OT: Mailing Things From US to Destinations Overseas

[stephen_w.]

I sold a pre-asph 35 'lux through this forum early May this year.

The lens was going to Hong Kong. I sent it, like usual, by the US

Postal Service (USPS) fully insured. The buyer didn't receive it. I

didn't put the suite number on the package (my bad). So, after two

months I refunded his money and filed an insurance claim (the USPS

requires at least 30 days before filing a claim. I waited two months

because I was sending overseas). The USPS notified me that they are

only liable for $41.50 plus the cost of shipping and insurance I had

paid because it wasn't addressed to the US or Canada. I expected

almost a total loss.

 

Complete surprise: The package was returned to me after almost six

months in the system. I don't know whether to praise or pan the

USPS.

 

I have used other carriers to send overseas (UPS, FedEx...). They

are much more expensive, but they haven't "lost" any items. So, I

don't know their reimbursement policies. Has anyone been under paid

for a lost item from the alternative carriers when a loss (lost or

damaged) has occured when sending items overseas?

 

BTW, I kind of regretted selling the lens; now it's back in time for

a wedding I am attending in Spain next week. The 35 ASPH 'lux is

staying home.

[mark-j]

I recently sold two lenses to Canada. I shipped them via USPS and inusred them appropriately. I was told you could file for insurance on foreign countries 10 days after the last projected delivery date. 4-10 day delivery + 10 days would be 20 days. I filed for insurance and was informed that insurance covers goods only, not postage and insurance costs. The package arrrived at the destination 2 days after filing for the insurance. No insurance claim.

 

Good news for you.

 

Cheers.

[steve g]

I've never had a package lost, but USPS has been really slow before with some packages. I sent a package to Canada that must have taken 2 months (and I paid for the 4-7 day shipping service). Then again, I have shipped a dozen or so packages to: Australia, UK, Italy, Portugal, Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan. All of the packages got to their destinations in one piece in a reasonable period of time, at rock-bottom prices, via USPS.<br><br>

UPS on the other hand has left a DVD player on my back porch in the snow without knocking or ringing doorbell.<br><br>

FedEx has been unable to find my house (they had address...they couldnt find my house) and had to be called to be given directions.<br><br>

I feel like they all screw up from time to time, and USPS is the cheapest, so why not use them?

[stephen_w.]

The post was meant to be a "heads-up" to the forum and to hear about claims from other carriers, especially sending Leica stuff ($$$).

 

I mailed a bike disc brake hub for a rebuild to California (from Texas) via USPS. The delivery report stated it had been delivered as addressed. The report indicated it wasn't even delivered to the same postal code; they delivered it to a hospital! The person who signed for it probably threw it away (?). After about a year of appealling they paid the insured amount and refunded postage and insurance (~$120). I had to buy a set of v-brakes because the disc brake caliper is no longer being made.

 

One wonders why I continue to use the USPS? Of the dozens of packages sent and received, they have only lost one (my fault for the other). I don't want to bother calculating or estimating (pissing people off if I overestimate) postage costs in the items I sell, with the numerous e-mails. I just use a fixed price to anywhere in the world.

[paul t]

I received a lovely Canon lens today, in London. It was sent USPS Express

from Idaho on FRIDAY! Absolutely amazing! I think it was USPS Express, with

tracking, as it cost $25 to send, similar lenses have cost around $16 to send to

the UK in the past. <p>

My experience from work is that Fedex are often lousy, and their packages

seems to get delayed in customs more often than others.

[steve g]

Stephen W, why so defensive? I was stating my experience, and that 'so why not use USPS?' was how <i>I feel</i>..as the word preceding it indicate. No attack on you, or questioning your choices implied or explicit.

[leslie_cheung]

I have a problem sending a package to china because I don't

know how to translate the chinese address to English. I figure

once the package was in china, the chinese could understand

the chinese address but the usps refuse to send it. On the

otherhand, my friends in china don't have to translate my

american address to chinese before sending it here. Freaking

idiotic imo.

