Why Was My Shipping Changed Without Notice?

Discussion in 'Customer Service' started by seriaforma, Jun 28, 2017.

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  1. seriaforma
    seriaforma Well-Known Member
    I ship via USPS because I often receive my packages the next day or within 2 days and USPS delivers on Saturday.
    The shipping on my last order was changed without notice or my consent to UPS and now I won't have it til next week, almost a full week after it left Shapeways. Please do not do this!!! For me USPS is usually the most reliable service.
     
  2. jimmyadvice
    jimmyadvice Shapeways Employee CS Team
    Hi @seriaforma

    Thank you for reaching out about your shipping change. My apologies for the confusion!

    We have switched to a new service in an effort to get orders out to our community members faster and more efficiently.

    The service works by UPS picking up the shipment and moving it to the end terminal. From there USPS (or the local mail company) handles the delivery to the destination.

    Because USPS is handling the domestic last mile, we can and will still ship to PO boxes and it is locally delivered by USPS.

    If you have any further questions, please let me know! We also recommend sending questions like this to service@shapeways.com
     
  3. DaveC1964
    DaveC1964 Active Member
    Faster and more efficiently? It used to take two days, now it takes almost a week! (as evident in my most recent order) How is more than doubling of delivery times faster? It was shipped wednesday but isn't scheduled for delivery until next Tuesday. Before I would have had it this Friday.
     
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  4. jimmyadvice
    jimmyadvice Shapeways Employee CS Team
    @DaveC1964 thanks for the feedback!

    We do understand that this isn't necessarily faster for all of our customers, but we were having too many issues with direct USPS handling of packages. We hope that overall this will improve average delivery time and reduce lost packages and the ability to track them should there be delivery issues.
     
  5. DaveC1964
    DaveC1964 Active Member
    So how do I get the old faster delivery without paying double for shipping?

    This really sucks in this case because I had the day off this Friday and I could have received the item and started to work on finishing it. Now it will come in the middle of a work week and I won't even be here when it arrives. I had no idea this was going to happen until it was too late. It would have been nice if someone let us know it would now take a week to get so I could have made other choices in shipping methods.
     
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  6. jimmyadvice
    jimmyadvice Shapeways Employee CS Team
    Hi @DaveC1964

    For now, we will be moving forward with this option for USPS shipments. The other cheaper option we have is UPS Ground, which would still be two day shipping time from our facility in NY to your location.

    Let me know if you have more questions about this! Feel free to message me directly.
     
  7. seriaforma
    seriaforma Well-Known Member
    @DaveC1964 -
    I agree with you!
    I would sometimes get my packages the next day with USPS but that won't be happening now.
    I would like to return to plain old USPS first class.
    The shipping option on check out should reflect that this is no longer USPS but UPS innovations - huge difference as far as I am concerned. I had just changed a bunch of listings on etsy to reflect the new production times on SW, only to now have shipping downgraded.
     
  8. JoyComplex
    JoyComplex Active Member
    I'll chime in and say that yeah, this shipping is much slower now. I've never had a problem with the postal service previously. Now order that took a couple days once they shipped are now taking a week to get here.

    It is what it is and there's not much that I can do about it but it would have been nice to know before hand.
     
  9. NoahLI
    NoahLI Well-Known Member
    I just noticed it too with my most recent order. Wouldn't have made a difference in speed on my particular instance due to 7/4 holiday. but from past experience from various other online shops UPS "Innovation" is on average 1 to 2 days slower than regular USPS 1st Class.

    Additionally there is no way to track the package once it's out of UPS pipeline. No option to schedule USPS redelivery, no option to notify USPS to just leave the package if I'm not home, no option to have USPS hold the package for pickup.

    Overall it's a definite downgrade for end receiver.

    I'm sure it's beneficial for Shapeways. But at least don't call it USPS because it isn't. Shipping notification is from UPS, tracking is UPS, no Sat Delivery in many instance I'm sure, it's just another UPS.
     
    Last edited: Jul 11, 2017
  10. DoctorOctoroc
    DoctorOctoroc Well-Known Member
    Has anyone noticed a positive change with the new shipping? My packages have always taken anywhere from few days to a week to arrive so I'm not sure I'll see much of a difference but it seems like no one is jumping for joy at the moment about getting their prints much more quickly or efficiently.
     
    crashtestdummy likes this.
  11. bobsavage
    bobsavage Member
    I just checked two previous orders and direct USPS appears to be 2-3 days faster from NY to CA than having UPS handle until "the last mile."
     
  12. jimmyadvice
    jimmyadvice Shapeways Employee CS Team
    @NoahLI @DoctorOctoroc @bobsavage - thanks for the continued feedback about this. I am sorry to hear it has been slower for your deliveries. This is a new system and we are talking to UPS to address why this seems to be taking longer for the same service. There are some hiccups as we transition but we hope there will be better transit times once it is all worked out.

