Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/01/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 10:13 AM 1/5/05 -0800, JCB wrote: >FedEx states that they do not xray or otherwise scan packages with harmful >rays. FedEx ground (domestic) is typically cheaper than USPS and UPS. FedEx >is the best for international packages as they seem to have a fast track >through customs where UPS and ordinary mail seems to frequently hang-up >therein. Well, no. You are wrong. UPS and FedEx both charge a fee ($75?) for working through foreign customs agents, while the Postal Service charges not a dime for the like service. Nobody but an idiot drain-bamaged at birth would ever use UPS or FedEx, especially for foreign shipments of materials. (I do not send confidential documents overseas and so have no regard for the services these guys provide for lawyers, accountants, doctors, and the like: I am restricting my comments to the shipments of hard items such as cameras and camera accessories.) No one with an IQ much above ambient room temperature would ever trust these morons to move a cubic foot of concrete ten feet without either losing it or damaging it. And their warranty is worthless once it turns out that you were sending a Rare Collectible: "oh! our insurance only works for items bearing a serial number which are STILL IN PRODUCTION! We are sorry that we lost your 1910 Voigtl?nder 1.2/30cm Apo-Lanthar-Testamentum lens but, well, we WILL refund the fee we charged you for our worthless guarantee." And, so, you had been promised the moon but ended up with a refund of $3.20 or whatever. I ship by the United States Postal Service. If nothing else, their guarantee is protected by international treaty and it might not pay 100% but it will come a lot closer than that "unique item" exception as employed by UPS and FedEx. I rarely have a good word to say about any Government agency or government project or government intention or government purpose. But, in this special case, I will stick with the government-run Postal Services as, for once, they are less dishonest than are the private-enterprise carriers. Marc msmall@infionline.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!