Shipping. Ups vs USPS

I'm working on getting an online clothing store launched and I'm not sure which shipper to use. What are your guys opinion? UPS or USPS?

I'd personally go with USPS. Most areas (primarily rural areas) have at least 1 post office, but probably don't have a nearby UPS shipping center. Where I grew up, we had at least 5 post offices within 5 miles, but no UPS shipping center within a much larger radius.

I think this is beneficial, especially if someone needs to return something. They are probably going to find that the easier it is to get the package to you for a refund, the happier that they are going to be and will probably give you a second chance (if it was your fault).

USPS priority mail (2-3 days) is generally about 4-5 dollars cheaper than UPS ground (3-7) days.

I'd recommend USPS for your shipping.

Personally, I wouldn't choose a shipper based on cost alone. It's a bad business decision when you've got customers to think about. As the old adage goes, "You get what you pay for."

I used to be the Operations Manager for a company that shipped 400-500 packages on a daily basis. In my time at that position, I got to know the different parcel services pretty good, including: UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL and a few others not worth remembering.

In my experience, you're going to get better service with any commercial shipper on the list, hands down. UPS, DHL or FedEx are all farily reliable shippers. The Post Office is a gov't run organization and, in my opinion, they run like any other gov't org. Customer Service plays no part in their business plan. Of course, in many cases, you have to use the USPS. Nobody else does APO/FPO addresses but the USPS. (at least not when I payed attention).

UPS was by far the most reliable shipper I've ever dealt with. Compared to FedEx, DHL and USPS, they always had a higher success rating when we reviewed our shipping logs. IIRC, I believe we had a 99.4% success rate with UPS. Most other shippers were in the 98% or less range.

For most businesses, reliability is what really matters. You don't want customers calling and complaining about late deliveries, missing deliveries and/or damaged deliveries (although, that mostly depends on you). In my experiences, UPS is more reliable than any other shipper when looked at on a regular basis.

My 2 cents.

FYI: The USPS is not government owned. They operate like a government agency and everything about them screams government, but they are privately owned.


You'll need to learn how to use both to get the best cost/benefit ratio.

One shirt can go in an envelope with first class postage for $3 or $4, but it would be at least $5.50 and upwards of $8 with UPS. But a box full of shirts will probably cost less with UPS.

It's not a huge loss if one shirt doesn't make it, especially when that one shirt is 1 of 100 you sent this week, so again, USPS wouldn't be a bad option. If you lost a box full of shirts then you're out substantially more money, so you'll need to be able to track it and have it properly insured, so UPS would be best.


- UPS denies almost every damage claim, so get a copy of UPS' packing standards and follow them. Take pictures of how you packed every box you send with them b/c if you have to file a claim you may never see it again.
- All services, including Ground, are guaranteed now. Take the time to check each package you ship (there's programs that do it for you), and get your refund.
- Learn about all of USPS' options, like delivery confirmation.

Very good advice, jharnois.

Especially the point about Delivery Confirmation. Many times, folks don't know about this option until it's too late. It raises the shipping costs a bit, but it's invaluable when it comes time to track a package.

Make sure you understand the differences b/w each option, too. Delivery Confirmation isn't really tracking. It simply allows you to prove that what you sent was delivered, which has obvious practial uses.

To help avoid chargebacks I'd go with the delivery company my credit card processors approved or had the best relationship with. That way you might be able to mininalise the chargebacks on your account when dodgy customers say they never got the stuff. Sadly they do exist and will try.

I've used Pay Pal in the past to sell digital downloads and PP didnt accept the proof of delivery system, all it takes is one email from a customer and the transaction is reversed.

I know some card processors are funny about this stuff and a chargeback can cost more than the shirt and packaging so it might be worth looking into.

Thanks to everyone for their advice. Does USPS offer a tracking system like Ups and FedEx? because I've been looking on their site and all I can find is Delivery Confirmation but as jharnois said that's not really tracking, simply whether the item was delivered or not.

Which is enough in inexpensive items/transactions, no?

Yeah I guess that's enough. I was planning to make a feature on the site that lets users track their order indepth from their cell but I guess I'll save some time and money and just make it so when the item is deviverd a SMS is sent.