[kevlar397]

Having a balanced cable is great because you can always use the same cable with a SE adapter if you want to listen on a SE device. You cannot go the other way though.

If we're talking about Schiit, only delta-sigma DAC I've heard is the 4490 G2 card but I strongly prefer Modi MB over it. I haven't heard Gungnir DS. The general consensus is Gungnir DS is very good but the MB version is better.

I didn't know there were balanced to SE connectors. That's great to know!

Thanks! It's great to hear your experience with DS and MB.

 

[Smithington]

@Jason Stoddard I get the impression (as a UK citizen) that your problem with the USPS won't change unless people in key management positions are made aware of your dissent. It sounds like the people I have in mind don't work or operate from your regional post office, so you need to go higher up to have things shaken up.

Sort of like having an issue with a branch of Walmart and having to go to head office to let them know that your local branch stinks. The people at your branch will likely never change that, without influence from above.

 

[wout31]

Sold my cassette deck, a Pioneer CT95 with Dolby B and C some months ago for $ 900, 00
Way too much in my opinion, but if people are willing to pay.
Have a look at all the bids on retro audio gear on Catawiki and you'll be surprised about what people are willing to pay

 

[Mike Foley]

I
still occasionally use this, as I like to dig out my old off air recordings every once in a while.

 

[RickB]

2019, Chapter 10:
*** This Ship!

So, it looks like Schiit may not be shipping with USPS anymore.

Yes. That USPS. The United States Postal Service.

Why? Because they’ve simply become too unreliable for a business to rely on. Well, at least our post office has. As of this writing, they have not reliably picked up shipments from us for seven weeks. That’s nearly two months. This is despite contacting them, cajoling them, trying to find out what was wrong, trying to figure out how to make it work…and despite literally paying them $23 per day for what they call “scheduled pickup,” which has only worked about 33% of the time.

So what have we done in the meantime? We’ve had employees drive shipments down to the post office. This is a non-ideal solution for many reasons, including the fact that we have to work out a time-off payment for them, and if there’s a traffic incident while they’re driving down to the post office, we could be totally on the hook for that.

We’ve told the USPS this. Like I said, we’ve tried everything, including paying them, to get reliable pickup.

But here’s the bottom line: nobody cares at the USPS.

So, it looks like we may have to shut off USPS as a shipping option for Schiit. I think this is a pretty sad day when your national postal service cannot perform at a level needed for a business customer. And no, this is not a political thing. Business is business. We need a reliable shipping partner that picks up our packages (and, as a bonus, is happy to pick up our packages, because, hey, you know, that’s actual business we’re paying for, and, as another bonus, is happy to pick up our packages without any bribes/extortion/payola like the “scheduled pickup fee.”)

FedEx is happy to do this. UPS is happy to do this.

So are we gonna kick USPS to the curb? Well, before I answer that question, why don’t we take a look at shipping in general. Hopefully some start-ups will find this information useful, or at least you’ll find this enlightening.

To begin with, let’s start with skewering my most detested sacred cow….


“Free Shipping” Should Be Banned

Yeah, I get it. The siren call of “free shipping.” Hell, I’ve fallen for it.

But here’s the unadultated truth: there is no free shipping.

No. Such. Thing.

Period.

Everything has a price.

If you put me in charge, I’d ban the term “Free shipping.” Because it’s a misleading term. It’s not “free shipping.” It’s actually “price inclusive shipping.” And that’s what we should call it.

Seriously, do you think that someone’s gonna truck a Ragnarok from LA to NYC for free?

Of course you don’t. You knowsomeone is paying for shipping. You just don’t want it to be you.

And, like I said, I totally understand. But I also understand that what we’re really talking about is “price inclusive shipping,” and that the manufacturer or retailer is paying for it. If this type of shipping is abused too much (like, say, using it as an equipment rental service, especially when coupled with “free returns,”) the whole thing breaks. Hell, even Amazon has made it harder to return things these days, to help stem the tide of rentaholics abusing the system.

