This post covers general mail and parcel services
for mailing paintings, drawings and prints 
in the UK and USA
​
There's a general consensus that
  • the local mail service is fine for sending smaller packages 
  • however big parcels need a professional courier service

The next question is "Do you need a general courier service or a specialised fine art service?"
​
Below is an overview of the general post and parcel services on offer in the UK and USA
​For SPECIALIST FINE ART SERVICES for shippers, couriers and movers see the following pages for  FOR SPECIALIST REQUIREMENTS see these pages
General post and parcel services often do not offer insurance for fine art. For information about Insurance for non-specialised services for moving art - see Insurance for Art and Artists

Banner photo by Eddie some rights reserved

Which is the best postal / shipping service for artwork?
​

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which is the best shipping service - for you | for your client | for the size and weight of your package?
As artists on the Internet, we're probably more aware than most of the perils and practicalities of posting artwork to exhibitions and customers, at home and overseas.

But who do we trust when we post our art? On this page there are charts of the results of previous polls I've done looking at which is the best service for posting / or shipping art. The two polls on this site are specific to the UK and USA.

The service which consistently does well across all the surveys is FedEx

I've heard more than a few criticisms of UPS - including from artists who have shipped work to an exhibition appropriately packaged only for it to arrive with the glass smashed

​HOWEVER Fedex, UPS and DHL do not insure fine art, have had problems highlighted in the past and there are problems getting satisfactory insurance cover.

In general, if your artwork is valuable you should
  • either use a specialist service with appropriate insurance
  • or you must arrange your own insurance
​FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

The most popular questions that people want answers to are:
  • Can a service deliver a shipment to its destination?
  • How quickly will a shipment arrive at its destination?
  • How much will it cost to send an international shipment?​​
REFERENCE:

GENERAL PARCEL SERVICES
​

GENERAL Post / Parcel Services - UK Based websites

POST OFFICE COUNTERS

Post Office Counters is a good and relatively cheap service if you just want to send small works in envelopes or small packets
​ROYAL MAIL

Royal Mail has got a lot better in recent years in making its information more accessible and better presented.

There are online guides which can be downloaded and online calculators for getting quotations for pricing.
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Royal Mail Online Guide has teeny tiny font size. This is the same information LARGER AND MORE READABLE!
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Track and Trace Service offered via Royal Mail (and other providers)
ROYAL MAIL ELECTRONIC POSTAGE & CUSTOMS INFORMATION

Parcel and Courier Services - within the UK

These are GENERIC parcel and courier services
  • TNT - Express parcel delivery services to the UK, Europe and International destinations offering same day, next day and express parcel services
  • Pack and Send - a complete range of postal, freight, courier, packing and removal services operating through a national retail network. Started trading UK in 2009. They claim to provide the world's largest range of freight and packing services
  • Parcel2Go - claims to be the cheapest parcel delivery in the UK
  • My Hermes - large parcel delivery company in the UK - courier collection, parcelshop dropoff and international deliveries (Delivers for a number of big stores)
Comparison services and reports
This is a fast moving market and it's always worth trying to keep up to date with which services are thriving and which are dying - via independent services

Parcel Intermediaries - within UK and International

These are different types of parcel services. They aim to make your life more simple.
Inevitably you are paying a price - but you are also saving on the time it takes to check out all the different options.
​Their aim is to round up varying quotes from different services providers to enable you to choose which best suits you.

