Shipping Optics Info

Just a quick question on how you ship your optics. Packaging isn't a question, rather, what service do you use and why? I use USPS for certain items but this scope is a $1500 value. Who would you use? UPS, FEDEX or USPS? Thanks!

Check pirateship.com and see what they offer. Have much better deals than going directly through USPS or UPS including insurance. Free to use

Always USPS

any of them can and eventually will lose or damage your shipment. Double box it and pad it like it might fall off the truck. I'll use USPS or UPS because i know the drivers and I can print the postage and hand it to my rural mail lady or the UPS driver. BTW I sold the UPS driver a holster for her husbands 1911 a few weeks ago.
I ALWAYS buy the insurance just in case.

I probably shipped close to 30 optics thru USPS. Couple slow deliveries but all of them got where they needed to be. Priority mail only for me.

+1 for pirateship
and if you sell on ebay, it will automagically import your sales

UPS is usually cheaper for me

I got set up with PirateShip. Thanks for the info. Looks simple with great rates. Label paid and printed, ready to ship.

I use pirateship and appreciate the savings and simplicity.

A counterpoint: I have seen far more denials of insurance claims here and elsewhere for all the shipping companies than I would think was reasonable. If a claim is made for a lost/damaged $1,500 item, I would certainly expect a denial and the need to fight it. I have figured in my head that I would have better legal footing if I walked into the retailer (USPS, UPS, etc) and paid for shipping and insurance directly to them. Reason being, they offered a product/service which I then paid for. If they denied an insurance claim because of some fine print on page 68 of their service contract, I could reasonably ask that they show where I signed that contract or where on the store video while I was purchasing the service that the contract was shown to me. I have purchased insurance many times through the various shippers, and have never been shown or told anything about how they exclude certain claims, other than the normal questions of shipping flammable, explosive, lithium, etc.

When using pirateship, even when adding insurance, the shipper could just point back to pirateship and say it's their fault that the terms of insurance weren't properly explained/followed.

After several personal disasters with FedEx, it's only USPS or UPS for me.

Double box, WRITE THE DELIVERY AND RETURN ADDRESS ON BOTH BOXES. When the mongoloids destroy the outer box, it may can still get delivered! I even go so far as putting my name address and ph # on a sheet of paper INSIDE THE 2nd BOX. Good luck.

Pirate ship is the ONLY answer.

USPS loses, steals and damages the least amount of stuff and is also the easiest to deal with on claims. Claims over $1K UPS will straight up deny, been there several times and they explained it's "declared value" and not actually insurance. It's a scam.

quigley257 said:

Just a quick question on how you ship your optics. Packaging isn't a question, rather, what service do you use and why? I use USPS for certain items but this scope is a $1500 value. Who would you use? UPS, FEDEX or USPS? Thanks!

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I recently used Usps to ship my Nightforce scope to Oregon. I packaged it myself very well in the original box plus inside another box so the name was not obvious. I heavily insured it and shipped it priority mail. They got it in two days. It's been given a clean bill of health, and is on its way back to me. I would already have it if it was not for this weather, I guess I will have to give it another day or two and let you know .