ANy idea about the reliability of US Postal Service (USPS)?

[DAN02006 0]

Hi VJer!

I was wondering if i could get some information based on experience if to use USPS to have my fiance send the I 134 from California to India by their Global Express Guaranteed® Document Service which will cost us $35.75 and delivery time is 1-3 business days.

Whereas FedEx will charge from $77 to $66 ! DHL is $46.... for the same transit time. But is US Postal Service reliable?

Please advise what should we use.

thanks

dano

[Dan J 277]

I've sent quite a bit of stuff to Indonesia with USPS, and it so far as been reliable. Though packages usually get opened/inspected, letters don't. Express tends to work better. In Indonesia at least, they held a package for pickup (and sometimes charged tax/bribe) if it came air parcel, but delivered it directly if it was sent via Express.

You should be fine with USPS.

[Nagishkaw 510]

I have had the same experience with USPS as Dan. My fiance lives in a small village in Egypt, and he has ALWAYS received EVERYTHING I have ever sent, and delivery is usually only 6 to 8 days regular air mail, 5 being a record. USPS , hands down!

[David-and-Mae 15]

We have used USPS just once in the past. We almost lost the package and when it finally reached me (after 2 freakin' months of waiting), the contents got soaked with 2 big broken bottles of shampoo and some valuable things became worthless. Everything's a mess and we had to file for an insurance claim. But the good is because it was such a mess, when customs people tried to check it's content, they didn't go through it to avoid getting sticky shampoos. Otherwise, they would have seen our "personal" stuffs.

Now, we rely on FedEx and even though their service fee is costly, their services and delivery are efficient.

Mae

[onofre 1]

Hi VJer!

I was wondering if i could get some information based on experience if to use USPS to have my fiance send the I 134 from California to India by their Global Express Guaranteed® Document Service which will cost us $35.75 and delivery time is 1-3 business days.

Whereas FedEx will charge from $77 to $66 ! DHL is $46.... for the same transit time. But is US Postal Service reliable?

Please advise what should we use.

thanks

dano

USPS is much more cheaper than UPS or FedEx, the only problem is with USPS is tracking! THEY SUCK! I send out my petition on Monday morning next day service, and when I checked today, so far there's no confirmation that it was delivered to that Service Center. So for $10 more, try DHL, im sure you'll feel better tracking your package than with USPS. UPS has the best tracking system, but they charge much more. Good luck

[sunset2005 0]

I used both..global express and regular express mail. I encountered a situation cuz it was being mailed to p.o. box they did not GUARANTEE service but i was sucked into paying the 48.50 for global express for 6 day service to amman. It was delivered on the 6th day and my regular express mail was also delivered on the 6th day at half the price.

Hi VJer!

I was wondering if i could get some information based on experience if to use USPS to have my fiance send the I 134 from California to India by their Global Express Guaranteed® Document Service which will cost us $35.75 and delivery time is 1-3 business days.

Whereas FedEx will charge from $77 to $66 ! DHL is $46.... for the same transit time. But is US Postal Service reliable?

Please advise what should we use.

thanks

dano

[rebeccajo 14]

I always used FedEx. The tracking is marvelous and they RARELY lose things.

To ship documents to London cost me around $30. $70 to India sounds about right considering what I paid for London.

[payxibka 10,045]

I think the real question is how reliable is the postal service on the other side (we know how reliable the USPS is). Once the package leaves the US borders you are outside the USPS system and it is handed off the to local equivalent .... Not like UPS/DHL/FEDX where they are more in control (in most cases) from pickup to delivery...

My personal experience was a sent a package to Ukraine and they have a very suspect postal service. I had a choice of regular airmail for $4.50 or Global Express Mail ($25) or FEDX ($90). I chose regular airmail and the package arrived 10 days later and only 3 days later than what the USPS said.

[Ladylethal 12]

I usually received everything Luis sent me (to Brazil) through USPS, but there was an episode that he sent me some pictures, 3 times, and none of the times I got them. He sent them global priority.

[Nicole72082 0]

I've never sent anything to India, but I tried using the USPS Global Express Guaranteed thing and paid like $33. The lady at the post office said it would be 3-5 business days (unlike what I read on the website) and it got stuck in customs or something, because it ended up being about 10 days before he received it. I guess that's something you can't help, but when you pay all that money, it's still irritating because its supposed to be Guaranteed!

