UPS vs FedEx: One experience - Signal vs. Noise (by 37signals)

UPS vs FedEx: One experience 13 Sep 2005

106 comments Latest by Lindy A

A comparison of some real-world contingency design at two leading shippers.

I had to call FedEx and UPS this week and pick up packages at both locations because I missed the deliveries at my house.

When I called FedEx I got through to someone in about 12 seconds. When I called UPS I actually called three separate times because I was on hold for over 10 minutes each on the first two calls and hung up. On the third call I had to wait 21 minutes until someone answered.

When I visited FedEx, their location was bright, fairly friendly, carpeted, and overall pleasant. My package was brought to the front desk within seven minutes of giving them my info slip. When I visited UPS, their location was dungeon-like: a windowless steel door marked “CUSTOMER PICKUP” in poorly aligned all-caps, a cracked cement floor, cold florescent lights, a TV in the corner with horrible reception, afterthought plastic chairs, and a woman behind the desk with a matching attitude. I swear it felt like an interrogation room. It took too long for them to bring my package to the desk.

Just one experience, but a lasting one.

106 comments so far (Jump to latest)

Danny Cohen 13 Sep 05

It may be the mindset of such companies that the customers are getting in the way, ruining their good times. They are so big you can’t avoid them, so they think that they don’t have to have a high quality.

James Cruden 13 Sep 05

Interesting. Here’s my FedEx experience for today: Instead of driving 22 miles from town to our house, the FedEx driver dropped a package off at a convenience store and left.

We had to drive into town (a 44 mile roundtrip) to pick up the package, which we had already paid a premium for FedEx shipping on, wasting gas at ~$3 a gallon.

Pretty ridiculous, really. Complaints will be made tomorrow.

Alan 13 Sep 05

I do way too much shopping online, and it’s gotten to the point that I’ll specifically look for the Fed Ex or US Postal Service options, even if they cost more. It’s not the Fed Ex or the USPS are all that grand it’s that UPS is abysmal when it comes to customer service, when the customer is a single consumer. Their focus is clearly on making things easy for the businesses, and not on the end consumer who happens to receive a shipment.

The poor pickup locations, the poor pickup hours and the hassle of same-day pickup (if it’s available at all) make me more than happy to shell out an extra $2-$10 on shipping. Just give me a checkbox marked “anyone but UPS”.

Benjy 13 Sep 05

Seeing as UPS bought Mailboxes, etc. and renamed them UPS Store, wouldn’t it be synergistic to have the customer pick-up at the closest UPS Store? From the description of the facility, I’m assuming it wasn’t…

kmilden 13 Sep 05

I agree. We ship alot of prototypes all over the world with UPS. They are a very business to business based company while FedEx seems to be geared more toward the consumer. I don’t know why that seems to be the case. I love the Kinko’s acquisition. Two crappy services coming together to make one big crappy service. Together they can fuck millions of customers over. Right on!

Michael 13 Sep 05

UPS is unionized unlike FedEx.

Dan 13 Sep 05

I have great experience with UPS… Their ground shipments are cheaper then Fedex and get here several days faster. Most ground shipments from the states surrounding Texas get here the next day for the normal rate.

Sure the outside of the box may have more dust but thats because of the type of stuff thats sent with your package.

Oh and I have missed the delivery and been able to pick it up later that night at their location 5 miles from me.

Doug Stewart 13 Sep 05

One thing I’ve always been glad for is FedEx’s number: 1-800-Go-FedEx , almost everyone knows it, and it works in Canada too (thank goodness).

What’s UPS’ number? No idea, but I /do/ know that I have to look it up every time I ship with them.

Jake Walker 13 Sep 05

Uh… 1-800-PICK-UPS I think…

I’ve had problems with FedEx and problems with UPS. Neither is perfect. UPS is great at ground shipping, and is usually cheaper than FedEx.

FedEx is way more accessable, and way more willing to help when things go wrong. But they are horrible at doing an individual’s ground shipments. They just aren’t set up for it like UPS is.

For shipments in your region, it’s often true that a UPS ground shipment will get there in one day, at a FRACTION of the price of FedEx.

To me, UPS is perfect for lower priority shipments. FedEx is for the “absolutely-positively has to be there overnight” type shipments.

Paul 13 Sep 05

yes, interesting. I find both FedEx & UPS locations equally grubby and disorganized (but that’s just NYC…)

However, the UPS guy has been delivering in our neighborhood for years… always ultra friendly… if your not around, he’ll leave your package with a neighbor. Or if he sees you out and about, he’ll wave and let you know that he’ll stop by later in the afternoon with a package. Of course, his performance is more out of his strong relationship with the neighborhood rather than his loyalty to the UPS management & brand.

Mike Swimm 13 Sep 05

My company ships hundreds of packages a week and we have found that from the customer end it completely depends on the quality of the distribution terminal that services your area. I have customers who refuse to use Fedex and plenty more that absolutely hate UPS.

From the business end it is also a mixed bag. Fedex (in our opinion and area) has better employees. More helpful reps and way better drivers. Yet their IT infrastructure is absolutely pathetic. UPS is much more corporate, you definitely get the cog-in-the-machine vibe from most of their people, but their systems are a thousand times better. And by a thousand times better I mean they actually work most of the time.

SO basically in our opinion comparing them is useless. They both suck at slightly different things. And after trying to work with DHL we can to the realization that it’s going to be a long time before either of them go away.

Brad 13 Sep 05

Michael said it best (referring to the unionized bit).

I used to work at FedEx as a courier and the atmosphere was almost like a start up. Everyone loved their job and no one felt threatened by management. Unions do not make great places for customers.

I still love FedEx, especially because I kept all the clothes. My pilot orange -40 winter snow suit kicks ass!

Dave Simon 13 Sep 05

I love FedEx. They never have disappointed me in getting my packages to me or to who I sent them to on time and in good shape.

UPS, on the other hand, consistantly delivers my wife’s Body Shop at Home packages with corners dented and product broken. I’ve joked for years that they must have a special machine to rub dirt on the packages. Why do they wear brown? To make all the dirt blend in!

I’m not kidding, when I was at my last job, we got a proof from a printer, an Iris taped between two flats of cardboard. It had not one, but two tire tracks on it. Like running it over the first time wasn’t bad enough.

For me, it’s FedEx.

Ian Ashley 13 Sep 05

That pretty well describes the differences in my customer experience fwith both companies. My rule of thumb is if I need to ship something cheap and ground, I go UPS. If I need to ship something that I need to guarantee will get there and in one piece, I go Fedex.

BradNelson 14 Sep 05

I’ve run into minor problems with both, but overall, I prefer FedEx. Maybe it’s because UPS lost a time-sensitive package of mine today…

dm 14 Sep 05

Fedex has the cooler logo. Plus some of their Custom Critical trucks look weird and that is awesome.

