Ideal Bite

also, you can reuse things like envelopes (like ones found in bills). you can even reuse bubblewrapped ones! just tape a bit of paper over the used addresses and go! the post office doesn't mind, AND you're reusing!

Dear Ideal Bite, Greenness may be one of the few reasons to recommend DHL as a carrier. I had to use them because of a sole-sourced contract with the company I am employed by, and found them to routinely deliver late and act in an unresponsive and unprofessional manner.

I also vote against using DHL ESPECIALLY for international deliveries. Not only is DHL outrageously expensive for international shipping, every single package DHL brought to me from when I ordered something from the US shipped with them, well they managed to mess up somehow, and if I would call to them I was always met by the most uninterested and unfriendly customer service I have ever had. DHL also has the tendency to not leave notes that they tried to deliver, and their nearest picking up point is half an hour by train for me. Out of 5 packages I had delivered with them they also managed to sent back two to the country of origin, without contacting me that they had tried to deliver a package. so much for green.. I vote instead for using just usps as cheapest (and in my opinion most reliable) option, together with recycled box/envelope. Try to pad the box with old newspapers, not to bubblewrap every tiny thing in the package, and not closing the package with tons of plastic tape. if you have to use tape, use paper tape, at least then when the box has no more use in it, it can be recycled.

AAhh...it's difficult with the green definitions having more + more dimensions. Fedex does not have unionized employees + discourages unions. That is very un-green. It's the reason I wouldn't use them, and would use UPS - they profit share - instead. I don't know how green they are ... thnx.

Neither I nor my family members who live in other states will EVER use UPS again. While their uniforms might look nice, regardless of how much one might pay for insurance on FRAGILE items time and time again packages are delivered crushed. I kid you not. Having fully insured and impeccably packed a couple of boxes filled with collectible and antique pottery cups, not a one arrived in a single piece. The boxes appeared to have been run over by a truck or some other large vehicle. These items were NOT replaceable. And that's just one example. No thank you. I will stay with HDL, FedEx of the good ole' USPS from now on.

Another great thing to use for packing is egg cartons. They weigh very little and cushion extremely well--plus, unless you have a backyard farm, you probably have an endless supply of them coming in!

I use the Greyhound bus system to ship packages, when there is a station near the person to whom I'm sending. While buses may not be the greenest (though they are improving), it's a way to send a package on a trip that others are taking anyway, and it's worlds cheaper. Double duty is a good thing.

I use all the phone books I get or any other scrap paper that I have lying around to pad things. Does anyone know how green the USPS is? It's the cheapest option, after all.

UPS was switching their delivery trucks over to hybrid (diesel-electric) back in 2006. Most of the trucks I saw them driving in LA were already hybrid. However I've found Fedex to be the most reliable and consistent. So I called the Fedex customer rep and let them know I wanted them to go hybrid & get green. If enough customers say so they will have to comply - besides it's smart business when they save on gas/supply costs, etc they save shareholders $. Green is the new green.

The Bang for the Bite part mentions you usually can't pick who you ship through, but you CAN pick whether your source offsets the shipping miles. If you're in the market for books (new, used, or rare) Biblio.com automatically calculates miles traveled for all their books and buys a carbon offset through Native Energy to cover the estimated emissions. So it doesn't matter how the dealers there ship it, its offset no matter how they ship it. More on Ecosend through Biblio