Shipping Methods
Here at Vyking Ship we offer 3 carriers to ship your packages: DHL, FedEx, and USPS. The first two are private carriers, whereas the United States Postal Service (USPS) is a public carrier.
What is the difference between the two?
A postal service belongs to the government while private carriers don’t. This means that a postal service has a much larger workload than private carriers and hence their procedures vary in many aspects such as; brokerage fee, duration of delivery, and customs clearance.
Choosing the Right Shipping Method
The right shipping method differs from person to person and country to country. In a country with a corrupt or inefficient Postal Service, or a corrupt Customs Department, it is advisable to avoid shipping through the USPS and stick with one of the private courier. In some instances a courier service is cheaper and faster than a postal service, whereas in others, a postal service may be the cheapest international shipping option for you.
For your ease, we’ve broken down the differences between the two.
Using A Postal Service Shipping Method
USPS is United States’ Postal Service.
- Their direct involvement ends once your package leaves the United States. Once your package arrives in your country, your own Postal Service will take over and deliver it to you.
- While you may still have to pay duties and taxes, the Postal Service will not charge you the brokerage fees that the private couriers will.
- Tracking can be less reliable and updates less often than the private couriers. The Customs clearance process can also take longer than you would find with the private couriers.
- For claims, please inform us and we will contact the USPS to begin an inquiry.
Using a Courier Service Shipping Method
DHL and FedEx are Courier Services we use.
- Their involvement with your parcel starts from our warehouse and ends at your doorstep, this means that an employee of their company is always with your package.
- Their brokering of your package through Customs will incur brokerage fees that will result in a higher cost for duties and taxes than a postal service.
- Tracking of a courier service is generally much better because you will receive many more scan events that will make your package’s transit much clearer and without large gaps in time that could otherwise lead to concern.
- Overall transit time with the private couriers is also much faster. Since they handle the package from pickup to delivery, you don’t have time consuming hand-off processes nor do you have excessive clearance times through Customs.
- Couriers offer express shipping and standard shipping. What is express shipping if the courier is already a faster option? Express shipping takes half the time of standard courier shipping. This becomes a bit more expensive but the ETA is between 1-3 days.
- For claims with DHL and FedEx packages, please contact us and we will begin the inquiry process immediately.
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Open Hours
9am - 5pm US Central Time, UTC-6
Monday to Friday
excluding major US holidays
Our Office
3260 Gorham Ave, STE 400
St Louis Park, MN 55426
USA