Mike D. 14 Sep 05

FedEx is definitely the gold standard. Great service, and always on time.

Just be happy you didn’t have to deal with DHL.

“DHL. When you kind of need it overnight but it won’t kill anyone if it’s late.” Ugh.

Joe Murphy 14 Sep 05

BRAND WARS 2005: My anecdote can whup your anecdote.

Gerard 14 Sep 05

I have to agree with “Mike D.”…..FedEx is indeed the “gold standard.” Comparing them to UPS is like comparing McDonald’s to a “Dairy Freeze.” No comparison in customer service, facilities, etc. BTW, UPS bought Mailboxes, etc., true enough. But, do you realize how many things you CAN’T do at a “UPS Store?” They’ll tell you that this or that has to be done at the “real” UPS office. It’s silly. No question, FedEx is, well, FedEX!!!

Craig 14 Sep 05

UPS here in Japan is a different story — less than 10 second wait time on the phone, fluent English speakers. Their delivery time frames are a bit too large though (“sometime in the morning”) compared to other delivery services (“between 9-10 am,” etc).

Vui Lo 14 Sep 05

Do you have DHL at your location? You should give it a try for it’s convenience; you get to submit a DHL package at 7-11. I think the order of service for the 3 is:

1. UPS: for biggie (in terms of the size of business and packages)
2. FedEX: for middie (small to medium size business and packages)
3. DHL: for individual (person to person and packages fit in an envelope)

And the manner of reception is in the same order of importance I suppose.

Ben 14 Sep 05

My experience is mostly from the point of view of a business shipping out packages.

Mike Swimm is right that UPS has much better infrastructure. Maybe a few times a year we find that the UPS shipping tool API servers are down for a short while. But with FedEx it is nearly a daily experience. And sometimes the FedEx API outages are quite long, 30 to 60 minutes, thus clogging up our whole warehouse process. Of course Mike is also right that the cost of big corporate infrastructure is big corporate customer service…

We actually get a lot of complaints from our customers about FedEx, because they are often wrong about delivery times. If their systems tell us it will take 1 day via Ground, and UPS is telling us it’ll take 2 days via their Ground service, usually FedEx often ends up taking 2 days also. So we are beginning to hide FedEx’s lies and instead we tell our customers the same estimated delivery for either carrier. Accuracy is much higher this way. Somehow UPS’s systems are better than FedEx’s systems at estimating FedEx’s own delivery times. Also packages get lost more often by FedEx than by UPS.

However, the above is talking about FedEx Ground. FedEx Express is a totally different story… everyone loves it, you get the great FedEx customer service plus packages always arrive on time.

I think perhaps it comes down to simple market realities… UPS has historically been in ground shipping which is a relatively low margin business. FedEx came in as young upstart company (thus newer ideas about process and about customer service and whatnot) and it started out in the higher margin business of express shipping. This allowed them to spend more money per customer on good service and keeping employees happy and so on. Then FedEx bought their way into the ground shipping world, sort of a “long tail” move you could say, go for far broader appeal but lower margins. But that separate FedEx Ground company is really quite separate still, despite what they might tell you. And then there is FedEx Home Delivery, with separate trucks and routes, and several day delays if you get the Residential flag set wrong. :) So complex.

UPS is ugly and dirty and slow to answer the phone, but they know how to get the darn package where it is going, and that’s still worth something.

Oh and DHL never even returns our requests for quotes. I see Vui suggests they might be good mostly person-to-person shipping, seems accurate from our experience.

Ben 14 Sep 05

Whoops, in this little bitty edit box and without a preview button, I didn’t realize I was rambling so much. Sorry about that.

Brad 14 Sep 05

In Canada, people generally take great pains to avoid using UPS. For items shipped from the US, UPS tacks on ridiculous “processing fees” for clearing customs, typically $35 or more per parcel in addition to whatever taxes you have to pay on purchased goods. The post office doesn’t charge any such fees for packages from the US, nor does FedEx, so it’s got to be a racket.

Mark Bernstein 14 Sep 05

Remember: UPS and FedEX have different businesses with distinct audiences.

FedEx is intended to deliver small parcels to individual business people. Their prototypical delivery is a overnight contract proposal delivered to a business in a major American city. So, your Fedex transaction was a first-fallback: the initial delivery failed, but you’re the expected customer and they were prepared for the expected fallback.

UPS is intended to deliver materials and parts to enterprises. Their prototypical delivery is a 50lb crate of machine parts, delivered every Tuesday to a manufacturer that gets several UPS shipments every day and whose location might depend on natural resources or rail lines. Your UPS transaction was way off script: you don’t use them every day, you aren’t located in North Foxfens Nebraska. If you don’t see your UPS guy once or twice a day, UPS just isn’t set up for you.

IMHO FWIW YMMV

MSF 14 Sep 05

I’d like to be a bit more specific: comparing the customer experience between UPS and FedEx Ground.

For me the biggest differences are:

- traceability (advantage: FedEx Ground)
It’s nearly always more accurate)

- accountability (advantage: FedEx Ground)
I notice significantly less internal finger pointing when things go amiss)

- honesty and delight (advantage: FedEx Ground)
If I pay for 3-day shipping and they can ship it sooner, they will. If I do the same with UPS, they will ship it no sooner.

Perhaps there’s a reason why UPS wears brown. It’s harder to see the dirt.

Aaron 14 Sep 05

Benjy, in order to have packages dropped off at a UPS Store, you have to register ahead of time *and* pay a fee to have your name placed on some “delivery allowed” list.

Joshua Lane 14 Sep 05

My UPS experiences have been nothing but pleasant while my FedEx experiences have been less than desirable.

With UPS, I’m always having to re-route deliveries to me at work and it’s as simple as filling out a form on their website and I’m done. I’ve never had a problem.

FedEx, on the other hand, doesn’t allow you to re-route a delivery without the original shipper authorizing it. I had to call FedEx (navigating a retarded phone menu), then call the original shipper, then have them call FedEx while I stayed on the line. Even the shipper thought it was stupid that they had to initiate the package re-routing. And guess what? …nothing on the FedEx website makes note of this need for the shipper to authorize a change in delivery… not that I could find anway.

Kim U 14 Sep 05

We had a horrible very non-FedEx like experience with FedEx ground. They apparently have a totally different customer service process for ground. Got put on hold forever, had to talk to 3 different layers of people, etc etc. It was very much like talking to UPS. The driver wouldn’t leave the package at our door (it was a new monitor, he was right not to leave it). We have a FedEx pickup office a few blocks away, and the ground customer service people refused to let us pick the package up there. The driver ended up leaving HIS cell phone # on the pick up notice so we could call him directly. He was totally willing to leave it at the FedEx office for us to pick up. Even better, he made a 2nd pass through our neighborhood on his way back to the depot and dropped our package off well after normal hours while we were actually at home. This one driver gave us such great customer service that I was left with a much better impression of FedEx ground than their customer service people gave me.

