I always ship via USPS. I never had a problem with them, so I never felt a need to change.
However, if you choose an alternate carrier, I would recommend Fedex over UPS any day of the week. Why? We get a lot of packages at work from both Fedex and UPS. The Fedex packages always arrive in good condition, but the UPS packages frequently arrive damaged. From what I have personally seen, many UPS employees throw boxes around without considering the fact that they may damage them.
here's from my experiences.
FED EX...I never had a damaged item..One of two drivers that comes to my place is a DICK..He will leave a slip on the door"attempted delivery" without even ringing the door bell here..I call him "Hit and Run"as he has the slip already made out before getting to the front of the house..
He's did this numberous times and I'm at home..I've ran out after him to stop him as he tried to take off..One time I see "attempted delivery" via the tracking number and no slip outside.I was out front all day and he never passed by..He came later in the day and delivered the package..
.I've tested his ass out..Knowing I had a package coming.,I waited for him to come..then as he was coming up the stairs I waited by the door as he slapped the slip on the door I opened it and said I'm home!!!!
...I think I shocked him as the next time he rang the bell..
Now I have a new driver that rings my bell and doooesn't run off..
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UPS..
the local driver here..He takes so long to walk from one place to another..Damned if he'd lift up a heavy box..
Light boxes -general size I have no problem with UPS..
Knowing I had a BIG package coming last week from them I waited around the back as he always goes to the compainies down the block first..as he came up the street he saw me outback and said..Big Box right?
I hauled ass to the back of the truck to try and thwart him from dropping the box out of the truck(had this happen before with them)
He opened the back door and the Big 80pd Box/pocket,bike was up on the top shelf in the back of the truck...SHIT!!,someone strong just threw that sucker up there..
He started to slide it off and down to the floor.not really getting a grip on it nor could he see I was reaching to grab it.. and I caught it.stopped it from hitting the ground.....it would of dropped on it's face..I signed and bear hugged the box into my apt.
UPS whacked the side of the box.so hard that they bent this Pocket Socket ... it's made out of thick steel..I could not bend this thing if I ran it over with a car..
They must of hit it with a forkilft
The box had damage on the side(other side) from being moved to so many different places and hit....The bottom was falling apart.
I do think the seller could of did a better job packing it but it really seemed to be banged around..broken pats of the bike were way on the other side of the box like it had been toppled over and over.
I tracked this box from ..I was Blown away by how many places it went through before it got to me..
It was on time though.
Issue I had with the shipping .the seller used a iShip_Services= carrier shipping label has been generated for the shipment toat UPS CC OKLAHOMA CITY OK awaiting carrier pickup
When I got the email with this info the Zip Code was totally wrong and the weight said 8 pds....I went NUTS trying to get this straightened out..but could not get through UPS customer service.
Contated the seller and he said his invoice had the correct info on it.
The windshield on the bike was totally shattered,..a crucial faring bolt snapped off,..a foot peg hanger bent in..It would take the bike being dropped on it's side from height to bend that footpeg hanger in like that.
One handlebar was bent..and other misc stuff broken..this is all hardened European parts that are hard to bend in general so they did a number on the bike.(That I've all fixed or replaced already..
The company I get Pocketbike parts from now uses DHL and they''ve been very good..they ring the bell,wait...and nothings been messed up..