Slow Shipping

Jerryc41

Jerryc41

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I hate it when a seller charges a fairly high amount for shipping and then sends it slowly. I've gotten ukes from Hawaii in two days, but I've waited a week or more to have one shipped crosscountry. One that was sent from LA yesterday ($75) won't get to me till next Tuesday, yet one from Hawaii will arrive tomorrow.
 
The ukulele sent from Hawai’i would have been sent by air, whereas the other was sent by truck. I’ve tracked an ukulele from Richmond BC, Regina SK, Winnipeg MB, Kitchener ON before it got to me. That Ukulele was in more Canadian cities than I have.

Another annoying thing is to have a parcel sent, but they do not give you a tracking number so you can watch it come.
 
I'm used to sometimes slow shipping from mainland US and it really surprised me how fast I could get something from the UK. Then I figured it out that if you put a body of water between you and the seller, you remove the option to ship by truck (for the whole trip anyway).
 
Jerryc41 said:
I hate it when a seller charges a fairly high amount for shipping and then sends it slowly. I've gotten ukes from Hawaii in two days, but I've waited a week or more to have one shipped crosscountry. One that was sent from LA yesterday ($75) won't get to me till next Tuesday, yet one from Hawaii will arrive tomorrow.
Click to expand...

One reason could be that Hawaii, being surrounded by water, ships everything by air and considers the expensive shipping rates to do so a "Cost of doing business", whereas a private seller, not having discounted rates due to seldom shipping, can only get the higher rates for ground, which are the rates they are charging you. It is also possible that , though a retailer in Hawaii probably stocks shipping supplies and has the personnel to handle shipping, the private seller has to go out to purchase the shipping supplies to safely ship your instrument, due to limited space and not knowing when and if the instrument will sell won't do this until it does sell, and has to squeeze time in between work and other responsibilities to package and ship your item, taking maybe a few days to ship.
 
AQUATOPAZ said:
One reason could be that Hawaii, being surrounded by water, ships everything by air and considers the expensive shipping rates to do so a "Cost of doing business"...
Click to expand...

This was a private seller in Hawaii, and he charged for shipping - the same rate he charged me a year ago, $115.

I figured the size and weight of what I'm getting from LA, and Priority Mail (2 days) would cost $69.75. Ground shipping would cost $32.59.
 
Jerryc41 said:
This was a private seller in Hawaii, and he charged for shipping - the same rate he charged me a year ago, $115.

I figured the size and weight of what I'm getting from LA, and Priority Mail (2 days) would cost $69.75. Ground shipping would cost $32.59.
Click to expand...

The Post Office actually says it "usually" will arrive within 1-3 days. Depending on the path it took, holidays, weather, and the reasonableness of taking a couple of days to purchase shipping supplies, and package and ship, a week doesn't seem outlandish. First world problems.
 
Sometimes they ship it UPS or FedEx and then they do a handoff to USPS along the way. That always adds a lot of time and the tracking usually ends at the handoff. I wonder what the benefit is of having USPS deliver it instead of their own people. Why not just send it USPS if that is what they are going to do? I don't know, but every package that I've ever gotten that came that way took forever.
 
Rllink said:
Sometimes they ship it UPS or FedEx and then they do a handoff to USPS along the way. That always adds a lot of time and the tracking usually ends at the handoff. I wonder what the benefit is of having USPS deliver it instead of their own people. Why not just send it USPS if that is what they are going to do? I don't know, but every package that I've ever gotten that came that way took forever.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's strange how that works. I had a package that UPS said had been delivered to the PO, but the PO said they didn't have it. It was two more days before I received it. I've been at the PO when UPS delivered packages. He makes just one stop instead of a dozen, so it must be cheaper that way.
 
Jerryc41 said:
Yeah, it's strange how that works. I had a package that UPS said had been delivered to the PO, but the PO said they didn't have it. It was two more days before I received it. I've been at the PO when UPS delivered packages. He makes just one stop instead of a dozen, so it must be cheaper that way.
Click to expand...

That makes sense.
 
I recently made an order from a dealer in Shanghai who sent it to Hong Kong, but instead of going over the Pacific Ocean to Los Angeles, it went the opposite direction to Dubai, Germany, New Jersey, Chicago, then Los Angeles. Makes no sense to me.

This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly West near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 11 solid body bass ukes, 9 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 34)

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers
 
With the bad weather in lots of places in the US, it's not surprising that things are moving slowly.

When it has mattered to me if something arrived by a particular date, I've made that part of the sales deal. No sale unless it was shipped in a way that got to me by that date, (with me paying the appropriate amount extra, if needed.) When I don't have a reason to have it by a particular date, though, I just let it do its thing, as long as it gets to me safely.
 
kohanmike said:
I recently made an order from a dealer in Shanghai who sent it to Hong Kong, but instead of going over the Pacific Ocean to Los Angeles, it went the opposite direction to Dubai, Germany, New Jersey, Chicago, then Los Angeles. Makes no sense to me.

This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly West near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 11 solid body bass ukes, 9 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 34)

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers
Click to expand...

Wow! That's quite a trip.
 
At the other extreme, I still don't understand how I got a ukulele from Japan to Canada in two days via Japan Post / Canada Post. That's just stunningly fast.
 
Not sold any Ukes but I have bought and sold a lot of guitars which are of course considerably larger and way more heavier than a Uke.

Shipped anywhere in the UK for the equivalent of $25 and within the EU for $40 all with 5 day max delivery.

Got my Risa Uke case direct from Germany in two days.

Would never ever buy anything direct from the USA far to costly for delivery and then we get stung for import duty.
 
AQUATOPAZ said:
One reason could be that Hawaii, being surrounded by water, ships everything by air and considers the expensive shipping rates to do so a "Cost of doing business",
Click to expand...

Beware - some people don't understand that there IS slow-boat shipping to/from Hawaii, and all the shipping services can be a little deceptive about that. You have to make sure that something to/from Hawaii is going by air, because the slow boat takes 2-10 weeks. (they will only quote you the best case senario) Yes, I've waited 10 weeks for a package that got on the slow boat once.
 
Last edited:
bkrownd said:
Beware - some people don't understand that there IS slow-boat shipping to/from Hawaii, and all the shipping services can be a little deceptive about that. You have to make sure that something to/from Hawaii is going by air, because the slow boat takes 2-10 weeks. Yes, I've waited 10 weeks for a package that got on the slow boat once.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I used to regularly ship wholesale goods to Hawaii UPS and slow boat shipping wasn't an option given by them, only air. Of course, container and partials in mixed containers weren't something we considered. UPS, FEDEX, DHL and USPS were all we considered.
 
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