UPS on the other hand has also been pretty good at times with package pick up. In our area, if we call them at a certain time on the day the package was due to be delivered, they’ll let us pick up the package at the gate of their distribution facility in the evening. It’s weird and I don’t know why they do it, but it’s much better than trying to get there before 4:30 pm on a weekday.

gabby 14 Sep 05

Jason, did you have to go to the FedEx in Skokie to get your package? I’ve had to make several trips both to the FedEx in Skokie and the horrible UPS center on Jefferson (which is more akin to a prison visitation waiting room) and I’m annoyed by them both. I live in Chicago—why do I have to spend upwards of 2 hours on public transportation to pick up my package in Skokie? That’s just horrible planning. Though FedEx is without a doubt speedier in retrieving my packages than UPS, I found neither experience to be worth repeating if possible.

JF 14 Sep 05

FedEx was on Division and the UPS office was on Jefferson. Yeah, that Jefferson location is UNREAL HORRIBLE.

Jared Christensen 14 Sep 05

UPS has been nothing but trouble to me. Their “customer pickup” location where I used to live was about 30 miles away, on the bad side of town. No other alternative if you missed a pickup. And since they always deliver when no one is home, I signed for a package on the back of the delivery notice slip and left it on my door, instructing them to leave it in the apartment office. They didn’t.

The worst part is that the vendor I purchased goods from did not offer any other shipping choice. I had to pick UPS. BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE from both sides.

FineJames 14 Sep 05

The Difference:

UPS = Union Shop

FedEx = Free market driven

patrick 14 Sep 05

Every time I’ve been shipped a UPS package in the last 8 months, I’ve had to go out to the UPS Service Center and pick it up. 90% of the time, its after hours, and I have to go inside the wharehouse and dodge the multitude of boxes, trucks, and moving beltways while waiting by some little desk in the middle of the giant room to get my package.

At least its always INTERESTING.

Felix 14 Sep 05

I just had an experience with UPS and it wasn’t as horrible as the original post. I missed the three pickup attempts because I couldn’t get off from work. Called the 800 number and spoke the tracking number which it easily recognize and then confirmed I wanted to pick it up in person. Answering service gave me the location of the customer center which is 2 miles from work. Phone call took 3 minutes. Next day drove over to customer center, walked in, and handed my notice. Ten minutes later I got my package. Whats the BFD? I didn’t go in there expecting a massage or expect the customer center to be decked out in the latest IKEA fall furniture. Seemed pretty simple to me!

JF 14 Sep 05

Right, Felix, which is why I said this was “One experience.” My experience.

Felix 14 Sep 05

Surprised by your experience, I didnt read to the end. My bad JF

Tom M 14 Sep 05

Jason, your response to the post by Felix makes me wonder what the point of this whole discussion is in the first place. If it’s just “your experience”, why is it being discussed here? Are you just “putting it out there”? Is there a point or an insight to be gained? People have good and bad experiences countless times a day, even with reputable companies.

The summary of this thread appears to be:
1. You had a much better experience with FedEx, versus UPS.
2. Others post, some saying they’ve had good experiences with UPS, explaining why UPS is what it is, and what’s the big deal.
3. You reply, saying it’s just “your experience”.

What have we gained from this?

Tom M 14 Sep 05

JF, I re-read the very beginning of the original post and it seems you made your point pretty clear, stating that it’s a real-world contingency design example. My bad :)

Without that preface, it seemed a little trivial.

It’s interesting, because one could easily say that it was only your isolated experience, but the corporation is only as good as each of its branch locations, and your crappy experience has been shared by many others in your vicinity, I’m sure.

JF 14 Sep 05

The point was sharing an experience I had. That’s all. If you gain something from it, great. If not, that’s fine too.

Tom M 14 Sep 05

JF, see my last post. My first post was more of a knee-jerk reaction. Then I went back and re-read your original entry. Makes more sense now.

I see your point completely. It is what we make it.

Don Schenck 14 Sep 05

UPS was TOO FAST for me this week … dammit!

I ordered two boxes of cigars on Monday, figuring they’d get to the house on Thursday. Well, wife is leaving for a four day trip on Thursday, so perfect … 50 cigars into the humidor, no problem.

Now, according to their tracking site, the puros are scheduled to be delivered today! Rats … I’ll have some ‘splainin’ to do!

I Hate UPS 14 Sep 05

FedEx is worth EVERY PENNEY of their higher costs. I’m damn near broke, and even still, I’ll never use UPS again. NEVER.

Re: The so-called "UPS" Store 14 Sep 05

It isn’t. They are private franchises with the UPS name. As such:

1) They add a surcharge over the UPS rate.
2) THEY - not YOU - but THEY are the “shipper”. That means that if anything goes wrong (which it almost certainly will with UPS), YOU cannot get any info from a UPS representative - someone from the “UPS” Store has to call them.

Worst company ever. EVER.

kingbenny 14 Sep 05

My experiences with UPS and FedEx have been almost identically uneventful, in a good way. However, I do much prefer the UPS website.

Kim Siever 14 Sep 05

“It took too long for them to bring my package to the desk.”

Maybe it just seemed like it. :)

Dan Boland 14 Sep 05

I have no personal preference. But I will say that when I bought my wife’s engagement ring (I was in college at the time) from bluenile.com and had it delivered via FedEx, the moron courier left my package in the hallway of my dorm in front of my door. Unattended. A diamond engagement ring with a platinum band. Just sitting there in the hallway for anyone to snatch. I still can’t believe it wasn’t stolen.

Darrel 14 Sep 05

Unions do not make great places for customers.

Huh. Really? To me, happier employees would seem to make for happier customers.

Unions can be good or bad. Just like any organization.

Owen 14 Sep 05

In contrast, when UPS tried to deliver a package that needed a signature and we were out, they left all the info and went on. I called but only after driver was done for the day. We desperately wanted the package by 10AM next day. Dispatcher asked me to call at 7:30AM to see if they could catch the driver - they missed and then lept trying to reach driver. Around 9AM got a call that the driver was about a mile from our house but couldn’t get to us until 10:30 because they had to deliver the promised next day morning packages first (understandable - ours was not a special delivery package in any way) but driver told dispatcher which roads he was driving on. I went out and caught him in ten minutes and got the package.

Dispatcher spent well over an hour working this for me.

Sam Huff 14 Sep 05

I’ve had nothing but poor experiences with UPS. My computer was assembled in China and sat in the shipping plant for three days before it was finally on a plane to the US. I called every day and asked why and their response was basically, “That’s just how it’s done.” Three days just sitting there and you not caring while I am waiting for my new computer (which came only days before I left for college)? Not to mention, the largest UPS sorting facility is only 25 minutes from my front door!
Fast forward to FedEx. Order in the shipping facility and out within 4 hours, on my doorstep the next day (from Nashville to Chicago). With this experience, why WOULD I choose UPS?