I hate the term “free shipping” so much, this is what we should do:



Yes, you see that right. You can choose “standard shipping” for standard price, or “free shipping” and pay more.

Because this accurately reflects what “free shipping” is: price inclusive shipping. You can have free shipping and pay more, or pay a fair price for shipping and pay less.

Aside: another company that does this is frameiteasy.com. If you’re looking for wall art, and you’re not so deep-pocketed so as to simply hang a ton of Samsung The Frames around your place, these guys are very fairly priced, fast, and have very reasonable shipping prices. No, I don’t own them, nope, I’m not an investor, just a satisfied customer…and happy to see them call out “free shipping” for what it is. They have competitors with free shipping. They cost 50% more—or more.​

Hell, we should do this “select your shipping thing” for Black Friday. Call it the Schiit Free Shipping Promo, or something like that. Maybe we can finally one-up Cards Against Humanity.

And, before you get irritated, we can also just refund the difference between “free shipping” and actual shipping, so nobody loses…and maybe some people learn a thing or two.

Okay, free shipping screed over. Let’s talk about how dire shipping is.


Amazon’s Solution: Fire Everyone

Yep. Fire everyone.

Amazon has long had contracts with FedEx and USPS. USPS handled Sunday deliveries. Well, it kinda-sorta still handles them, but…

Wait. Let me just relate a story.

It’s a Monday. We’re 6 weeks into the “USPS ain’t picking up” thing. Alex and I are talking, as usual, and I have to ask:

“So, are we gonna fire USPS?”

Alex shakes his head. “I’m still on the fence.”

“But are they picking up?”

Another head-shake. “Not usually.”

“Not even when paying them?”

“Not even when paying them.” Alex sighs, then continues. “It’s really hard to take them seriously when, you know, yesterday, Sunday, I get a delivery from the Amazon Prime van. I mean, that’s not a surprise, I’m at home. But then I get a notice from the USPS, which was delivering something else from Amazon, saying they couldn’t deliver because they couldn’t find my door. Hell, I was standing thirty feet from the door when that message came in, and they weren’t anywhere around.”

I laughed. “That happens all the time. Amazon delivers, USPS comes on Monday. Maybe.”

“It’s not surprising Amazon did what it did,” Alex said.

“What?” I honestly didn’t know.

Alex looked at me like I had two heads. “They fired everyone. Or they’re in the process of firing everyone. USPS is going out. They’re not renewing their FedEx contract.”

“So what are they doing?” I asked, somewhat incredulous. “Shipping it themselves?”

“Exactly,” Alex said.

“Wait…what?” I said. “They just…started their own shipping company?”

“Not exactly,” Alex explained. “They subsidized cheap Mercedes vans so people could start up their own last-mile delivery services, and take on their routes.”

Holy schiit,I thought. “Those are the Amazon vans you see running around?”

Alex nodded. “Those are them.”

Wow,I thought. Completely vertically integrated, including shipping. Given our pain with the USPS (and, to be honest, we’ve had our moments with FedEx, as well as pain with testing out UPS and DHL), I totally got it. It wasn’t something we could do, but when a retailer decides tocreate its own shipping fleet…things must really be ugly. Yes, I know, Amazon is huge…but that’s an amazing amount of liability to take on. Their pain must have been immense.

And here we were, with USPS not picking up…

…so maybe they will have to go.


Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

I really don’t want to lose USPS as a shipper. But, unless they improve, we have to do something. Right now, I see our options as:

1. Eat it, and just have someone take the packages down every day, and take the disruption and liability that incurs. This is what we’re doing now.
2. Do the same, but change our shipping policy so we only ship via USPS two days per week to minimize disruption and liability.
3. Add a surcharge to every USPS order so it’s not attractive to use it as a shipping option.
4. Raise prices 10-20% across the board and have “free domestic shipping.”
5. Turn USPS off.

