Has FedEx always been this bad?
 

Currently 3/3 on delayed packages via FedEx. This ranges from 4-7 days late and led to rescheduling two shop appointments (bookings are two weeks out).

I fully understand the utter demolishment of supply chains under COVID and the crazy demand on logistics, but how come UPS has been spot on and USPS has even been EARLY multiple times (thought they were bankrupt)?

Not sure if it is just my location in the PNW and packages seem to always come from PA.

Anyone else have experiences? Can I request vendors use alternative couriers?

Okay, done bittching.

I moved about two months ago and a lot of furniture stuff like bed frame and mattress came via FedEx. It was all on time but the delivery person wouldn't carry any of it up the eight short steps to my unit on the second floor, but was fine doing it for the half pound package of linens lol.

I think it's just a YMMV thing.

Fedex is much worse then UPS. Small package and freight. They are much cheaper then UPS though so quite a few online retailers like to use them.

You’re right. I have a feeling they are the cheapest and have some sweet contracts for vendors that can then offer free shipping.

When I was in the San Jose area I had 5 FDX packages go from the Sacramento hub to San Jose and then back to Sacramento before coming back to San Jose and then getting delivered two days later. Another package from Dallas to San Jose went to Oklahoma for no apparent reason and sat there for 11 days. One more example from a PA vendor that made it all the way to Chicago before turning back and going through and being 'stuck' in WVA for 6 days. The most frustrating part of it all is that they won't really help you as an individual and all of these delays only popped back up and continued their journey when I was able to get the vendor to call their account rep and get it sorted.

Everyone has their own antidotal stories and to be fair a friend of mine in ABQ has the exact opposite experiences with FDX but does have similar stories with UPS there. They're all a mess and I've chalked it up to two things beyond the obvious CV19 issues. The region one resides in (my FDX frustrations followed me to Reno) and the biggest consensus I've heard from companies I deal with is that the FDX frustrations are partly based on them having franchises intertwined with corporate owned entities throughout their system but that's just a theory.

To answer your question, I have been successful in requesting UPS as the shipper with a few vendors that don't list UPS as an option. Trick is to get up early for the east coast vendors and try to be the first caller in the morning. That worked about 75% of the time as companies usually have accounts with both but seem to prefer one over the other.

And I have honestly picked one vendor over another, and paid more, based on the shipping company listed on their site. If FDX is their only option, and they won't change by phone, and it's available elsewhere via UPS, I go with the vendor that ships UPS. My buddy in ABQ does the same but in the reverse and opts for companies that ship FDX.

Fedex has been trying to get us to switch over for years. Their small package rep in my area is this super cute little blonde, but I flat told her their service is terrible. She had the NW region sales manager try to contact me for a meeting and I told him he would be wasting his time and sent him a half dozen tracking numbers for inbound shipments of ours that were late. We need reliable transit times, and as you are experiencing, they are pretty bad at it.

I think it was a few weeks ago I posted a picture of Fedex freights sign for their local dock which I can see from my office window in RT. Our shipment arrived there overnight and it didn't deliver, tracking showed it was delayed due to weather even though it was a sunny 65 degrees :bonk:

I ship a lot of orchids and would choose fedex for live plant arrival. USPS doesn’t give a shit about anything. If your package disappears, tough shit.

YMMV

Used to use only UPS at my old job, but then gained a client in Arizona, and anything we shipped to them via UPS got damaged, looking like it got drop-kicked off a 4 story building in front of a moving train.

Switched to fed-ex just for that customer and they suddenly stopped calling us angry about damage.

USPS normally likes to send my packages to tour the rest of the country before I get them. Scenic route and all.

Fex Ex is the worst:

$900. of new tires left on a front porch on a Sunday, iffy neighborhood, with no call to me...and not my front porch.

Flowers for myself simply left on top of two mailboxes in the sun, no call.

Yes, I hope to be able to tell sellers in the future to not use Fed Ex.

I haven't had any bad experiences with FedEx in my area, but I've had the worst with USPS. USP for me has been mostly positive, but there have been acceptations.

Haha at least none of the three are DHL.

^ Beat me to it.

I've had the worst service from FedEx. USPS is the second worst. UPS is the best service in my area. I've even written letters within my company to encourage the use of UPS over Fed-Up-Ex.

This just proves that there are lazy-ass, entitled Americans that don't give a shit about their jobs, regardless of which company they work for, all across the country.

And calling the service provider is pointless as you get lost in their automated "self help" system, or end up waiting for a very long time to speak with an actual person whom is located abroad and you can't even understand what they're saying most of the time due to the language barrier, then end up so frustrated that you hang up on them and have gotten nowhere.

Rant over......

....NEXT!!

We use DHL for international and they have been pretty good. I don't recall more then a few issues :iono:

I boycott UPS. Here's why: Canadians for When a Seller Screws You by Shipping UPS Again

Fedex is ok, but lately they've started sending invoices for duty after you've received your package, and it seems higher than they used to charge.