Vaughn 14 Sep 05

Let’s switch this discussion over to tracking. Whenever I’m expecting a shipment that I’m looking forward to, I’ll track it like a madman; which equates to about once every 3 hours. I’ve found that Fedex Tracking is much more frequently updated than UPS’ tracking, and generally provides more information. What about you guys?

(On a sadder note, I just ordered a $$$$ bicycle frame and it’ll be shipped UPS Ground—arriving 6 days later!!)

Jake 15 Sep 05

I avoid UPS whenever possible. I was doing some contract work in the US and had to ship my computer from Canada and back several times. The first time I used FedEx and had no problems at all.

The second time, I used UPS… What a nightmare! They refused to release my computer until I paid for “consignment fees” and “duty”.. As a precaution, I declared my computer when crossing the border as non-accompanied goods, and when I faxed the paperwork to UPS they took $50 off the total bill. It didn’t make any sense… I either owed the money or I didn’t. It was absolute extortion.

When I went to pick up the package, I put the charge on my credit card, but the people there were so incompetent they lost the paperwork and then called to accuse me of stealing my own computer from their warehouse…

Meg 15 Sep 05

If I have choice in shipping, it has to be Fedex. My company uses UPS for the majority of our corporate shipping needs. In the past month, UPS has lost/destroyed one package; forgot and left 3 packages off the morning delivery trucks and routed a time sensitive package, sent from from Northern California to Southern California, to Louisville, KY and then back to California for delivery. All of the aforementioned packages were scheduled for Next Day Service or 10:30am delivery.

It wouldn’t be so bad if their operators would show some understanding or sympathy. Usually, the response I received is ‘I don’t know how that happened’ or ‘It’s not my fault your package won’t be delivered today’ or ‘Not to worry. Your package will be delivered tomorrow.’ Guys, if I wanted the packages to be delivered in 2-3 days I would’ve saved the extra expense and mailed it thru the US Mail Service.

Yes, UPS will remove the charge for Next Day Shipping since the package didn’t arrive on schedule but that’s not the point.

nat 15 Sep 05

I’ve had just the opposite experience. In the past 3 months I’ve had to re-route a package from my home address to my work address with each carrier. With UPS it took one phone call which lasted about 3 minutes with a very helpful customer service rep.

After wasting nearly 30 minutes on the phone with FedEx, they refused to do it. They claimed that re-routing the package might change the delivery charge, even though the two locations are within 3 miles of one another. When I offered to pay for any extra charges, they said that that wasn’t possible because the shipper had paid the original charges and they couldn’t have two different parties paying for the same delivery. I asked what my options were and was told that I could either pick it up at a delivery center which was a 30 minute drive away (and not the closest one) within 3 days or it would be sent back.

Darrel 16 Sep 05

So, what have we concluded?

- some people blame unionions for everything
- most large corporations suck at least half the time in regards to caring about customers

Darrel 16 Sep 05

Umm…I’m not sure what a unionion is. Union was perhaps a better word.

Robert Simplicio 16 Sep 05

I use FedEx when I actually want to get my packages…I live in an apartment in a NW Suburb of Chicago, and WITHOUT FAIL, if I have it shipped UPS, I have to drive 25 minutes to go pickup my package, because our UPS guy is a “buzz-n-runner”. I work from a HOME OFFICE, and I can’t get the damn packages. It’s seriously a 15 second WALK (at an easy pace) from my desk to the front door (I live on the first floor). I rarely even hear them buzz (I swear he just visualizes pushing the button), and then I go out to find the InfoNotice on my door.

You want customer service? I happened to be expecting a computer from Dell one week, so I was on constant vigil (my company had bought it and sent it to me…). When I was not surprised to see an info notice outside our door, I took it inside and called the Local UPS Store (our apartment complex stopped accepting packages because these guys litterally filled a whole room every day) to see if they could catch the driver. It was a Friday evening and I didn’t want to wait until Monday.

I call UPS, get them to find out if the driver can seperate these packages for me so that I can pick it up at the distribution center, and they call me back an hour later and tell me to pick it up that night.

I get to the distribution center, and they ask for my photo ID, which is OK by me.

I get the packages, pack them in my van, and drive home.

When I get home, anxious to break open my boxes and setup my computer, I notice something very strange. A different name on the label. A different address.

Turns out my neighboor had ordered a computer from Dell around the same time I did (There’s only 6 units in my building….). I had his computer. Not mine. I was not happy.

I spoke with 3 customer service people to get that computer. I even had my ID checked. Yet I still managed to take home my neighboor’s pricey computer.

The best part: He’s indian, so there’s no way they should have been able to confuse the names.

AM New Jersey 17 Sep 05

I HATE UPS
My UPS packages come through Secaucus NJ. They have no option for pickup. I would happily drive there to pick up a package rather than go through the hell of trying to get it delivered-but not an option.
If the delivery date is a Friday-you can forget it, anything due for a Friday isn’t coming until Monday. Drivers must sleep in their truck all day on Fridays.
I checked a tracking number yesterday-a Friday of course. The telephone tracking service said it was out for delivery. Called them at 7PM, spoke with a real person who did not have the package as out for delivery, and said it had been rescheduled for Monday-of course she had no idea why.
Had a package once that made it to Secaucus and then vanished.
Called them once to say I was going to be away-PLEASE do not leave the package.-they said they never leave packages at apartment addresses without a signature. Came home to find this huge box sitting outside.
Ordered a perishable food item-shipper sends all these items to be left at address(wether or not anyone is home)-stamped as such all over outside of box. Driver did not leave package-refused to redeliver that day-won’t let me pick it up-defrosted by the time I got it-and garbage.
Fedex here is great. Pickup location open until 9PM, and on Saturday morning. Not that their delivery times are any better, but at least I can always pick it up.
I look for sellers who ship Fedex.

Wesley Walser 18 Sep 05

I went into a UPS store in my hometown a few weeks ago and was extremely pleased. Glad to see that you experiance was a somewhat isolated occurance.

todd 19 Sep 05

I agree with the observations on FexEx v. UPS — however FedEx needs to watch the FedEx desks at their Kinko’s locaitons - I have never once had even remotely good service at these counters. They are poorly laid out, you arent sure if you need to wait in the general line or can walk up to it, no one is standing there, there are very little self-service options, and then the employees make you feel like you’re taking them away from their real jobs to deal w/ your package. On top of all this, if you need to purchase, lets say, bubble wrap or a box to send your item in,, they have to do 2 completely different transactions because the systems arent linked up.

Military Police 22 Sep 05

You’re all hippies!

Military Police 22 Sep 05

Please excuse my comment, I can not stereotype against people like that. However, some of you would fall into the “hippy” category. Please do not take offense at my offensive comment. Thank you and have a good day. (Hippies!)

