This Is Why I Hate Fedex!!

[tcp2525]

My new repeater was scheduled to be delivered between 10:30 AM and 2:30 PM today. And guess what? It's now 4:06 PM EST and the bastards still haven't showed up. Oh, I forgot to mention, it had a one delay on top of it preventing it from being delivered yesterday! This isn't looking good.

[catbrigade]

You'll be lucky if it arrives in one piece. They beat the crap out of anything I have had shipped through them.

[Guest]

The Holiday-Spirit has reached the forum ... 

[AdmiralCochrane]

FedEx took a week to deliver a Next Day shipment to me.  An industry insider (ham radio friend) of mine suggests that they do not run some routes if the truck is not full.  You just continually get delayed shipment notices until that route has a full truck to run it. 

[tcp2525]

3 hours ago, WRXD372 said:

The Holiday-Spirit has reached the forum ... 

Yes it has. And Christmas just came early! It was a close one. The driver was running late and said he was past his quiting time and only had two more stops and was thinking about saving them for tomorrow. I'm glad he decided to tough it out and finish the route. Now I'm happy and will get er up and running tomorrow.

 

[WRZF838]

I just assume Fedex will be at least a day or 3 late in my area, I'm not even far out from the city. Everyone else can make it here in a relatively timely manner, even USPS, but Fedex, I'll just be happy it shows up period.

I'll only ship fedex if the delivery address is someone I know and they specifically ask for it for their region.

[Flameout]

21 hours ago, catbrigade said:

You'll be lucky if it arrives in one piece. They beat the crap out of anything I have had shipped through them.

I agree. I bought a Motorola GR1225 repeater and they obviously were playing soccer with the box. The front panel was in about 10 pieces and of course FedEx denied my claim

[WRZM658]

UPS is worse imo. I always have to chase them down before they deliver to the wrong address with anything I order

[Guest]

"Listening: to your stories, I have to conclude that I am just lucky!

Both, FedEx and UPS are amazing in my area (distribution hub) and I never have any problems with those carriers. USPS is also doing their best!

However, amazon is "hit and miss" with a lot of aspects from packing to "playing soccer with the boxes" to throwing boxes in front of my door...

 

[WRQC527]

UPS, FedEx, DHL, USPS and others deliver tens of thousands of packages a day. The vast majority are delivered without incident. But if they mess up one time for one person, that one person hates them for life and says they are the worst carrier ever. I find that odd.

[WRWR489]

My only complaint is the USPS. Everytime I order from Amazon and they pass it of to the Easley SC post office it gets lost. I ordered a new red dot for one of my AR's Thursday. Was to be delivered Saturday. Tracking showed they got it Friday, then tracking showed it came in two more times Saturday and out for delivery, never made. Yesterday showed it came into the PO twice yesterday and was out for delivery twice again. It's now Monday night and tracking shows my order delayed. AKA lost again. 

Edited November 21, 2023 by WRWR489
Wrong word

[tcp2525]

9 minutes ago, WRQC527 said:

UPS, FedEx, DHL, USPS and others deliver tens of thousands of packages a day. The vast majority are delivered without incident. But if they mess up one time for one person, that one person hates them for life and says they are the worst carrier ever. I find that odd.

Oh, I've had more than one incident with them. I have a commercial account with both FedEx and UPS. And I much prefer UPS. I only use FedEx if a customer requests it. Bottom line, I hate inefficiency, laziness, slackers, and other burdens on society that think the world owes them a living. The whole workforce has deteriorated after the China virus was unleashed. Just my opinion. 

[tcp2525]

1 minute ago, WRWR489 said:

My only complaint is the USPS. Everytime I order from Amazon and they pass it of to the Easley SC post office it gets lost. I ordered a new red dot for one of my AR's Thursday. Was to be delivered Saturday. Tracking showed they got it Friday, then tracking showed it came in two more times Saturday and out for delivery, never made. Yesterday showed it came into the PO twice yesterday and was out for delivery twice again. It's now Monday night and tracking shows more order delayed. AKA lost again. 

I feel your pain.

[WRYZ926]

17 minutes ago, WRQC527 said:

UPS, FedEx, DHL, USPS and others deliver tens of thousands of packages a day. The vast majority are delivered without incident. But if they mess up one time for one person, that one person hates them for life and says they are the worst carrier ever. I find that odd.

One "Uh OH" tends to wipe out ten "Atta Boys".

FEDEX and UPS generally do a good job in my area. USPS is a totally different story with the two distribution centers in St Louis.

[WRWR489]

Shut down the postal service and let Amazon deliver the mail. I am very rural and have four or five trucks every day out here. Jehovah's witnesses would be another good option for mail.

[UncleYoda]

USPS is the one I'm having some trouble with.  (@WRWR489, I'm also in SC, different area).  I haven't had a package delivered by Fed-Ex in a long time.  UPS seems to do fine - I would choose them if I got to choose but usually don't.

[SteveShannon]

4 hours ago, WRXD372 said:

"Listening: to your stories, I have to conclude that I am just lucky!

Both, FedEx and UPS are amazing in my area (distribution hub) and I never have any problems with those carriers. USPS is also doing their best!

However, amazon is "hit and miss" with a lot of aspects from packing to "playing soccer with the boxes" to throwing boxes in front of my door...

 

Fortunately I’ve had the same good experiences. 

[gortex2]

All depends on location as said. Our UPS driver is useless. If I order amazon next day its 2 days always as they only use amazon or UPS or USMail. Fedex is awesome at my house. I'm in rural america and they are here almost daily with packages for me. I use FEDEX for work so maybe that's part of it. 

