Fed up with MidwayUSA

[crazyjennyblack]

In the past, I've gotten decent service from Midway. I've been a customer with them for almost ten years as I've moved from state to state. They used to have fast shipping and great rates.

Not anymore.

This year, they have dropped their old USPS shipping option. I like the Postal Service. They ship fast, and their flat rate boxes meant that I could order 5-10 lbs of lead and have it to my door for as little as $5. If I wanted a small pistol magazine or something small like a firing pin, a Postal Service envelope would put it at my door in two days for $2.95. Now everything ships via UPS "Surepost" which uses UPS to send it to a Postal Service office, and everything costs twice as much. Why not just send it with the Postal Service if my mail carrier is bringing it to me anyways?

I don't like UPS. They've put things in weird locations, made my stuff late, lost my stuff, and put stickers on my door instead of dropping the box. I avoid the brown truck whenever I can, but Midway REFUSES to let my have my Postal Service option. I've sent emails to their celebrated Customer Service over the last four months and received NO reply.

From now on, I will no longer order from Midway until they bring back Postal Service shipping, or send me a reasonable reply stating why they will not.

Have any of you experienced this same difficulty?

 

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

Amazon and Optics Planet are likely to have some of the same items with free shipping if you purchase a certain dollar amount.

 

[SuedePflow]

Ehh, I prefer UPS. My driver knows me and when Midway packages need a signature, he delivers them to where I work instead of my home.

But you do have a good point. USPS can definitely be cheaper in many cases. Midway's shipping charges are my only gripe.

One possible reason to eliminate USPS as an option would be to force more use of UPS. That gives them a large bargaining chip when the annual UPS contract negotiations come around. But one would think they could negotiate better rates than they are currently offering right now.

 

[rondog]

Why do people insist on communicating with businesses via email? Pick up the TELEPHONE and CALL THEM! It works so much better.

 

[crazyjennyblack]

My UPS drivers are always the worst. My Postal Service carrier has always gone above and beyond. This goes for me living in five locations in three different states over a decade.

So yeah, I buy off of Amazon, Gunbroker, Ebay, and I buy local more. If the local guy has it for the same price or just a tad higher, I'll buy there because dealing with UPS has been such a pain. SuedePflow, you're probably right about the bargaining chip thing. And I absolutely refuse to pay more so that they can pay less. I'm also not fond of Midway's new "Special Handling Fee" for orders under $25, but I could live with that since most of my orders are way over that.

 

[crazyjennyblack]

rondog - I don't call because I DON'T have the time. When you work long hours and are up at weird hours, the old "call us 8-5 Monday thru Friday" and the "sit and wait on hold for 15 minutes" just plain doesn't work. I may try it if I remember someday...

 

[AethelstanAegen]

I've had nothing but great luck with Midway over the years and I still order from them all the time. In my area, UPS is always faster and more reliable than USPS (that goes for several locations I've lived in Virginia). I can see your point but it might be that Midway was receiving many complaints about the USPS or people were complaining that they couldn't have ammo sent USPS, so it was easier for Midway to just drop the option. I'll keep shopping at Midway. It's a great company.

 

[rhinoh]

I rarely order from MidwayUSA- one can almost always beat their prices.
That being said I hate the USPS, admittedly I'm biased because our local mail service is lousy. We get someone else's mail at least once a week and one day had 8 pieces of mail in our box for others. Right now I'm missing important tax bills that never arrived and even a non tracked package from China that contained LED flashlights.

UPS for me has been pretty darn good with only a couple of exceptions in many years.

As for shipping rates being high- many businesses use that as a profit center, they negotiate great UPS rates then stick the consumer with much higher charges.
Don't know about UPS fees but at my employer I know the Fedex rate we pay is WAY below what is posted.

 

[1SOW]

I mostly agree with the OP, about using USPS when it's appropriate. Order a $4 ammo box and see what it costs to your door with UPS I know order more than need or want to "save money". Think about it.

Some I deal with for gun parts or other small items usually have a comments box on the order page. I ask politely if they can use USPS if that's possible. Two of them do that. And save me $3-$4 each time.

