Shipping mouthpieces via UPS Simple Rate?

[ghmerrill]

I'm giving up on USPS for shipping small packages because of some of their current policies and practices. UPS now offers a service (called "Simple Rate") that is comparable in terms of cost and delivery time to USPS Priority fixed rate. The problem is ...

I've just spent about an hour trying to test creating a Simple Rate shipment on the UPS site and just can't seem to do it. None of the directions I can find for the sequence and selections seem to match the interface I'm presented with (and this includes both UPS directions and ChatGPT directions).

Has anyone used the UPS site to send something via the UPS Simple Rate/UPS Ground offering? In my case I want to send a Simple Rate "extra small box", but I just can't seem to get there.

[ghmerrill]

Well, to answer my own question ... I've now discovered that ...

• People at UPS stores (I've checked two today) have not been informed about UPS Simple Rate shipping and have no idea what it is about.
• It simply doesn't work in a web browser -- appears not to be implemented.
• If you use the App, then you can see and select UPS Simple Rate as a category.
• Just as a trial and estimate, I find that shipping a package that will hold one or two mouthpieces from central NC to my sister (who in fact would have no idea what to do with a trombone mouthpiece) in Oracle, AZ (to arrive by end of day in 3 days) would cost $9.49 by UPS Ground and $11.50 by UPS Simple Rate.
• The app indicates that (in general) there would be no difference in delivery time between UPS Ground and UPS Simple Rate for this delivery -- but only a cost difference.

So it seems like you can send a package via UPS Simple Rate IF you use the app to print the label. But it's unclear what you would gain from this over sending it by UPS Ground. And it seems like this shipping category isn't fully cooked since agents know nothing about it, so you can't send a package by UPS Simple Rate in person -- I was told that by two different UPS sources -- or by using the UPS web site.

At any rate (no pun intended), I think I'm pretty well set up now to use UPS Ground instead of USPS for sending small packages at reasonable cost -- which is all I really wanted.

[Posaunus]

I ship mouthpieces - or [DE] mouthpiece components via US Postal Service, not UPS.
Our small town Post Office is closer, more convenient, and friendlier than the "UPS Store" here.
Wrap the mouthpiece in a little bubble wrap and ship in a small padded envelope, rather than a more expensive Small Priority Mail Box.
Sent as a First Class Package. Includes USPS Tracking. Delivery typically within about 3 days. Price: only $5.50.

[ghmerrill]

I ship mouthpieces - or [DE] mouthpiece components via US Postal Service, not UPS.
Our small town Post Office is closer, more convenient, and friendlier than the "UPS Store" here.
Wrap the mouthpiece in a little bubble wrap and ship in a small padded envelope, rather than a more expensive Small Priority Mail Box.
Sent as a First Class Package. Includes USPS Tracking. Delivery typically within about 3 days. Price: only $5.50.

Yeah, I'm done with USPS.

They can't stick to the 3 day delivery target nowadays, and have adopted this really novel policy of distinguishing when you turn the package over to them from when they "accept" the package (which may be 18-32 hours later). In fact the last mouthpiece I shipped with them (a week ago) was given directly to them on a Monday morning, and I heard nothing about it for two days -- including when I went to the PO and asked directly what it's status was. The clerk couldn't say, but assured me it was "probably" there and just needed to be "accepted" prior to shipping it out.

In fact, they "accepted" it two days after I gave it to them, and as they were putting it on the truck for the regional facility, and I wasn't notified of this even at that point. This subterfuge allows them to still hit their delivery target in terms of days since they don't start counting the days until they've "accepted" (or "scanned in") the package. So they promise 3 day delivery, actually (usually?) manage 5 day delivery, but it looks like 3 day delivery in their stats because of the two days they don't count. I'm just tired of that crap and tired of not being able to tell what the status of my package is for days, whether it's been shipped, whether they are holding it locally, or whether it's been sent on its way.

This, by the way, is my experience with two "small town" Post Offices in different nearby towns. I'm done with it. I just don't trust the PO any longer. It didn't used to be this way.

[Doug Elliott]

Make them scan it and give you a receipt.
To me the small priority boxes are worth it for the protection and they're free. You have to pay for a padded envelope or a different box, it almost evens out with the different postage.

[ghmerrill]

Make them scan it and give you a receipt.
To me the small priority boxes are worth it for the protection and they're free. You have to pay for a padded envelope or a different box, it almost evens out with the different postage.

I would do this, and it's what I used to do, but ...

I live 11 miles from my "official" post office (I.e., the one for my zip code). It's in a town with a population of about 750. It closes for an hour in the middle of the day, but that's not really a problem. Service from it (in various ways) used to be great, but has become wonky over the past several years in ways I won't go into here.

