Free Shipping - Be Careful!

I want to let our community know that we need to be careful when making purchases and accepting “free shipping”.  Here is the story, I recently ordered a set of KT150s from TubeDepot. I was offered free shipping. I accepted it and wrongly assumed (mistake: never assume) that they would use a reliable shipping carrier to ship their expensive, fragile glass vacuum tubes. A reliable carrier to me, IMO and personal experience means either FedEx (my preference) OR UPS. Did TubeDepot do that? No! They shipped with USPS. The problem is that the tracking number isn’t working. Their is no documentation that USPS took possession of the package. While TubeDepot has a nicely written page describing USPS’ problems they still use them and this information is not readily available on their website. If I had this information at checkout I would have chosen FedEx and paid for it. I suggested to them that they should put a link to this information right on the checkout page where buyers are going to choose their shipping. I think this transparency would empower buyers to make an informed decision, take ownership of that decision, and save the vendor a lot of time with back and forth emails about where the product is and why the tracking isn’t working. Bottom line: free shipping may be bad shipping. Don’t blindly assume that the free shipping method is good. Ask the vendor who they use for free shipping before making your purchase and act accordingly.