The UPS Store

I had my wife take a package to the UPS Store in South Elgin, expecting that the rates would be a little higher than on
. Big mistake! Apparently the franchise UPS Stores are allowed to set their own price for service options such as Declared Value («insurance»). The published retail rate for Declared Value on
is $ 0.90 per $ 100 of valuation. My wife was charged more than twice that: $ 1.82 per $ 100 of valuation. So a 5-​pound package via UPS Ground with a declared value of $ 4,000 cost $ 88.44, with $ 71.12 of that being the declared value charge. Again, I expected the cost to be a little higher than the published retail rate, but a markup of over 100% is price gouging by almost any measure. When I called to express my dissatisfaction to the store manager (Matt), he listened to my complaint but said that it will not change their shipping practices. It certainly changed mine. I will choose to take my business elsewhere.