Best Shipping Method

[JLCues]

With reading the story of the broken cue during shipment, I got wondering, who you think is the best/safest shipper to go with.
UPS, USPS, FedEx and DHL. Is there more?

 

[Jack Flanagan]

the only shipper that I haven't had problems with is DHL. they always call to make sure I'm around before attempting a delivery. try getting that service from the others...... j

 

[Slider]

the only shipper that I haven't had problems with is DHL. they always call to make sure I'm around before attempting a delivery.

That right there is worth a whole lot of aggravation, time and trouble.

 

[cueman]

I voted UPS but I need to clarify that depends on where the cue is going. Inside the USA I prefer UPS. They are dependable. 2nd day air gets there in 2 days. It will get most anywhere in the southeast inone or two days without only paying ground. Now if it is going overseas you need to find out what they like to deal with. Many only want Fed Ex. Others only want Post office. If post office only use Postal Express insured or you can't track it easily and it takes forever to make a claim. ALWAYS put the cue in a PVC Pipe inside of another box. This keeps the cue from rolling around and it also saves you the $5 round tube fee with UPS. I use a $1 box to put it inside of and the 4 inch PVC pipe is about $3 for 3 feet. I don't bother with caps if inside another box. Just tape the ends up real good.
UPS has paid every claim I ever made. Post office has paid most but not all. The one they did not pay was over $500. I missed a deadline for filing it by a few days because my post office didn't process the paper work sopon enough. They even told them it was their fault and I still did not get paid. The problem with post office is they will leave a 3 foot package sticking out of your mailbox and it then gets stolen. That is what happened to me.
Chris
www.hightowercues.com
www.internationalcuemakers.com

 

[bruin70]

i send all my valuable work through fedex. the few cues i've received from qmakers,,,i didn't like the way they wrapped the cues,,,usually simple bubble wrap in a ups/fedex tube. that's ok for preventing bumps but not majors drops. i think cues should be wrapped over and over, like a roll, with some kind of thin corrugated wrapper, if they're intended for tube shipping. newspaper would be fine too,,,until the roll is so thick it can barely be stuffed in the tube.

but sh!t happens.

 

[Charlie Edwards]

i send all my valuable work through fedex. the few cues i've received from qmakers,,,i didn't like the way they wrapped the cues,,,usually simple bubble wrap in a ups/fedex tube. that's ok for preventing bumps but not majors drops. i think cues should be wrapped over and over, like a roll, with some kind of thin corrugated wrapper, if they're intended for tube shipping. newspaper would be fine too,,,until the roll is so thick it can barely be stuffed in the tube.

but sh!t happens.

I agree with you about how some cues were packaged when I got them. It's a wonder they got to me in good condition. I recently sold and shipped some cues and I made every effort to package them as securely as possible...I wrapped the cue and shafts in bubble wrap, put them in a thick round tube and than put that tube in a rectangular tube. Looked nearly bullet proof. They all made it in good fashion.

In my business (not pool related) I ship daily through the USPS...and never seem to have a problem. I trust that method.

 

[bruin70]

In my business (not pool related) I ship daily through the USPS...and never seem to have a problem. I trust that method.

my prob with usps is they're not reliable,,,not for my biz anyway.

i bought a camera from upstate new york. they sent it usps, and it arrived 2.5 weeks later here in nyc, ny.

simply cannot afford that nonsense with my work.

 

[Jeff]

I usually use USPS Priority and have never had a problem.

Wren I'm concerned or want to play it super safe I use USPS next day. Next day is still the best bang for the buck

And when I ship cues I use the triangle boxes and sometimes even use a corrugated tube inside that.

I do wish the Post Office would upgrade to a scanning system like UPS though, it is so nice to be able to log on with a number and see exactly where the package is.

ADDED: I did use a regular square box to ship a cue once and was told when it arrived the box was really beat up, but I always wrap several times with bubble wrap and that saved it. Last time I use a regular square box.