INTERPARCEL® - The Low Cost Parcel Delivery Experts
Rated:
  • 4.4 stars on Google Reviews (48 reviews)
  • 8 out of 10 stars on Trustpilot (14,172 reviews)
Interparcel allows you to see the costs of alternative post, parcel and courier services. You just need to know post codes for pickup and destination and then the weight and physical dimensions of the parcel.
REFERENCE:
  • Slade School of Fine Art Knowledge Base - Sending artwork and parcels - broker for couriers. I use interparcel.com for most shipments I send. They are a broker for all the major couriers. They are much more reliable and helpful than other brokers.
COLLECT MY PARCEL collectmyparcel.com
  • No ratings on Google Reviews
Cheap Parcel Delivery - You choose who collects your parcel, DHL, ParcelForce or TNT. Collected from you, no need to go the Post Office or a depot. Compare UK and International Courier Services. They claim
  • Instant and effortless parcel delivery quotes and online booking system
  • The ability to regularly track your package (online and 100% free of charge)
  • Inexpensive and reliable parcel delivery services to all corners of the world
myParcelDelivery.com 
  • Rated 2.5 stars on Google Reviews (103 reviews - I suggest you read the comments)
- myParcelDelivery.com is an online courier service which allows customers to compare courier companies and then send parcels online at the best prices.
parcelcompare.com
- ParcelCompare® claims it delivers quality service at great savings to more than 220 countries. Has the same registered office address as parcelhero.com

parcelhero.com
- a courier comparison site - no contacts details in terms of HQ or operating sites in the website

UK and International delivery - heavier weight parcels

ROYAL MAIL - INTERNATIONAL DELIVERIES

They provide:
Note re Video: Nobody will thank you for polystyrene forms and sealing a box needs wide brown packing tape along ALL the edges. A little bit of ordinary sellotape is insufficient!
PARCELFORCE
In 1990 Royal Mail Parcels was rebranded to Parcelforce and there's been lots of investment since then in the delivery of parcels within the UK and to countries overseas.
Parcelforce Worldwide is part of the Royal Mail Group Ltd and is one of the top five express carrier businesses in the UK
International Parcel Delivery offers Business Parcels has an International Delivery section with several different types of delivery service related to bulkl and speed of delivery
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Artwork arriving at the RA Summer Exhibition
FEDEX GB
  • no address visible on website - in contravention of eCommerce rules
  • FedEx Express United Kingdom (UK) - FedEx International Shipping, Tracking, Express Delivery, Supply - FedEx Express UK offers a wide variety of international shipping services, international courier services and overnight parcel delivery options to get your packages to their destination on time. Your single source for FedEx tracking, FedEx Shipping,
UPS in the UK
  • Create a Shipment Calculate Time and Cost Schedule a Collection Use International Tools UPS Labels, Paks and More Open a UPS Account Set Preferences Help Track Shipments
COURIERS
ADVERTS

GENERAL Parcel Services - USA Based websites
​ 

I've ordered the general parcel services in the USA according to the responses from a poll I conducted c. 5 years ago.
REFERENCE:

FedEx

FedEx is based in the USA (but is also found elsewhere in the world)
​
Unfortunately for FedEx in 2011, one of its employees generated the worst type of negative PR - see the video below! Expect a lot of effort to be employed by FedEx in 2012 for the fact that c.3 million people watched this video in 2 days in December 2011

​In general, the view is that FedEx is always expensive but can be worth it
REFERENCE:
UPS - UNITED PARCEL SERVICE OF AMERICA

The Ins and Outs of sending artwork with UPS. I monitor reports about shipping art in the art business group on Linked In - which typically involves people who are professional artists.

NOT EVERYTHING IS POSITIVE
​Rather too many artists have reported:
  • UPS does NOT insure fine art under glass
  • UPS forklifts shredding their shipping boxes - including proper airfloat boxes - and refusing to reimburse after destroying the boxes
  • UPS on occasion provides the wrong information
  • UPS took an extra fee from an artist for providing extra protection - and then refused to payout when things went wrong and said the limit of protection was a LOT lower than previously indicated,
Other artists have had a positive experience. It's possible that problems are geographically biased.
​REFERENCE:
USPS - UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE ​
​
Artists have reported positive experiences of using USPS to ship their art within the USA - particularly when using an industry standard certified box such as an Airfloat box. 

​One of the aspects which people repeatedly highlight is that they represent great value for money compared to some other shipping services in the USA. Comments reflect views expressed by artists sending work for exhibitions and to customer within the USA - and come from various forums
REFERENCE:
DHL
Information about shipping using DHL
REFERENCE: