UPS Prohibited Articles list

We have had numerous discussions with UPS about this policy and they are very firm with it.

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I'm back with an update.

The positive news : My order arrived.

The negative news : It was only a coincidence I got it.

I had already heard many good things about UPS (not regarding the rumors of many lost packages containing porn). One of the things I found to be especially great was that I heard, they'd try to deliver the package several times in case nobody's at home. I always thought that meant they'd try to deliver in the morning, in the noon and in the afternoon. Boy, was I wrong.
The package got delivered on monday morning at about 10:00h which is a really bad time for delivering since at that time I'm already at work for several hours, so I wasn't able to pick it up. This shouldn't be a problem since UPS would try it again. But wait... They didn't try to deliver it again the same day. Instead they came back the next day. Guess when ? Right ! At 10:00h in the morning. Since my boss hadn't fired me the day before, of course I wasn't there to pick up the package. But I found a little card in my mail telling me I could write down the address of an alternative place for the package to be delivered in case I wasn't at home. Well... Since ALL the people I know are working at that time, there wasn't any alternative. And even if there had been one : How would I have made this card accessible to the delivery man ? Maybe I could have glued it onto my mailbox for everybody to see and hope it was still there when the UPS guy arrived.
On that card UPS also wrote that they'd be so kind to send back the package to the retailer in case I wasn't in the third time they'd try to deliver. This is what made me a bit angry. Guess when they came back for the third try ? Right ! The next day in the morning at 10:00h. I was lucky since one family member had taken a holiday and was at home at that time. Otherwise my package would have been on its way back to the US. Now that's what I call service. I actually don't know how I will ever be able to pick up a UPS package again, since it seems impossible for them to deliver at reasonable times, so I guess I have to continue ordering DVDs somewhere where USPS is used.

astroknight:
You're right. I'd prefer to have the option to choose between UPS and USPS, so everybody can choose what suits him best. UPS may be great for US domestic shipping, but as long as they aren't able to deliver at different times to give everybody a chance to get his order - even if he's got work - and as long as it's not possible for them to store the package in a post office after a few attempts, so I can go there and get it, I can't consider to use UPS again. I don't want to take a holiday every time I expect a package.

five_star:
I didn't even know they had such a policy. On the other hand I guess it doesn't matter as long as they don't know it, since I guess UPS itself doesn't open customers' packages, do they ? I just wonder how they don't know what they are picking up when the UPS guys pick up lots of packages of a dvd-retailer every day.

mcr:
Hello to DVDadvantage...
It's great that you are concerned that much about the reliable shipment of your DVDs. I think it's really quite secure to send the DVDs that way. On the other hand I'm not sure what's the point in sending the covers in a separate package, since most of the time there are explicit titles and pictures printed on the DVD, and I can't imagine a guy at custom say : 'Wow... Look at that blonde woman taking it up the ass. So that's how Microsoft is going to sell those huge amounts of Windows ME.'
In fact DVDadvantage was the first online adult dvd retailer I became aware of, mainly beacause of the cheap prices on many titles.
There are three reasons I didn't order at dvdadvantage yet :

1. International Customers Verification Process : On your page you say it's a one-time inconvenience. This may be true, but I admit that it's quite a big inconvenience for me to make a copy of a credit card statement and send it away. When I ordered my first bunch of DVDs I wanted to hold them in my hands as quickly as possible, so I didn't want to wait for my credit card statement to arrive and get processed while I could already view my first DVDs at that time when ordering somewhere else. I also found it to be quite insecure to send my creditcard information and other private stuff to the US in an envelope. It happened to me several times that envelopes containing money or other stuff vanished on their way to the US. Sending the information via email is no great alternative either since we all know how insecure mailservers are.

2. Of course I try to get the best price possible. Undoubtedly the service is an even more important point, but when I get the same great service and a cheaper price I'm going to order there. AdultDVDnow is certainly doing a great job with their low price guarantee as long as the title is available there.

3. The shipping costs seem horribly high to me ($30 and even $60 for 8 DVDs). For that amount I'm able to get another cool Private DVD and some cheaper stuff. I'd like to have a usual price for shipping like about $15 in all or about $10 and a small fee for every item or something alike. Maybe the shipment costs are that high because the covers are sent seperately ? I don't know, but I never had any problems receiving DVDs + covers with USPS, and as I said above I'm not sure if a DVD with an explicit picture and the text 'horny hot blondes - DVD video' gets through custom easily just because the cover is not there. When ordering 7 titles of course the price per item isn't as high as when ordering only 4 titles, but since I heard quite often, that the chance to get through custom gets lower with every item contained in the package, I tend to order only 4 titles per package. Also this way when the package gets lost or confiscated the loss is less than when ordering 7 titles in a single package. So $30 shipment costs for 4 titles is even much more expensive for me than when ordering 7 titles (and that's already high).