But, you know, I gotta ask: what are we missing if we drop USPS as a shipping option?

• Does it go anywhere in the USA that isn’t covered by other services?
• Does it have some huge advantage getting into other countries that I’m missing?
• It is insanely less expensive than other options? If so, to where?
• Is there some other advantage I’m missing?

Feel free to let me know in the comments. I’ll be looking at them, and Alex will be as well. I’m genuinely perturbed by this turn of events, and nothing is (yet) set in stone. If USPS doesn’t have some significant advantage that I’m missing, though…why should we continue to engage with a shipping service that doesn’t even care enough to pick up our packages?

As always, thanks for reading, and thanks for your input.

2019, Chapter 10:
*** This Ship!

So, it looks like Schiit may not be shipping with USPS anymore.

Yes. That USPS. The United States Postal Service.

Why? Because they’ve simply become too unreliable for a business to rely on. Well, at least our post office has. As of this writing, they have not reliably picked up shipments from us for seven weeks. That’s nearly two months. This is despite contacting them, cajoling them, trying to find out what was wrong, trying to figure out how to make it work…and despite literally paying them $23 per day for what they call “scheduled pickup,” which has only worked about 33% of the time.

So what have we done in the meantime? We’ve had employees drive shipments down to the post office. This is a non-ideal solution for many reasons, including the fact that we have to work out a time-off payment for them, and if there’s a traffic incident while they’re driving down to the post office, we could be totally on the hook for that.

We’ve told the USPS this. Like I said, we’ve tried everything, including paying them, to get reliable pickup.

But here’s the bottom line: nobody cares at the USPS.

So, it looks like we may have to shut off USPS as a shipping option for Schiit. I think this is a pretty sad day when your national postal service cannot perform at a level needed for a business customer. And no, this is not a political thing. Business is business. We need a reliable shipping partner that picks up our packages (and, as a bonus, is happy to pick up our packages, because, hey, you know, that’s actual business we’re paying for, and, as another bonus, is happy to pick up our packages without any bribes/extortion/payola like the “scheduled pickup fee.”)

FedEx is happy to do this. UPS is happy to do this.

So are we gonna kick USPS to the curb? Well, before I answer that question, why don’t we take a look at shipping in general. Hopefully some start-ups will find this information useful, or at least you’ll find this enlightening.

To begin with, let’s start with skewering my most detested sacred cow….


“Free Shipping” Should Be Banned

Yeah, I get it. The siren call of “free shipping.” Hell, I’ve fallen for it.

But here’s the unadultated truth: there is no free shipping.

No. Such. Thing.

Period.

Everything has a price.

If you put me in charge, I’d ban the term “Free shipping.” Because it’s a misleading term. It’s not “free shipping.” It’s actually “price inclusive shipping.” And that’s what we should call it.

Seriously, do you think that someone’s gonna truck a Ragnarok from LA to NYC for free?

Of course you don’t. You knowsomeone is paying for shipping. You just don’t want it to be you.

And, like I said, I totally understand. But I also understand that what we’re really talking about is “price inclusive shipping,” and that the manufacturer or retailer is paying for it. If this type of shipping is abused too much (like, say, using it as an equipment rental service, especially when coupled with “free returns,”) the whole thing breaks. Hell, even Amazon has made it harder to return things these days, to help stem the tide of rentaholics abusing the system.

I hate the term “free shipping” so much, this is what we should do:



Yes, you see that right. You can choose “standard shipping” for standard price, or “free shipping” and pay more.

Because this accurately reflects what “free shipping” is: price inclusive shipping. You can have free shipping and pay more, or pay a fair price for shipping and pay less.

Aside: another company that does this is frameiteasy.com. If you’re looking for wall art, and you’re not so deep-pocketed so as to simply hang a ton of Samsung The Frames around your place, these guys are very fairly priced, fast, and have very reasonable shipping prices. No, I don’t own them, nope, I’m not an investor, just a satisfied customer…and happy to see them call out “free shipping” for what it is. They have competitors with free shipping. They cost 50% more—or more.​

Hell, we should do this “select your shipping thing” for Black Friday. Call it the Schiit Free Shipping Promo, or something like that. Maybe we can finally one-up Cards Against Humanity.

And, before you get irritated, we can also just refund the difference between “free shipping” and actual shipping, so nobody loses…and maybe some people learn a thing or two.

Okay, free shipping screed over. Let’s talk about how dire shipping is.


Amazon’s Solution: Fire Everyone

Yep. Fire everyone.

Amazon has long had contracts with FedEx and USPS. USPS handled Sunday deliveries. Well, it kinda-sorta still handles them, but…

Wait. Let me just relate a story.

It’s a Monday. We’re 6 weeks into the “USPS ain’t picking up” thing. Alex and I are talking, as usual, and I have to ask:

“So, are we gonna fire USPS?”

Alex shakes his head. “I’m still on the fence.”

“But are they picking up?”

Another head-shake. “Not usually.”

“Not even when paying them?”

“Not even when paying them.” Alex sighs, then continues. “It’s really hard to take them seriously when, you know, yesterday, Sunday, I get a delivery from the Amazon Prime van. I mean, that’s not a surprise, I’m at home. But then I get a notice from the USPS, which was delivering something else from Amazon, saying they couldn’t deliver because they couldn’t find my door. Hell, I was standing thirty feet from the door when that message came in, and they weren’t anywhere around.”

I laughed. “That happens all the time. Amazon delivers, USPS comes on Monday. Maybe.”

“It’s not surprising Amazon did what it did,” Alex said.

“What?” I honestly didn’t know.

Alex looked at me like I had two heads. “They fired everyone. Or they’re in the process of firing everyone. USPS is going out. They’re not renewing their FedEx contract.”

“So what are they doing?” I asked, somewhat incredulous. “Shipping it themselves?”

“Exactly,” Alex said.

“Wait…what?” I said. “They just…started their own shipping company?”

“Not exactly,” Alex explained. “They subsidized cheap Mercedes vans so people could start up their own last-mile delivery services, and take on their routes.”

Holy schiit,I thought. “Those are the Amazon vans you see running around?”

Alex nodded. “Those are them.”

Wow,I thought. Completely vertically integrated, including shipping. Given our pain with the USPS (and, to be honest, we’ve had our moments with FedEx, as well as pain with testing out UPS and DHL), I totally got it. It wasn’t something we could do, but when a retailer decides tocreate its own shipping fleet…things must really be ugly. Yes, I know, Amazon is huge…but that’s an amazing amount of liability to take on. Their pain must have been immense.

And here we were, with USPS not picking up…

…so maybe they will have to go.


Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

I really don’t want to lose USPS as a shipper. But, unless they improve, we have to do something. Right now, I see our options as:

1. Eat it, and just have someone take the packages down every day, and take the disruption and liability that incurs. This is what we’re doing now.
2. Do the same, but change our shipping policy so we only ship via USPS two days per week to minimize disruption and liability.
3. Add a surcharge to every USPS order so it’s not attractive to use it as a shipping option.
4. Raise prices 10-20% across the board and have “free domestic shipping.”
5. Turn USPS off.

But, you know, I gotta ask: what are we missing if we drop USPS as a shipping option?

• Does it go anywhere in the USA that isn’t covered by other services?
• Does it have some huge advantage getting into other countries that I’m missing?
• It is insanely less expensive than other options? If so, to where?
• Is there some other advantage I’m missing?

Feel free to let me know in the comments. I’ll be looking at them, and Alex will be as well. I’m genuinely perturbed by this turn of events, and nothing is (yet) set in stone. If USPS doesn’t have some significant advantage that I’m missing, though…why should we continue to engage with a shipping service that doesn’t even care enough to pick up our packages?

As always, thanks for reading, and thanks for your input.