More conveniently, the closest PO to me is only 3 miles away in a town of about 5,000. The service there has always been wonky. In particular, there is often only one clerk on duty, but at almost all times of the day there is a line of people attempting to send packages, registered letters, buy stamps, get a package that's being held, etc. The clerks tend to be quite elderly (even older that me!), and to be slow and confused. It can easily take a half hour or more to get anything done -- especially if there are a couple of people in line who want to buy a book of stamps, need to see each of the possibilities available, and then need to discuss those alternatives with the clerk. Everyone knows this and is subject to it. Everyone is irritated and frustrated (except for the people getting advise on which book of stamps they should select).

So going to one of the local post offices isn't particularly attractive if there's an alternative. I think that UPS is a good alternative for me. They've been very dependable in recent years, and service at the local UPS store (3 miles from home) is fast and efficient -- even if there's a bit of a line. I think try that and see how it works.

[Posaunus]

Gary,

I sympathize with your Post Office issues. I guess we're lucky with our P.O. - nowhere near as small or slow as yours.
Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Box postage is apparently now $10.65. I always have a lot of random pieces of bubble wrap (to protect mouthpieces) on hand, as well as a bunch of small padded envelopes purchased some time ago at a "dollar store" so I'm not lacking in supplies. [I would probably use a Priority Mail Small Box if shipping 2 or more mouthpieces.] And I've not experienced the "acceptance" delay you describe.

Good luck with UPS - I now understand your frustration.

[AtomicClock]

I'm done with it. I just don't trust the PO any longer. It didn't used to be this way.

This is funny to me. I still think of package tracking and knowable delivery intervals as new concepts.

[ghmerrill]

This is funny to me. I still think of package tracking and knowable delivery intervals as new concepts.

Yes, to some degree I do as well. But those are the features -- not the honesty and reliability. And over the past several years we've had a few cases where a package never arrived, or went into PO-limbo and arrived a couple of weeks later -- and after a replacement had to be sent to us, and then I had to return the extra shipment to the seller. Or where a carrier put a package into one of our outbuildings and then reported it as "delivered to house." Etc.

I still remember being 12 years old, walking down to the post office (about a mile from home), buying a Postal money order (!!), and sending it to Edmund Scientific Company (or Lafayette or Allied electronics) for parts or supplies. However, that was in a small (12,000 population) city in NY, and not a rural area of the Southeast. I'm not sure how much regional differences enter into things, but I'm sure they do.

I really would like to defend the PO as a good, honest, and efficient organization. I grew up with THAT Post Office. I know that the PO nowadays has hiring, staffing and retention problems (that's another of its issues to worry about). I know that the PO often resorts to "temporary" carriers now (who may not know the route they've been put on, or who may not fully understand the policies and regulations). I know it has management problems. But I'm at the point where I just have to give up.

[HawaiiTromboneGuy]

USPS is almost always cheapest when shipping to/from Hawaii. Luckily I haven’t had any issues with extremely long shipping times or them holding my packages longer than the day I dropped them off. Their Ground Advantage is affordable and is a million times better than their old Parcel Post offering (is that still an option?) which would literally take a month to reach Hawaii as it went by boat. Maybe it’s because I’m in Hawaii and everything has to be flown out from here, but I’m hoping my luck with the postal service doesn’t change.

[Chazzer69]

---BEGIN RANT---

I have to second anyone that is done with USPS. I, coincidentally, have two mouthpieces I have yet to receive.

One was shipped from France on May 15th. I live in the Nashville area. After leaving Customs in NY, it came to Nashville, then went to Atlanta, then back to Nashville, back to Atlanta, back to Nashville, to Gainesville GA, to Greensboro NC, back to Nashville, and was last seen (or not) in Atlanta. Now "In Transit to Next Facility". The second was dropped off at a post office in a Boston suburb on June 2nd and hasn't left.

Having two issues with items getting to me at around the same time is indicative of a larger issue. Here is some 'proof':





Granted this is one city, but you can't tell me it's not more widespread.

I plan to only ship by UPS until the USPS mess is straightened out regardless of cost...so it will probably be until I can no longer physically wrap tape around a box. And if it's logistically feasible, I'll send someone a UPS label to ship me something (yeah, you can do that). I've done this very successfully several times and I have a significant discounted rate with UPS that I was able to get for some unknown reason, and can often ship things at about half the cost of retail.

USPS is a sinking ship...

OK, I'm done.

---END RANT---

[ghmerrill]

After leaving Customs in NY, it came to Nashville, then went to Atlanta, then back to Nashville, back to Atlanta, back to Nashville, to Gainesville GA, to Greensboro NC, back to Nashville, and was last seen (or not) in Atlanta. Now "In Transit to Next Facility".

I think you're the front-runner for the prize in "most absurd cyclic misdirections" -- and I've talked to people with similar stories. However, I'm most impressed that they sent it to Greensboro as part of the tour. But then I wonder -- having done that -- why they didn't send it back and forth from Raleigh to Greensboro once or twice (which is how my packages typically have done).

