Review of Aloha Forwarding service (live, zip code, prices)

[terracore]

Aloha Forwarding is a service that forwards packages. For example if there is a merchant that does not ship to Hawaii (and some other locations) you can have the package shipped to them and they will forward it to you.

Since this is a review, not an advertisement for their service, I am not posting a web link, however they can be found with any search engine.

The first problem I discovered was trying to get a quote for their service. According to their web page:




The graphic above taken from their web site explains to use Zip Code 80224 to determine shipping cost. It also graphically depicts a map with shipments coming and going from a location that could be Colorado. And that is a zip code in Colorado, but their actual address is in Washington, which is in a different USPS shipping zone. The prices are different but if going to Hawaii the price is actually cheaper when using the correct zip code. Later on through the sign up process, there is a warning not to use the Colorado address (also referenced as a ship to address elsewhere on the web site) or else the shipment will be returned. Clearly the company has moved, but the web site, pricing guidelines, and instructions do not reflect this.

You are probably wondering, when they receive a package, when does it ship?





The graphic above taken from their web site explains that the item ships out the day after they receive it. I interpreted "next day" to mean next business day.

When was my package delivered to them?




The graphic above from Amazon shows that they received my package from Amazon on Jan 14, 2018.

When did they ship it to me?



The graphic above shows that they shipped it on 1/22/18 via Priority Mail. Yes, that is 8 days after they received it. This will become important when you see when I actually received it:



The graphic above shows that the package was delivered by USPS on Feb 20, 2018. Why is this date so important? Because it's 6 days past the amazon 30-day return date.

So what happened? Despite my request that it ship Priority Mail, and despite their invoice showing that it shipped Priority Mail, it was shipped surface. Worse, the surface price is higher than the Priority Mail price, so I got to pay extra to receive the item after the 30-day amazon return window had expired. It had a happy ending however, because the item didn't have to be returned.

What else happened? Because I knew that Amazon had delivered the package to them, and because their web site says it ships the next day, after several days I emailed them and asked what is the status of the shipment. Their reply:

"We sorry for the delay, with the holiday on Monday we are still catching up. We did receive your package. "

To save you a trip to the calendar, the holiday was Martin Luther King Jr. day. This is how I learned that MLK is a huge shipping holiday. So now I can plan ahead for future years.

Anything else weird? During the sign up process, I clicked a box that I agreed to allow them to open the packages. I thought that this was so that it could be repackaged in a way that might save me money (like in my customer request, that it be placed into a flat rate box). It was clear that my package was opened and then retaped and sent in the original box. Why? Was it curiosity? I mean I don't really care, but opening and examining my package didn't save me any money or seem to serve any real purpose. Most freight forwarders are too concerned with rushing to the next shipping point to waste time opening and resealing boxes for no apparent reason.

For full disclosure, this shipment did contain lithium ion batteries which is probably why Amazon wouldn't ship them to Hawaii, and probably the reason why the forwarder shipped them via surface (You can ship lithium ion batteries to Hawaii but the regulations are so confusing that many amazon sellers don't click the right boxes to make it happen) and I am okay with that. However if they didn't wait 8 days to ship it, maybe it would have arrived before the amazon return deadline. And, it might have been placed on the earlier barge so I would have received it after about two weeks instead of nearly twice that long. BUT, if they contacted me and said, hey we want to ship this surface I might have elected to have the shipment returned to Amazon or email them with a FedEx lithium ion and pre-paid shipping label, however instead of giving me any options they just shipped it surface and sent me an invoice showing that it was sent Priority Mail instead.

Would I use this service again? Yes, but only if it was absolutely, positively the ONLY way to get something from the mainland.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Thanks, Terracore. I was wondering about them.

Did you ever figure out the Colorado zip code vs Washington address?

Maybe it would just be easily to ship to a friend or family member and let them rewrap and forward to us.