B&H shipping

I have not ordered from B&H in about 10 years. What shipping service does B&H normally use? Would they leave the shipment at the

door? Or can they hold for pickup?

 

I currently live in a rented townhouse in Virginia. There is no porch. It rains here every other afternoon, I like to make sure my shipment

won't get let at the front door or garage door, as amazon shipments frequently are, and become water damaged.

<p>B&H's default shipper is UPS. You can choose FedEx or US Mail if you are willing to pay extra.</p>

<p>I don't think B&H will allow you to ship the package to some UPS Store, but you can intercept it and have UPS hold it at their location. I have done that with some expensive lenses. Two years ago, B&H shipped a tripod to my house. The shipment required a signature. The UPS driver just left it outside my door and falsify the record that a signature was obtained. When I received the delivery notification at work, showing signed by me, I knew that it was a lie since both my wife and I were at work. I notified Henry Posner, who was furious and immediately complained to UPS. I drove home and 45 minutes later, found the package outside of my door.</p>

<p>In these days I have them ship things to my office.</p>

<p>If you have a USPS PO Box and are willing to pay the USPS delivery charge, you can choose to have the package delivered to your USPS PO Box.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>In my experience, B&H's shipping is very fast and very often I receive an order in the next day - ahead of schedule. Wonder if you can ask B&H to instruct the shipper to hold it for you at the local UPS office.</p>

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<p>Wonder if you can ask B&H to instruct the shipper to hold it for you at the local UPS office.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Two years ago, I discussed with Henry Posner about that option, and Henry was very clear that B&H would not do that. Apparently they have bad experience that someone else would pick up the shipment (some kind of fraud), and B&H ended up having to ship a replacement at a loss.</p>

<p>However, once the package is in UPS's procession, you can ask UPS to hold it at their distribution facility. Mine happens to be just a few miles from my home, and I have done that a few times for expensive items. However, if your local UPS location is far away, it may not be very convenient for you.</p>

<p>Our default shipped in the USA is UPS. We used to prohibit deliveries to UPS stores back when they were Mailbox Etc but that prohibition has been lifted. Most packages are sent with a sig-required tag but for many of those (up to a certain $$ value I may not disclose) your local UPS office or individual driver has leeway to determine your address or neighborhood is "safe" and they may then leave your package. Once UPS has the package it is effectively theirs, not ours and our ability to influence the actual delivery is minimal. If UPS makes a first delivery attempt and leaves one of their "we were here but you weren't" tags, you can then call the local UPS office and ask them to hold the package for you to retrieve but we will not send it from here with that delivery status.<br>

<br /> You wrote, "...as amazon shipments frequently are..." Do not forget, no matter who the shipper is, if UPS is the delivery vendor it is UPS, not B&H or Amazon or Bagels R Us which make the deliveries and which may have left a package in the rain. (Apologies to Jimmy Webb, Richard Harris and Donna Summer).</p>

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<p>I have not ordered from B&H in about 10 years.</p>

</blockquote>

<p> The horror. THE HORROR!!! :-)<br>

BTW someone mentioned USPS. They're convenient but their online package tracking is nothing like UPS's, and if they lose a package you have to wait 30 days before you can initiate a lost parcel claim. </p>

<p>Henry Posner<br /><strong>B&H Photo-Video</strong></p>

<p>Like others I have them send the package to my office. Since they ship from NY, and I live in<br>

NJ I always get it the next day, WELL PACKED!<br>

Andy</p>

<p>You can sign up for UPS MyChoice (<a href="http://www.ups.com/mychoice/welcome.html">http://www.ups.com/mychoice/welcome.html</a>); it's free and once you have a tracking number for your shipment you can log in and change delivery options. I recently ordered something that required a signature and I was able to create a signature release authorization using MyChoice with instructions for the driver to leave the package at the front door. Worked great! There were other options in there, like redirect the package, leave at the UPS office for pick up, etc. I always pick UPS over other carriers... they are simply the best in my area.</p>

I am eagerly awaiting my new 35mm fx Nikkor f1.8 from BH today. Shipped to my place of work, which always has people on hand to receive. Don't want my camera gear sitting on my front stoop unattended at home.