I think one of the reasons companies like Midway ( A Good Company) don't use USPS, is due to UPS promptness to "Pick Up the Packages", standardization of the shipping routine for warehouse personnel, tracking and insurrance at a reasonable price. This takes a burden off large suppliers. It's simply easier and cheaper FOR THE COMPANY.

I no longer make any small orders from Midway and others similar unless I'm desparate.

 

[AK103K]

I finally had it with Midway this year. There was a time, their shipping didnt used to be too bad, but now, its pretty much double that of everyone else. On more than a few occasions, Ive had a pretty big order until I got to the shipping page, and saw what they were saying the shipping was going to be, and then got disgusted and went somewhere else. The last order, they wanted $38 for 10 plastic pistol boxes and some labels!

Im another one who favors USPS for shipping. It usually gets here a lot quicker and for less money. FedEx would be my second choice, and UPS last.

What I really hate is the "Smart Post" crap, that uses UPS, FedEx, or one of the others, and they deliver it to the post office for final delivery. They must put it on a boat and send it around the horn to the other coast before they put it on a truck back to my PO.

 

[rbernie]

I dunno - I still get decent service from Midway and most all common carriers, and Midway is still price competitive (shipped to my door) for many things. Sorry that it's not working out for you.

 

[HexHead]

Smart Post is the worst of both worlds. UPS tracking is useless since their responsibility ends at the post office. The post office adds at least a day to your shipping time.

Back when Midway used UPS Ground or USPS I used to get my packages in 2-3 days, sometimes next day. Now it takes a week.

 

[AK103K]

I dunno - I still get decent service from Midway

Its not that their service is bad, or their prices are that far off, its just their shipping costs are outrageous.

The last couple of times I went elsewhere, I paid about the same for the goods, but about half what Midway was charging for shipping.

 

[<*(((><]

MidwayUSA is a great company, with good prices and a great supporter of the 2nd Amendment! They'll get my money if they have what I want.

 

[danez71]

In the past, I've gotten decent service from Midway. I've been a customer with them for almost ten years as I've moved from state to state. They used to have fast shipping and great rates.

Not anymore.

This year, they have dropped their old USPS shipping option. I like the Postal Service. They ship fast, and their flat rate boxes meant that I could order 5-10 lbs of lead and have it to my door for as little as $5. If I wanted a small pistol magazine or something small like a firing pin, a Postal Service envelope would put it at my door in two days for $2.95. Now everything ships via UPS "Surepost" which uses UPS to send it to a Postal Service office, and everything costs twice as much. Why not just send it with the Postal Service if my mail carrier is bringing it to me anyways?

I don't like UPS. They've put things in weird locations, made my stuff late, lost my stuff, and put stickers on my door instead of dropping the box. I avoid the brown truck whenever I can, but Midway REFUSES to let my have my Postal Service option. I've sent emails to their celebrated Customer Service over the last four months and received NO reply.

From now on, I will no longer order from Midway until they bring back Postal Service shipping, or send me a reasonable reply stating why they will not.

Have any of you experienced this same difficulty?

Nope.

I just placed an order last week and selected USPS free shipping.

An order place 2-3 wks ago was shipped USPS too.


I will say that this last order was a little challenging though.

I needed some rings. The title description said "rings" and the body of the description was written as if it was more than one ring but the picture was only of 1 ring.

I called. The nice lady said its only 1 ring because there is only 1 ring in the pic. I showed her another exact product and exact price except for the height of the ring and she said that 2 rings because there 2 rings in the pic. "That's the info I show Sir".

Hung up and looked at the mfg site, Optics Planet, and Amazon and all showed a package of 2 rings.

So I "live chatted" Midway. Same conversation with, again, "That's the info I have Sir" and added "Maybe the mfg site's pic is wrong".

I then called the mfg. The nice guy confirmed that the p/n is sold as a box of 2 rings.

I called Midway again. (3rd contact with them) Told the nice guy the story above about Amazon, Optice Planet, and the mfg sites saying 2 rings....and the nice guy said its 1 ring.. "the pic shows one ring and at that price, its only 1 ring".

So I showed him the other "exact product and exact price except for the height of the ring" that shows 2 rings for the same price.

He said "That's interesting! Let me put you on hold and check into it." And then....