Thanks for your information though.
I was always content with ADN's service, but since I'm not able to get a package via UPS, I guess I'll have to order where USPS is offered. I'll compare the different stores, and maybe DVDadvantage becomes an alternative.

Greetings,

Spesedy

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Since I am rarely home during the day, it will be interesting to see what UPS does.

DVDAdvantage wants between $30 to $60 to ship 8 DVDs to Canada ... they have got to be joking. adultdvdnow charges way less, and I have yet to lose a single DVD to customs.

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Please let us know how it's working out with your UPS package. I'd really like to know if this is a general problem with UPS or if I was only unlucky. I'm actually trying to figure out how to find a workaround for this. I'm also having some email contact with ADN at the moment discussing that situation, and I have to admit that UPS certainly has got some great advantages. I'm trying to find the right person at UPS to talk to. ADN was very understanding and co-operative by the way. I hope together we'll find a solution.

Spesedy

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Well about UPS delivering 3 times at the same time, that is normal. They have routes and that means they will try to deliver at the same time every day. You know, you're not the only one they deliver to, they have hundreds of deliveries so it'd be impractical to try at three different times each day.

In my experience when you're not at home they leave a note making all that clear. At least in my case they left a note stating they will try to deliver again at the same time every day, and if by the third time you're not there they return the package or you can pick it up. This is only the case for Second day delivery, for UPS ground they just leave the package on your door.

Anyway, at least for domestic delivery I say USPS is better than UPS. First USPS Priority Mail delivers faster, usually in 3 days, sometimes in just 2 days! While UPS ground always takes 7 days. This is largely because UPS doesn't do anything during the weekends, they just sit on their collective butts while USPS continues moving the packages. The economies of scale also probably favor the USPS in this regard.

Further, USPS will also deliver on Saturday and not just on weekdays.

Thirdly, the USPS mailmen know their way better. Several times the UPS guy has delivered my packages to the wrong person in another apartment. The USPS mailman has never made this mistake because he knows his route better as he does it every day.

Fourthly, the USPS can leave a small package in your mailbox instead of having to leave it on your door.

Fifthly, USPS can deliver to a PO Box.

Sixthly, UPS is susceptible to strikes.

All those above points have made Priority Mail better for me. Thus, I strongly prefer Priority Mail and I think UPS sucks for this kind of small packages. The only advantage UPS has is the tracking feature and the ability to confirm delivery. Even then, Priority Mail recently intorduced something that allows the confirmation of delivery.

So really the only advantage UPS has for this type of packages is the tracking.

Therefore, I strongly prefer Priority Mail over UPS for minor packages such as videos, games, etc.

The above only applies to US domestic, it may well be a different story internationally.

Edited by - DGF on Oct 15 2000

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And it was a big order ... I should have cancelled it once I realized they may have changed who they use for shipping.

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It is so easy to have packages disappear when you are not at home, I simply do not trust the system any longer. The PO Box is the only safe alternative and that isn't an option for UPS. Quite frustrating.

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My package came today, it was shipped USPS Global Priority. I don't know why it took 14 days, but what's important is that it got here. Being USPS, it was delivered to my mailbox even though I wasn't home.

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They also mentioned stamps are going up again. :-)

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I see there is some caution and concern in the air regarding UPS. We at Adult DVD Now . Com started using UPS mostly due to their advanced tracking system. Before using UPS, we started to see an increase in lost shipments with the post office (usps). The tracking system with the post office is a joke! The post office here in San Diego does not even scan the tracking number because they are to lazy!!! In addition, sometimes they don't even scan at the destination!

UPS tracking is a cut above! They scan everything, and you can track a package across the country or the world for that matter. They have NOT lost a package yet! (we have been using them for almost a month, over 4000 packages!)

I understand the downside to UPS though. Thus, we still ship to P.O. Boxes, we just use USPS Priority for that. Also, if you request USPS, we will ship USPS Priority for the same price.

Regarding international shipments, USPS does NOT provide tracking at all for Global Priority. UPS does....

UPS costs us, the firm, more money to use, however, we feel it's worth it to provide a more reliable service, with tracking features second to none. The customer will always know the status of their package! And it's automatically insured to $50.00

Like everything in life, there are pros and cons to UPS, however, at this time we feel the benefits outweight the negative aspects. But again, I want to stress, if you request USPS Priority, we will abide.

Thank you

Jay Barron
CEO
Alphacom Distribution,LLC
WWW.adultdvdnow.com

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I've had my PO Box for several years, don't want to change. Aside from that, Mailboxes Etc. is (or was when last checked) significantly more expensive (four or five times what USPS charges).

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