Re: MR and Trains finally arrive on October 19...Heckuva a job USPS and Kalmbach....
Author: Ernest H. Robl
Date: 10-21-2020 - 21:58
In the tiny print that no one ever reads of the contracts of the courier services (FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc.), these companies specify that though services may be called "air" what you are selecting is the speed of delivery, not the actual means of transport.
On the other hand, some shipments specified as "surface only" (because of hazmat content) may actually go by air, as long as they go on an all-cargo aircraft. "Surface only" actually only means that the shipment cannot go on passenger aircraft. (Yes there are other limitations, but here we are talking about small amounts of hazmat consumer products, such as spray cans.)
Earlier someone noted that UPS and FedEx sometimes deliver shipments that were sent by their economy services that use USPS for last-mile delivery. Actually this is not that uncommon. My experience is that this applies to at least one out of ten such shipments. I'm not sure if these services have software that helps with this or if this is just done manually, but normally if UPS or FedEx is already making a delivery to the same address or a neighboring address, then the economy package gets delivered, too, saving these services from having to pay the USPS -- and basically incurring no additional expense for them.
-- Ernest