The Worst Shipping Company: Fedex

[mushrat]

If they didn't insure those puppies then they have no one to blame. It sucks that you have to pay a company EXTRA money in case they themselves destroy it. Go figure that one out.

in all honesty from my experiences fed ex has been one of the best/most reliable places. maybe it is cause we ship business to business more since my home addy is the address for both of my parents business and mine and we are shipping to my sister and grandparents who also have their home addresses as business

usps has destroyed and lost a lot of stuff. a friend lost a $1000+ paintball marker, ups lost another paintball marker 2 friends were swapping and there is no way to replace it... o ya UPS never paid the insurance that was on that so my friends are out 500 bucks on that plus a very sentimental and rare item.

apple computers trusts DHL with shipping machines in for service and back so they cant be that rough in general.

every shipping company is going to have issues, but if you are receiving something and you may not be around you need to talk to the shipper/ shipping company to make sure they will either leave it or find out what will happen if they cannot hand it over to you.

i feel your pain but if you really want to make sure your stuff gets to you correctly you need to talk to the shipper and shipping company
-matt

Ah thats gotta suck

Well in that such case I would contact the seller,company and tell them listen <shipping company> lost my package either give me a refund or replacement. The cannot decline since you do not have the product.

DHL, no problems with them here in new york

yea every shipping company does have their problems, but iam not around it is the shippers job to get it to me, not my problem to call the company ( unless of course im going on vacation or a long term leave ) thats why on those little slips it has the check boxes that say "attempts". So in the end its the shipping company problem.

But in the end I got it.

ya the only thing that sucks for my friends cases was that they were going personal to personal type transactions so no company to call to pass the buck to

-matt

[mushrat]

I realize that everyone has bad experiences sometimes. It isnt always the shipper's fault. I can attest to this on MULTIPLE occasions. 1st off, at some times, 1 more strip of tape would have gone a long way in making sure the box didnt fall apart, but the company shipping the package didnt do that. I work for FedEx. YES, some of the employees are jackasses. But that goes with every company. The damage rate for our particular hub is 1 in 1275. That means out of every 1275 packages that run through our machines, are loaded into trucks and are handled by our drivers, only 1 is damaged in transit. We run from 60,000 packages a day in our low period from January to July to 150,000 packages a day in our peak season. Not every package is going to get through unscathed.

So, on a slow day you damage roughly 50 packages a day, and on a busy day you can damage 118 packages and you consider this to be something to be proud of? Nothing personal but if through mishandleing you damage or destroy 50 packages on an average day, thats 50 people who trusted your service who are not getting what they paid for or are not getting the package their grandmother sent. And getting insurance, something you have to pay extra on anything over $100 in value, just to try to cover yourself incase you are one of the lucky 50 or 118, is a scam and even if you have it, good luck working through the red tape, call centers, and incompetant people in claims who's job it is to NOT have to pay out money for something they destroyed.

Hardly something to be shouted from the rooftops.

[mushrat]

In all honesty I've only had excellent experiences with FedEx. They got a package from New Jersey to California in two business days. Then again, I'm always home when you deliver. UPS intentionally holds it at their warehouse until the delivery date. It's cool in that I can expect it at a given time but they just hold it, it's annoying. USPS is ok, but they do take a bit of time to get anywhere.

Around here it is the opposite. I have gotten UPS early because it showed up in the terminal early and it's Fed-ex that will hold your package unbtil the estimated delivery date.

[mattathayde]

mushrat, my friends had insured their packages and tried to claim their insurance multiple times and just got tossed a bunch of red tape and bs


also the "damage" may not be to the extent of them having to replace anything or the receiver being unhappy it could just be that the box is physically damaged in some way but not necessarily any damage done inside.

-matt

[mushrat]

mushrat, my friends had insured their packages and tried to claim their insurance multiple times and just got tossed a bunch of red tape and bs


also the "damage" may not be to the extent of them having to replace anything or the receiver being unhappy it could just be that the box is physically damaged in some way but not necessarily any damage done inside.

-matt

well, that sucks. they should have stuck with it, companies like Fed-ex run you aroudn on purpose trying to get you to give up. Needless to say it doesn't often work with me...

as far as damaged. I suspect if its bad enough to be actually conted by a company trying to keep their damage numbers down as actually "damaged" then it is likely rather extensive.