[mskovacs]

It should be pointed out that USPS does not actually handle the packages once it enters into a foreign country's postal system. I am fairly certain that USPS and Canada Post have a fairly formal and close working relationship (hence supporting full insurance claim) but the same could not be said for every postal system in the world.

 

I move camera stuff between US/Canada a fair bit and USPS has not let me down yet except in one case. I had a flash returned from an ebay transaction because the seller did not pick it up after three notices. He claims he was never notified but I have no real way to know.

[thomas_t]

So what exactly is USPS's policy on insurance reimbursement in a case

where it was addressed and insured to a US address?

 

Do they give you what you insured it for, or do you have to go through the

trouble of "proving" the value even though they were perfectly happy to take

your insurance money for the claimed amount? anyone know?

[marc_bergman1]

I am interested in the insurance part.

 

I once sold an HP-16C calculator on Ebay for almost $400. It seems this has become a collectable with neo-nerds. The buyer was in Japan.

 

Once money traded hands I send it via USPS insured. It arrive quickly but now I wonder if the insurance would actually cover any loss. It would be interesting to know whether USPS has a different catagory to insure items sent out of the US or if we are just adding to their bottom line?

[andrew_hall1]

>USPS has been really slow before with some packages. I sent a package to Canada that must have taken 2 months

 

The problem lies with Canadian Customs which likes to hold (or ignore) the package as long as possible.

[pensacolaphoto]

I once mailed a Tele Rolleiflex to Germany. It arrived damaged. The cameras was insured for $800 with USPS, but they only paid $350-$400 (I forgot) after having me fill out detailed forms, showing my ebay ad with the SOLD amount for $800. Collectible items are difficult to insure it seems as the replacement value is not clear.

[back_alley_.]

for canadian buyers...

 

 

Serious Delay in Delivery of International Mail

Dateline: 10/19/04

 

There is a long delay in the delivery of international mail in Canada due to a backlog in clearing Canada Customs in Vancouver, according to Canada Post. Parcels are currently taking about five weeks to get through Customs.

 

The Customs centre in Vancouver has more than 150,000 packages waiting to be processed. The backlog is putting a strain on equipment, tying up warehouse space, and generating about 160 complaint calls a day to Canada Post.

 

The Vancouver Customs clearing centre has been experiencing backlogs since August 2002.

 

There used to be five Customs clearing centres for mail coming into Canada - in Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal. Early in 2004 the U.S. Postal Service stopped shipping to the Calgary and Winnipeg Customs centres because of a difficulty with flights.

 

The Canada Border Services Agency closed the Winnipeg and Calgary Customs centres this spring, leaving only three Customs clearing centres.

The Canada Border Services Agency has told Canada Post that the backlog will be cleared in a month

[__hank_boneroneo1]

>The post was meant to be a "heads-up" to the forum and to hear about claims from other carriers, especially sending Leica stuff ($$$).

I mailed a bike disc brake hub<

 

What?

[stephen_w.]

I was not being defensive, just want to about alternatives when shipping overseas, as this forum (and eBay) are international. When the USPS misdelivered my brake caliper they paid the insured value NOT the replacement value (probably less). If one bought a $500,000 life insurance policy would the company not be liable for the full amount or say your lifestyle is risky? They should've done their due diligence before writing a policy. I could insure the shipmant of a penny for $100 and if they lost it they are liable to pay $100, no? I pay the premium, they pay the obligation.

 

Again, has anyone suffered a loss on either end of an international transaction involving an alternative international shipper that has a presence in the country (FedEx, UPS, DHL...) other than the USPS, where the company has constant possession, and doesn't hand off to the local gov't run delivery service? I would like to know if the extra expense is worth it. I have read hear that these private companies collect customs for the receiving government upon arrival, then charge the receiver of the item, where, in my experience, the USPS does not.

