[Todd R]

About FedEx...
If you ever SHIP anything with them and you ask for a pick up one time, they will charge you $12 every month from then on for pick up service even if you don't anything else picked up.

Found out that nasty little secret after having them stop by once to get a package that was too large to fit in my car. No mention of that when I was filling out the shipping info online.

 

[Navyblue]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FallenAngel /img/forum/go_quote.gif Not in my experience, I used FedEx 3 times in the last 6 months, twice they gave me trouble (2 days late with lies for excuses - "wrong" zip code" and "attempted delivery" when address was correct and considering it was delivered to an office, they never showed up, not attempted).

The UPS here pulled a more ridiculous trick on me once.

The delivery man sneak up to my house undetected like a thief and left me an attempted delivery note. How do I know that? We left the door open in anticipation of the delivery, and the only thing that showed up is the note, No door bell, no door knock, no calling, not to mention the package. I thought it is amazing that they went through all that to just hand me the note. I then called the customer service and gave them a verbal penetration and made them deliver the package on Saturday morning despite their refusal.

 

[n_maher]

Quote:

Originally Posted by digger945 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was wondering the same thing.

Generally speaking when I've placed large orders with them ($150ish or more) they've upgraded my shipping for free, yes. But not on small stuff, no.

And to the lovers of UPS and FedEx and USPS, I ship a lot, probably more than most and it's a crap shoot regardless of who you use. FedEx has been the worst for me destroying no fewer than two transports that were both packed well and having the gall to say that I still owed them a $50 duty on one of them, UPS has taken down one beta22 and one pair of non-replaceable Moth Cicada drivers and the USPS has mishandled countless items too. So find what works for you and use it, but always buy insurance if you're the one at risk. Even then you stand maybe a 50/50 chance of getting any $$ back at best.

 

[FallenAngel]

That reminds me, FedEx has pulled another number on me, my girlfriend ordered a nice hand-carved chess table and it was shipped FedEx Ground. It arrived with a hole punctured through the box so deep that it scraped the table. Good thing that it was on the bottom side but damn! What do you need to do to a box to puncture cardboard, styrofoam and manage to dent a hardwood table?

 

[cobaltmute]

Forklift.

I used to work in a warehouse. It may have been done on the warehouse side. You won't believe the stunts we used to pull.

 

[deltaydeltax]

They charged you dimensional weight:
Domestic Mail FAQS

UPS sucks in the Boston area. I had a $10k Digikey package show up five months late from them once. That made for one seriously pissed off client.

Fedex seems to suck on the West Coast. Everytime I order circuit boards from California, the Fedex plane always seems to "break down" and doesn't make it out on time.

Maybe it just depends on the part of the country you're in.

 

[dsavitsk]

How many of you guys tip your local delivery person? A $10 Starbucks card during the holidays can go along way toward getting good service. I've had a couple hundred things delivered to me over the last few years, and I can count on one finger how many have gone missing ... and it was sent w/o insurance from Ireland ... and I am still not convinced it was actually sent at all.

And for the record, I can count on zero fingers how many have been damaged -- well, I did have a power amp dropped by UPS in 1993 which bent the face plate, though I did end up with a new one, and in fact a better one as they were out of the old model I had bought.

 

[deltaydeltax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dsavitsk /img/forum/go_quote.gif How many of you guys tip your local delivery person? A $10 Starbucks card during the holidays can go along way toward getting good service. I've had a couple hundred things delivered to me over the last few years, and I can count on one finger how many have gone missing ... and it was sent w/o insurance from Ireland ... and I am still not convinced it was actually sent at all. And for the record, I can count on zero fingers how many have been damaged -- well, I did have a power amp dropped by UPS in 1993 which bent the face plate, though I did end up with a new one, and in fact a better one as they were out of the old model I had bought.

LUCKY!!! <------read with a Napolean voice...Now, why don't those gift cards work with the meter maids?

 

[motherone]

I've ordered a few thousand dollars in parts from mouser and digikey over the past 7 years, probably in 50+ shipments. I can only recall one occasion where I've had a problem with either company. I don't remember which one it was, but they had shipped me most of the parts I'd ordered, plus some I didn't. I called them about the missing parts, and they were overnighted to me the next day, free of charge.

Almost all of my shipments have come via USPS priority mail, and here in Seattle, USPS is far more reliable than FedEx OR UPS.

 

[tangent]

As someone who has sent a few packages with USPS, I can tell you that 99% of the time, they're fine, and they do what they claim, within the US. (I won't get into international, because there are things outside USPS's control in that situation.)

But, every year, one or two of the orders shipped in December will get seriously delayed. Without fail.

It's not hard to see the reason. At my local P.O. this is also when they roll out the big carts , which seem to be always full. The rest of the year, the carts are half the size and they're never full. I can't imagine they quadruple their staff size during this time, so something's got to give.

On the question of USPS tracking, it's virtually worthless to the recipient. They don't actually call it "tracking," on purpose. They call it "delivery confirmation," because its purpose is to let the sender know when the package arrives. You've got to give up something for the huge price difference.

For what it's worth, I've had delays in shipping during December with all the other services, too.

 

[n_maher]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dsavitsk /img/forum/go_quote.gif How many of you guys tip your local delivery person?

I don't think that I should have to bribe someone to get the service that I already paid for. I do my job, do it well, and don't expect extra compensation as result. Maybe it's just me but I think tipping has gotten way out of hand in the US.

 

[MisterX]

Quote:

How many of you guys tip your local delivery person?

I gave the FedEx guy a tip once.
I told him if he ever delivers another one of my packages to the wrong address I was going to make him wish he had never been fired from McDonald's.

Worked pretty good to.

 

[millwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by n_maher /img/forum/go_quote.gif Maybe it's just me

it is you.

we even tip our newpaper delivery guy.

I have yet to have a major problem with usps and fedex. ups did recently deliver our package to a neighboring town (which has the same street address as ours) but corrected the very next day.

I think with any of them, you have to budget a little bit of cushion or you run the risk of being disappointed.

 

[nikongod]

One time I bought my selected items from mouser 6 times. I have some ideas about how it happened, most likely it was my fault.

They were helpful in getting the return of 5 of 6 identical packages sorted out.

 

[ARwCoco]

Thanks for the feedback guys, but I already know that using USPS was a BIG mistake. Should have used UPS. But that does not change the fact that I ordered on Thursday and have not received anything as of the following Wednesday. Do the math ...

still PIST