harveyc

Jon, USPS Flat Rate boxes have been fantastic for my business because the shipping cost is fantastic since it is $8.95 for any weight or zip code in the 8.5" x 11" x 5.5" box which I can easily get 10 pounds of my product in. It gets many customers to buy more than the 4 pound minimum. I've shipped about 2,000 orders in the past five years via USPS and not one package has every been lost. Orders to Hawaii took too long last year and one order a few years ago that was only going 200 miles took a week. That sort of problem is going to happen once in a while with any carrier. The worst part of USPS is the lack of "real" tracking. Also, I do all of my labels online and pay nothing for "Delivery Confirmation" as it is a free "bonus" for online USPS customers. For a very expensive product I would consider a signature service but most customers would find that a big nuisance and I'm certain it would cause more problems with spoiled product (some customers might not get the product for one or several days later) than it would solve, especially since I have not had any lost shipments in 2,000 or so shipments. I like UPS and FedEx for shipments sent to me, but they just can't compete for what I ship. Over half of my orders get shipped to the other side of the country and UPS costs would average more than double what I'm having to pay with USPS. That leaves more money in my customer's pockets to buy product!

Mark, I hear you on the libel issue, but that's for Jarred to worry about. I'd like the name posted and then Jarred could remove it once there was a complaint. But a PM would be fine. I've been an active trader in fairly expensive photo gear and the forum I've worked with has a feedback board where they do not allow negative feedback to be posted. However, some members started a Yahoo group to post the negative feedback to get around that. I don't think we'll have enough of a problem here to warrant anything like that.

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Chironex

I just joined this wonderful forum, so apologies for the dated post. I second the comments about the delivery receipt being a false comfort. In a 10 day span in late 2007, I had 5 items from 5 different eBay sellers supposedly delivered to my house. None of them were received and all that the USPS did was tell me that it showed as "delivered." Absolute nonsense - I am the only one living there so if they were delivered, I would have known. The sellers could offer no assistance either. One sleer was able to track my package as delivered in Texas. (I live in IL!!!) So, at least he refunded my money.
The bad part of this is that some of the items missing were one of a kind Chinese antiques! Learned my lesson the hard way!

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Scot

Chironex

I just checked out your site and appreciate the tips on growing bananas and lotuses. (or is it Loti) lol
Thanks!

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Scot