they just shipped it back to him at the center and he re-packed and sent back out for me. But it was FedEx that broke it (on a one day trip to Connecticut no less) so I am just a little biased against them, though I just chalk it up to the 1% bad luck thing...
