What's your experience with Pirate Ship "adjustments"?
I've used Pirate Ship twice so far, and both times I got hit with a UPS surcharge after the fact, which PS immediately charged to my credit card on file. Both shipments were incoming, so I have the packaging and I was able to confirm that the actual dimensions in fact matched those on the label.
On one box, UPS claimed a one-inch difference and assessed a 10% surcharge... Seems like one inch would be well within the margin of error of their automated measurement portals?
Now there's no doubt that Pirate Ship is much less expensive than going through UPS directly, and I'm wondering if UPS has a zero-tolerance policy towards Pirate Ship-originated shipments to help them recoup some of the lower cost... Have you had similar experiences with PS?
"Don’t spend it all in one place". I’ll have to look into Pirate Ship, didn’t know about them. Of course round up, who needs more trouble in their life. Unless, you are repeatedly shipping and it adds up. Even then ... I like that it get’s automatically paid, rather than me paying separate supplementary bill to FedEx, which included a $4.50 service fee for them collecting the tariff. |
On the matter of weight, I always round up to at least the nearest pound, as my scales are not calibrated or certified. Same for size, I always round up to the nearest inch. I've never any issues with either PS or their contractors, and I've shipped or had shipped small items as well as items up to 100+ pounds (both as sender and receiver). |
I know a manufacturer that swears by Pirate Ship. Says it has saved them a lot of money in shipping costs and can also be effective when shipping overseas. I have not yet tried it. On the subject of upcharges, a large UPS distribution near me recently closed their customer counter so I began using a nearby UPS Store for shipping. I quickly realized that I was consistently being charged significantly more than the estimate provided by the shipping calculator software on the UPS website. This had never happened over the many years that I shipped from the customer counter within the UPS distribution center. When I questioned the UPS Store manager/franchise owner about it, she said they had to upsize the package dimensions or UPS would send them a "surcharge after the fact", not unlike that reported by the OP. The final straw for me was when, even after I began upsizing my dimensions, the UPS Store wanted to charge me about 50 percent (about $60) above the UPS website shipping estimate for a shipment and, when I questioned the manager/owner to understand why, I was told the address wasn't on the UPS driver's regular ground route. When the counter representative told the manager/owner that it was an air shipment, not a ground shipment, the manager/owner tried to make up a different excuse. I walked out of their store with the package and drove to the nearest FedEx store where the cost of shipping was about half what the UPS Store wanted to charge me, and even less than the estimate from the UPS website. I have not shipped using UPS since. |
| Post removed |
Agreed, PS is basically just good old UPS door-to-door service but at half the UPS price. I guess it just triggers me when someone reaches into my pocket without warning. Hence my wondering whether those surcharges were part of the business model. Based on the responses so far, it seems not, and that’s good news.
Interesting, so it goes both ways and UPS credits the shipper too? That seems fair though. I’ll oversize my next shipment just for giggles and to see what happens :)
|