[les_lammers]

If you are sending something expensive, use a service with tracking

and insurance. Or send it USPS Registered Mail it always gets there.

The Hope Diamond was once sent Registered Mail. It has to be signed for and ID is required. There are a lot of scammers out there.

[jean_christophe_barnoud1]

In some countries, France at least, the USPS partnered with companies (not the local Post Office) for delivery. These are generally well equipped to deal with delivering to offices or factories that are grouped in business districts and have a reception desk (they work monday-friday 8 to 6). It gets much worse when they have to deliver to people who are scattered in out of business areas, out working (mon-fri 8-6, remember), live in buildings protected by a digicode, and so on.

 

Half of the time you get a paper slip in your letter box or a letter (slowest, cheapest rate) telling you they have a package for you and please call this (paying) phone number to arrange delivery (mon-fri 8-6, they give you a day, and may come the day after...). Often when dealing with uninsured parcels, you just get nothing. Anyhow, they never have an office in town where you could fetch your parcel in the evening or on a saturday morning ...

 

Most of the time the parcel finally goes back to the sender after two months ...

 

If you want to secure shipping from the US to France, and use USPS (I am not sure the other guys are much better at delivering to people), you have to : add digicode and any other useful information to get to the recipient on the address label, use a tracked / insured system, send the tracking number to the recipient, have him locate the delivery company in his country, have him check with the local delivering company as soon as the parcel is notified as arrived in his country on the USPS tracking web site.

 

Obviously, as this has been going on for 3 years now, the USPS is not interested in delivery to people abroad. My experience with the others is less extensive but not significantly better.

[olivier_de_lame]

Hi,

 

I try ALWAYS to get the items I buy in E... via USPS. Why? because as they work with the post offices here in Israel, I have much less problems with the customs: their documents are accepted as official documents here. I never had a problem, but it does not mean I would have had a problem with other carries.

 

Regards,

 

Olivier.

[peter_werner1]

I am living in Switzerland and receive many parcels from the US, most by USPS. Fedex and DHL are faster in delivering and in clearing customs. UPS is as slow as USPS and they ask a fortune (about $ 40 per parcel) for customs clearance formalities (on top of customs duty and Swiss sales tax, if any). Until now, in many years not a single parcel was lost, some containing valuable items (a Nikon F5, an F100, several lenses). 2 Leicas (R8 and R9) came by Fedex. In all cases everything arrived in good condition and reasonably fast. I would think that the quality of the local postal service (or DHL/Fedex agency) in the receiving country is more important than the US counterpart.

[skip_williams]

FedEx is certainly the gold standard, IMO, but typically the most expensive and I'd only use it for a high priced item.

 

UPS seems to do OK, but as others have pointed out, they're expensive overseas. No experience with DHL.

 

I typically use the USPS for almost all my sales overseas. Global Priority Mail is the best value/speed ratio if you don't need insurance (none available). Many buyers are willing to take the risk of no insurance with a low customs declaration, so as long as they take the risk, I use GPM a lot. Airmail works well too, and you can get insurance. It's slower though. IMO, EMS works the best, as you can get insurance and a signature, and it goes the same route as GPM. It's more expensive though, and I only use it for higher-priced packages. Registered mail is the biggest hassle, but works best for sending to more risky destinations, like E. Europe or some spots in Asia.

 

My own neat story - I once sent a lens to someone in the UK via Airmail and it took about three or four weeks, which was way too long. When he got the package, it had a postmark from ZAMBIA on the bottom of the box; he sent me a picture to prove it. Somehow it had gotten routed from the US to Lusaka, Zambia, and then on to it's original desination in the UK. I was surprised that it got there.

 

In the end, in 15 years of buying and selling hundreds of boxes of stuff all around the world, I have NEVER had a package get permanently lost. They took nice sightseeing trips sometimes though.

 

Skip

[stephen_w.]

Skip, you're correct: insurance is not available with Global Priority Mail, but is with Int'l Parcel Post, although not the full value that I bought.