Shipping Extortion

[flyfisher117]

I don’t bother with the protection. It’s a hassle and a half to get them to even cover anything because it’s all a 3rd party insurance anyways. I tried using it one time and I ended up having to play phone tag for 3 weeks with the insurance, the vendor, and the shipping company. All 3 wanted to point fingers and blame the other guy.

 

[DuckDawg22]

I notice most ammo vendors are charging it, and I usually pay it since ammo to my door step in California (I have my FFL03/COE) is not something that happens every day and I would guess my risk of something happening to that package in transit would be higher than a clothing item or something mundane.

I just wish all carriers would default to allowing you to route a package to a local access point for pickup. Companies that allow this get repeat business from me, those that don't have to have an excellent price for me to make the trade off. Im in a relatively new neighborhood and FedEx successfully delivering is like playing Russian roulette

 

[flyfisher117]

I notice most ammo vendors are charging it, and I usually pay it since ammo to my door step in California (I have my FFL03/COE) is not something that happens every day and I would guess my risk of something happening to that package in transit would be higher than a clothing item or something mundane.

I just wish all carriers would default to allowing you to route a package to a local access point for pickup. Companies that allow this get repeat business from me, those that don't have to have an excellent price for me to make the trade off. Im in a relatively new neighborhood and FedEx successfully delivering is like playing Russian roulette

My anecdotal experience of 1 was not good. I had package insurance from/through Route.

They defaulted blame to the seller. Seller defaulted blame to the shipping company. Shipping company blamed the seller and told me since it had Route insurance that I needed to talk to Route. Rinse repeat for 3 weeks

 

[TandKHunting]

Here are my thoughts being a manufacturer and DTC business.

1. We use Shopify and strictly use UPS now due to USPS losing packages constantly. UPS rarely loses packages for us and we ship hundreds upon thousands a month. We can easily file insurance claims from our dashboard. It only covers a certain amount, but I'm willing to take that risk to decrease costs to the customer considering my average order value is between $125 - $175. Basic UPS insurance covering $100 helps cover a good portion of our products COGS. We might get a chargeback every 6 months out of thousands of orders, but that can be solved with good customer service. That's certainly not common for us and probably not common for many other retailers with a good product / service. Fraudulent chargebacks are a thing, but most of us have security systems in place to flag those orders and cancel them immediately.

2. Businesses offering additional coverage is more than likely due to the cost of the product and/or their average order value exceeding basic insurance amounts. A pack and frame for $700-$800 is a pretty big hit if it's lost or damaged considering most of the basic UPS coverage is only up to $100.

3. We use a function called REDO, which is 98 cents for return or exchange shipping coverage. It's a similar program to the shipping insurance. We don't collect that 98 cents and put it in our pocket. It's paid out to REDO, a third party app/business that covers return and exchange shipment for the customer. With this option, the customer is not out a bunch of money and either is our business. The same goes for shipping insurance. It's a 3rd party app that is collecting that fee to cover a $1000 shipment in case it's lost or damaged. I can say with almost 100% certainty that companies using 3rd party apps for shipment insurance are not seeing a dime of what you are paying to get it. Nearly all companies are using a 3rd party insurance company (like the airlines, car rentals, etc). The option for it doesn't go away depending on the order price either. It's streamlined and installed onto the website to show up on every shopping cart. Whether it's a $20 order or a $20,000 order.

4. Does insurance suck? Yes. I hate paying my car insurance that I haven't filed a claim for in 10 years. But, when I need it...I will be thankful I have it. Just use common sense with it. $1,000 order? Probably get insurance. $25 order? A good company will cover that, as it lies within the basic insurance amount for UPS or USPS priority.

I wouldn't be too quick to claim companies are being crumby and scamming for simply offering an option that protects both the business and consumer.

That's just my two cents..

 

[SikaSeeker]

I sent something to US and USPS messed up on their end and its getting sent back. Hope it makes it here. What's considered the best in US ? I like DHL

 

[Reburn]

I wouldn't be too quick to claim companies are being crumby and scamming for simply offering an option that protects both the business and consumer.

Problem is the route "insurance" is as hard to get to pay out as USPS. If they dont pay out who exactly are they protecting.

