I hate USPS and UPS, but mostly USPS

[1967cutlass]

Having ordered many (at least 50) things from the internet and other places, I have experienced all of the major shipping services. Today on USPS's website it listed my package as delivered, but of course it has to circulate through the university's mail system, whereas UPS and USPS deliveries don't. USPS's organization and distribution system seems to be less efficient and organized than others. Considering the marginal cost difference between the methods, and the fact that USPS has a significantly higher track record of destroying things that are being delivered, I don't understand why retailers and online sellers still use USPS. Their tracking system is a joke, and making a damage claim through them is a nightmare when it comes to private entities. Why use a carrier with so many restraints? I heartily BEG everyone to stop using USPS.
As for UPS, they are fine in most cases, but I know for a fact, and from experience, that they don't treat their packages with the same care that Fedex does. Heres a recent aim conversation from a friend of mine that is a package sorter at UPS.
[10:15] Me: ups tends to break things
[10:15] Him: yeah, we are kinda rough with packages
[10:15] Him: they get smashed and whatnot
[10:16] Him: like today i was "breaking jams" on the brown conveyer that takes pakages that have been sorted to the brown place and there are so many thay get stuck and smashed and you have to take some out, and manuver them to continue flow
[10:16] Me: that's nice
[10:16] Him: and they fall and whatnot
[10:17] Him: and get stacked under 1000's of pounds of stuff

The bottom line is this: if you want your packages to be delivered on time and undamaged, Fedex is the best choice and is least likely to cause you any problems. What I suspect part of the problem with USPS is, is that it isn't a profit driven company, but a federal service that has expanded to support package delivery on a larger scale.

 

[F1GTR]

I guess everyone has different experiences.

I personally have found USPS to be the best, quickest, and least expensive form of shipping out of all the competition with FedEx coming in a close second. I'll never use UPS again unless it is at the request of the buyer. Sure USPS's tracking system is primitive in comparison to both FedEx and UPS; however, they always seem to be accurate and on time to the point where I don't even bother tracking stuff with them anymore. 2-3 days and it's there.

UPS on the other hand, I believe, is in the business of exceeding your expectations at the start in an effort to let you down easy. What I mean by this is that it seem as though every time I'm awaiting something from UPS, the tracking system will always give me an estimated delivery time of 1-2 days BEFORE it's actually going to show up so that later on they can update the record with some kind of "delay". It almost always happens as if it's written in to the UPS code.

 

[Rob N]

I haven't had any problems with either UPS or USPS,although with USPS they are only responsible for the first half of the delivery (as I'm in the the UK)

 

[acs236]

I've had bad experiene with all three major shippers. It's the nature of the beast.

 

[bg4533]

I have had no problems with USPS package services. I have had my share of problems with both UPS and Fedex. Fedex likes to leave large, expensive packages outside my apartment late in the evening without even knocking. The USPS tracking system sucks, but USPS has been the quickest and most reliable with my packages.

 

[tkam]

I've also had problems with all three, just make sure to package whatever you are sending extremely well and insure it. Bubble wrap and insurance are your best friends when it comes to shipping something.

 

[saint.panda]

Sorry to hear from your bad experiences. For me USPS has always been working flawlessly for overseas shipments from the US and it's also much cheaper to boot due to lower shipping costs and no broker fees.

On the other hand, it's not really a fair competition. Apart from monetary subsidies from the government:
"Perhaps the most egregious example of this is the USPS' power to actually set the rates that its competitors in the private delivery business must charge. Regulations issued by the USPS allow companies like United Parcel Service and FedEx to deliver urgent letters only if they charge the greater of three dollars or twice the applicable U.S. postage (including priority mail). Failure to charge that much is against the law." (full, albeit somewhat biased, article )

 

[RockCity]

What about DHL? One of thoes ******** threw my box and camera over my 6 ft fence without ever getting out of the truck.

On a different note, how accurate is Fedex tracking? My package tracking stopped at "Departed Fedex Location" on the 10th, but hasn't updated since. The meter still says estimated delivery on the 15th. Does it mean it's not lost?

 

[acs236]

My CD3000 Woodys from Larry took three weeks to arrive (shipped Priority Mail) and USPS could not tell my anything until they finally arrived.

 

[Imyourzero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by acs236 I've had bad experiene with all three major shippers. It's the nature of the beast.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkam I've also had problems with all three, just make sure to package whatever you are sending extremely well and insure it. Bubble wrap and insurance are your best friends when it comes to shipping something.

I believe these two comments pretty much sum everything up. There are no absolutes, as some people have had no problems with UPS (like me) and others have had bad FedEx experiences. As far as handling packages, UPS seems to have a worse reputation than FedEx from what I've seen, but I've never personally had a problem. I also lucked up because the UPS guy that does my route won't leave stuff out in the rain or kick it along the sidewalk on the way to my house.

The best thing to do is:

1. Choose a shipping company you and the other party feel comfortable with
2. Bubble wrap and/or styrofoam peanut the hell out of whatever it is you're shipping
3. Always purchase insurance
4. Cross your fingers!

That's about all you can do, but it'll go a long way.

 

[Aman]

I have had the most luck with FedEx. They seem to have the best customer support and they always get my packages to me the quickest, and for the same price as the competition. UPS boxes arive to me damaged often (though, luckily, nothing has been broken yet) and USPS is just unorganized and slow as hell.

 

[kramer5150]

Quote:

Originally Posted by acs236 I've had bad experiene with all three major shippers. It's the nature of the beast.

x2... IMHO they all suck. cant tell you how many of my guitars have arrived as split chunks of canadian timber... reduced to useless chunks of firewood.

Garrett

 

[milesbeyondjazz]

So far I've been lucky.Everything I have ordered has come to me in perfect condition.And I have used all of them at one time or the other .Fed EX,UPS,and on two ocasions the USPS.

 

[jlo mein]

As a Canadian, I actually prefer USPS for all my shipments sent from the US. They have no brokerage fees, so all I'm left with is Canada Customs $5 handling fee and any applicable duties (if materials/labour from outside the US) and taxes.

UPS seems to be the worst as they charge high brokerage fees, sometimes exceeding the value of the item shipped. I have heard bad stories about Fedex to Canada as well, except there seems to be one Fedex method where before shipping, they calculate the exact brokerage/duty/taxes so you know what you're getting into.

 

[ken36]

My experience has been pretty good. Knock wood for the future.