Pak Mail Centers of America

This place is a rip-​off! I sold an item on eBay and had researched on
the cost to ship it, including insurance. It was a rather valuable item, so I priced it out through UPS with $ 5,000 of insurance and indicated I would drop it off at a UPS retail location. Well, my husband took the package to ship, not realizing that Pak Mail is an independent shipping company, not part of UPS. My online quote from UPS was $ 42 for a 15-​pound package (I estimated the weight). The actual weight of the package was only 11 pounds, but Pak Mail wanted over $ 142 to ship it — ground … and to Dearborn, Michigan. My husband questioned the charge, to make sure they weren’t quoting for overnight delivery by mistake, but no, they assured him that was what it cost for ground shipping of an 11-​pound package. He ended up going next door to FedEx Office/Kinko’s and paid under $ 45 for the same package, but with less insurance ($ 1,000). I understand that they are going to have a markup of some kind, but over three times as much?! Not to mention, I’m sure they get discounted corporate rates from UPS, so they wouldn’t even be paying the $ 42 I was quoted. Maybe they have great boxes and packing services, as the other Unilocal reviews indicate, but if you just want to send a package that you’ve already prepared, go directly to UPS, FedEx or even the Post Office.

This review is a little late, because I used Pak Mail during the week before Christmas. I wanted to avoid the post office! The first thing I noticed when I got there was that the place was empty (no alarmingly long lines, yay!) The employee greeted me cheerfully and asked how he could help me right away. The employee helped me through my entire mailing process, letting me know the various ways I could mail my packages. I left feeling very pleased!
But my experience didn’t end there. A few weeks later one of the people I had sent a package to said he hadn’t gotten it yet. I had lost my receipt, so I was afraid I’d never be able to figure out what happened to the package. I emailed Pak Mail and explained the situation. It was a Sunday evening when I emailed. By Monday morning an employee from the Schaumburg Pak Mail had replied, giving me the tracking numbers from both of the packages! I was able to track the «missing» package (It turned out that the package HAD been delivered and the recipient just hadn’t checked his P.). box in a while.) This was something I would have never been able to do using the regular post office!
I expect I will use Pak Mail again next time I have a package to send. Thanks for the great service!

Without intending to, I’m becoming a bit of a «box shop» connoisseur. See, a few years ago, I was given a mission where I had to prepare a bunch of small fragile items for transport, and I got to know a super great box shop here in my town. And based on these incredible experiences working closely with a box shop proprietor, I feel I am truly an expert on what a «5 star» box shop experience is.
So when I was back in my other home and needing to pack and ship a few things back to California, it occurred to me that I needed to find another box shop as epically great as the one I know and love here in my own town. Calling around to several shops, none seemed to have what I needed (which, first, was a bike box for transporting bicycles on planes). Some foolishly told me to try a bicycle store where I could buy a case. Well, why would I call a box shop for a bicycle case? I wanted a box, dammit!
Pak Mail was the only shop in the greater Schaumburg area that came through for us, and boy did they come through. They sold us our box, and even gave us some tips on packing it (that it’s made to keep one wheel on for even easier disassembly and transport). I left the box shop happy, and that trip alone would probably have been a 4-​star Unilocal experience.
What brought them up to five was after my husband heroically crammed two bikes into the bike box, he needed another bike to hold said bicycles’ wheels. Blind in my utmost box shop faith, I declared that he must go back to Pak Mail, because they will save the day. And in the eleventh hour of our trip, they came through. They packed the tires up for him, and then when the box was too big to fit into our rental car with the aforementioned bike box, they also provided us with great shipping. Our box of wheels arrived today in what looks like perfect shape.
Moving bicycles across country by plane is difficult enough, but Pak Mail made it simple. Sure, with airline charges, box costs, and shipping the wheels it cost more than what my crappy bike from Target cost originally, but my husband’s bike made it worth it. And really, can you put a price on having a quality box shop/​expert shipper to run to whenever you need a hand?