Also most peoples gripe including mine is the way its auto added to the order and it is usually difficult to get off. Also the strong not our problem if our package gets lost language IMO is already telling the customer we dont care about you, too bad so sad.

 

[TandKHunting]

Problem is the route "insurance" is as hard to get to pay out as USPS. If they dont pay out who exactly are they protecting.

Also most peoples gripe including mine is the way its auto added to the order and it is usually difficult to get off. Also the strong not our problem if our package gets lost language IMO is already telling the customer we dont care about you, too bad so sad.

I agree with USPS being absolutely terrible. We gave them many chances, and they have failed our business over and over. We handle the claim for the customer and send a replacement right away. That’s how every business should do it. My take is that it’s the companies responsibility until it hits the front door. I think we all agree that’s how it should be. The least friction and headache a customer faces = high return percentage.

I know Shopify (which a lot of gear companies use) now prevents those things from auto adding. You have to click an option in the cart page to get it. That was a pretty recent change that other platforms will probably enable due to customer complaints and consumer laws. On the flip side, people also complain when it’s not auto added and claim they didn’t see the REDO or insurance option. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

 

[KenLee]

This. If it makes it to my door it's on me. I don't buy any sort of insurance, if a product never makes it to my door my CC will gladly reverse the charges if the company wants to be a PITA and they'll also lose my business forever. This new shipping insurance thing is absolutely a scam.

Edit: If I sell something on here or other forums over $100 or so I'll typically pay for insurance, but that's to protect myself.

FedEx and UPS both lie and mark packages delivered to address when they are not.

 

[DuckDawg22]

Had an interesting one just yesterday. Bought a scope off of GAFS and it was shipped via UPS Ground. Awesome, rerouted the package to my local UPS Store (walking distance) so I wouldn't have to worry about it. Had another package get delivered to the house via UPS and sure as shit, there's the optic sitting with it. Had the UPS Store address and everything. I then get a notification saying the package is ready for pick up at the local UPS Store and to bring an ID. Ive rerouted 100+ packages and never had this happen before, but that one could have gotten messy. Mind you, this is a service that normally costs $5 to change delivery if you don't have the $20 annual membership, so it's not like this driver was doing me a favor by delivering to the house.

Curious if anyone on here has been a loader for one of the big delivery companies, because there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to how those UPS trucks are loaded. Now that they have the live tracking, I watched that guy pass my house 4 or 5 times, spend two hours delivering on the other side of town, and then finally deliver both packages three hours after the original time window. It's a wonder that any package gets delivered.

 

[Poser]

Had an interesting one just yesterday. Bought a scope off of GAFS and it was shipped via UPS Ground. Awesome, rerouted the package to my local UPS Store (walking distance) so I wouldn't have to worry about it. Had another package get delivered to the house via UPS and sure as shit, there's the optic sitting with it. Had the UPS Store address and everything. I then get a notification saying the package is ready for pick up at the local UPS Store and to bring an ID. Ive rerouted 100+ packages and never had this happen before, but that one could have gotten messy. Mind you, this is a service that normally costs $5 to change delivery if you don't have the $20 annual membership, so it's not like this driver was doing me a favor by delivering to the house.

Curious if anyone on here has been a loader for one of the big delivery companies, because there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to how those UPS trucks are loaded. Now that they have the live tracking, I watched that guy pass my house 4 or 5 times, spend two hours delivering on the other side of town, and then finally deliver both packages three hours after the original time window. It's a wonder that any package gets delivered.

I loaded UPS trucks back in 99 or 2000, so I'm sure its changed, but at that time at least, there was no organization to the loading. Boxes come down the belt, you had to recognize them for your trucks (I loaded 2), grab them and load them. There was no time for a system and the trucks were usually loaded completely and 100% full. The next day air were the only things that were prioritized.

As the boxes are scanned in, the drivers handhelds tell them where to go next. UPS can't make left turns or backup so sometimes the nonsensical town routing is based on avoiding either scenario. I would wager there is a factor for how early a package was loaded onto the truck as, if its buried under a pile of boxes loaded later, it may be more efficient to drive across town and deliver some boxes that aren't buried.

 

[Snowwolfe]

If you buy an item from anyone it is the buyers responsibility to deliver it to you. Once it arrives in good condition on your front porch they meet their responsibility.
If the package is lost or damaged in transit it is on the buyer, period.