Heads UP!

[perdurabo]

Just placed an order on Smokingpipes.com. No UPS Shipping with them, as of now. I enquired and they could only say that they weren’t using them now and wouldn’t know anything until further notice.??‍

Just a heads up, if you’re anti USPS. When I order a Pipe, it’s always UPS.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

Hope their international shipping policies are still remaining unchanged,,

 

[Casual]

Hope their international shipping policies are still remaining unchanged,,

Super saver international is still there as of now. Whew!

 

[gervais]

Thanks for the heads up. I prefer usps, personally. Less issues in terms of customs, I find

 

[swilford]

The UPS thing only applies to the US and will, I hope, be temporary. They had some policy/contract changes on carriage of tobacco to consumers that we're sorting out with them right now (that we disagree with), but rather than violate the terms of contract, we opted to turn off UPS for domestic consumer shipments. International, Super Saver, and domestic B2B are unaffected by the contract, so that is continuing.

Incidentally, our experience with USPS is that the quality of service has improved mightily in the past decade. For many years, we were very disinclined to use USPS. These days, the quality of service is such that in many circumstances, we'd prefer to use them.

 

[olkofri]

On the other hand, I've seen UPS's quality go down over the years. From no more 2nd or 3rd attempts, to unreliable scheduling, to errors in their database listing residential addresses as 'commercial'. If they are now joining in the anti-tobacco jihad, they can go trout themselves.

 

[alaskanpiper]

Always used USPS with SP and the shipping to date has been reliable, fast, and safe, with 20+ orders now.

 

[briarbuck]

FEDEX is a way better deal these days. Better cost and reliability. They will be delivering 7 days a week within the next 12 months as well.

 

[BROBS]

Incidentally, our experience with USPS is that the quality of service has improved mightily in the past decade. For many years, we were very disinclined to use USPS. These days, the quality of service is such that in many circumstances, we'd prefer to use them.

As a consumer I would absolutely prefer USPS to UPS both in cost and in speed.

UPS is horrible and only riding on their Amazon shipping for income.. so they don't care about other "small fries" .

 

[trouttimes]

I have been very happy with USPS these past few years. I trust Smoking Pipes to do what needs to be done to get my stuff to me quickly and cost effectively.

 

[pandapiper]

Thank you for the heads up. I've been using UPS almost exclusively for my orders as the USPS (in my neighborhood) is terribly unreliable. It irked me a little when I qualified for free shipping on a large order, only to find out that the free standard UPS service had been replaced with UPS Surepost. Still, I was happy to pay a little extra for actual delivery and not have UPS drive past my house to hand it over to the USPS. I wasn't planning on ordering anything, but I will be keeping an eye on other vendors now.

 

[Spa32]

I never had a problem with UPS deliveries. Always arrive within 3 days. From SmokingPipes alone, I've had well over 20 UPS deliveries. I've also had great service from USPS. IMO, 2 best delivery services out there.

 

[Chasing Embers]

My USPS orders always arrive earlier than UPS.

 

[BROBS]

My USPS orders always arrive earlier than UPS.

mine too.. as in DAYS earlier. usually at least 2 days depending on shipment origin. and that's even with 1st class.

UPS slowed their delivery times on purpose because all their orders were arriving within say 3 days.. makes it hard to sell a "3 day" shipping when your shipment will make it in 3 days anyways for less money.

 

[bullet08]

USPS has improved a lot over the yrs. very dependable as long as it's not coming from overseas. UPS isn't bad at all. only one i'm worried about is amazon since they have started using their own delivery system. lost few items and their support system isn't very reliable either.

 

[olkofri]

one i'm worried about is amazon since they have started using their own delivery system. lost few items and their support system isn't very reliable either.

You can say that again. Not impressed either.

 

[sablebrush52]

I've found UPS to be very hit or miss. Some years back I got a notice that they were holding a parcel for me at their facility and to come pick it up, a drive of 30 miles. I arrived at the facility with my notice and waited 45 minutes while they rooted around in the back looking for it. The service agent came out to tell me that they couldn't find it. Then I noticed that another guy was sitting on a large box and I asked if that might be it. Yep, it was. The guy was sitting on my new Mac Tower.
USPS can be hit or miss, depending on the quality of the delivery person. I've had several packages go missing, having been delivered to the wrong address, and I've delivered numerous items of mail that were intended for different addresses and dropped into my mailbox. Nowadays I require any packages to be sent requiring a signature, so that the delivery person has to actually look at the address rather than just dump it wherever.

 

[danimalia]

As a consumer I would absolutely prefer USPS to UPS both in cost and in speed.

UPS is horrible and only riding on their Amazon shipping for income.. so they don't care about other "small fries" .

This x1000

 

[Worknman]

Its hard to believe UPS is commercially ran and USPS is a government operation given how much better the latter seems to be.

Now if we could just get P&C to switch their free shipping to USPS...