Stephanie 23 Sep 05

I had a horrendous experience with UPS today. I have been expecting a package and was very excited when I saw it was supposed to be delivered today. Around 2pm I checked my tracking number to see if it had been delivered. To my surprise it had. I called the UPS customer service number and received extremely rude service. I was told there was an error in my address and that UPS had obtained my correct condo number and delivered the package and it was signed for by some person I don’t even know. After she told me which condo it was delivered to I said that the situation needed to be corrected since they did not deliver it to the correct address. She told me that I would have to have the merchant do a trace. I asked her why since she knew where the package was delivered and who signed for it. Her response was you need to contact the merchant. They are really not going to like to see me when I go in person in the morning to the distribution center.

Nucgaek 23 Sep 05

How hard would it be for UPS to pay two people $10 an hour for 3 hours Saturday morning so everybody whose packages failed to get delivered on Friday (like my “exception” because somebody forgot to put it on a truck) doesn’t have to wait 3 more frickin’ days??!!

Nucgaek 23 Sep 05

… and I don’t mean to drive trucks around, just to man the pickup counter at the distribution center.

Troy 28 Sep 05

UPS Sucks….They are the worst rip off out there.I shipped a $650.00 item well packed and marked FRAGILE with insurance and they SMASHED it !!!!……this isen’t the worst part……they refused to pay for the item even though it was insured.They told me (in a letter) that they do not give special attention to packages marked FRAGILE and refused my claim without even sending someone out to look at the packaging.I hope they all rot in hell because I have had tooooo many smashed shipments from them.I only sent it UPS because the client wanted it sent that way now I’m out $650.00 …..SCREW YOU UPS AND GO TO HELL!!!!!

payton 29 Sep 05

YMMV, of course. I’ve had pleasant experiences with FedEx Kinko’s counters, in keeping with my long history of having my butt saved (at great expense, of course, and usually with my own labor) by Kinko’s. Similarly, I once had both water and a globe-shaped stress ball offered to me at the FedEx Express counter in the West Loop during a five-minute wait to get something.

On the other hand, the FedEx Ground office at 33rd & Damen (near Archer) in Chicago actually surpasses the prison ambience of UPS on Jefferson. (I guess west siders’ boxes go there, while north siders’ go to Skokie.) It even has a big sign telling folks to remove all gang colors and jewelry upon entering, plus gorgeous fake wood paneling.

Darrel 04 Oct 05

Well, just had my FedEx experience. Ordered a Mac Mini that was supposedly delivered today. Which is odd. As they didnt’ ring our doorbell. Nor knocked on our door. Nor left a sticker saying they tried delivering it. We call FedEx. They don’t know where it is. It’ll take 24-48 hours to track it. Brilliant.

So, I do a bit of googling. It turns out that FedEx outsources all of its home delivery services. The idiot delivering your package isn’t even a FedEx employee. And FedEx doesn’t seem to care about this at all.

I’d say that’s an argument showing how outsourced non-union labour sucks.

DB 04 Oct 05

I saw some of the Union vs. non-union postings affecting quality of service and they are right on the money.
I was actually in Operations Management at UPS for almost 10 years. I eventually gave up my well paying job because affecting change in employee behavior was like trying to move the earth off of its axis.

When you don’t get your package on-time, UPS knows the name of the employee who sent your package to the wrong destination, in addition to the date and time of the employee screw up. The problem is when you try to hold the employees accountable for the poor performance the Teamsters along with upper management, cut so many deals, the employee walks away with a slap on the wrist and laughs because they are untouchable.

Needless to say, I am a reformed UPSer who FedEx’s everything.

Tom 05 Oct 05

UPS is absolutely abysmal! I will never, ever ship with them again!

I shipped a big box from an Office Depot while on vacation. It took 7 days for an entry scan to be made after the billing scan: In asking about the delay on delivery day, Office Depot says UPS did pick up the package. I called UPS and the rep said sometimes packages aren’t scanned but that I should be receiving said package anytime. The day after that call my package finally had an entry scan. Another UPS rep said they didn’t have it until it was scanned. Now I’m not sure which story to believe. Now the package has been sitting at a local rail facility for a few days. It’s 15 days since I sent it, and still no package. It’s funny yet sad that both companies are blaming each other for the delay. When is the class action going to be filed?

WB 05 Oct 05

As a UPS store owner I can answer some of your questions on our service. For starters we do not put a surcharge on UPS shipping rates. It is the same at the store as the customer service counter. I am sorry to hear about poor customer service experiences. We guarantee all packages that are packed by us if they are damaged. From my perspective UPS has good reason to deny some claims. Way too many packages are inadequately packed and are sure to be destroyed in transit. UPS and FEDEX both use conveyor and laser scanning which do not read fragile labels. Also people want to insure a 5 year old computer for $5,000.00 when the current market value is about $150.00, no insurance company would approve that. UPS hubs and centers are admittiably not set up for customer service they are in fact warehouses and UPS is trying to rectify that with The UPS Store locations. We ship 50 to 70 packages a day and track all of them daily. We may have one or two a week that are delayed. Our on time rate is in the 99% range. When it a company ships 14 million packages a day there is room for error. We also have at least 4 to 5 people a week come in to our store becuase Kinko’s failed them with service. I am not saying that we are a 100% solution to the shipping problems, but I do think that some of the posted data is exaggerated.

Cullen 18 Oct 05

I, like a lot of consumers, do a fair amount of cyber shopping and on top of that ship a lot via ground (about to start an ebay company). To me UPS is a total joke. In the past I had had good experiences, however, a few experiences have really turned me against them as a customer. The most significant was I had a guitar amp shipped ground and put $1400 insurance on it (the amp was vintage and non-replaceable). My first move was calling the UPS Store (formerly mailbox ect…). They reassured me that pricing was the same if I went to the Store or the actual UPS warehouse. When I got to the store, their story changed. All of a sudden my insurance rates were tripled because the UPS Store uses a different insurance company from the actual UPS company. Totally annoyed, I drove to the other side of town 26 miles round trip to mail the package. They broke my guitar amp and the reciever shipped it back to me. After filing the claim I had a UPS man come out to my house twice to take pictures. He said everything looked fine and that he would submit the claim to the insurance comany. To make a long story short UPS refused to pay the claim and left me in the hole over a thousand bucks. They said the packaging was inadequate evn though it was surrounded by three inches of high density foam. After hours of battling over the phone, resulting in nothing, and weeks and weeks of effort, I gave up. I guess I did what they wanted me to do.

