What services you have available...

[MrBlackCat]

Hey guys... since we are scattered around the world, how about everyone post what services they have available to them in addition to cost and reliability of said service.

I am in the United States
Services that ship to my door are
USPS (United States Postal Service)
UPS (United Parcel Service)
FedEx (Federal Express)
DHL (Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn)

USPS 
Pros:  They come here every day with standard daily mail. 
          They are the least expensive of all the services for packages up to about 20lbs or 9kg or so.
Cons:  They are roughest on packages of all the services
           The lose more packages than any of the other services.
           Insurance is a pain if they do lose something that was insured.
           
UPS:
Pros:   Comes here (this area) every day.
           Seldom damage packages
           Seldom lose packages
           Great insurance
Cons:  Expensive

FedEx:
Same as UPS but comes here maybe twice a week.

DHL:  Same as UPS and FedEx, but maybe once a week and usually has to call to find your location as they don't operate constantly in this area.

I will expand on these later as I think of things. 

MrBlackCat

[Iggy]

DPD - They're fast and not expensive but I still hold a grudge against them. I once bought a lot of (anime) DVD's with a total value of € 660,-. DPD delivered it to my house but since nobody was home at the time of delivering they just left the parcel at the friggin' frontdoor were everyone from the street could see it. Now, I never lived in a neighbourhood with a high theft-rate but still, it was utterly wrong of them to just leave it there out in the open while it's content had a very high value. It happened some years ago but I sure won't forget it.

DHL - Fast and expensive. Even a simple package from Germany to the US will cost you € 30,-.

[Remmke]

I only have exprience with Royal Airmail, TNT, Selectvracht, Dutch Customs and USPS.

USPS is quite fast.
TNT is fast.
Royal Airmail is fast.

But here's the catch, all overseas items are rarely delayed by the companies above.

UK oversea mail is massively delayed by Selectvracht. What can I say, they drive around in their own cars, seldom wear company clothes, don't follow rules (just drop packages at your door if you're not home), at max only comes once a week. Or maybe when they feel like it. Packages are tossed in the back of the car. I always pray the packages are diverted to TNT.

Then US mail. USPS deliver within their time range posted on website but when It gets here customs take over. Because the US is not part of the EU it has to go through customs. If your packages are marked as low-value or as gift, you're home free but when its over 40 eu (I think). Prepare to wait (even if you paid for priority shipping). I never know what the hell they do there but its a mess. From various forums I only hear horror stories how packages are held there for 2+ weeks or suddenly lost or even opened. 

This and poor packaging are the only downsides of collecting games.

[Iggy]

UK oversea mail is massively delayed by Selectvracht. What can I say, they drive around in their own cars, seldom wear company clothes, don't follow rules (just drop packages at your door if you're not home), at max only comes once a week. Or maybe when they feel like it. Packages are tossed in the back of the car. I always pray the packages are diverted to TNT.

I noticed it too, they also drive around in cars that aren't even suited for cargo, I once saw them driving around in an old red Volvo 440 full of parcels, they should have got a Volkswagen Caddy / Ford Transit.

Then US mail. USPS deliver within their time range posted on website but when It gets here customs take over. Because the US is not part of the EU it has to go through customs. If your packages are marked as low-value or as gift, you're home free but when its over 40 eu (I think). Prepare to wait (even if you paid for priority shipping). I never know what the hell they do there but its a mess. From various forums I only hear horror stories how packages are held there for 2+ weeks or suddenly lost or even opened. 

No shit, the absolute climax in this was a set of Duke3D Action Figures I bought on eBay from a Canadian. He shipped the figures by boat from Canada. It took 6 months to arrive. I kid you not.

Also, customs opens parcels at random. I noticed that German customs are WAY worse in this then Dutch customs. But that's not my problem with them, the thing with German customs is that they randomly hold up packages so the buyer needs to show up with proof of purchase to verify what the content of his package is (you get a green note in your mailbox with the shipping form) and to pay tax over the value of the content as well as over the shipping fee.  In the Netherlands, TNT Post pays the custom fee in advance for you so you would have to pay the mail man back when he makes the delivery to you. Much better.

However, my worst concern with German customs/postal system is that several packages have not been delivered at all, like they just vanished into thin air. In one case the package got send back to the seller with a total different address label where my address should have been. I've lost good games like this. This is why let packages get delivered at a co-workers address in the Netherlands. A bit more hassle but the chances of arriving are apparently much higher. I must take note that this, so far, has only happened with USPS. Not a single other delivery company has brought me this trouble (instead of my frigging games).

This and poor packaging are the only downsides of collecting games.

Urgh, I could write a book about idiot sellers who fuck up a perfectly good item by packing up games so frigging poorly. I explicitly ask sellers to pack up the games carefully because it's a great collector's item for a while now thanks to this.

[MrBlackCat]

Hmm... We need to make a Collectors Tips thread and put some of this stuff...
I have learned never to assume because you pay $100+ for some game that the person isn't going to throw it in paper envelope and ship it Media Mail.

I might gather up all I can think of and start a thread... soon.

MrBlackCat

[Remmke]

Anybody got good experience with UPS in the Netherlands?

I've done some research regarding how shipping is handled here:

USPS delivers directly to TNT, TNT handles the customs also.
UPS, Fedex and DHL here are pakketservices which handles customs and tax themselves.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

UPS is not United Postal Service but United Parcel Service, like this B742-F clearly shows:


their new art is alot nicer which looks like this, although the text United parcel Service has been replaced with Worldwide Services - Synchronizing the world of commerce , here a B744-F from UPS

[MrBlackCat]

Ooops!  I never re-read that and caught it! 

Fixed...

MrBlackCat