[ajames79 0]

I've never had any problems with the USPS..but when my K-1 package was sent to my fiance in South Yorkshire...the UK side of things miss placed the item and it was sitting in a warehouse for almost 2 weeks with out being processed. But it arrived. 2 days before the interview!

It is always scary sending really important documents. You may go with the more expensive one for peice of mind?

[beameup 0]

Global Express is the equivalent of EMS. Check with the post office in your country to see if they are using EMS.

Global Express normally is $18 and takes about a week. I think it would be a waste of money to use their Global Express "Guaranteed", however, there is a list of approved countries which can process "Guaranteed" in the necessary short period of time required - these are highly developed countries with efficient Postal Systems.

Hi VJer!

I was wondering if i could get some information based on experience if to use USPS to have my fiance send the I 134 from California to India by their Global Express Guaranteed® Document Service which will cost us $35.75 and delivery time is 1-3 business days.

Whereas FedEx will charge from $77 to $66 ! DHL is $46.... for the same transit time. But is US Postal Service reliable?

Please advise what should we use.

thanks

dano

[MPGGPM 0]

I know you'd rather not pay the extra for FEDEX.....but I still want to add my opinion of them , in case you decide to reconsider.

I found them to be very efficient when I sent some documents to my wife in Istanbul just recently. They did a terrific job in getting those documents to her. I dropped them off at FEDEX around 5:30 eastern time, on a Wednesday, from Florida..................and my wife received them in Istanbul, Turkey, in about a day and a half. She got it around 3 p.m, local time (8 am eastern time here in the USA).

I paid $46.00............

I was very impressed with the short amount of it took to get there........and their service overall.

If you start to have doubts about the USPS.....I would definately consider them. For a few extra dollars more, I personally, based on this experience, think they are worth it. (especially if you are sending "important" documents)

I always tend to trust privately run companies a lot more than I do government run ones.......(all you have to do is look at USCIS and how they do things, to understand what I mean

Edited March 31, 2007 by MPGGPM

[ajames79 0]

I've never had any problems with the USPS..but when my K-1 package was sent to my fiance in South Yorkshire...the UK side of things miss placed the item and it was sitting in a warehouse for almost 2 weeks with out being processed. But it arrived. 2 days before the interview!

It is always scary sending really important documents. You may go with the more expensive one for peice of mind?

that was a peace of mind....not a peice of mind. Still a little early for me....*yawn*

[JanaknJanet 0]

Speaking from experience..

I WILL NEVER NEVER NEVER ... send anything... that I do not want gone tru or opened .. via.. USPS.. INTERNATIONAL.. especially to India.

I have tried many different ways of sending things to India.. (Bhavnagar) my experiences..

Sent a dig cam with adapter and disc.. via UPS. Made mistake saying value was $200 and insured it for $250. it was held in custom clearance for 50% tarrif of the value of the box due to the difference of what i wrote and what was declared. Time of delivery 4 days.. time of being held in customs.. 2 days..

FedEX.. shipment of children gift items.. toy candy and some papers for Jan.. a bit expensive.. cost of items total was about $100 cost of shipping $98.. weight of box about 6 lbs . got there in two days.

Sent herbs-supplements... when Jan got Chickenquina-- was able to place in soft envelope. cost $30 .. UPS stated $55 to ship.. FEDEX was $30. got it in two days. Tracking is awsome with both UPS and FEDEX.

I have gotten things from DHL from India but I have never shipped..

If it is Documents.. and only documents.. look at sending it in the Document packaging. The envelope. It is less costly. same item in a soft pack cushion envelop was about $5-8 more.. and same item in a small box was $30 more. go figure..

I mailed without thinking.. a small package via USPS International.. cost was reasonable. about $25. Items were a small used nokia phone. Herbal Linament. Candies. small toys for kids. .. I gave Jan tracking info.. I had Tracking info.. never could locate it.. other than it was out of the country . They said it would take 3-5 days for delivery. it took 45. I filed a claim for lost item.. and only after the claim was filed did the package arrive. the candy was opened.. I sent 10 disney character pens that lighted up when you wrote.. and mickey and minnie didnt arrive .. ..

Jan told me it is not that it is USPS.. it is that it went tru the Postal system in India.. that unless you want it to be lost you need to send it via courier..

Never Never Never send anything that is important via any other way than FedEx-UPS-Dhl or similar Courier service..

Best of luck..

A