TomD
e publius unum
The United State Postal Service is less expensive than UPS.
The United State Postal Service is not full of thefts.
The United State Postal Service will ship long guns (never tried to ship a handgun)
You never ever want to try and make a Claim agains UPS. Even if fully insured they will never pay for damage. You will be found at fault.
I ship a lot of gold and silver coins about and the US Postal Service is the way to go, virtually all precious metals in the country are sent that way. Personal experience of a couple of hundred shippings and they have a screwup rate of 0%.
Several years back, using UPS but not guns or metals, a package that I had insured for $300 was lost, delivered to a totally different address in a different city and not recovered. Months later trying to collect the insurance they ruled against me on ridiculous grounds. I could possibly have hired a lawyer and eventually gotten the money but---
Maybe UPS treats their big customers better.