I've done a decent amount of research but only been in this "game" for a couple years, and only personal amounts.
Why would any vendor use any other carrier than USPS? Ok, it's the government, that's scary... but it's a surface concern. Has something changed? Isn't it still a terrible idea to use a private carrier like UPS who can open anything on a whim? Isn't this a rule never to be broken?
I ask because I recently received an order of herb (which is the scariest thing in terms of shipping, so big, so smelly, needs better stealth than most items) from itewqq and was shocked that it came through UPS. I'm now learning he's been using UPS for some time, and an r/DankNation thread has a shocking amout of people showing no concern about this.
itewqq is one of my favorite vendors for oil, and it would always come 2-day priority USPS. Guy was like Amazon, top 3 in reliability.
The one time I order bud it comes in a brown box with no warning (if you're going to ship non-USPS, it's an ethical issue not to warn customers.) The Green Crack was also pretty disappointing. Double shock considering the high quality of all the different oils I'd tried.
I hesitate to post things like this because I've had a close call with a vendor trying to dox me before, and while I used to have the utmost respect for itewqq, using a private shipping company makes me question everything.
Am I missing something? Have the rules changed? I doubt it, looks like I'll have to find another high quality shatter vendor in the future
edit: forgot to mention he openly offers tracking as long as you have a public key. Tracking is another big no-no to me in terms of everyone having open access, it should only be used when necessary to avoid attracting attention. So even though it has the appearance of great customer service, another stupid risk. I've never checked tracking on an order, sit and wait, don't be low hanging fruit.
Throwaway for obvious reasons. I'm extremely familiar with the processes of UPS/Fedex. They're both terrible choices for mailing drugs and here is why:
So, you're going to ship a small box of dope. At UPS, when they send your package out, it will be loaded in a trailer. They bag up the smaller packages together and load the bags in with the other packages. Safe enough, right? Not quite...
The goal for the number of "small" packages they bag is 85%. That means there is a 15% chance (or less depending on how much heat your center is currently under from corporate) that your package will be loaded in the trailer without being bagged with the other smalls.
I don't think there is much to be said about how UPS handles packages. They don't give a FUCK. I have years of management experience and management won't condone treating boxes like shit because that opens them to get in trouble. They simply will try not to be around when things are getting ugly. If they don't see it, they can't be held responsible and then management can pass the ass beating on down to the hourly employee.
Anyhow, these packages are coming at your at about 1 per 3-5 seconds and you're loading them. Usually the people that are loading these trailers are younger 20-30 year old males. They will cut every corner they can to conserve energy because it's a rough ass job. This entails putting the heaviest packages on the floor and leaving the top open to heave your light packages on top.
So now, your little box of weed has a 15% chance of being left loose in the load and 100% chance of being thrown. So, now you're lucky if your box just has a bent corner, but the loose smalls usually get crushed in the load.
Well, management doesn't want to take the call from the customer later bitching about their box being beat up to hell and back. So, management pulls your package off and has a clerk re-box it, so it appears nice to the customer.
You can see where this is going from here. Clerk opens the box. They find weed. If they're cool enough, they'll just steal it but if they care about their job, they'll realize that forwarding this on with their name plastered all over it is a bad idea. So, they turn your ass in.
Lastly, there is nearly 1 leaking package in every trailer due to poor handling. Wine and shit gets tossed and broken on the daily. They re-box any of them that get too wet.
The chances are just too high to fuck with. USPS takes immensely better care of their packages and leave you with a much much higher chance of the package not being opened.