Shipping realities
Keith I pmed you the tracking #. Didn't want to post where you live if some one tracked it. Most of the time tracking #'s go to spam folders. Then I get to answer e-mails all day & calls telling people tracking #'s. Did I mention also posting after 10:30 pm
As far as you needing it that was what I was told. We try shipping everything the same day.
Let me tell you about UPS. Right now they owe us $38K+ for 18 months of damages. We had to replace damaged parts & pay shipping again. Now think about that & do the math on How much we have lost. I know some one will come back & say look at how much you make.
I had 5 different UPS district reps in 18 months. The last one who is a GN owner (Sheldon) told me they had a $30K plus check in the mail & we would hash thru the last few thousand in claims. STILL WAITING!
The only way to get their attention was to stop paying our bill. Even at that I was only able to get them for $19K in shipping which part of that was damaged items any way. Kept changing district managers & broken promises.
How did I stick them for $19K? Easy they kept extending our shipping because they were sending me a check
Find this hard to believe ? Jeremy Polzine has outside dew sweeps from about 2 years ago still sitting at his home. UPS claim turned in no less then 8 times requesting the item picked up. They know the game & play it well. Deny & refuse it. Let them take us to Court.
That is one example.
Now I'm lucky enough to go through this with Fed Ex who was damage free for 2 months. Then Christmas happened. 4 claims right now & I can't get a rep to answer wtf is going on after e-mailing pics filing claims & e-mails daily. BTW this rep is the one I had in PA 3 years ago. They stole $4800 worth of parts. Sent back a 1lb package as damaged. I was paid $2700 & told if I wanted more I would have to take the driver to court. Then I got to re-ship $4800 worth of parts again!
DHL, well enough said they were great but not any more. They always paid about 50% of what they owed us & asked us to accept it. That is of course finding out our cost before they would pay it. Yes going to Court with them & UPS this year. Towards the end they just didn't pay the claim. I think they got me for about $9k I refused to pay until I was re-imbursed.
Mr. Wanner USPS was great when I started out in Baltimore,then again so was DHL.
PA, USPS well what a PITA they were but no where near as bad as in Ahoskie NC. You have to prove to them they have no idea what they are talking about. Eric got a taste of this already.
It is one thing to ship a few packages USPS. Our problem is right now I'm told we are the largest shipper in Ahoskie. We ship alot of packages daily. In Pa we shipped 400-500 packages a week.We used DHL & fed ex to pick up at our location. I did this because who ever was less expensive we shipped with to save you $. Also we knew we couldn't ship this part with this company because it would get damaged. But you could ship that part with that company because they wouldn't damage it.
Then you post in my defense: you have to package it up(supplies). Pay some one to pull it(labor). Then some one to type an invoice & a shipping label (labor again).Then answer e-mails & calls about tracking #'s(labor).
You missed the part about a Facility & utilities.
Then just to hear well that is the cost of doing business. Then post a price & have some one beat you by $10 or a few bucks.
This is why I have to charge what we charge. God help us if a company made $. Don't even say handling fees.

If it wasn't for the amount of volume we sell we wouldn't be in business. We would never make it doing just Buicks.
I laugh when every one thinks we are getting rich doing this. Only people getting rich is the shipping companies. Only some one who owns a business & has to deal with this crap really understands. We don't just sell new parts,we don't sell just used.
I would of had aluminum GN wheels last year when we talked about it if it wasn't for this crap. We would of had alot of other products done by now as well. I put most of our $ right back into the business on new products for our cars.
Don't even get me started on customers who are missing a $5.00 part & do a credit card charge backs for a $1100 order. Others who knew i was going thru alot with my wife & wouldn't have time to take care of charge backs. Parts getting copied & the vendor bashing.GM price increases,you find that out when you place an order. It just goes on & on.
Then People wonder why I'm not in a good mood when they call half the time.
The amount of time we waste daily on shipping is rediculous. Why not just run it down to the post office ( sitting here shaking my head). We still find time to do that anyway.
Bottom line is I can ship a part to CA. it may be $8.00 Send another the same day to another part & be $16.00. If your not in a major city the cost is different.
I'll be honest I use to enjoy this business but not so much anymore.