Airborne Express, the Un-Post Office
Written: Jul 07 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Delivered the goods on time, for a more than competitive price
Cons: Specialize in air shipment, no ground service available
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| frazzledspice's Full Review: Airborne Overnight Air Express Service |
After having sent two Express Mail packages from my new hometown, Fort Smith, Arkansas, only to have them arrive at their destination five days later, I knew I'd have to look for an alternative.
It could have just been my postal branch, but I was fed up, not only with their express mail service, but with their regular mail service, too. Twice my husband had sent out packages to Ebay winners, franked and paid for right at the Post Office, and received e-mails from the recipients stating that the packages had arrived postage due.
"Did they forget to put the meter stickers on," he wondered?
Yankee that I am, I had no patience with a post office where the packages received Southern hospitality and an invitation to "sit down and set a spell."
Airborne Express--the Un-Post Office
I had to mail an important letter this week. We had a Southwest Airlines frequent flier pass that was expiring in a few weeks. Since we'll be flying to Alaska at the end of the month, we couldn't take the time to use it, and neither could our boys. I hated to see it go to waste.
Then I got a brainstorm. I was homesick for St. Louis. I called up my good friend, Happy Sappy (aka Leslie), and invited her down for the weekend. But would the frequent flier pass arrive in her office by Friday?
I sure didn't want to trust the US Postal Service's "five-day" express mail.
I really didn't want to use Federal Express, either. $17.75 seemed like a lot of money to spend just because I hated to see a frequent flier pass go to waste. We'd used Federal Express a few times while we were settling our Missouri real-estate transactions, but I really thought it was overpriced.
I'd received numerous Airborne Express packages over the years, and they always seemed to arrive on time. So when I saw the Airborne Express office next to the Fed Ex office, I decided to try them.
Their rates were more than competitive, less expensive than both the US Postal Service and FedEx. They offered me a price of $11.20 for delivery by noon the next day, or $8.25 for two-day delivery.
US Postal Service charges $11.75 for overnight mail, and FedEx charges $17.75.
But I still wasn't sure. "You know, the Postal Service blamed the commercial airlines when both my Express Mail packages were four days late," I said. "Do you use the same commercial airlines they do?"
"Oh, no," I was told. "We use all our own planes."
That clinched it. I sealed the envelope and mailed it to Happy Sappy. She received it at work by noon the next day.
Thank goodness I found an efficient, timely, reasonable alternative to the Post Office.
Personal Experience With a Shipping Service Counts, but Here's How to Comparison Shop
http://www.intershipper.net/ is a website which allows you to calculate shipping costs and estimated delivery times from five different providers. The customer puts in three pieces of information: Package Weight, Origin Zip Code, and Destination Zip Code. InterShipper calculates the rest.
In its advertising, it suggests that auction sellers put a link to InterShipper on their sites to allow customers to calculate their own shipping costs and choose their options.
InterShipper also offers a Zip Code directory and the means to track their packages.
The services compared are: USPS, FedEx, Airborne Express, Emery Worldwide, and Fed Ex.
When I checked intershipper, I saw that only Federal Express, the USPS, and UPS offer ground service for packages. Airborne Express specializes in quick delivery, and two-day air is the least expensive option offered.
It is unlikely that we will be frequent users of Airborne Express, but since we have found them to offer high reliability at a low price we will probably use them for anything needing overnight delivery.
Thanks to them, I'll have a wonderful friend to clown around with this weekend. :-)
Recommended:
Yes
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