Huntley, IL
Quoted from Zitt:But, yeah, I do understand that some people are stuck in their ways.
We're actually not stuck in our ways, that's exactly why PBL used to use the USPS and no longer does. When USPS face-planted during the 2020 COVID lockdown and lost their ability to deliver parcels we stopped using them.
In mid 2021, after many requests to once again offer USPS shipping, we turned that option back on. Immediately, we once again had issues with many orders getting lost, stolen, seriously delayed or returned, so we once again stopped offering their service.
There's only one reason people ordering products for delivery like the USPS; they are the cheapest. And there's a reason they are the cheapest, it's because they offer the least amount of services.
Tracking is spotty at best. Many times parcels are only scanned twice, once when they arrive at our local post office and again when they are delivered. This can cause all kinds of panic and confusion. Customers look at the tracking for their parcel and it appears to just be sitting in our local post office for days. We get emails and calls from customers wanting to know why their parcel is *stuck* at our local post office. I have explained literally hundreds of times that it is not stuck, it's just that no one is bothering to scan the parcel at any other sorting station.
The lost/damaged/stolen/delayed/returned parcel percentage with USPS is about 10 times higher than with UPS. Even worse, when a parcel does go missing there is almost no chance of recovery. Anyone who has ever tried calling the post office to inquire about the where abouts of a lost/delayed parcel knows what I'm talking about. Getting a live person on the phone takes a lot of luck and patience. Once you do finally get someone, they could not care less about finding your parcel. Their entire parcel recovery system seems to be nothing more than a hollow shell that in reality does zero about errant parcels.
The USPS does not consider a parcel lost until it has been 30 days since it shipped. 30 days! No parcel is ever found after missing 30 days.
USPS insurance? Total waste of money. They simply never pay out.
UPS is not perfect, but when a parcel goes missing I can call my rep directly and either get it located and delivered, or get a refund issued.
Why is shipping cost higher when ordering from PBL? Because we don't supplement shipping costs with our product costs. This means if you are ordering a $5 item we are probably not the best choice.
Shipping cost is based on the first pound (the expensive pound) and them a much smaller amount is charged for every pound thereafter. The minimum charge for one pound of product shipped via UPS is around $12, and it only goes up from there depending on where you live and how far away you live from a UPS shipping hub.
PBL is not a shipping company, we are a pinball parts company. We don't set the shipping rates, the shipping companies do. Even though PBL does not own any shipping companies, we are still responsible for their performance. Therefore, we pick the most reliable ones.
I know everyone has had their own successes and failures with the various shipping companies out there and it may be that your experience has not been the same as ours. Our decisions are based on the data we have collected from thousands and thousands of parcels shipped. We have had by far the worst luck with the USPS.
So in summation: no, we are not stuck in our ways. We learn from real life experience and make decisions based on those experiences. If we were stuck in our ways we would still be using the USPS.
As always, I reserve the right to change my mind. I do know that if we ever start using the USPS to deliver our products again, I will start a Pinside thread documenting all the issues we have when they occur. I can only assume the issues will once again reach their tipping point and we will once again be forced to stop using them. When shipping cost complaints once again rear their ugly head here on Pinside, a quick link to the previously documented issues will be a much easier answer than this one!
Terry.
