Korean Job Discussion Forums

[alphakennyone]

$60 for 5-day service to Korea for a half inch stack of documents...um..think I'll support the post office instead.

Plus they recently returned to sender an item I had ordered off amazon.com because someone "put it in the wrong pile" after they "couldn't find my address." All I got was an apologetic phone call.

I wouldn't mind seeing them be the next American icon to die a horrible death in this economy.

[DorkothyParker]

I sent my documents for $25 via Fedex. I went to an independent packaging company who apparently gets absurd discounts because of the high volume they do. The Fedex website estimated $45. It was nice. Perhaps there is a local business who is authorized to do Fedex who might better serve you than a primary office or *shudder* a Kinkos.

[alphakennyone]

Yeah I have a lot of those "Postal Annex" places around me, but in the past they've overcharged for USPS services. I ended up going to the Post Office and paid $30 for express mail. Same 4/5 day service as FedEx, half the price.

I seriously laughed and said "Let me just go run down to a cash machine" when FedEx told me $60. But I guess a sucker is born everyday.

[toiletgod2000]

I'd go with USPS priority, unless you absolutely have to have it there in 4-5 days. From Florida to Gangwondo usually takes about a week, and it's only $12.95.

[bluelake]

[alphakennyone]

Yeah, the regular service (I imagine global priority?) was $9. Express mail was the only way to get a tracking number though.

The whole point of private courier services though - They're supposed to be faster, or cheaper, or more convenient than the public post office. Recently none of those have applied with my Fedex experiences...well..ok, they are open later.

[toiletgod2000]

Even if you get a tracking number, I don't think the post office can track it once it gets to Korea. They just pass it off to the Korean post. So your tracking number will tell you that it arrived in Korea but not when it has made it to its destination. I guess that's what you pay Fedex the big bucks for.

[alphakennyone]

Interesting idea, but here's what I got:

Bullet Delivered Abroad, June 29, 2009, 3:31 pm, KOREA
Bullet Out of Foreign Customs, June 29, 2009, 11:14 am, KOREA
Bullet Into Foreign Customs, June 29, 2009, 10:19 am, KOREA
Bullet Arrived Abroad, June 29, 2009, 10:18 am, KOREA

So, it doesn't tell me the exact address (and I'm not sure I could use this to PROVE anything), but I'd say that's fairly similar to the level of service FedEx would give me.

The only other thing FedEx has is the pickup service for your outgoing packages, I guess. Useful for lazy businesses (or in my case, my uni. office) who don't mind the cost. I'm really just trying to find the role of Fedex in the world. Maybe it's just profitable because they pay their employees peanuts.

[toiletgod2000]

I'm still not convinced that "Delivered Abroad" doesn't mean handed off to the Korean post. Unless you sent it somewhere right by the airport, four hours doesn't seem long enough for it to get to its destination. I could be wrong, but I seem to remember a USPS employee explaining it to me like that. We can clear this up now though if you find out when your package arrives from whomever you sent it to.

On another note, you can use Click-N-Ship on the USPS home page. Just print your postage and jam it in your mailbox. Don't try to put hangeul in the address field though.

I agree it doesn't seem like FedEx is useful unless you do a lot of volume and negotiate a contract with them. We use them where I work now because, with our contract, it is cheaper than USPS overnight.

[alphakennyone]

My recruiter did, in fact, receive the package that same day. I told her about the package when I had checked online and saw that it was "out of customs" and a couple hours later she said she received it.

[seoulsucker]

Shoulda sent the damn thing sooner.