<p>We have never seen Ofer so happy going to work. :-)</p>

<p>Ditto the UPS MyChoice option. </p>

<p>Also, kudos to B&H and to Henry. I'm a very satisfied customer of more years than I can count.</p>

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<p>Also, kudos to B&H and to Henry. I'm a very satisfied customer of more years than I can count.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Thank you. Very kind.</p>

<p>Henry Posner<br /><strong>B&H Photo-Video</strong></p>

Nice bit of humor Henry...thanks....I

smiled at the moment

<p>Isn't Henry great?!!! Dealing with someone who actually cares about their customers earns customer loyalty like nothing else!</p>

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<p>Isn't Henry great?!!! Dealing with someone who actually cares about their customers earns customer loyalty like nothing else!</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Blushing!! Credit where credit is due -- I do this because B&H cares too. Management pays me to be here and do this so they see value in it.</p>

<p>Henry Posner<br /><strong>B&H Photo-Video</strong></p>

<p>".....(USPS)..is convenient but their online package tracking is nothing like UPS"</p>

<p>Henry is probably too polite to say what he really thinks, so I will instead. USPS tracking is a joke. I have never had any success tracking any package through the USPS.<br>

I am not knocking the actual mail service itself, just the fantasy that one can track a package via USPS with any degree of accuracy. </p>

<p>I have always had excellent service from B&H and have never had a problem. But as a question for Henry/B&H and all companies that ship by mail/UPS/Fedex, would it be practical/cost effective to basically shrink wrap in plastic the inside contents of every package? I believe Amazon does this with book orders I receive from them. A few weeks ago I ordered a washing machine part and the box sat out in the rain all day. The outer box was soaked through and destroyed. Fortunately the inner box protected the part. But it could have been a disaster if it was a camera item or electronics. Seems like it might be a good way to ensure safe delivery and avoid having to replace damaged goods.</p>

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<p>It rains here every other afternoon, I like to make sure my shipment won't get let at the front door or garage door, as amazon shipments frequently are, and become water damaged.</p>

</blockquote>

 

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<p>I am not knocking the actual mail service itself, just the fantasy that one can track a package via USPS with any degree of accuracy. </p>

</blockquote>

<p>I agree 100% re: tracking, but the OP's problem was water-logged packages. A USPS PO Box resolves that problem (assuming the OP has a PO Box and is willing to pay the B&H USPS shipping charge).</p>

<p> </p>

<p>A couple of my personal experience:</p>

<ol>

<li>Four years ago, back in 2011, I ordered an SD memory card from B&H, three weeks before an international trip. Since it was a small item, I selected shipment by USPS (US Mail) so that it would go right into my post office box, and I thought I had "plenty of time" for shipment. It simply didn't arrive and tracking was a joke. By Murphy's Law, it finally arrived in the same day we left for the trip. When we were on the way to the airport, I got notification that it was in my PO box. I picked it up after we got home.</li>

<li>I live in a pretty good neighborhood. During the holiday season, there are thieves that would follow UPS, FedEx trucks around and steal gift packages. Quite a few of my neighbors have lost packages that way. Otherwise, crime is low in our area.</li>

</ol>

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<p>During the holiday season, there are thieves that would follow UPS, FedEx trucks around and steal gift packages. Quite a few of my neighbors have lost packages that way.</p>

</blockquote>

<p><a href="http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Teens-Arrested-Stealing-UPS-Packages-Long-Island-233144191.html">http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Teens-Arrested-Stealing-UPS-Packages-Long-Island-233144191.html</a> where teens on bicycles followed UPS trucks and stole delivered packages right off peoples’ front porch.</p>

<p>Henry Posner<br /><strong>B&H Photo-Video</strong></p>

<p>Just a caution about personal deliveries at work. I work for a large organization and this is expressly forbidden. Better check with your employer's mailroom before assuming you can do this or trying to do it.</p>

Shun is on to something. If we keep ordering stuff from BH to our places of employ, we will be happier there!

<p>As far as shipping items to work, I suppose it highly depends on where you work. For example, I have never worked for some defense, classified work. If your work requires some secret clearance, taking things from the office may be a serious problem. For commercial companies, so far I have never had any problems. When I worked for a small company with like 100 in the office, everybody knows everybody else. Getting a package from the reception is clearly not an issue. At my current company, they would deliver to your office. People get stuffs from Amazon, B&H, Adorama all the time. Some maybe work related, some maybe not.</p>

Thanks, everyone., I just joined UPS my choice.

 

 

Henry, sorry, I got burned out 10 years ago, was spending too much time on the hobby, decided to take a break from it,

then I got married, moved to a different city and then a different state, and pretty soon it's 10 years. State of the art of

how the hobby works seem to have passed me by. :)

 

But I am back. :)

<blockquote>

<p>But as a question for Henry/B&H and all companies that ship by mail/UPS/Fedex, would it be practical/cost effective to basically shrink wrap in plastic the inside contents of every package?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Ridiculously expensive, hugely time consuming. It would also require acres of additional space in our shipping department. And, 99.999% of our customers prefer pristine UNOPENED camera and lens boxes. Opening them to shrink wrap the inside contents opens the door to uncertainty. Finally, if we did so and a customer them alleged the product was defective due to our handling, the warranty would be void and the expense of replacing the product on us.<br>

BTW, someone here mentioned shipping to your work address. We're happy to do this, but as another noted, some employers (mine included) prohibit this. YMMV</p>

<p>Henry Posner<br /><strong>B&H Photo-Video</strong></p>