You know, we could really make a kind of game for this, contribute to a pot, and give prizes for different categories of bizarre delivery routes, times, and delays. If USPS could put THAT on their web site (and have it work), it would be a genuine accomplishment and a real crowd-pleaser for customers.

[Chazzer69]

LOL!! @Gary

Also, maybe Zynga or one of those other phone game companies would pay me a lotta cash to come with something.

[Posaunus]

Improving the U.S. Post Office is hardly a priority for the current administration.
This situation was, unfortunately, predictable.
I guess I should begin looking to private businesses (UPS, FedEx, ...) for fast, efficient shipping.

Makes me sad that yet another once-respected institution is going down the tubes due to mismanagement and (not very) benign neglect. FAA is, of course, another example. As are numerous formerly respected and successful industrial and retail companies.


Diligent management and effective leadership make a difference, whether the organization is public or private.

[ghmerrill]

Improving the U.S. Post Office is hardly a priority for the current administration.

Or for any other that I can recall. Attempts were begun at various points, but not pursued. I don't think it's an easy thing to be done -- for a variety of reasons. But it really needs to either be fixed or an alternative found. It appears now that at a number of realistic alternatives are emerging -- or at least a number of the services that USPS used to provide. And digital communication has had a huge impact -- except in the case of package sending/receiving.

Makes me sad that yet another once-respected institution is going down the tubes due to mismanagement and (not very) benign neglect.

Yes. But the problem is in fact very complex, and it may simply be more effective to have it wither and be replaced by competitive alternatives which over time will assume its function. Maybe that's what we're seeing.

Diligent management and effective leadership make a difference, whether the organization is public or private.

Yes -- but again, a much more complex issue in "public" organizations.

[Posaunus]

Diligent management and effective leadership make a difference, whether the organization is public or private.

Yes -- but again, a much more complex issue in "public" organizations.

You couldn't be alluding to "politics" could you?

[ghmerrill]

You couldn't be alluding to "politics" could you?

Well, I see it as more than politics. It involves the role of unions, funding, hiring practices, overall management practices, reporting structures, etc. I'm hesitant to describe all of that as "politics", and in the case of the PO it seems to be largely independent of "party politics", but I suppose that broadly speaking it does fall under "politics".

The Constitution is very brief in its vague one-sentence granting of power to the federal government "To establish Post Offices and Post Roads". Everything else about the Post Office has been done by Congress -- which is to say, all the details of its nature and organization.

On a direct and obvious reading of Article I, Section 8, Clause 7, the Constitution does not in fact require Congress to create Post Offices or a postal service, but only gives it the right to do so. (I don't think that any Constitutional scholars disagree with this interpretation.) Note that it was only in 1970 that Congress passed the Postal Reorganization Act, and in 1972 that it passed the Post Office Act -- in which the USPS was formally established as a permanent part of the federal government. For those keeping partisan score, that was a period with a Republican President and a dominant Democratic Congress. After that, in a couple of different ways the USPS structure and management appears to have started a long downhill slide in terms of its financial foundations and it service and efficiency.

In the Federalist Papers, James Madison remarked that "The power of establishing post-roads, must in every view be a harmless power; and may perhaps, by judicious management, become productive of great public conveniency." That phrase "and may perhaps, by judicious management" may now seem at least somewhat wistful and ironic.

Privatizing the USPS would require an act of Congress. But it would not (as some seem to assume) require a Constitutional amendment.

But, yeah ... politics, I guess -- because ultimately its managed by politicians.

[JTeagarden]

If you privatized the USPS without any kind of strings, it wouldn't be 6 months before they shut down all the tiny Post Offices around the country.

I have never lived in a place without UPS or Fedex as a reasonably priced substitute for the USPS for parcels, and 95% of what comes to me via USPS is junk mail.

[ghmerrill]

If you privatized the USPS without any kind of strings, it wouldn't be 6 months before they shut down all the tiny Post Offices around the country.

I'm not sure whether you're viewing this as a good thing or a bad thing. I can see arguments either way. We may however note the increase in the number and accessibility of UPS "stores" over the past few years. In my case there's one in the corner of a True Value hardware store in town maybe 500 yds from the PO. Even in demanding times (Christmas, etc.) they're fast and efficient where the PO is like a logjam with the same number of customers.

As an aside, about 15 miles from here there used to be a tiny PO in an old-time hardware store -- which was pretty efficient, though that one moved about 20 years ago. It's now in the corner of a gas station -- or was the last time I looked.

In my experience, around here I can get better service in the tiny POs that are still around -- I'm talking about 1-3 room size. But in large part I think that's because so few people go to them, there are practically never any lines, and they do everything for you on the spot.

95% of what comes to me via USPS is junk mail.

That certainly was true for a while, but I think the junk mailers have even given up on the PO as an economic and efficient alternative. The junk mail for us has plummeted in the past year or so, and now about the only things we get are from various (usually local/county) government agencies or from government or financial organizations that my wife (for various reasons) hasn't switched over to online communication. So our junk mail is WAY down.