I think the answer is that there is no easy answer. As an individual, very low volume shipper I can't get a good rate from FedEx, UPS, or DHL. USPS is always going to be cheaper than those companies for stuff I send.
I did find some companies that offer mail forwarding services that might be worth looking into: shipito.com, myus.com, and bongous.com.
I don't know anything about them (and it appears there are a variety of good and bad reviews about these services) but they offer more options and better pricing than I can. Does anyone have any experience with any of them?
What I'm thinking is just adding some language that points overseas folks to look at those sites for additional shipping options (potentially cheaper and slower, or more expensive and faster, adding insurance, etc.).
jed
On Mon, Jan 27, 2014 at 9:29 AM, Jed Jorgensen <jed.jorgensen@gmail.com> wrote:
I'm still looking into this. UPS does not appear to be cheaper to me -- I'm sure folks like Amazon and Digikey are able to get some discounts. The cost is also variable based on location which means I have to look into a different shopping cart solution.I'm sticking with USPS for the time being but still looking into things.On Mon, Jan 27, 2014 at 9:27 AM, <josh.nursing@gmail.com> wrote:
I'd say to recap (no pun intended, ah ah ah): not sure if the singular Canadian issue of Canada Post's unreliability necessitates that Jed changes his whole shipping method for other parts of the world too.
On the other hand, it might be better to use UPS for Canada at least for the immediate future. That's for the shipper. For Canadians ordering, please ask for UPS (or FedEx or whatever commercial shipping services you prefer) instead of Canada Post.
Overall, UPS is very good IMO.
Yash