Aside from my gripe, the reason I decided to write this review was because I had an order shipped UPS a week ago ground and it has still not gotten to my house (NM). In fact I wanted to see where it was, and it was still in Indiana told it will arrive on the 21st, shipped on the 12th. This is rediculous. Fed Ex is usually three business days, four max for ground shipping. Aside from that often times when using their ground service Fed Ex will often fly it (I’ve actually seen packages arive next day off of a ground service!). I’ve even had Fed Ex packages arrive at my doorstep on saturdays that were shipped ground. Never seen this from UPS. Fed Ex all the way. They were more expensive, but now they are very price competitive, possibly even cheaper than BROWN, and a much better service company. Although I am sometimes forced to recieve via UPS all of my outgoing will be Fed Ex for life. UPS lost way more than a 1400 deal from me. That’s the deal.

Ken S 17 Nov 05

I have worked now in a couple places where we shipped several packages a day. The first place, in Philadelphia, for about 8 years, retail, used UPS. Their accuracy was about 98%, but the damage rate was about 5%. Some packages were so badly damaged it was comical. For the last 2 years, in So. Jersey, computer parts, we use FedEx. Accuracy is about 95%, but not one package has been damaged yet. With UPS claims were always denied the first time. Some even a second time on appeal, but all were eventually paid with persistence and letters going up the chain. We have never had to file a Fed Ex claim. Both companies have rude customer service reps. A recent comparison into DHL, UPS and FedEx had them all very close in price. Some higher with one service or another than the other but in all, shipping with every type of service, 1stAM, next day, 2 day, ground and even counter to counter the price seams to be about the same.

We will stay with FedEx for 1 reason, they have never damaged a package, and the ones that were lost were eventually found and delivered, free of charge.

Anonymous 26 Nov 05

UPS Sucks. and never use them again after what i went
thru. I do agree Fed Ex will prob. will the way to go now on.

Keep the UPS trashing coming.

Doreen Walker 29 Nov 05

Last week one order to cell phones from sprints that I having received ups or Fedx was going to delivery it but I never got it I need to know where are my packages

Alex 15 Dec 05

UPS is absolutely horrible! The driver would just not show up on the delivery date and then make up a story that no one was home. (certainly no info notice) I took a day off work to wait for that bastard and he didn’t show up.
Their automated phone system would just hand up on me because they are �too busy�. Absolutely dismal customer non-service. Absolutelly no responsability for their screw up. Go FedEx or DHL.

Adam 29 Dec 05

I like ups better than I do fed-ex. I am in the same situation as other, our ups guy has been around here for a decade or so and knows everyone. Fed-ex on the other hand is random ppl. Fed-ex also broke a package of mine came and got it sent it to the company to get fixed, then said i broke it and will not cover it. I am in a big ordeal now and it has been atleast 4 months with no resolve. To be fair I have used fed-ex before this and had no problems what so ever. But after this I will try and use ups when I can.

Rahzek 11 Jan 06

Both UPS and FedEx have some of the same problems, but I find that UPS people seem to have a better handle on where my package is in their system more than FedEx. I think UPS is definitely the way to go if you are a larger business though. I looked it up and they’re more on time on average than FedEx - 99.8%.

Franc Cazares 12 Jan 06

I have used both UPS and FEDEX. While neither of them impress me much, UPS is by far the worse. Packages have been left at my door even when a signature is required. The driver forged my signature and left the package which was then stolen from my doorstep. Apple computer had to replace my item since they could not prove that this was actually delivered to me. I do not know how these guys stay in business! I will not use UPS.

Rich 18 Jan 06

I'm currently being screwed by Fedex because they refuse to re-route packages without the original sender's authorization, and when I called Apple, they claimed that they had a contract with their shippers that disallows them from rerouting packages after they leave the Apple warehouse.

Wonderful business model, is it not?

I'm currently emailing FedEx to ask if there is ANY way I can pay the excess charge for saturday delivery, but I'm willing to bet know, so now I have to receive a laptop at my house which I will no longer be at, and then have it shipped from my house to my university address some 300 miles away because Apple and FedEx decided to make it impossible to reroute

Rob 30 Jan 06

I read this entire thread when I came across it for some odd reason, and my only comment is….

Rob 30 Jan 06

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Barb 09 Feb 06

As a follow up to Franc (12 Jan) - I had almost the same experience but with FedEx - a “direct signature required” package was left on my doorstep in the rain for a full day until I got home. I checked the tracking and what do you know - someone (I’m guessing the driver) forged a signature. Good thing mine didn’t get stolen.

Chris 24 Feb 06

I’ve never had any major problems with UPS. I own a company that uses all three major carriers and UPS is by FAR the better of the 3. I don’t think the majority of you realize that the UPS Store is NOT UPS - nor do they want to be. We always get great service due to the fact that they are individually owned and operated compared to Kinkos, which is purely corporate BS. Drivers are great to us and we will continue to use them. They do tend to have more damage than FedEx, however, I think people try and use cheap boxes and that is the majority of the problem.

POWER 22 Mar 06

I’ve totally had it with UPS! On 3 seperate occasions they have managed to either lie about delivery confermation, screw up my address or deliver to the wrong address. It’s so obvious why their slogan is “What Can Brown Do For You?” Just substitutue the word BROWN for the word SHIT for a better defintion of not only what they do, but how they do it!

POWER 22 Mar 06

Esa 24 Mar 06

Hi,

sent 4 letters with FEDEX, all of them with signature upon delivery (what is the correct name?) - 2 of them lost, FEDEX don’t have any idea where they are. 1 was delivered correctly and signature received (excellent) and 1 delivered such a way that the receiver ‘released’ them from the signature requirement and left it on the porch.

UPS has delivered several times previous tentants parcels to my maindoor, not a single time conforming the receiver… several times they have just left mine behind the door, not even ringing the doorbell, not even to mention that they tried to contact.
Now 1 delivery is lost, the sender refuses to compensate until UPS acknowledges they mistake - and they are telling to the sender that the item is delivered and it has been conformed by the driver by speaking with me on person! Today I finally met the driver who denies that he have been speaking with me….

What to do - is USPS any better ?

Bunkus Bronfman 22 Apr 06

What the hell does IMHO FWIW YMMV mean?
(Mark Bernstein -14 Sept 05)
I used UPS for 20 years and got nothing out of it but yearly rate increases. Substitute drivers could never seem to find us, the regular driver would only come by once a day, if packages weren’t ready by 3PM we were SOL, and the only contact I ever had with my account rep was to inform me that all packages had to have the same return address as our account’s address. We’ve been much happier with Fedex.

John 21 May 06

I typed into Google: UPS v. Fed Ex, and got a lot more than I bargained for!
Looks like this string has been going forever.
I used Fed-Ex to ship several large boxes from NYC to Milwaukee, including a cpu unit (wrapped in a couple of blankets) and evereything arrived safely. But it was expensive, I thought.
Given what I’ve read so far, I guess I’ll stick with Fed-Ex. UPS seems clearly cheaper, but I would like the stuff to get back home in one piece.