I've long preferred to choose FedEx or UPS for receiving packages I consider important, and that I don't want to be "lost" or mis-delivered or delivered late. That includes anything from Schiit.

Not to get political (and I'm not anti-union by any means), but it is difficult to get good service from employees that are almost impossible to fire. It takes a lot to lose your job at the Post Office.

 

[KoshNaranek]

I did not receive a credit card bill this month. I prefer to pay bills with a paper trail, rather than online but postal service unreliability is is reaching the point where is may be more trouble than it is worth even for me. I think a USPS mail run once a week for foreign packages is more than enough trouble for you Jason.


https://wtvr.com/2018/02/16/mail-found-in-dumpster-tanglewood-apartments-petersburg/

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news...ed-of-throwing-out-hundreds-of-pieces-of-mail

https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/c...to-dumpster-at-long-view-rec-center/844716103

https://detroit.cbslocal.com/2015/1...than-1000-letters-in-romulus-hotel-dumpsters/

 

[motberg]

Yep. RT909 was their TOTL, but the RT707 was still a cute little thing that would fit nicely in a well populated vintage stereo rack.

I had a 707, made copies of my favorite records so no worries about record wear or damage...
It seemed to require the high recording speed and quality tape to make a good copy.

 

[crazychile]

I like the idea of putting an additional surcharge on USPS shipments to make it less attractive. Also state that shipments could be delayed an additional 2-3 days, so that you can make a run to the PO twice a week instead of every weekday.

I use USPS for 3 things:
1. Send a birthday or condolences card.
2. Send something cheaply, where tracking or delivery time is not important.
3. Send something International. The USPS rates can be almost half of Fedex or UPS, with the delivery time only being a day or two longer.

The first 2 obviously don't apply to Schiit, so that pretty much just leaves the last one.

 

[belgiangenius]

2019, Chapter 10:
*** This Ship!

So, it looks like Schiit may not be shipping with USPS anymore.

Yes. That USPS. The United States Postal Service.

Why? Because they’ve simply become too unreliable for a business to rely on. Well, at least our post office has. As of this writing, they have not reliably picked up shipments from us for seven weeks. That’s nearly two months. This is despite contacting them, cajoling them, trying to find out what was wrong, trying to figure out how to make it work…and despite literally paying them $23 per day for what they call “scheduled pickup,” which has only worked about 33% of the time.

So what have we done in the meantime? We’ve had employees drive shipments down to the post office. This is a non-ideal solution for many reasons, including the fact that we have to work out a time-off payment for them, and if there’s a traffic incident while they’re driving down to the post office, we could be totally on the hook for that.

We’ve told the USPS this. Like I said, we’ve tried everything, including paying them, to get reliable pickup.

But here’s the bottom line: nobody cares at the USPS.

So, it looks like we may have to shut off USPS as a shipping option for Schiit. I think this is a pretty sad day when your national postal service cannot perform at a level needed for a business customer. And no, this is not a political thing. Business is business. We need a reliable shipping partner that picks up our packages (and, as a bonus, is happy to pick up our packages, because, hey, you know, that’s actual business we’re paying for, and, as another bonus, is happy to pick up our packages without any bribes/extortion/payola like the “scheduled pickup fee.”)

FedEx is happy to do this. UPS is happy to do this.

So are we gonna kick USPS to the curb? Well, before I answer that question, why don’t we take a look at shipping in general. Hopefully some start-ups will find this information useful, or at least you’ll find this enlightening.

To begin with, let’s start with skewering my most detested sacred cow….


“Free Shipping” Should Be Banned

Yeah, I get it. The siren call of “free shipping.” Hell, I’ve fallen for it.

But here’s the unadultated truth: there is no free shipping.

No. Such. Thing.

Period.

Everything has a price.

If you put me in charge, I’d ban the term “Free shipping.” Because it’s a misleading term. It’s not “free shipping.” It’s actually “price inclusive shipping.” And that’s what we should call it.

