Delivery to UPS store in Orlando?

[Josh Hendy]

Some of you Canadians who live near the border with the US will be familiar with the good old, "c/o UPS Store ..." method of ordering packages from places like amazon.com (not amazon.ca) and then driving across the border to pick them up. Saving a huge amount on shipping, customs brokerage fees and often saving quite a pile of money on the actual price of the item.

The UPS store in NY state nearest to where I live is literally packed to the ceiling front and back with packages ordered by Canadians. Picture a scaled-down version of the warehouse at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark". They charge around $5 for handling each package.

Has anyone ever picked up packages like this at a UPS store in Orlando? I see that several UPS stores in the area offer "mailbox services", but do they accept a package for just anybody, to be picked up at some point in the future? Or is this strictly a bordertown phenomenon.

 

[ABCanada]

Cannot comment on UPS but we have had parcels delivered to the disney resorts and this has worked for us.

We put our name, reservation # and arrival date in the first two address lines.

It used to be just tipping the bell boy to bring it to your room. There is now a small fee as well.

We have never had the parcel delivered more than a couple of weeks prior to our arrival so I am not certain how long they would hold it for youl.

 

[squirrel]

Cannot comment on UPS but we have had parcels delivered to the disney resorts and this has worked for us.

We put our name, reservation # and arrival date in the first two address lines.

It used to be just tipping the bell boy to bring it to your room. There is now a small fee as well.

We have never had the parcel delivered more than a couple of weeks prior to our arrival so I am not certain how long they would hold it for youl.

What resort did you stay at?

In 2008 and 2009 I had items sent to Pop and there was no charge. They did not deliver to our room.

From what I read, only the resorts with conference areas charge for packages to be delivered.

 

[ABCanada]

What resort did you stay at?

We were charge $5 at the Beach Club Villas. It was a huge box. I believe it was in 2010, prior to that we had never been charged. I did read on one of the boards that charging was new. I do not know if it is the same for all resorts.

Given the convenience I had no problen paying a small fee.

 

[SmilingGrump]

We've never sent anything down prior to a visit, but we did send several boxes back from Orlando using UPS and I would highly recommend against this unless it the item in question is in factory packaging and with a receipt.

We were there for 3 weeks and shipped items we'd purchased (mostly clothes ... great sales!) as well as laundry via UPS and they charged us a fee for Brokerage. The problem is, UPS can NOT act as a broker for such items. Weeks after our shipment was supposed to arrive and getting the run around from UPS, I spent an entire day in the offices of the local Canada Customs (with my 2 DDs) getting the boxes cleared. And the only reason we were able to do that was because of a VERY kind Customs official who called a personel friend in Winnipeg's Customs office (where our shipment was detained) to physically locate our boxes and arrange with the UPS supervisor to finally deliver them to the Customs office in Edmonton.

Talking with the Customs officer, his suggestion was to use whatever airline's freight arm that we're flying. In most cases, if you're able to deliver the packages the day before your flight, they'll likely travel with you on your flight.

In short, UPS can only clear items that they have a clear receipt and bill of lading for. So a trophy mounted Marlin is fine through UPS. Mixed household goods and laundry is not.

(on the bright side, I learned that we do have some VERY helpful Customs officers!)

 

[3pletprincesses]

I've had stuff delivered at POR tha tI bough on ebay several times. They charge nothing. Most resorts don't charge except for the contemp, YC and BC I think. You simple have to make sure the name of the person on the reservation is the name on the package, with your reservation number, check in date and the resort address. Make sure to allow at least 2 weeks before arriving for delivery to make sure it has cleared Disney mail and gone to your resort. Shortly after check in, you will either have a message on the phone saying there's a package at the front desk for you or the will deliver it to your room. Last October I got 2 stroller delivered to Disney directly, this past May I have Lenox figures from ebay delivered plus a few other things. All those things however were all bought in the states online.

 

[Josh Hendy]

Thanks for the tips! I ordered a couple of things and specified me c/o The Peabody Orlando, which seems to handle packages through its business center. Hope they don't charge an arm and a leg for handling them! I stayed there years ago on a business trip with everything paid for by the company, but this time I'm visiting strictly as a tourist. Maybe they'll cut some slack for a poor tourist spending his own $$$

As regards to the price, selection, and speed of delivery for items ordered online from American websites and delivered within the USA ... (*cough* amazon.com) ... GRRRRREEEAAAAATTTTT !!!