By Alex Nunez on December 16, 2010 in
On November 21st, nationally-syndicated radio host and consumer advocate Clark Howard posted a screaming deal on his Facebook page: a website he'd come across was selling six-foot HDMI cables for $1 apiece. No, that's not a typo -- one dollar. Mind you, I didn't even have a TV with HDMI inputs yet (a problem I rectified during Black Friday weekend).
I knew that $1 per cable was too good to pass on, though; this made the $6 cables on Amazon seem extravagant. So I pounced and placed my order. Shipping was free, making the already great deal even better -- or so it seemed. On November 26, I got an email telling me my package had shipped via UPS Basic, a service I'd never heard of until that moment.
Why you've never heard of UPS Basic
If you go to the UPS website, you won't find anything on UPS Basic. That's because it's not offered to regular consumers. Hence, if you want to send someone a package via the big brown trucks, the lowest service level you can select is UPS Ground. Basic slots below that, and is a contract service offered only to merchants with UPS accounts. To my surprise, UPS Basic is not new at all -- just new to me; it actually launched way back in 2004.
UPS Basic: The rundown
After a bit of Googling, I came across some online documentation for the UPS WorldShip software that breaks down UPS Basic service. It's quite straightforward:
- For small packages
- Single-piece shipment, ground transportation only
- Package origin and destination must both be in the 48 contiguous states in the U.S.
- Ships only to residential addresses
- Max package weight of 70 pounds
- Package dimensional weight can't exceed 84 inches.
You're also given a tracking number so you can follow the shipment's progress at UPS.com.
There are two UPS Basic delivery methods
- Basic Remote is for rural areas. UPS picks up the package from the shipper and delivers it to your local post office. The US Postal Service then handles final delivery to your home.
- Basic Urban is for more populated areas. With this service, UPS handles both the package pickup and final delivery to the customer.
Prepare to wait
How fast is UPS Basic shipping? In my particular experience, not fast at all. In fact, it was excruciatingly slow. When I received my shipment notification on 11/26, the package status read "Billing Information Received," which just means that a label has been created for it. It then stayed that way until December 9, when it finally got its departure scan. Delivery to me occured a day later via a regular UPS truck (meaning my Connecticut neighborhood is in a Basic Urban delivery zone).
With my parcel finally in hand, I looked at the sender's address: Brooklyn, NY. So, via UPS Basic, it took my package 19 days to travel all of 70 miles. I could have driven and picked it up myself several times over.
Given a choice in the future, I'd rather pay for timelier shipping than play the UPS Basic waiting game again. In this case, with the free shipping, I (ahem) basically got what I paid for.