Quote:
Originally Posted by fortheloveofcrabs
So what you’re saying is UPS is fine, just not in Edmonton… Or Nanaimo (according to Christy). Are these valuable markets to you as a business owner? If they aren’t fine, I can appreciate that they are small markets.
There is no other option – even for an extra charge? There are only two couriers in your part of Minnesota? No FedEx, no DHL, no nothing? It’s very possible that in Golden Valley you are really limited as to whom you can ship with, it is just a shame that I’m excluded from your client base as a result; you are a quality on-line retailer with very competitive pricing.
-Paul
|
We try extremely hard to serve every ones needs as best we can and no customer group is to small . This shows in the fact that Canadian orders make up maybe 3-4% of our volume yet we are in constant negotiations with our shipping provider so we can offer unique services like this one where brokerage fees are reduced to the point that we can pay them for you and you have zero brokerage fees.
Here in the united states UPS has provided us an incredible service and they are our shipping partner. The only reason they will even speak to us on programs like this is because we do all of our domestic volume with them. In the US DHL is a total joke, there is no way we could possibly use them . Fed ex is really the same as UPS here but they don't have any programs to offer us that would reduce the brokerage fees and unless we did all of our domestic shipments with them the rates would be ridiculous.
We do value you telling us experiences like you have had and take this into consideration. This goes in conjunction with the experiences reported to us by the customers who have ordered from us. Complaints are very rare if you disregard the issues with understanding taxes duties and brokerage fees which this program completely solves.
This is a quote from a response i made earlier on why we are unable to offer the post office service.
Quote:
Originally Posted by snarkys
Believe me , we would do it if it made sense at all. USPS has a variety of issues fromhttp://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=42859 both customer and business standpoints. We are trying to find a way to let the customer have the best of both worlds.
1) USPS often charges more for postage than other services but the low brokerage fees make up for this. If there are no brokerage fees (like in option 2) the post office costs significantly more.
2) USPS's tracking is next to worthless. Most the time it only says it left here and then updates that it has been delivered. This is no help when you are trying to figure out when a package is going to arrive. It also doesn't help when the package got held by customs and it has been two weeks with no delivery ...
3) Our experience is USPS is really unreliable. One shipment will arrive really fast and another shipped on the same day mysteriously takes three weeks. This can be pretty distressing it if is your new $500 skimmer.
4) International packages over a certain weight need to be hand delivered to a post office employee, this is typically all of our packages. Sometimes the wait there is 10 minutes and sometimes it is an hour, Most businesses simply don’t have time for this type of shinanigins. I feel like pulling my hair out by the time I leave there..
5) the USPS’s API for integrating their shipping costs into a websites calculator is poor at best. Often results in the customer being both drastically over and under billed because of limited weight and box size options. It is also incapable of telling you that this item is to heavy or to large to be shipped with USPS
6) They also have size and weight limitations. USPS doesn’t take packages over approximately 2 cubic feet which isn’t that big and certainly doesn’t lend itself to our “bulk packaged” idea.This also results in a ton of frustrating calls from us explaining you were not charged enough shipping because the package was too big/heavy. this obviously always goes bad ….
|
Trust me when i say we would use the post office if there was absolutely any way it could be done without headaches like these. Instead we do everything we can possibly do to make the alternatives as affordable and practical as possible.