I guess that it has been nearly 20 years now that in Western countries like the USA and in Europe, companies like Federal Express and others have been offering overnight deliveries of packages. I can remember when this first came into being, the fact that a package could be delivered from one side of the United States all the way to the other side of the country was virtually inconceivable. These days some of these companies even offer same day delivery! Amazing.
Did you know that there are also courier services in the Philippines who offer quick deliveries like that within the Philippines? It’s true, they do, and you might be surprised at the cost of such service.
Last week, I sold one of my books, 49 Ways to earn a living in the Philippines to an American expat who also lives in the Philippines. I offer the book either as an electronic downloadable book, or as a paper book that I will ship to the buyer. I chose to ship out the book via a company called “LBC” which offers quick deliveries, usually overnight, unless it is going to a remote location, in which case it might take 2 or 3 days at the most.
After looking at the price that I paid for the shipment, it made me wonder how much it would have cost to ship within the USA, just out of curiousity. I decided to do a comparison, so I went to two companies websites to get a cost estimate for the shipment. I made the inquiry based on the same size and weight of package, same type of item being shipped, and delivery over a similar distance.
The first site that I checked was Federal Express. When I entered the information, the price of the shipment came up. If I wanted overnight delivery, the price was $52.78. I could also choose 2 Day delivery for $22.84. Another option was a 5 day delivery, which was $18.81.
Next, I decided to check UPS to see how their prices would be for a similar delivery. Overnight delivery to be delivered by 8am in the morning would run me $65.68. Overnight delivery with delivery by 10:30 am was $32.36 (just 2 1/2 hours later delivery was quite a huge discount!). Two day service was available for $21.45, but no longer delivery times were given.
OK, so as I say, I shipped a similar package last week, for delivery within the Philippines. The package was sent via LBC, and was delivered overnight, by noon the next day (although no time of delivery was promised). Any idea how much I paid for this service? The total shipping bill was P115, that is equivelant to $2.45.
Amazing, don’t you think? This was a package that we dropped off at the LBC office, but was delivered to the door of the recipient’s house, which is the same as the service offered to me by FedEx and UPS (you can pay extra for pickup too, but that is not included in the prices I quoted).
I have to say that I am quite happy with the service offered by companies like LBC. There are other companies doing this type of delivery too, but personally I usually use LBC.
What do you think? Can you believe the difference in price?
Hi Bob – If there is one thing that does work efficiently in the Philippines it is shipping of small packages domestically. LBC is great. Perhaps it is the low labor cost here that keeps prices down but I can't really say why. And you are right the USA if far more expensive for overnight or 2 – 3 day items.
But, if you then do a comparison between here and the USA using shippers of larges items such as containers or large loose cargo that need to move using a combination of truck and ship domestically in the Philippines or within the USA and the labor theory goes out the window. The USA is far cheaper for distance covered within the USA than the same scenario within the Philippines. I can tell you first hand that it cost me more to ship stuff domestically here in the Philippines than it did in the USA from east coast to west coast of the USA. And it was cheaper to send stuff to the Philippines from the West Coast of the States than to send stuff from Manila to Davao if you base on distance. Seems the theory of monopoly is the deciding factor here especially with the shipping by sea where we are gracefully hosed by companies like Aboitis or Lorenzo. Check it out and you will be shocked.
If cargo by sea here is expensive try the adventure of roro to put a wallop in your wallet. This is using the extensive ferry system to go from island to island all the way to Mindanao from Manila if you like using your car or truck. It is a beautiful trip and you really get to see the beauty of the Philippines this way. Once I made the trip using Explorer Sport Track. Now at the end of the trip which only went to Cebu from Manila I had spent over $1,000 and that was with only ONE overnight stop and stay in a hotel. Absolutely riodiculous. Sea travel for cargo or roro is outrageous here.
$1,000 of expenses included – Gas, RoRo fees, Food, Hotel Stay.
Most of the sea portions were only one to 2 hours except to Caticlan from Rojas which was about 8 hours if I remember correctly.