John 21 May 06

ben 22 May 06

On February 15th I sent my brand new Eastman Archtop Guitar (model
AR810CE- with a list price of $2495) Through FedEx to replace it with
another brand new guitar with a different finish. I insured it for
$2500 and FedEx smashed it. Now they will only pay me $1500 for it,
when a replacement will cost me over $2000. To make matters worse now
they have lost my guitar, so i don’t have anything to show for it-
except for being screwed out of $1000. In addition I am a professional
musician and they have successfully pulled me out of the jazz market
and severly hurt my finances. It took me over 50 days to get a
straight answer out of FedEx, and now they are screwing me. When I
contacted FedEx and talked to Linda Paternastor she assured me, and I
recieved an e-mail, that I would recieve the full amount of $2500, but
Hope Iverson ( the claims department manager) shot it down. They don’t
care about the average American, the don’t care about anything other
than the all-mighty dollar. When I informed them that I am a soldier
serving our country in a time of need they continued to have a hard
heart and wouldn’t budge. I am hoping that I can get the help of my
fellow soldiers, as well as the help of every sailor, airman, and
marine to pull all support from FedEx, so that at the very least I
will be the last service member to be screwed over by them.

Nik 30 Jun 06

UPS, FedEX, DHL, - THEY ALL SUCK!
I hate FedEX, I hate DHL, and I hate UPS, especially UPS.
The only shipping company I do not have complaints about is Airborne Express, probably only becasue I used their services only a couple of times.

Here are some examples.
1. FEDEX
a) I have dual citizenship. My native country’s new passport (that I paid $350 for in fees) was overnighted to me (I needed it urgently) by FedEx Express with a special option “recipient hands only”. Smoked Mozarella! When I returned from work - the package with my passport in it was lying right there - on my door step - in a huge apartment complex!
b)Current case - I am expecting a package and according to the FedEx web site, it had been “Delivered to address other than recipient” 5 days ago and was signed by somebody named Campbell.
Now, please explain to me how can a package be considered “delivered” if it has been “Delivered to address other than recipient” and to somebody other than the recepient (my last name is not Campbell)?
I am not following this logic.
In any case, PACKAGE HAS NOT BEEN DELIVERED to ME. I DO NOT HAVE IT.
I have never seen an e-mail, or a sticker on my door, or in my mail box, or have received any calls or any other communication whatsoever in regards with this package. Now I work from home and it is very unlikely that
I missed the delivery person.
c) On couple occasions I’d have to chase the package. I would call and say: “Keep the package at your station i will come and pick it up” I drove to station just to find out that my package was “en route” for the second delivery attempt. Madre mia a porco!

2. UPS.
Now, where do I start…
a) These …. very bad people…. crashed and completely destroyed $700 computer I sold on e-bay. The package was fully insured. UPS refused to pay the insurance motivating it with the this ,hold your breath,- “There was not enough plastic peanuts in the package”. Rotten Banana! PC was in the original manufacturer box with foam shock absorbers, plus I put in another - outer box! After long bureacratic battle I had to refund almost all of the money back to the buyer, the difference he agreed to compensate by selling parts that survived the crash (that were not many). It looked like it was done on purpose. The only way to do that much damage to a package of that size and weight is to drop it from a third floor.
b) On the other occasion, I was supposed to receive air tickets to Europe, total value about $1500, if I remember correctly. Tickets were supposed to be delivered Friday, with “recipient signature only” option. Well, they were delivered. To my apartment compex neighbours. Who signed for it. They signed for it and left for the weekend! We were supposed to fly to Europe Monday afternoon! That was not the best weekend in my life that’s for sure, all thanks to UPS and its wonderful service. Luckily I got hold my neighbours early monday morning.
Please, never sign for anybody else’s packages! Never do that. These …. sons of a female dog… knock on my door every now and then and ask me to sign for my neigbors’ packages. You know what I tell them…. Nothing! I just shut my door right in their faces! I do not want to do their job for them and be responsible for something that does not belong to me.

3. DHL.
These are as bad as the other two. Three weeks ago DHL guy just left my prescription glasses that I paid over $800 for (God only knows how much my insurance paid for them) on my door step. When I called back to DHL regional office and asked why he did that - DHL representative told me that since I live in a townhouse community - they can do it.

Huh !? How is townhouse community is different from a gated apartment complex for example? Or even if it’s a house? What’s the difference?

The answer is - none of these companies really care. Somebody steals you package from your doorstep - they can say it was you who took it. Even when it is their fault alltogether - like in case of the broken PC - good luck getting your insurance money out of them.

We need to fight these … people of bad descent….

Fight for your rights!

Lance Oakland 06 Jul 06

The problem with FedEx, UPS and all the others is that you have to be at home to accept delivery. They are not designed for home delivery and should not be allowed to offer the service. They won’t deliver to their drop off points as they are independant and, they will not deliver to a Post Office Box (Post Office doesn’t accept). So, now I have to wait at home for a parcel. Yeah, right, like I have 8 hours to waste waiting for them to attend. I’d even pay a premium to have them deliver to my PO box and let the Post Office get the money. I am slowly being limited on who I can buy from and have things delivered as I feel I should not wait 8 hours for a delivery. If they told me an AM or PM delivery, I could even live with that but no, it’s we will be there sometime during the day. They only cater to IBM, Enron, big business and government and the little guy at the house.. he is small potatoes and not worth even listening to…. I am expecting a package tomorrow… I’m afraid to even go to the bathroom.. :-)

DHL-whatajoke 10 Jul 06

DHL opened a package in front of me. They told me they either open it (despite my notice that it is my private stuff inside) or refuse to ship it. Since then DHL is like a joke word for me and I don’t use them nor any ofmy customers ever want me to use them.

Jason Liebe 13 Jul 06

Your experience was based on one incidence. I owned a manufacturing company and for two years had both a UPS and a Fedex shipping account.

Basing my opinion entirely on experience Fedex is about 50/50 with their service. That probably sounds like an exageration but I believe it is accurate. Something Fedex has very often done that I have not witnessed with other carriers is delivery failure for “bad address” or “business not open”. Our factory is in an industrial park swarming w/ delivery and frieght trucks every day so it amazes me that on multiple occasions I have had to pickup an undelivered package from Fedex office. We also have a 24 hour receiving office. I have never once had to do this for other carriers, UPS, DHL, ABX, and I have had hundreds upon hundreds of shipments delivered here. Keep in mind the received shipments were between Fedex account holders, and the sent packages were to retail stores often with their own Fedex accounts too, thus there were no address mistakes.

With UPS we had one driver that we would see every day, we were on his route. With Fedex it seemed to be a different person every time and I also got the impression their drivers are contractors as they are often in unmarked outfits or various forms of distress such as messy clothes or scraggly facial hair. Naturally those things don’t neccessarily mean anything but I think it is representative of their lack of professionalism. UPS drivers on the other hand are often joked about as being on speed or something because they’re always moving so fast and I have never seen them without a clean uniform.

