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What's new

UPS has flat rate shipping now!

Rob F.

Diamond
Joined
Aug 5, 2012
Location
California, Central Coast
Heads up on the new UPS program called "simple rate"
This seems a little better than the post office since we can use our own boxes, they are grouped by cubic inches, largest is 1728 cu in. all have a max weight of 50 lbs.
I just shipped a 32lb torque converter across the country in a 14x14x8 box and it cost $29, (standard way was close to $75)

Flat Rate Shipping from UPS(R) | UPS - United States

UPS launch of flat-rate parcel service puts the squeeze on FedEx - The Loadstar

deja vu all over again? Games, they play, the lot of them.

ISTR both UPS and FedEx have had flat-rate services buried SOMEWHERE in their tariffs for ages. Was at one time a standard-sized box and DID have a max weight, though.

Even so.. could help lots of us, thanks!
 
Have they updated their gps system so they can actually find an address? I've been accepting packages at Nv address for 18 years from USPS and Fedex, the UPS dolts still cannot f'ing find me. Literally, the only 4 story building, in a town of single story buildings, I've even modified my address to _________ Building, nope, the dolts drive right on by, and enter "address not found- return to sender". United Parcel Smashers is a joke, those dolts could not find their ass with both hands.
 
This service is a big plus for me. It will cut domestic shipping costs on camelback straight edges I make and ship to 1/3 of the best rate I could previously find. UPS has provided reliable and timely service with extremely rare exception for me.

Denis
 
After I read this I went out and opened my UPS delivered 6 foot 3/16 steel rods. The shipping tube was split open in 2 places like those pop n fresh dough containers. Of course they are all bent at the 44" mark. Screw UPS and Online Metals. I am in Virginia and they shipped them from all the way from Washington, that 3,000 mile UPS ground trip was bent bar stock waiting to happen.

Unfortunately for me the local metal yard that delivers does not sell many steels in less than 5/16" round. The local one that won't deliver has a $150 minimum even for cash will calls. That leaves me with UPS delivering small diameter rounds as all the online vendors I buy from use them. When it comes to bar stock in tubes from UPS I would say 25% or more of them have arrive damaged. It seems like most of the boxed items I get arrive OK, but that is usually light items traveling a couple hundred miles.

I realize everyone's experience is different but UPS has always been terrible for me here in Virginia and in Cali. In Cali while playing Dualkit I used to receive quite a few inbound shipments. I could tell the UPS ones by how beat up they looked. I once bought a vintage counting scale on E-bay. The seller had put it in a wooden crate, put packing materials around that and a heavy cardboard box over that. The box arrived with a corner crushed in and a tire mark on it. It looks like it fell off a building and then was hit with a forklift tire. UPS denied the claim, saying it was improperly packaged.

I think your results must vary due to the route the packages take. If your local shipping hub whether UPS, Fedex or USPS is ran by idiots your packages will often get damaged. Had an employee back in Cali whose cousin worked as a temp at the UPS distribution center in Ontario. He said they often kicked the small packages out of the trucks to save time from bending over to pick them up and management encouraged the practice.

Another neat thing here is during inclement weather UPS drops packages at the post office to complete delivery, that can add up to a week. Their definition of bad weather is pretty lax, an inch of snow or an inch of water on a road from a creek over flow will cause the UPS drivers to vanish from the roadways.
 
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UPS, and FedEx, have gotten so expensive to the 'little guy' that I hardly will ship anything anymore. I'd rather throw out a 15lb item than bother selling it if I have to ship it. It's important that they screw the average person because they have to make up for all the money they lose shipping King size mattresses across the country for Amazon for pennies.

But at least they never spend a nickel on damage claims...
 
The post office reduced the size of their flat rate boxes several years ago so a lot of stuff does not fit. A basketball does not fit in their biggest box.
Bil lD
 
I like this from UPS because we can use ANY box or odd shape as long as it is in the cubic inch specs. biggest square is 12x12x12 or 1728 cu in
So straightedges that dennis makes a 36" might fit in a box that is 5"x9"x38" (guessing) which comes to 1710 cu in. try to fit that is a usps flat rate.
Also like the article in post 1 said, we have options of ground, next day, blue label etc, pretty sure fedex flat rate does not have ground (cheap)as an option.