Batangas – Puerto Galera (Mindoro) – SEA
Puerto Galera – Rojas (Mindoro) – Land
Rojas – (Mindoro) – Caticlan (Panay) – SEA
Caticlan (Panay) to Iloilo (Panay) – Land (Overnight stay in Iloilo)
Iloilo (Panay) to Bacolod (Negros) – Sea
Bacolod (Negros) to Sibulan (Negros) – Land
Sibulan (Negros) – (Cebu) – Sea
Bob,
Out of curiosity is it not possible that its cheaper not only because of labor costs ,which are significantly cheaper, but also because the packages don't need to travel as far, I mean Philippines only has a total land area size basically the size of Nevada. In states books avail a special rate that is generally between 2.25-2.50 dollars and if shipped in morning going within same state it will likely be next day delivery as things shipped within state seem to arrive very quickly.
Justin
hiya Bob, wow well let me tell you as i work extensivly with shipping with both of those companies and yes your longer option was simply ground either ups ground or fed ex ground I use fed ex often for mailings between my family there and here and overnite service from the philippines to my door was 51.00 of course thats letter envelope but there is a trick to estimating cost with those US companies. with that being said tho, i also have shipped inter phils and wow like you say for mere pennies you get A1 delivery except in heavy items like that air con you let me borrow ( poor white man couldn't handle the heat ) : lol : they kinda got me on that one but it all evens out !
Hi Bob. I use LBC a lot and they have an air cargo service to the Philippines for just $15.00 and arrives within a week to Metro Manila and about 10 days outside Metro Manila. This is a flat rate pouch that can fit documents, books, vitamins and other light items. It's not as quick as UPS or FedEx but wayyyy better than the local post and is reliable. I also use them for local packages within the Philippines and I find them very efficient.
i just had a small/ light package fedexed to me for a week's delivery (california to mexico). it cost me $100.
it wasn't domestic, but still. thanks, bob 🙁
Let me put this in yoiur ear!
In 2003 my wife and I took donations of keyboards and amplifiers from our church to the Philippines. I knew the luggage allowance for Philippine Airlines would be lower than Northwest airlines, so i began to inquire on shipping these items and our luggage as cargo.
After an overnight in Manila, our driver took us staight away to PAL cargo terminal before our domestic flight to Cagayan de Oro where we shipped 4 pieces total of 145 kilo (319 lbs) which had a declared value of P10,000 ($ 200 at the time). This was shipped RHUSH service and arrived in Cagayan de Oro BEFORE WE DID!! Total cost: P3732 or $74.64 !!
Ever since, when travelling with a group and I get to "beg" someone elses luggage allowance, I always ship the luggage ahead of myself using Philippine Airlines Cargo service.
Bob,
I think LBC is the Fed-ex of the Philippines. Most businesses here uses them. To bad the postal system does not get the same type of reviews.
I have received mail that sat for over a week at the post office in Davao before it was delivered.
I have hear a delivery will not go out for just one item, so it sits and waits for others.
I have also never received mail sent from the US.
I just made a Phone call to PAL cargo office and they confirmed that the base cargo rate is still only 16 pesos per kilo going to Cagayan de Oro. Cheaper than the 100 peso per kilo that they will charge to check that baggage on the plane.
For any company to be successful in the market they have to present a competitive price for their service compatible with what the local market place is capable of paying. I took a look at engineering services on http://www.worldsalaries.org to compare the salaries of engineers in the Philippines and the US. Both sets of data were taken in 2005 so the baseline is similar.
Philippines: $US 406 monthly
US: $US 4,710 monthly
So the US engineer is making roughly 11.6 times the Philippine salary.
LBC overnight: $US 2.45
UPS overnight by 10:30 : $US 32.36
So UPS is 13.1 times more expensive.
The comparison of salary to shipping cost is relatively similar.
I am curious Bob if you have any kind of insurance or a way to get relief if your package is lost with the service you are using? If it is any thing like the Philippine postal service you could be in trouble. And if you would have sent that same book the same distance through the US Postal Service what would be the cost?
Dan you might want to look on thier site you may be surprised http://www.lbcexpress.com/ 🙂
Hi Bob! I am surprised to hear somebody say they like LBC. I personally despise LBC's customer service (or the lack of it). I've heard my friends say the same thing too. Well I hope they have changed. I've always used FedEx. I have tried others like Libcap, totally not good, JRS, so-so.
Yep. I think I wrote on this afew months back. LBC and several of it's competiors are great. They are an example alot of other Philippine businesses should follow.