    One big advantage of this is that there is better accountability of the package in transit which will help in case there is a lost package or sorting issue. We have a much better support team from UPS to track down packages. They have followed up with me within 20 minutes on some issues already whereas the one USPS rep we could email would occasionally reply to us, if at all.

    @NoahLI the UPS tracking link also provides the USPS end tracking number. If you check the section "Additional Information", you will see a "Package Identification Code" that starts with a 9 - this is the USPS tracking for the last leg of delivery.
     
    Last edited: Jul 18, 2017
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  13. Alminty3D
    Alminty3D Member
    I was having the same problem with the new UPS-USPS shipping situation last week. We are based in LA. With ups first class mail it usualy takes 3-4 days. Last order with the new shipping without any notice it took 6 days to deliver. I talked to a customer service who basically told me the same thing that they are trying a new better way of shipping. The UPS link didn't show anything on the tracking info, I thought the order got lost.

    Been using shapeways for 3 years. Shipping has always been an issue. I had suggested they charge a little more for priority shipping. First class mail is 3 days shorter than the new shipping for sure, please listen to the CA makers' suggestion. At lease switch back to the old First class mail.
     
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  14. NoahLI
    NoahLI Well-Known Member
    @jimmyadvice Ah, good to know. Thanks!

    Accountability is definitely a good thing. I can relate to USPS's lack of support.
     
    jimmyadvice likes this.
  15. sedstiskyfaller
    sedstiskyfaller Well-Known Member
    I have had problems with USPS in the past, taking much longer than it should to get to me (a week as opposed to 2-3 days), with no update on tracking until it reached my local facility.

    I received an email just today about my recent order coming UPS even though I had purchased USPS, but it is expected to arrive only a couple days after shipment. We will see if that happens as scheduled if it has to go back to USPS first.
     
  16. Themikepeng
    Themikepeng Well-Known Member
    This is ridiculous, we should at least be made known about this through the checkout page or email. It takes well over a week to ship using this horrid service and now I will get both my packages (orders placed on different days) one day after I leave, so I won't be able to work on them for at least another week. These are not only models I will build for myself but also for customers. I kind of understand why Shapeways is switching to this service, but if they had at least notified me or written on the checkout page that they will use this, I would definitely have coughed up the money for shipping directly via UPS (despite the already significant increases in frosted ultra detailed prices)
     
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2017
    Alminty3D likes this.
  17. Themikepeng
    Themikepeng Well-Known Member
    I am in CA too so I am also getting the short end of the stick. If Shapeways hadn't done this behind our backs, I would also have been willing to pay more for better shipping options; time is a much bigger issue for me
     
  18. NoahLI
    NoahLI Well-Known Member
    as recent comparison,

    my order from SW, NYC, via UPS Innovation, took 4 business days, Shipping notification received Thr, item arrived Tue the following week.

    Another item from Newegg marketplace, seller shipping from Keller TX, regular USPS, took 2 business days, Shipping notification received Tue, item arrived today, Thr.

    I understand the advantages of better support, and probably better handling of large volume shipments, from UPS. but given UPS is handling 90% of the transit, it'd be more accurate to call it UPS than USPS. Why call it "USPS" when it is really "UPS Innovations"
     
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  19. tinyrightbrain
    tinyrightbrain Well-Known Member
    I live in California, and I used to get stuff in 3 days, and sometimes 4 days. Now I generally get things in 5 days, and very rarely 6 days. I notice that the estimated time is always at least 6 days, even though it rarely takes that long.
    When it was just USPS, there were a few times when the package just gets "stuck" somewhere in the system. One time, tracking just showed that it was received in Flushing, but nothing happened in over 2 weeks, and I got the order re-printed and shipped free of charge, Then, mysteriously, tracking resumed on the package and showed it moving towards me. It's as if USPS dropped the package somewhere and then found it over 2 weeks later. Another time, a package was "stuck" in the midwest somewhere for about 5 days before it started tracking and moving again. I'm hoping that UPS is better on the long haul part of the shipping than USPS is.
     
  20. Wow. I always had a hard time with the shipping costs of orders on Shapeways being that I am in Canada but now that they have switched to UPS I will NEVER buy another thing on Shapeways. I may even close my store and move all my items to another manufacturer. If I want my item to take twice as long and have import fees that are double the cost of the item I may use Shapeways with UPS again.

    For anyone reading please Google "Never us UPS to Canada" and read the millions of complaints and refusals to use the service.

    UPS offers companies really low shipping rates because they charge the receiver exorbitant fees to release the package. This is not normal brokerage you have to pay when using Post, or Fedex etc.

    Between this and Shapeways revised cast metal prices (200-300% price increase) and rejecting models that have been printed multiple times before it is clear Shapeways is trying to maximize their profits by cutting off all but their dedicated fans and producers of tiny simple jewellery.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 2, 2017
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