A great way to ship

**bradeinhorn** · Jun-24-2007, 11:47am

hey guys,

just wanted to share a nice little thing i found out yesterday. usps has a very inexpensive overnight guaranteed delivery option.

i bought a mandolin from out in california (i am in nyc) on friday. normally i'd use ups ground (which takes 5 days), but for 5 dollars cheaper the seller used usps express and it got here OVERNIGHT (gauranteed by noon)!!!! how's that for instant gratification?

brad

**JEStanek** · Jun-24-2007, 11:52am

Thanks! Great tip.

Jamie

**bikebum** · Jun-24-2007, 1:08pm

My daughter uses the USPS guaranteed shipping fairly often between Texas and the Virgin Islands. They end up with a lot of free shipping.

Jerry

**bradeinhorn** · Jun-24-2007, 1:14pm

right-if they miss the noon or 3 oclock window it is free....my guy showed up at 11:58....

**MikeEdgerton** · Jun-24-2007, 2:11pm

USPS Priority is great to and from some places. UPS Ground is actually the last carrier I use. If you live in the NY Metro area (like Brad does) and you're shipping anything within about 300 miles try FedEx Ground. Within that window from this area is almost always overnight. I sent a mandolin to Maine for about 8 bucks and it delivered the next day. In areas where FedEx Ground doesn't have as much freight moving you probably won't see those transit times.

**amowry** · Jun-24-2007, 2:30pm

It seems to depend on the insured value whether USPS is cheaper then FedEx. I've used USPS a few times on less expensive instruments, but last I checked FedEx was cheaper once you get above $4000 or so. USPS is fast, though!

**Steve Ostrander** · Aug-09-2007, 1:27pm

I had a bad experience with USPS and I wouldn't trust them with my mandolin. What happened was, I shipped some medical textbooks to my daughter and insured them. Sure enough, they lost them, but kept telling me that they were searching for them. Finally I called them and asked if they had found them. They said no, and the deadline for filing a claim had expired. I argued that they had asked for the extra time to search. Then they said they wouldn't pay off unless I had the original sales receipts. I never got a dime from them, and they'll never get another dime from me if I can help it.