"You're right Sir" and that his site should be showing 2 rings.

So I guess 3rd times a charm and only 1 out of 3 CS people will take the extra time to check things out.

We'll see what I get when it arrives

 

[FinnComm]

If any of you need a laugh, check out the pricing on midway.fi

I don't know anyone who has ever bought anything from them.

 

[sig228]

Except for ammo and gun parts, I stopped ordering from Midway. Amazon almost always beats their prices and with free shipping on some orders over $35, it really becomes a no-brainer. Larry Potterfield is a great business person, but unless he adjusts the way he handles shipping and shipping charges, he is going to lose more and more business to Amazon.

 

[Jlr2267]

If you buy a lot online, Amazon Prime is worth the annual membership fee. It gets you free 2-day on many items (I can almost always find what I need with prime shipping). Of course, no ammo, powders, etc...

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Midway was great 20+ years ago when you had to use a catalog or telephone to find something. Now, it's easy to find as good or better of a selection at comparable or better prices using the internet. Like many others I have backed away from Midway due to their shipping prices.

 

[ClickClickD'oh]

Huh, guess I must be the lucky guy then. I ordered just abuot $300 worth of tools, ammunition and reloading supplies from Midway on 12/26. Paid $15.69 to have it shipped Surepost, and it all arrived yesterday 12/30.

I just can't see the bad side of that.

 

[wally]

I have a real hard time getting "heavy" packages with USPS flat rate shipping (bullets, steel plate targets, etc.). The carriers just don't want to pick them up. After complaing to their Postmaster and the original shipper complaining to his, I seem to be able to get them to bring it by on Saturday morning so I can carry it in for them.

"If it fits it ships (up to 70 lbs)" is a nice slogan, but the reality is a bit different here.


We have a great UPS guy, FedEx seems to never be the same guy twice so have had the full spectrum of good to bad.

Services vary with location, Midway should return to letting the customer decide based on price and service to them from the shipper.

 

[LAGS]

The only real complaint I have with Midway is their " NEW " on line catalog.
You cant find what you want without scrolling thru pages of similar numbers unless you have the paper catalog and can enter a part number.
And then it clutters up the page with what Others had bought, or similar but unrelated items.
Then their price for items are not clearly lined up with the Item, and you are kind of guessing what price on the page is for what you want.

 

[PJSprog]

Most of the smaller packages I've gotten from Midway over the last few years have arrived via UPS Basic - which is UPS delivering to my local Post Office, then they deliver to the final destination.

I've never had any issues with Midway's service or deliveries. Yes, they have a minimum order amount, so don't order just a couple of $6 cans of Ballistol, or it'll cost you $20 (don't ask how I know). I've been buying from them for nearly 25 years. Their business has evolved, sure. Good luck finding one that hasn't.

 

[W L Johnson]

This year, they have dropped their old USPS shipping option. I like the Postal Service. They ship fast,

UPS stuff I get in a day or two, USPS takes a week coming from the same location

and their flat rate boxes meant that I could order 5-10 lbs of lead and have it to my door for as little as $5. If I wanted a small pistol magazine or something small like a firing pin, a Postal Service envelope would put it at my door in two days for $2.95.

They're billions upon billions in debt, and counting, and asking for a govt handout. Wonder why they're cheaper?

edit: Growing to $45,000,000,000 in debt by 2017 according to this in Feb
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...ay-hit-45-billion-unless-u-s-changes-law.html

 

[godale]

I mostly agree with the OP, about using USPS when it's appropriate. Order a $4 ammo box and see what it costs to your door with UPS I know order more than need or want to "save money". Think about it.

Some I deal with for gun parts or other small items usually have a comments box on the order page. I ask politely if they can use USPS if that's possible. Two of them do that. And save me $3-$4 each time.

I think one of the reasons companies like Midway ( A Good Company) don't use USPS, is due to UPS promptness to "Pick Up the Packages", standardization of the shipping routine for warehouse personnel, tracking and insurrance at a reasonable price. This takes a burden off large suppliers. It's simply easier and cheaper FOR THE COMPANY.

I no longer make any small orders from Midway and others similar unless I'm desparate.

words to live by. the same with cheaper than dirt