Shipping from the States to God Knows Where!?

Uilleann Pipes
1

There was a post discussing import tax etc., and I wanted to share some info some may or may not know about shipping from States to God knows where over seas.

Throughout my flustery-ous career as a professional I’ve shipped more instruments that a horde of musicians. I’ve always been astonished by the pricey next-daydelivery prices. Early in the summer I “next day” shipped an instrument to the UK from So. Fl (where I’m living at the moment) and via Fed Ex I paid $96. I had to get some envelopes at the Post and found they’d’ve done the same job for $40 something! …Oh ya…who do they use to transport global priority packages…FEDEX!!! I then sent another instrument to Dublin, and UPS so courteously offered to do itfor $150 next=day (which is really like 2 maybe 3 days)!!! USPS global priority did it for $98, and yes it is 2days or 3 that way as well.

USPS is ALWAYS less expensive ..even domestically for next day delivs.. Before you all write about how dangerous it is…rubibish! I bought the Eb flute Harry Bradley used on his first 2 Cds and it arrived in splinters and toothpicks (thank you UPS).

Saftey is in the hand of the chanter holder my dear friends. The last chanter I sent was inside a hard cardboard tube, and that tube was inside a cardbaord tube that would support a 190lb man standng onit (tested after chanter was removed). There was enough tape on the ends to make unpacking it a 10 min job. If the chanter was going to get damaged then fine, t’was meant to be!

So check out USPS. Mind you, You do loose the step by step “where’s my instrument now?” report in usps land. Tracking is kinda “blocky.” eg. Your package has arrived." that’s all you get, unless you request details which you get a day or 2 after your goods have reached their docking point..

FedEx and the rest are more like," your pakcage wa picked up by Fred Tierny until Fred took a restroom break, which is when he set it down for 2 mins …"blablababblalbalbal:

Of recent, I saw UPS offering a SAME DAY crucial delivery (for when you just HAVE to play that cran!)

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One of the rare circumstances in which I trust the government involves mailing things. Online tracking is dodgy at best but the prices and reliability can’t be beat.

I always ship with USPS because I know what to expect. But oftentimes when I make eBay purchases sellers will use UPS or such and I really notice the difference. What takes 3 days by usps usually takes 5-10 days from someone else.

Did anybody ever see Ace Ventura?? in the opening scene he’s posing as a delivery driver(in a brown uniform) and merrily kicking a package down an apartment hallway. That’s not far from truth as I’ve often witnessed UPS drivers haphazardly tossing parcels into their trucks.

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Never tried to send anything but I’ve gotten a lot of things from either UPS or USPS. Most stuff that I want to buy is usually shipped UPS only and it’s so dang expensive that I end up not buying the item. I was actually going to order one of those colored bracelets, like the Livestrongs. It cost two dollars and shipping through UPS was twelve. Forget it. I’ve only had problems with USPS twice. Once it took a month to get an item from the East Coast to where I am in Alaska, and this time something was sent to me priority mail from a seller I’ve ordered from before and it’s about a week late. But still, you can’t beat the prices.

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Just as an observation here,
it can be HELL to send things TO the USA these days…even from European countries…