As far as distance, it's 1200 miles from one end of the Philippines to the other, so don't fall into the trap of thinking everything is close. Land area is about 115,124 sm miles, a little bigger than Arizona.
There is low cost insurance available, just as with US carriers. I never use it as I find deliveries 100% reliable. My US Mail comnes to me via LBC as well, shipped from the RAO office in Angeles City. Cheap and on time.
LBC is not FedEx of the Philippines. FedEx's partner in the Philippines is Air21. UPS's Philippine partner is Delbros International Express Ltd LBC is a Philippine founded and Philippine operated company …
That price from PAL Air Cargo is good. One thing to remember when using any of the services … there is no such thing as overnight from the US even if you pay for it. It's always tomorrow here … this is something that costs trouble and monetary loss from time to time … like submitting contacts documents by a certian deadline. You have to allow at least a day, safer to allow 2 or 3, when shipping to the Philippines becuase it "Absolutely Positively WILL NOT get There Overnight".
Hello Bob,
Mt appologies for missreading your article as I overlooked the part of your experiment where you also took distance into consideration. In America though most people would just ship that kind of item by USPS media mail and average paperback in bubble mailer (or little box) would cost less than 2.50usd (see link below) and in most cases would be no need to expidite the shipping at extra fee as item would arrive in either 1-2 days in most instances.
http://www.usps.com/prices/media-mail-prices.htm
I always thought Phililippine Postal service had good rates on international shipping though and never had any problems I hear of about items getting stolen or etc by the postal workers. Up untill I quit smoking 6months ago was having my Marlboros shipped 40 cartons at a time every 2 months from Philippines and even with shipping cost it still worked out to to around 8usd a carton in comparison to the 55-60usd per carton they cost here due to the taxes.
Justin
Hi Bob,
My comment hasn't to do with courier service, but I thought it kinda fits in.
I have found the Philippine post office is good at sending registered mail to other countries. I send a handful of small letter-type packages to Canada every year by registered mail. It always arrives and in good time. I think it has something to do with people having to sign for handling at every stage. It isn't expensive either.
Just thought I'd add that experience, because I was even able to get a Christmas card delivered to my parents. I sent it via registered mail in the first week of December and my parents received it before Christmas! That's fast considering the high volume of mail at that time of year.
Sorry to be off topic a bit.
Hi Bob
From Kuwait to the philippines by sea maybey 45 days for a nice size crate around 10kd or 36 dollars, 45 days might seem like a long time but when me and my wife accumilate stuff in Kuwait and want to send it there ,the time frame is not that important. I have heard you can send a 20ft container with a car or
furniture for 1500 dollars. I guess it depends how fast you need it
Hi Bob, I might be late to jump on the wagon, but besides Philippine Postal Corp. I enjoyed LBC as the most best carrier in the Philippines – inside and delivery abroad to very affordable fees – especially also to Germany, because I experienced it many times during the last years while shipping important documents of our clients from the Philippines abroad. On the other hand LBC is also the fastest in delivering mail to my residence. It sounds like a big promotion for LBC. I didn't mean to do so, I just share my experiences with LBC… . Great article, Bob. Thanks.
hello Bob
First I am so sorry we did not meet while I was there. now on to this subject. Oh I was 100 miles from home on way to airport when I remembered my lap top was still on kitchen table. but I have sent Josey a few care packages from California. Fed Ex and UPS were hundreds of dollars and USPS was always the cheapest way to send. Express Mail and was there in 6 days. They would call her and she would pick up. But now, because of this blog, now again I know better ways. Thank you again.
What is the procedure if i will make shipment of used car from Manila to CDO Mindanao?
I am sorry, I do not know the procedures for such a shipment.
Bob or anyone? I had a package sent to me to Surigao Del Norte by Express Mail International.
The Tracking information says the package is now available at the post office for pick up since the 30th of June, 2012, but the post office says they don’t have it.
Is there a DIFFERENT pick up place for Express Mail International packages other than the local post office?
Have no idea who to call here or where the package might be.
Thanks!
Normally, when the package is ready for pickup, a paper notice is delivered to your house, telling you where to get the package.
I guess the tracking information is a bit off then and I’ll need to wait on that paper. I was thinking the local municipal building might have it also as a drop off spot (I’m about 15km from the Surigao City local post office). I’ll check that too. Thanks Bob.