Sending personal effects to overseas by global express ( Fedex, UPS ) or local express ? Which way is cheaper or better ?
As we already mentioned in some previous post, when your volume is not big enough ( less than 1 cubic meter = 6 carton size 60 x 60 x 50 cm ), you are recommened to ship by air express. However express service also divine into 2 ways :
- Global express : carried by Fedex, UPS, DHL which are global company.
- Advantage :
+ Reliable because they are popular and global brand
+ Have online tracking number which customer can trace once the shipment depart from Vietnam
+ Transit is faster
- Disadvantage :
+ Require more documents and excluding the import taxes at destination
+ In some routes, the rate is more expensive
+ Cannot accept some items such as comestics, medicine
+ In some destinations, the receiver need to clear the import declaration.
+ For personal effects, the sender and receiver need to be one person
- Local express : the service from Vietnamese express company which consol the parcels from different owner and send to some specific routes
- Advantage :
+ The shipping rate in some routes is cheaper
+ The rate including import taxes at destination
+ The receiver do not have to act , only wait for receiving the parcels
+ For personal effects, the sender can send to different person at destination
+ Can ship some items such as medicine, cosmetics …
- Disadvantage :
+ Do not have online tracking number from Vietnam, only occur when the shipment arrive to destination by local tracking.
+ Not popular and the customer need to find trusted shipping company
We are going to give you an example for a recent shipment from Vietnam to USA :
Mr Ben asked us to send some boxes/suitcases from Hanoi back to US. At first, we advised him to ship by UPS which is well-known US postal service. And the rate for 75 kg was not bad : USD 657 as door to door with online tracking number in ups.com . However the problem is UPS do not accept to ship suitcases, items need to be packed only by cardboard box or wooden cases. Ben insisted to ship his suitcases rather than replacing them by cardboard box. So we needed to check for him another solution.
After checking with Fedex, they accept to receive the suitcases but the rate for 75 kg by Fedex at that moment was USD 915. He still accepted that rate, but we still tried to give him one more alternative options to choose. Then we checked some local express service and got the rate for 75 kg by them was USD 759. It was cheaper than Fedex and it accepts the suitcase shipping.
The only issue now that local express do not provide the online tracking number when the shipment depart from Vietnam , and only have once it arrive to US which is normally the tracking number by USPS. So now only is the thing about how Mr Ben choose to trust us or not because he had to pay 100% shipping cost in advance then we will proceed the shipment.
Above is the example from one of our customer and his shipment is still in process but good news is he accepted the local express service with trust from us. And we also advised for hundred of shipments like this before and all were delivered very well.
The important part is how to advise the customer the best shipping solution which satisfy their specific need and also depend on each destination. Choosing and finding good and reliable shipping company is the key part. If you feel not comfortable about their advice or rate, you should deeply check or come to their office, might sign a contract and need a local friend to warranty with them about the shipping responsibility.
Hope you can find a good shipping company and ship your stuffs smoothly.
From Gerrard Nguyen – director of TCL Logistics
Mobile/ Zalo / Whatsapp : 0934444044
Email : gerrard@tclfreight.com.vn
Website : https://tclfreight.com.vn/en