[WRYZ926]

USPS had a major mercury spill at one of the St Louis distribution centers, or so they say, at the beginning of the month. I watched some of my packages bounce between the two distribution centers for almost two weeks.

I don't care for FEDEX that much either. While I have not had any packages damaged, they have drove right by my house several times without delivering my packages. The last time that happened, I insisted the driver search the truck again before driving off. Low and behold, she found my package.

And sometimes it will depend on the driver too. I have had good drivers from FEDEX, UPS, and USPS along with horrible drivers from all three. 

One of the worse methods of shipping is when FEDEX or UPS transfers packages to USPS for final delivery.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, WRYZ926 said:

[...] One of the worse methods of shipping is when FEDEX or UPS transfers packages to USPS for final delivery.

Meet the "Final Mile"

In telecommunication, the concept of the Final Mile has been well known for a long time. It is economically sound to connect communication hubs with wire or, in our days, fiber, but when we need to run lines down to neighborhood and streets and residences, the tables turn. Running a cable into a single home half a mile off the main line just for a $29.99 special (for the first 12 months) is an economic nightmare!

In delivery of letters and goods, we are faced with the same problem. A truckload or trainload of boxes with "stuff" can be shipped from New Jersey to Los Angeles for pennies (per box). but getting that one box to the individual home is, not just in comparison, expensive!

UPS and FedEx "outsource" those costs by having USPS - they run to all doors anyways - take those boxes for relatively small change (compared to driving themselves

I have decided that I prefer UPS to come to my house directly and my UPS "membership" and a simple 'default" setting makes that easy enough - I do nothing and just sit and wait for the confirmation eMail regarding the auto upgrade and then for the package 

 

[WRYZ926]

I prefer UPS too. I understand the economics behind FEDEX and UPS transferring packages to USPS for final delivery. But with anything in life, too many cooks can ruin the meal.

An example for what I do when ordering stuff from MidwayUSA is to include a box of ammo or other items that must go ground shipment so that UPS is the one that handles everything from pickup to delivery. Of course I will just drive to MidwayUSA and pick things up if I need something in a hurry.

[Guest]

@WRYZ926 Many moons ago, I opted for a My Choice premium membership with UPS (about $20 per year).

Any shipment coming to my address shows up on the dashboard as soon as someone crested a lable and the Final Mile upgrade (no extra charge) is just the cherry on top.

As far as the Midway USA pick-up trip is concerned, my estimated roundtrip of 45 hours seem to make this a "category five type crazy idea " -- in any case, I could not bring the loot into California anyways ... 

[WRYZ926]

5 minutes ago, WRXD372 said:

As far as the Midway USA pick-up trip is concerned, my estimated roundtrip of 45 hours seem to make this a "category five type crazy idea " -- in any case, I could not bring the loot into California anyways ... 

I know off topic a bit. But I am lucky that I live 20 minutes from Graf's Reloading Supply and I am 60 minutes or less from MidwayUSA, one Cabela's, two Bass Pro Shops, and several Academy Sports stores. 

This biggest problem with USPS here in Missouri is the distribution centers in St Louis and Kansas City. They just can't seem to do their jobs correctly. It is rare that I have an issue with FEDEX or UPS.

[tcp2525]

59 minutes ago, WRXD372 said:

Meet the "Final Mile"

In telecommunication, the concept of the Final Mile has been well known for a long time. It is economically sound to connect communication hubs with wire or, in our days, fiber, but when we need to run lines down to neighborhood and streets and residences, the tables turn. Running a cable into a single home half a mile off the main line just for a $29.99 special (for the first 12 months) is an economic nightmare!

In delivery of letters and goods, we are faced with the same problem. A truckload or trainload of boxes with "stuff" can be shipped from New Jersey to Los Angeles for pennies (per box). but getting that one box to the individual home is, not just in comparison, expensive!

UPS and FedEx "outsource" those costs by having USPS - they run to all doors anyways - take those boxes for relatively small change (compared to driving themselves

I have decided that I prefer UPS to come to my house directly and my UPS "membership" and a simple 'default" setting makes that easy enough - I do nothing and just sit and wait for the confirmation eMail regarding the auto upgrade and then for the package 

 

 

Trust me, UPS isn't losing out delivering to "rural" areas as us shippers get slammed with a fuel surcharge to deliver to you guys. And that's on top of rates increasing each year.

[Guest]

Right: Nobody is in the business of losing money!

But, despite the economy of scale principles we should acknowledge that in any of those endeavors, we will find a lot of cross subsidization.

My letter to my friend down the road demands the same forever stamp that I could use to write to someone in NY (granted, I do not know anybody in NY ... but that is a different dilemma).

If we were to ask for "fair" pricing, we might find ourselves in a world of hurt.

FedEx not delivering today as the truck is not full is a "direct" consequence of "free shipping with any order of $49 or more ..." schemes. 

The problem is that the real cost is often hidden from sight: Truck drivers who are "forced" to violate mandatory rest break provisions, trucks in all four lanes "fighting" to make up for time lost at the scale, ... and all we see it the delivery guy dropping a box on our doorstep instead of "gently putting it down".

In logistics and online shopping and ... basically anywhere, "you get what you are willing to pay for" - - and once things are in motion, there is no turning back: I did not ask for Sunday delivery through FedEx, but I surely like free shipping and amazon next day or same day delivery. But, if that is what I like, I also allow for a development that creates Sunday delivery! (Remember: Sunday delivery started with USPS running amazon packages and now it is common across most carriers!)

In conclusion: Next time you see a big rig on your lane, give the driver a break: Some room and a friendly wave - - after all, that driver is just doing what your consumer behavior is demanding !!!