What are the odds of USPS losing your cue while in transit, or anything going wrong?

[greyghost]

buzz kill moment for the day....bawhahahahahah

regards,
Greyghost

 

[tableroll]

The post office is the best! Never had a problem in over 40 years.

 

[JB Cases]

I know that I am being crazy, and I worry too much, but I am just curious what the odds are of USPS losing the shipment of a cue that you ship off, or anything else going wrong (like postman delivering the package to the wrong address, or anything else you can think of)?

Do you trust USPS to get your cues (that you sell or receive) to their destination, or do you not trust them as much as services like UPS, FED EX, and others?

I always get really nervous when trading cues through the mail (but only on occasions when the cue is worth a lot to me), and using USPS to do the trade.

Maybe this question belongs in NPR (non pool related), but thought that maybe it would be okay if I posted it on here.

Thanks for your opinions about USPS, and their handing of your cue shipments.

All the delivery services lose or damage thousands of packages each day. Out of millions sent.

Out of the thousands we send each year very few are lost or damaged. Enough that we don't put any extra insurance on them because the cost to me would be around $4000 a year and my actual losses are well below that.

Now if a case is very high end then we will pay for the extra insurance. I think signature required will do more than insurance to make them more careful on the last leg of the delivery.

For cues, the sturdier your packaging the less chance of the cue being damaged. The heavy cardboard tubes or even actual hard cue cases are better.

Statistically though most packages arrive with no problems. The important thing is to track them and act swiftly if notice anything wrong.

 

[Runner]

Oops

My 2 cents,

USPS registered/signature required delivery, or Fedex insured two day.

DO NOT use UPS, EVER. We call them OOPS... car headlight - cracked, InStroke 1X2 case - bottom edge smashed, Snap On replacement tool-disappeared (Snap On sent another one Fedex, boom, next afternoon)
They are the worst... I saw a UPS guy open the back of his truck, only to have packages spill out onto the pavement.

 

[JB Cases]

I will also say USPS has been the most reliable for us as well. Their ground service is also generally much faster since they work on Saturdays.

 

[tucson9ball]

I have used USPS for the last 15 years pretty much exclusively with only a handful or so delays and minor mishaps. Nothing ever lost or damaged, but I take a lot of extra care in packing cues. Literally hundreds of items shipped. FedEx use to get a chunk of my business until they went nuts on their rates. Now, I only use them for select shipments. UPS, no thanks.

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What this guy says......
In addition, always get the insurance over $200 so the person has to sign for it.
If it's worth over $1000.00 I would recommend sending it "registered mail" so it is handled much better. Registered mail does not go through any machinery at all and it gets signed by each employee that touched it, very safe.

 

[KCRack'em]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What this guy says......
In addition, always get the insurance over $200 so the person has to sign for it.
If it's worth over $1000.00 I would recommend sending it "registered mail" so it is handled much better. Registered mail does not go through any machinery at all and it gets signed by each employee that touched it, very safe.

The amount requiring signature recently increased to $600-plus.

As far as the insurance goes, I had a package arrive open recently. Somewhere between Tennessee and Alaska, the shaft fell out of the tube. My insurance claim was denied until I ran out of appeals. The reason: inadequate packaging.

 

[Quality Cues]

I have used USPS for the last 15 years pretty much exclusively with only a handful or so delays and minor mishaps. Nothing ever lost or damaged, but I take a lot of extra care in packing cues. Literally hundreds of items shipped. FedEx use to get a chunk of my business until they went nuts on their rates. Now, I only use them for select shipments. UPS, no thanks.

I fully agree with Sean. I have shipped at least 400 cues by USPS Express Mail and have had no damage claims and approximately 99.5% of them have arrived on time.