This question is for anyone that has purchased through the Palladium store and shipped via postal service.
Have you had any problems in the past with your shipping?
I ask this because Palladium states they are not responsible for what happens to the books when shipped that way. Currently I've used UPS but have had problems with them lately and no longer wish to use that shipping option but I also want to keep my shipping cheap.
For those interested in knowing my recent UPS problems. They set my X-mas grab bag order in a shallow puddle of water surrounded by melting snow and water dripping on top of the box. They didn't even bother to knock because I heard the truck pull up and by time I got to the door they were in the truck leaving. I also ordered some movies from Amazon that came in two different shipments. The first arrived with a massive hole in the box and some of the movies were hanging out while a couple were laying in my drive way. I am still working with Amazon to replace the ones that never even got to my house. The other package was an hour's drive away on Saturday but today they decided to ship it to another state. So yeah...don't want to deal with UPS on my next book order.
I personally have not, and a number of times I've chosen the cheapest shipping possible. I order multiple times a year and have never had a shipping incident from Palladium.
That said. I've seen instance of one time an order was damaged. The person did get the shipping with the warning on it. It was a pretty big order too, and the company was unforgiving. I'm not sure if that was due to the individual in question or if they just strictly held to their warning if you choose that shipping. For that one it could have gone either way.
So... Out of dozens of orders I've placed, I've never once had a problem. I've seen 1 instance of a large order getting damaged, and not replaced. (But again that may have been due to other factors)
I take the risk myself. I've never had the problem.
That said, USPS is pretty notorious about bad service. So... it's a gamble.
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I have ordered a ton of stuff from rifters to larger grab bags and used an assortment of shipping and never had any issues. Rifters go out the via the USPS media mail which is about as low end pricing wise and slow as it gets and I have never had one of my rifters damaged or missed and most get to me within about 5 days although once it took almost two weeks.
Honestly UPS is typically the better option but if the drivers are being lax like that it can cause problems but there is not much guarantee the post office method will be much better it all depends on the delivery guy. If one is screwing up things like what you described document it and report it to the shipper.
I ordered a book with the postal service option. I figured that Palladium would do their standard shipping way of doing things. A piece of cardboard on both sides of the book, some padding, in an envelope.
It was in the cheapest envelope you can get from the postal service. I believe it was the single priced, fit what you can type of shipping. It had a few scraps of newspaper. When it arrived you could see the book from the corner (it wasn't sealed all the way). Two of the corners were crunched. I was extremely upset with the condition that I received my book.
I called Palladium. I did not speak to Alex, nor do I think it was Kevin. But basically got the: Can't help you out, you ordered this way.
I have ordered many times the same way, it was packaged way better. But then again, at the time I was fairly vocal about what I didn't like going on at Palladium and wanting better action on the game line I am interested in. I have since pulled back, and I am speaking with my Dollars - I want PDF's.
I have had it happen to me as well. It all depends on the postal worker imo. Some just toss it under the tempo leaving it on the snow. Some leave it in the mail causing damage. Some are good. I have ordered used and even though the package was solid. The book still gets dog eared. For me my biggest issue and it's not unique to PB is the crazy shipping rates. It's insane to order anything online from the USA.
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I can't speak from the point of shipping Palladium product specifically but I can speak fairly confidently about shipping freight in general, considering that is what I do for a living.
I am the logistics manager for my company and by far UPS is the worst (when comparing UPS, FedEx and Purolator). UPS has lost product, damaged product, denied having even picked up the product to begin with (so I guess this also falls under losing product) even though I have all the UPS documents to prove it.
And when my customers ship via UPS most of them don't use UPS standard, they use Express Saver or Express and have the same problems. This has happened with product that has stayed within Canada and product that has shipped to the USA.
Very expensive loss for all those involved, well except for UPS that is.