USPS has actually been the most reliable and cheapest for shipping to Canada for a long time (transfers to Canada Post at the border, and can even follow the same tracking number on canada post after it crosses the border).

I've only had maybe 2 deliveries from DHL in my life. One was a couple of vinyl records from Germany. No issues.

Tbh I had better experience with DHL than FedEx.

My worst experience was that one of my car parts got delivered to the wrong address. It required signature verification but I guess they don't fully verify if the receiver is correct.

Long story short, spent 2 months of back-and-forth with customer service "trying" to locate my package. The people who took my package kept it for a while. Then they tried returning back to sender. With much frustration and multiple calls later, I was able to have customer service intercept the package mid return and have it held at a store location. When I went to pick it up, they said my address didn't match the one that it was delivered to. I showed them the shipping confirmation email of my address and the order receipt that also has my address but the delivery person verified the address with the incorrect one. :mad0259:

In the end, I got my package and inspected it thoroughly to make sure nothing was missing or tampered with. FedEx was clearly at fault for such a terrible experience. Heck, even the shop(shoutout to FTSpeed) I ordered from wanted to compensate me for my "troubles" but I reassured them it wasn't their fault.


TL;DR: Don't ship FedEx, ugh.

Well it was suppose to be delivered today. So unless it can teleport to WA from MD by tomorrow, I will be getting it Monday (6 days late). I’m glad I intentionally made my shop appointment a week later than the estimated delivery date:

https://i.imgur.com/hoBHiVT.png

FedEx’s tracking is horrible about updating. It could be on the west coast already. What’s funny is if you call they can look it up and see scans that don’t show up when you use tracking online.


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Last time I tried calling it was just automated menus that refused to send me to a human haha they actually yell at you and say “the representatives do not have any additional information,” over and over, then hangs up on you.

This was about 2 months ago.

a huge chunk of shipping is completely automated. Everyone has these gigantic machines that sort packages automatically and in many cases the only time an actual human sees it is in the facility as they sort it for the delivery driver.

I've had customers get lucky and have packages hit the airport just right and go from Charlotte to delivered in California in 1 day. But if a package gets lost in the machines, which can happen, they can sit for a few days or more. Hell the post office finds a letter from decades ago still every so often. All it takes is a smudge in the wrong place on a bar code for a machine to send a package somewhere it is not supposed to be.

It is a pretty impressive operation. Though with UPS if one dimension is larger then 48" it can't run through the system and they pull it off and manually handle it. They are also weird about crated packages going expedited. I have one vender that sends me our heating elements in wood crates, every time we order them next day air it takes 4 days :bonk:

I am in the same boat. FedEx is delaying my package too. Never been a fan of FedEx.

Package came today - finally!

My UPS driver will put things inside the garage which is nice. USPS is quite inefficient with their scanning/software but the delivery peeps go out of their way to keep things dry.


Not a fan of FedEx because i am never home and they leave call notices on the door i don't use. Plus, me and barney fife got into it at the distribution center in knoxville so i avoid them. He stated that the facility was more secure than Fort Knox and my 'obviously not' reply kinda pissed him off. I had followed a truck in, parked and walked right in with my call tickets.



the same as the cable company, if you call the Spanish customer phone number, someone answers and is helpful in tracking your stuff.

Got mine finally.

I actually have pretty good luck with every service except Amazon. The driver frequently delays delivering packages saying the door is inaccessible. I finally figured out he is afraid of the 175 lb. newfie. I called Amazon and requested a permanent NO IN-HOUSE COURIER note on my account and I have never had a problem since. For the others... I always make sure I learn their names and treat them well around the holidays. A little courtesy goes a long way towards getting packages that don't look like they have been delivered by Jim Carrey.

Had no problems with my recent pokemoncentre FedEx order.

What do they sell? Tried Googling it haha

All kinds of good shit, basically a ton of merchandise and clothing and it's all official stuff, just bought a sweater from there. Seems like it's pretty limited run for some of their clothing because they sell out FAST.

Pokémon Centre

Well shit. There goes a chunk of my commission check to some short sleeve button-down shirts.

I was looking at the grey charizard button-down, but didn't pull the trigger. I will come back in one months time for more lol.

.....which sucks if you don't speak Spanish. However, that reminds me of that joke:

Q1: What do you call someone who can speak three languages?
A1: Tri-lingual.

Q1: What do you call someone who can speak two languages?
A1: Bi-lingual.

Q3: What do you call someone who only speaks one language?
A3: American.

My Fedex package that was supposed to deliver friday shows out for delivery today, and the one that was supposed to deliver today isn't on this side of the state yet. 0% on time rate.

Their new slogan:

"For all your delivery needs, choose FedEx! It'll get there when it get's there :thumbsup:"

I should email the regional small package rep and say, "this is why we don't use you." I just don't feel like being that kind of a jerk today and she is really nice and doesn't deserve that.

Here's your stuff!

https://media0.giphy.com/media/R6JXci3mhsRkA/giphy.gif