In the FWIW Dept., when I would order directly from Ecco in Sonoma County -- a one hour drive from where I live in Berkeley -- the order would arrive in three days, as in order on a Sunday, roast and ship on a Monday, arrive on a Thursday. When I would order from Vivace in Seattle on a Sunday, my order would roast and ship on a Monday and arrive on a Wednesday . . . go figure.

Ecco is one of my favorite coffees and I used to order it fairly frequently. Long shipping delays with UPS (fairly consistently) and no option for USPS caused me to stop ordering. The one day delay (usually) with Roaste, means somewhat unpredictable ship times, particularly because they only roast Monday through Thursday. I do not completely understand why Ecco can ship USPS via Roaste, but cannot do so with their own shipments.

My best shipping experiences have been with Tony at Caffe Fresco. Order on Monday and it will be here usually by Wednesday, always by Thursday USPS. Never any excuses. If he can do it from Pennsylvania to Seattle it would seem that Ecco might be able to do it on the West Coast. My experience with USPS is hands down better than with any other shipper and is my preferred method.

I can provide some experience with UPS and USPS delivering coffee based on the thousands of orders via ROASTe and the 20+ roasters I've ordered directly from for personal use.

Please note that I am careful not to promote ROASTe here, I'm posting general comments about ordering online from roasters and retailers.

1. UPS usually arrives as quickly as USPS (about 3 business days) unless you're ordering coast-to-coast. The main benefits of UPS are that you'll see about 5 scans of your package as it travels the network, whereas USPS gives you 0 or 1. Most high-end roasters (not just on our site --the many ones on the net ) ship your coffee within 24 hours of roast. So via UPS you'll get the package often 4 days post-roast. (however I've noticed hiccups, and they're about 5 times more common with USPS than with UPS)

2. Vivace ships usually their web orders (and ours) the same day. I've been to their operation in Seattle to check it out. They are very efficient. You might be interested that they won't ship via UPS ground. They only ship via USPS Priority Mail, UPS 3-day or faster. They want their web orders to arrive fast.

3. Ecco has a roast schedule they share with customers, I believe. Basically they ship each coffee 2-3x week. Since it's roast-to-order, they queue your order for the next roast date. They ship their direct web orders (and ours) fast. They do intermittently slip up. If they do they often include something extra in the bag.

4. Klatch usually ships same day, their own web orders (plus ours)

hope this helps. Personally I am okay with UPS for all my personal orders because I like getting the scans and knowing when it will arrive. (If I'm coming across as self-promoting please let me know and I'll amend.)

hperry wrote:My best shipping experiences have been with Tony at Caffe Fresco . . . My experience with USPS is hands down better than with any other shipper and is my preferred method.

Agreed -- Caffe Fresco and also Redbird: both have been extremely consistent with getting me coffee quickly, correctly, and in a timely fashion vis USPS Priority Mail. Tony's coffee has always arrived on Thursday, while Jeff's always arrives on Wednesday . . . the one exception was my most recent order from Redbird ---> USPS blew their "three day" deal and it arrived on Friday.

I'm presuming this was a holiday "thing," as the coffee was roasted on 12/13 and arrived on 12/17. It certainly wasn't Jeff's fault, and USPS remains my preferred method as well, but Jeff did say he was having more delays with his shipments to California than anywhere else . . .

Cheers,
Jason