I did call the local UPS store to return my torque converter core to have them ship it simple rate and they told me they knew nothing about that, come pay us $75. I went to the ups link in post 1 and printed my own label, ordered some stuff from mcmaster I needed and handed box to driver the next day, saved $45 of the ups store price.:D
 
The post office reduced the size of their flat rate boxes several years ago so a lot of stuff does not fit. A basketball does not fit in their biggest box.
Bil lD

Wot the Hey? You talkin' to machinisists? Or pumpkins?

Let the air out.

Of the basketball. Not the box.

If there be a shortage of replacement of it at the destination?

BFD.

You KNOW McMaster-Carr will have an SKU for it..

:D
 
UPS offers overnight shipping from BFE, the catch is you have to meet the plane at the airport, at 7am:toetap:. Heck, we even have a UPS Customer Center, problem is its not staffed, ever. Usps and Fedex both have stable local employees, UPS cannot retain drivers and will hire anyone that can fog a mirror, as soon as they get a better job they are gone.
 
UPS, and FedEx, have gotten so expensive to the 'little guy' that I hardly will ship anything anymore. I'd rather throw out a 15lb item than bother selling it if I have to ship it. It's important that they screw the average person because they have to make up for all the money they lose shipping King size mattresses across the country for Amazon for pennies.

But at least they never spend a nickel on damage claims...

^That is the truth..

I recently placed a small order with Zoro for odds and ends, like threaded rod.
Every item was shipped in its own separate box via UPS.

A individual would have spent more on shipping that the total order. Let alone all the boxes.
I guess Zoro must practically ship for free via UPS??
 
^That is the truth..

I recently placed a small order with Zoro for odds and ends, like threaded rod.
Every item was shipped in its own separate box via UPS.

A individual would have spent more on shipping that the total order. Let alone all the boxes.
I guess Zoro must practically ship for free via UPS??

I live near the dreaded Grizzly flagship store in Bellingham. On a daily basis in the morning UPS drops a medium size enclosed trailer at the loading dock and late in the day picks it up with a sizable load of labeled ( and possibly regionally sorted) packages ready for loading on the double bottom trailer headed for Seattle. I wonder if I could negotiate a better deal with them I shipped a similar volume of shipment-ready goods. I would guess that a great majority of shipping cost is in handling and labeling packages. Once they are sorted and loaded the trucking cost per package is nominal.

Denis
 
I wonder if I could negotiate a better deal with them I shipped a similar volume of shipment-ready goods.

I deal with a large distributor who has 5 warehouses in the US. They negotiated a deal with UPS that included a rebate for the entire previous years shipping, to keep them from going to Fedex. So I think yes. And they must make it up with their retail pricing.
 
I recently bought a bed liner for my truck from Amazon. Heavy, over 4' long, and fairly big diameter. Why did I buy it from Amazon instead of the local store? Well....of course, the local store didn't have the one that fit my truck and the kid there seemed pretty hesitant to admit he thought they could maybe order it if I really wanted them to. But most of all, even with 2nd Day shipping, the entire mat was $89. The store price was $99. I am sure I could not even ship the mat for $89, much less have any money left over to pay for the mat.
 
Thanks for posting this!

Was not aware of this and had gotten away from most of our UPS shipping. This is pretty cool.

From somebody that ships a lot if you ship something that can be crushed you aren't too bright.

You can drop my packages from 20 feet onto concrete and then drive a loaded UPS truck over it and it will be fine.

It really isn't that hard. If you can make stuff from metal I'm certain you can wrap your brain around cardboard and tape.

Most people just choose not to thinking insurance will cover it.
 
Thanks for posting this!

Was not aware of this and had gotten away from most of our UPS shipping. This is pretty cool.

From somebody that ships a lot if you ship something that can be crushed you aren't too bright.

You can drop my packages from 20 feet onto concrete and then drive a loaded UPS truck over it and it will be fine.

It really isn't that hard. If you can make stuff from metal I'm certain you can wrap your brain around cardboard and tape.

Most people just choose not to thinking insurance will cover it.

I ship every day, I can pack to survive a 20' fall, but cardboard, foam, and tape does not stand a chance being driven over by a truck. I've been purchasing quite a bit of tooling past few months, even after asking sellers to take extra care in packing, sometimes giving explicit instructions on how to pack, almost every package received is heavily damaged because seller failed to pack it properly. Some people must think the carriers employ pixies and ompalumpas to hand carry every package.
 








 
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