I’m writing this because I just ordered two macbooks from apple and there are missing in action with Fedex, which I actually expected. I didn’t choose Fedex if you’re wondering.

It’s funny because I often travel and have things overnighted to me at my hotel, and I swear be it Toronto Canada or Austin TX if someone sends something Fedex to me I simply haven’t got it. Those two examples where to be overnighted and 4-5 days later never arrived. From Chicago to Toronto I understand could get some international delays but my piece to show a client was stuck in Memphis, TN the entire time. It’s insane they know that it is in Memphis but evidently could do nothing about it because they couldn’t exactly find the package.

I also have multiple experiences where sent or recieved Fedex packages have been utterly anihilated and I have honestly, in two years, not had a single incidence of this happening with UPS that I am aware of.

I would estimate my company has sent/received approximately 3,500 UPS packages and 1,500 Fedex.

I will note that the Fedex customer service people I have spoken with are often very helpful and really seem to want to help. So I’ll give that to them. I’m not sure where their operation is falling apart but until they fix themselves I suggest using UPS or the Postal Service, etc.

Jason Liebe 14 Jul 06

UPDATE:

Ok, one of my laptops was delivered this morning to a P.Mercado who is not me!!!! And, I live in Research Park in Austin, which happens to have Apple offices, and the other laptop was delivered to APPLE !!! Two, $3,000 laptops and they’re just dropped arbitrarily somewhere.

And the Fedex person on the phone is basically telling us there’s nothing they can do, and that it should work its way out. They’re supposed to be calling us back.

Jason Liebe 14 Jul 06

OK, one laptop was found and delivered. The driver was super nice and stated that after his 10:30 deliveries he will go to Apple to get our other Macbook. This guy was super nice and professional leading me to wonder just what the problem is…

KB 15 Jul 06

Well, I am glad to see that most of you are not shy about expressing your true opinions’ about which service is superior. But, most of you have forgotten one important fact. UPS has been the bottom line, hands down, no questions asked leader in the industry since 1907.

There is no comparison between the price, time-in-transit, and quality standards that UPS has set in the industry compared to any of the competition. UPS has set the mark. UPS’s ground infrastructure and reliability are far superior to FedEx’s plan. The only chance FedEx or DHL has of gaining any kind of comparible share in the domestic market is to lie to their customers.

FedEx and DHL sales personnel have been playing the contract negotiations card for years. “UPS is union.” “UPS will strike and your business will have volume stuck in the system.” Simply false. Contract negotiations will be as smooth this time around as they were the last time. These tactics have proven to be unsucessfull previously and they will next year. UPS will continue to grow, continue to improve customer service via technology, continue to improve its service not only in the domestic market, but in the international and air sectors as well.

In terms of its relations with businesses as compared to the residential market, of course the main focus of customer service is going to be geared towards the business. When 90% of your volume is derived from business to business shipping in a 30 billion dollar a year organization, the focus of the sales and service team is going to be geared towards
satisfying the needs of the high dollar company. The bottom line is this: UPS doesn’t really care if your $10 ebay shipment was late when considering the thousands of multi-million dollar a year customers that they deal with on a daily basis.

RG 25 Jul 06

Had a package sent to me from South Jersey (by Little Egg Harbor) to me in Central Jersey via UPS. I even paid for two day delivery because (as has happened to me when I bought a bunch of paintball supplies from California) I wanted to make sure I had it by the Friday-Sunday dead zone that UPS has. So, what happens is the package gets routed through Secaucus (lucky me) and stays there for two days straight. Then it went to Edison (minutes from my house) by Thursday night. Expecting it by Friday, I was dissapointed to find the package hadn’t been delivered by the time I got home from work at 5pm. I called Edison, and they said I should get it. On top of that, the tracking information said I should have it that day. The truck never showed, I got the package today, and I swear to all that is good and sacred that I will NEVER use UPS EVER AGAIN! (which is what I swore last time as well, dumb me.)

RG 25 Jul 06

Anonymous Coward 27 Jul 06

I have a friend who has worked for DHL for years. Ever since they merged with Airborne, she and her fellow DHL employees have been subject to harrassment from the Teamster. Think about that next time you are deciding which service to use.

FMB 08 Aug 06

I really dislike UPS. Here’s why: I had a pre-paid package that I needed to ship. So I tried to drop it off at a UPS Store. They would not take the package because it was insured for over $1000 and they could not sign for it (accepting delivery) but suggested I find a UPS driver to sign for it. What the F! They’re the UPS Store! I can’t belive they wouldn’t take a UPS insured package. I’m switching to FED EX. Much more helpful

employee 18 Aug 06

I used to work in the airport loading parcels where small chatered plane was split between couriers. Fedex would not et me touch their packages. They loaded it themself.

employee 18 Aug 06

My brother used to work in the airport loading parcels where small chatered plane was split between couriers. Fedex would not et me touch their packages. They loaded it themself.

Lindy A 03 Oct 06

Shipped 4 packages of custom pigmented coating on a Friday (Overnight Air UPS) from Virginia to Colorado. Total freight charge was approximately $750.00 Was to delivery following Monday. Tracked on www.ups.com on Monday, website showed “out for delivery” (never delivered). Called customer service (that’s a joke). They told me that it was delayed and would deliver Tuesday … again did not deliver, called them again, this time they did not know where it was although they showed it was scanned into Colorado terminal. Completed a “trace” with UPS by phone. Two days later they advised that all 4 packages had been taken off the plane in Kentucky, but were back in route. Friday, one week from originally shipping the 4 packages UPS Overnight Air none of the packages had arrived in Colorado. Every time I called UPS I got a different excuse and story. On the 9th day after original shipment, learned the packages were not in Illinois (went from Virginia, to Kentucky were they were sent to Illinois) and none of the packages had yet been delivered for a commercial flooring project in Colorado. 12 days after shipping the two packages wer finally delivered, with the other two packages delivered on the 13th day. This should be a “nightmare case enough” (between all the daily tracking, phone calls to UPS with different stories every time I called, and finally 13 days after shipping these 4 packages overnight they finally all arrived in Colorado. Now UPS wants me to PAY the $750.00 freight charge when they “CLEARLY” did not delivery these time sensitive Overnight UPS Air packages until 13 days after they should have been delivered as per their Terms and Conditions of Overnight Air shipments. I am going to fight this … filing against them for Deceptive Trade Practices, file a complaint with the federal Interstate Commerce Commission, file a complaint with the Attorney Generals Office, Civil Small Claims Court, along with the National Better Business Bureau and National Chamber of Commerce … I will NEVER pay this freight bill that they state they will turn over for collections if I don’t. They failed to “deliver Overnight Air Freight (were 14 days late) and therefore they the freight bill does not merit payment, clear and simple.