How do you guys ship your sold knives?

V

villainvomit

Joined
Jul 9, 2004
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53
I am curious as to how you guys ship your sold knives. Do you insure them? Require a signature?

:confused:


The very few knives I have made were all gifts and I just delivered them in person. I have one going out soon that is not a gift and would greatly appreciate any feedback on this matter.

Thx,
VV
Clark
 
Clark, You put faith in the system, and hold yer breath. Best I can tell ya is that...I've been purty lucky so far. Sent stuff UPS, USPS and all good. The insurance gig is hard to say. I doubt any shipment method would reimburse what anything is really worth
 
I ship USPS, priority mail with delivery confirmation (no sig required, it just tracks the package) and insurance. Its not overly expensive, usually around the $5 mark. Part of it depends on how much insurance you want on it. I generally don't insure anything for more than $150. If it gets lost I can give the customer their money back, and I still have $150 to buy materials and make another one.

A couple tips,

Don't take knives to the post office without a box. I did once and the guy at the counter just about **** his pants. I knew it would fit in a priority mail container and didn't have any boxes at the time so I just took it in. He tried to make me pay to have it shipped as hazardous material! :rolleyes:

Have an idea ahead of time what service (express, priority, global express etc. ) you want to use (www.usps.com) . The last knife I sent I let the guy talk me into using a different method than normal and I ended up not getting delivery confirmation on it :grumpy:

I can't say that I'm overly pleased using USPS, but they have delivered everything I sent on time so far, so I can't complain too much either.
 
It is very seldom that I have to ship a knife. I am sure you can review this with Nick Wheeler and he will be in the same arena as I have stated. One must make a product that is worthy of the price of postage. :eek: :eek:
 
The few times I've done so I've had good luck with USPS, priority mail with delivery confirmation and insurance.
 
I prefer Priority US mail if shipping within the country. If outside the country I still have been using the US mail service except when directed otherwise by the customer. If insuring I do not do a delivery confirmation. Not all in country but all out of country deliveries I insure. An overseas UPS shipment can cost upwards of $100. The ones I have shipped to the UK via US Postal Service has been averaging about $25 for 4 to 10 day air. UPS is 2 day.

RL
 
USPS priority mails w/ delivery conf and insurance in CONUS and a couple of times global priority mail for overseas. The global priority mail is sort of expensive, but is reasonably dependable (I think).
 
I was told by a jeweler most diamonds are shipped around the country via USPS Registered Mail.

When a package is shipped with registered mail every time a postal employee passes the package to another employee, they must sign for it and are responsible for it. If an employee is not carrying the package, it is locked in a safe. When the package is delivered the customer must sign for it. It is never dropped on the door step or left in the mail box. Without the customer signature the mailman is responsible if it is lost. I asked the post office about the loss rate and they said it was less than .001%!

The package must be taped with special paper/fiber tape that must be dampened to stick, and then sticks to everything. The tape is a pain. The post office stamps all tape edges to show if the package has been opened. If I remember correctly the insurance costs less. One down side is shipping usually takes a day or two longer.

Registered mail is how we ship most orders over $500.
 
Inside the US most are USPS Priority Mail, Insured, with Delivery Verification. I insure for the full amount. The customer pays for shipping and insurance. I cover the Delivery Verification. As soon as I ship, I email or call the customer and give them the Insurance Claim number and the Confirmation/Tracking number.

I've had no problems with Priority, Global, or Express mail.

The only package I've ever had disappear was sent FedEx overnight. I was never reimbursed. After struggling with them for a few months I gave them a string of words that I can't repeat here. I was not able to complete what I called them in one breath. The reason was that I not only lost a knife, but a photo shoot and a magazine article on that deal. Before I slammed the phone down I let them know that I would never use FedEx again and I would tell everyone I know what a bunch of incompetent fools and crooks they were. I've done exactly as I promised.
 
I use the USPS Registered Mail like Chuck Bybee for the high end knives and Priority for everything else. If You want to buy insurance you better have pictures of the contents to prove what it is and even then you will need to prove it is worth the insured price. I usually just lay hands on the package and pray. Seems to work.
 
I changed my mind and thought maybe I should report this: my last USPS 4 to 10 day air shipment ended up in New Jersey and was put on a boat. It was supposed to go to New York for air delivery. I paid for 4 to 10 day air but it took over a month to arrive and thank the good Lord it did. Things happen no matter what. I'll still use USPS whenever I can.

RL
 
Guy Thomas said:
The few times I've done so I've had good luck with USPS, priority mail with delivery confirmation and insurance.
Click to expand...
Me too. I insure it for the selling price, which is verifiable via invoice. Never had a problem though. One thing to keep in mind, delivery confirmation doesn't help a great deal for in route tracking. It's pretty much just to tell you they did deliver it to the right address. Insurance can be a pain for the recipient because unless they're home to sign for delivery they have to go to some central PO to pick it up. For me that means taking vacation time from work, so I really do not appreciate receiving insured packages. I'd probably sing a different tune if anything had ever gotten lost or damaged.

Personally I wouldn't use anything but USPS, because I'm loyal (collected stamps when I was a kid) and because it's so convenient. I can mail stuff even from the grocery store around here. UPS is a royal pain in the butt in every way.
 
Prority or Global priority. I had a knife trashed last winter, and the postal service paid full amount of insurance. It did take about 6 weeks to receive payment, but none the less I did get paid. I would never insure one for less then total amount, a dollar or 2 isn't worth a $300 or $400 + loss if a mishap occurs. Also always get an additonal delivery or signature confirmation. They will tell you that anything over a certain amount of INSURANCE HAS TO BE SIGNED FOR ANYWAY, BUT GET THE CONFIRMATION ANYWAY, YOU'LL BE GLAD YOU DID.

Good luck,

Bill
 
I ship USPS priority with delivery confirmation. I only insure if the value is over fifty bucks. I doubt the extra money for insurance is worth it. I usually pray it gets there. :D
Scott
 
We ship mainly UPS . We ship about five packages a day at the store,once a year or two something goes wrong,but only once in 18 years has a package got lost. I ship knives with the jewelery shipments via UPS and have no complaints.We are shippers,and they come to us,sign the book and leave with the packages.No hassle.Tracking is a breeze.
SA
 
For some reaseon we have several cardboard 3 to 4" tubes lying around at work. I cut off what I need. Stuff with newspaper and ship USPS 2 day for about 4 bucks ;)
 
I ship mine comressed in bubble wrap in reinforced boxes. If it doesn't move, it won't cut its way out. Ship USPS priority sig required most of the time. Insured for the full amount. Money is cheaper than stress
no fedex for me either. life is too short
 
Thanks a bunch for all the info guys!

I appreciate all comments both positive and negative on diff carriers. Nothing is usually 100% and I was already fearful of using UPS.......so, I guess I will go with the USPS Priority with the delivery confirm.

Now to get that little rascal done!

VV
Clark
 
You mean to tell me that people actually buy these things and pay real money for them???? Man alive! Who'da thought???


I usually just put a few wraps of duct tape around them and slap a stamp on them.

-Nick-
http://www.wheelerknives.com
 
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