Seriously, do you think that someone’s gonna truck a Ragnarok from LA to NYC for free?

Of course you don’t. You knowsomeone is paying for shipping. You just don’t want it to be you.

And, like I said, I totally understand. But I also understand that what we’re really talking about is “price inclusive shipping,” and that the manufacturer or retailer is paying for it. If this type of shipping is abused too much (like, say, using it as an equipment rental service, especially when coupled with “free returns,”) the whole thing breaks. Hell, even Amazon has made it harder to return things these days, to help stem the tide of rentaholics abusing the system.

I hate the term “free shipping” so much, this is what we should do:



Yes, you see that right. You can choose “standard shipping” for standard price, or “free shipping” and pay more.

Because this accurately reflects what “free shipping” is: price inclusive shipping. You can have free shipping and pay more, or pay a fair price for shipping and pay less.

Aside: another company that does this is frameiteasy.com. If you’re looking for wall art, and you’re not so deep-pocketed so as to simply hang a ton of Samsung The Frames around your place, these guys are very fairly priced, fast, and have very reasonable shipping prices. No, I don’t own them, nope, I’m not an investor, just a satisfied customer…and happy to see them call out “free shipping” for what it is. They have competitors with free shipping. They cost 50% more—or more.​

Hell, we should do this “select your shipping thing” for Black Friday. Call it the Schiit Free Shipping Promo, or something like that. Maybe we can finally one-up Cards Against Humanity.

And, before you get irritated, we can also just refund the difference between “free shipping” and actual shipping, so nobody loses…and maybe some people learn a thing or two.

Okay, free shipping screed over. Let’s talk about how dire shipping is.


Amazon’s Solution: Fire Everyone

Yep. Fire everyone.

Amazon has long had contracts with FedEx and USPS. USPS handled Sunday deliveries. Well, it kinda-sorta still handles them, but…

Wait. Let me just relate a story.

It’s a Monday. We’re 6 weeks into the “USPS ain’t picking up” thing. Alex and I are talking, as usual, and I have to ask:

“So, are we gonna fire USPS?”

Alex shakes his head. “I’m still on the fence.”

“But are they picking up?”

Another head-shake. “Not usually.”

“Not even when paying them?”

“Not even when paying them.” Alex sighs, then continues. “It’s really hard to take them seriously when, you know, yesterday, Sunday, I get a delivery from the Amazon Prime van. I mean, that’s not a surprise, I’m at home. But then I get a notice from the USPS, which was delivering something else from Amazon, saying they couldn’t deliver because they couldn’t find my door. Hell, I was standing thirty feet from the door when that message came in, and they weren’t anywhere around.”

I laughed. “That happens all the time. Amazon delivers, USPS comes on Monday. Maybe.”

“It’s not surprising Amazon did what it did,” Alex said.

“What?” I honestly didn’t know.

Alex looked at me like I had two heads. “They fired everyone. Or they’re in the process of firing everyone. USPS is going out. They’re not renewing their FedEx contract.”

“So what are they doing?” I asked, somewhat incredulous. “Shipping it themselves?”

“Exactly,” Alex said.

“Wait…what?” I said. “They just…started their own shipping company?”

“Not exactly,” Alex explained. “They subsidized cheap Mercedes vans so people could start up their own last-mile delivery services, and take on their routes.”

Holy schiit,I thought. “Those are the Amazon vans you see running around?”

Alex nodded. “Those are them.”

Wow,I thought. Completely vertically integrated, including shipping. Given our pain with the USPS (and, to be honest, we’ve had our moments with FedEx, as well as pain with testing out UPS and DHL), I totally got it. It wasn’t something we could do, but when a retailer decides tocreate its own shipping fleet…things must really be ugly. Yes, I know, Amazon is huge…but that’s an amazing amount of liability to take on. Their pain must have been immense.

And here we were, with USPS not picking up…

…so maybe they will have to go.


Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

I really don’t want to lose USPS as a shipper. But, unless they improve, we have to do something. Right now, I see our options as:

1. Eat it, and just have someone take the packages down every day, and take the disruption and liability that incurs. This is what we’re doing now.
2. Do the same, but change our shipping policy so we only ship via USPS two days per week to minimize disruption and liability.
3. Add a surcharge to every USPS order so it’s not attractive to use it as a shipping option.
4. Raise prices 10-20% across the board and have “free domestic shipping.”
5. Turn USPS off.

But, you know, I gotta ask: what are we missing if we drop USPS as a shipping option?

• Does it go anywhere in the USA that isn’t covered by other services?
• Does it have some huge advantage getting into other countries that I’m missing?
• It is insanely less expensive than other options? If so, to where?
• Is there some other advantage I’m missing?

Feel free to let me know in the comments. I’ll be looking at them, and Alex will be as well. I’m genuinely perturbed by this turn of events, and nothing is (yet) set in stone. If USPS doesn’t have some significant advantage that I’m missing, though…why should we continue to engage with a shipping service that doesn’t even care enough to pick up our packages?

As always, thanks for reading, and thanks for your input.

Interesting post.

Here in Canada, from my perspective, Canada Post/USPS is a very reliable option. Yes, they are slow, but they get the job done at the lowest cost.

UPS is the courier covered in the most crap. I am convinced no one at UPS in Canada cares. I often just refuse to order from companies that only ship UPS unless I really need the product and there are no alternatives.

 

[crazychile]

While we're on the subject of cassette decks. (Which is a HORRIBLE idea for a company to get into for the sake of retro)....The last time I checked you couldn't even buy blanks any more unless they were the super cheesy normal bias crap. I don't think any company has made Hi-bias or Metal blanks for almost 2 decades.

I've got an old Nakamichi boxed up and sitting in the garage. I haven't been missing it at all.

 

[decodm]

2019, Chapter 10:
*** This Ship!

But, you know, I gotta ask: what are we missing if we drop USPS as a shipping option?

• Does it go anywhere in the USA that isn’t covered by other services?
• Does it have some huge advantage getting into other countries that I’m missing?
• It is insanely less expensive than other options? If so, to where?
• Is there some other advantage I’m missing?

Feel free to let me know in the comments. I’ll be looking at them, and Alex will be as well. I’m genuinely perturbed by this turn of events, and nothing is (yet) set in stone. If USPS doesn’t have some significant advantage that I’m missing, though…why should we continue to engage with a shipping service that doesn’t even care enough to pick up our packages?

As always, thanks for reading, and thanks for your input.

As an international customer (I live in Brazil), here's is my 2 cents: USPS is usually a bit cheaper, but not by much. Also, via USPS sometimes packages slip by customs without fees being tacked on, while when shipped via couriers like UPS, DHL and the likes, customs fees are always charged.

 

[jfoxvol]

somewhere inside of me there is an audiophile snob that very much likes the fact that the signal stays analog when I record from vinyl over to cassette. No AD conversion required. This thought releases a great deal of endorphins I reckon.

I'm with you on that one.

 

[dieslemat]

I cant imagine how frustrating it would be for customers who follow Schiit. Worst case scenario would be:

1. Schiit announces a product
2. Schiit announces that it will be delayed on N months
3. After N months, no word when it will be released.
4. After another N months, product gets released.
5. Customer orders
6. USPS delays it even further.

Luckily it hasnt happened to me.

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

Here are the shipping rates for a Vidar to my home address:

I would (and did) use FedEx over USPS even if it wasn't cheaper.

Both carriers will charge me HST of 13%. Fedex adds a $20 fee for their brokerage costs, Canada Post charges $8 but this rate may have increased since I last used it. Both are expensive but I know that the FedEx parcel will get here, I'm never confident about the post office.

JC

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

I found this link for a review of the Aegir on another site:

http://v2.stereotimes.com/post/schiit-audio-aegir-class-a-power-amplifier/

JC