PSA Shipping Times!

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holdencm9

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Seems like it is common knowledge that PSA ships extremely slow. I know this is a relative term for people (after all, us amazon prime members get spoiled with 2-day shipping :D), but I have never found it to be too bad.

I have been gearing up for a couple more AR builds and have placed several orders in the past year, so I thought I'd look up how long they took, in case it might help anyone who is on the fence. I know shipping time is a major factor for some people. It didn't take any time at all since I save all my confirmation emails anyway. These orders include a variety: ammo, parts, LPK, a stripped lower, etc. The results are attached.

Overall average of 7 days, order to my door, to the midwest, ain't bad IMHO. Of course, YMMV. Seems like PSA is normally getting the orders out in 2 days, and the rest is UPS. Also keep in mind, my normal internet shopping time is usually around 9-10pm, so PSA isn't even actually getting the order until the following day, but I just went off of when the confirmation email was timestamped.

maybe this will help someone
 

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I've placed probably 10 orders from them and my average is about 3 days. Guess it helps that I'm only about 50 miles away :)
 
I have shopped PSA for a while because the prices were good. Lately, though, it seems shipping is also getting faster.

I always tolerated the sometimes (but not always) slow shipping because it was a killer price on something. But the last two orders have been two days and three days (I also shop in the wee hours due to work schedule) from order to shipment.
 
Since the move into the new wharehouse PSA's shipping times are as good or better than anyone in the business, i did not even mind the previous wait time as their product is worth it. Just received six rifle kits in a week, extraordinary time for the remote Great Northwest.
 
I think people might be spoiled; when I was younger I could expect WEEKS of waiting for something to come in the mail, so I'm not going to be upset if it gets here in 5-7 days instead of 2-3. How bad do you really need it anyway?
 
This year their prices went up and no free shipping deals to speak of. These were 2 hallmarks that I saw via their website in the past. Also there are less items in stock, just look at stripped lowers.
 
There is still a high demand for AR's. Like .22, the amount of parts nationwide is still not meeting demand as makers enjoy full work schedules and the backlog disappearing. There is no incentive to increasing production just to keep profits suppressed.

PSA has been around long enough their internal track record and amount of profit on killer deals is beginning to percolate thru their structure. Sure, we got huge bargains, but it usually created huge demands and then things got backlogged creating backlash. Why set yourself up for failure? If there seems to be fewer steep discounts and no free shipping then it goes to what we see now - they appear to be keeping up and getting it out the door.

If they could cut the prices even lower and had the capacity to handle huge demand, the organization would have to be bigger to handle the capacity - for just those special, low profit deals that tend to generate a lot of work for little return. Compared to Spike's, for example, they are following the same path - Spike's got out of the killer deals, too, and is considered mainstream, not the boutique cheap supplier it was a few years back. And we can see that trend with others in the past, too. From price leader to substantive business with fewer problems and consistent service.

Those killer deals get the company attention, but after a while all that work for almost no net gain tends to get old. It would appear the cost of great service is "normal" pricing to get it, which makes sense and it what most of the other suppliers do anyway.

There are plenty of shelf clearances from the smaller guys who are forced to generate cash flow. And the real issue is that those killer deals are usually on fashion items, not steady cash cow SKU's. We've hit a plateau of sorts right now, the AR market has matured to a point where it's simply expanding as the more conservative shooter considers them - not the leading edge embracer. Hot new parts sell, sure, but they are becoming increasingly niche, not broadbased, and are becoming more proprietary - the Hole of the Month for freefloats, special option lowers that eject mags on the last round, etc. It's either super competitive sports oriented or some new way to milk a mounting accessory. The coatings turnover is just about finished off, especially with the new dry lube announced.

If anything the next fashion change will be Coyote and whatever new items are accepted from the latest testing. Nothing really came out of SHOT that has the crowd salivating for it's early release, the Magpul fans are now conditioned to the reality it could take another year to get product. It's been a long time since the Masada debacle and there are actually new shooters who ask "what's that?" For some of us it's like asking "who's John Wayne?"

The AR market is different, PSA isn't the same as it was five years ago and nothing stays the same.
 
Tirod said:
There is still a high demand for AR's. Like .22, the amount of parts nationwide is still not meeting demand as makers enjoy full work schedules and the backlog disappearing.
Click to expand...

That's not what I am seeing at all. AR type rifles and rifle parts are all over the place, there is no shortage. Nothing at all like .22lr.
 
Ibmikey said:
Since the move into the new wharehouse PSA's shipping times are as good or better than anyone in the business, i did not even mind the previous wait time as their product is worth it. Just received six rifle kits in a week, extraordinary time for the remote Great Northwest.
Click to expand...
I didn't really mind their shipping either...I don't have any emails from back then to verify, but I recall most orders got to me in 10 days at the most. I do remember one complete upper took close to 3 weeks, but that was during the sandy hook panic chaos, and I thought was reasonable.

Mostly just wanted to post some results so anyone scouring the web for better information can see it. And it is more recent data, and less anecdotal. Lots of people seem to post "that one time" it took forever, and it skews the perception. I realize that the plural of anecdotes is not data, but I'd say a sample size of 9 orders, within the past year, averaging about 7 days, is much better than the singular instances people have encountered.
 
I've ordered from PSA quite often in the past and will do so again, but i just had my first issue with a shipment that got to me on Wednesday. I'm not even sure it happened at PSA, but emailed them to make them aware of it. My package was opened and re-sealed. Nothing missing, but what got my attention was the packing tape was cut at the box flaps and resealed with narrower tape. Different tape makes me think it might have happened somewhere after it left their shipping department. To quote Yul Brynner: "Tis a puzzlement".
 
My last three orders , spanning two months, have been one week or less from on-line order to holding the items in my hands. And they were great about e-mailing notices of order received and shipment notification.

Very good service in my view.

At least as good, if not better than, Midway.
 
I did not have to wait that long for shipping, I had to wait for it to be in stock. 308 upper that are 18"-20" seem to be far and few between.

They ship UPS ground it seems for their stuff, so I just had to wait from brown to get it to me.
 
My three or four purchases (one upper, a couple of their polished trigger kits, and a complete lower) have all been delivered in about a week. Just ordered another complete lower on Weds or Thurs. I expect to see it Weds/Thurs of next week.

In fairness, I have not ordered anything that was "out of stock"...in fact, I'm not sure you can. I seem to recall seeing no price attached to anything that is out of stock, along with a "notify me when this item is available".
 
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