<p>I'm sure this has been covered somewhere but a thread search didn't turn anything up, so I apologize for raising the question again.</p>
<p>S is graduating and needs to ship stuff from E Coast to W Coast. Apparently, College Boxes had major problems last year, and so he asked what shipper he should use instead to make sure nothing gets lost. I think most of what he has will be books, and maybe some clothes.</p>
<p>Thanks for any suggestions based on your experiences.</p>
<p>UPS lost one box, but it showed up a few days later, they didn't charge us, and generally handled things appropriately. We have shipped 8-9 large items to kids over the years, and had a problem with one.</p>
<p>For books, I use the post office with delivery confirmation. It costs about one third (slightly less) than UPS, and I have found them more reliable.</p>
<p>On Saturday May 3rd I shipped four USPS flat rate boxes from the East Coast to the West coast. They arrived Monday, May 5th. Three tubes containing posters were shipped first class, also on Saturday. They arrived Tuesday, May 6th.</p>
<p>A flat rate box shipped Monday, May 5th arrived Wednesday, May 7th.</p>
<p>In total I shipped 33 boxes of varying sizes from the East Coast to the West Coast using flat rate, first class, media mail and parcel post. So, 8 of my 33 items shipped arrived in the first three days of this week.</p>
<p>We shipped extralarge boxes via DHL from Chicago to Calif with no problems. They seem to be the cheapest for shipping oversize boxes. Otherwise UPS always has worked for us.</p>
<p>Ditto that using the U.S. mail was the cheapest (and reliable) way for us.</p>
<p>A big vote for the USPS here. Shipped a laptop (no original box, had to rig something up with tons of bubble wrap and Seattle Times pages) to D on the East coast. The package arrived on time, the laptop was unharmed, and the shipping and $2K insurance was much less than UPS's shipping charges alone. During or mass-mailing of the application materials via their priority mail, not a single piece of mail was lost (knocking on wood).</p>
<p>BunsenBurner, I've got a new MacBook and am thinking of giving my old Dell laptop to a friend who runs a non-profit and can't afford her own computer at home. What did you spend for USPS shipping of a laptop? I will also be doing the bubble-wrap newspaper rigging job ;). Shipping from Maine to Baltimore.</p>
<p>jmmom, the $$$ will depend on the size of the box, weight, distance and how fast you want it to get to its destination. Here is the calculator that you can use to estimate the charges:
Postage</a> Price Calculator</p>
<p>Thanks, BB. I feel like one of those kids who come on the forum to ask what date College X's application is due - when all they have to do is check on the website :o. Thanks for the link.</p>
<p>jmmom, you are welcome. I have it bookmarked :) I find that sometimes it is faster to get my answers through CC than through Google</p>
<p>It's only 9 here and I must be getting tired already - I thought this thread header said "good experience with slippers?" and I clicked on it because I really love my slippers...</p>
<p>Never mind...</p>
<p>Thanks for your replies!</p>
<p>I don't wear slippers, so I have nothing to offer to that discussion either.</p>
<p>I've shipped everything from laptops to iMacs to stereo speakers to artwork to a bass guitar to Christmas boxes using DHL. They are my distance-shipper of choice for anything larger than envelope-size. (And I'm in CA and my sons are both in college on the east coast, so I do a lot of shipping.)</p>
<p>The only thing I ship with USPS is heavy boxes of books, which I ship book-rate.</p>
<p>We are trying to ship by Goodwill. We drop stuff off at far off GW and pickup newer stuff at local GW. Fast. Sometimes the colors don't match.</p>
<p>BEWARE USPS</p>
<p>They are great until something goes wrong. Their tracking is terrible and their claims procedure antediluvian. You are unlikely to ever get them to honor a claim for late delivery or damage/loss. At least that has been our experience.</p>
<p>Other than that, they're fine.</p>
<p>I always use UPS with good luck. A high ticket item was damaged once and they paid for it. One trick: go online and set up a UPS account. Print the labels yourself off your computer and have it charged to your UPS account (paid by credit card). This is MUCH cheaper than going into a UPS store.<br>
You can also go online and calculate the shipping charges to compare against USPS.</p>
<p>We use Fedex ground. can ship duffle bags and suitcases so need need to box everything.....very reliable - a few days...</p>