The moron in the hub in San Diego threw out about $800 bucks worth of my tobacco because it was supposedly damaged by the driver after it got on his trusk, he signed HIS name saying *I* refused the package because it was damaged. It was returned to my local hub, the damaged stuff removed, it was repacked and returned to San Diego where it showed up damaged further from THEIR repacking job. The inspector there though 30 or so kilos of wroapped Tangiers was "prunes" and destroyed my whole shipment. So i don't want to hear about how good Fed-ex is with packages and delivery. My latest shipment was not delivered the day it was supposed to be because the driver claimed I wasn't in the shop 1 1/2 hours AFTER we opened and one of my employees actually saw the truck go by and delive soemthing to someone else down the street.

One of the biggest gimmicks with Fed-ex is they use "contract" drivers. They pay someone to deliver their packages, so that Fed-ex doesn't actually have to have the drivers themselves directly working for them. SO if the driver screws up, Fed-ex says, "oh, well he's just a contractor. We'll look into it but its really the contractors responsibility." and before you argue, I've heard that excuse 3 times now.

[mattathayde]

ive seen the contractors and get that whole gimmick but idk, i think it really matters on where you are at as to the service you deal with.

as for my friends arguing, the fried that shipped got hassled so much and plus being a newly enlisted didnt have the time or energy to fight it.

o well, to late for them to do much now since its been about 2 years

-matt

[Anxiety]

mushrat ups around here is the same, ALOT of the times it comes in earlier than the scheduled delivery thats and they dont make me sign which i s a huge plus b/c im never home to sign for it, thats the only reason i HATE fedex is b/c im never around to sign so its a bitch getting the package :/

[Rani]

Its been a week and my package had finally come BUT to my avail i was not home and fed ex decided to knock on my neighbors door and let them have my package to hold. Now you can think oh whats wrong with your neighbors? Well I live in nyc in a apartment building where people dont really know the person next door. So thats my problem, I have never talked to these people in my life and now they have a 100$ hookah that fedex willingly gave to them. I've been knocking all day and nothing. So I left a note saying to please come when ever you get home. Now what If I had ordered something that was worth thousands? And now I have to worry if I dont get it back when hookahcompany will refund me or send me another one.


Thanks FEDEX!

And if my neighbors happen to read this, please come over and give my package i'll more than willingly smoke a bowl with you =]

When you order anything federal express make sure you request "direct signature required". What that means is that not only does it have to be signed for, you and only you can sign for it and you have to show identification when you do. Personally I always ship to my work for that reason and always request direct signature - even on fed ex ground.

'Rani

[mushrat]

That usually costs more i think to do that but it sure will solve the left package problem.

[Bulldog_916]

I realize that everyone has bad experiences sometimes. It isnt always the shipper's fault. I can attest to this on MULTIPLE occasions. 1st off, at some times, 1 more strip of tape would have gone a long way in making sure the box didnt fall apart, but the company shipping the package didnt do that. I work for FedEx. YES, some of the employees are jackasses. But that goes with every company. The damage rate for our particular hub is 1 in 1275. That means out of every 1275 packages that run through our machines, are loaded into trucks and are handled by our drivers, only 1 is damaged in transit. We run from 60,000 packages a day in our low period from January to July to 150,000 packages a day in our peak season. Not every package is going to get through unscathed.

So, on a slow day you damage roughly 50 packages a day, and on a busy day you can damage 118 packages and you consider this to be something to be proud of? Nothing personal but if through mishandleing you damage or destroy 50 packages on an average day, thats 50 people who trusted your service who are not getting what they paid for or are not getting the package their grandmother sent. And getting insurance, something you have to pay extra on anything over $100 in value, just to try to cover yourself incase you are one of the lucky 50 or 118, is a scam and even if you have it, good luck working through the red tape, call centers, and incompetant people in claims who's job it is to NOT have to pay out money for something they destroyed.

Hardly something to be shouted from the rooftops.

The damage rate is a lot higher in UPS and USPS by volume. A lot of it has to do with how much our employees are being paid as opposed to UPS and DHL and USPS. The only one that even comes close to our average (company wide, not just our hub terminal) is DHL. UPS employees are paid 8 bucks an hour. Ours start as high as 10. It makes a difference. Just because it is damaged doesnt mean it is destroyed, it could be as small as a busted corner on the box or a complete loss. Damage is damage. We have dedicated QA people whose job it is to make sure those packages are taken care of, and usually, they are. The ratio of destroyed packages is a LOT lower than damaged ones. You have to remember that it isnt only employee hands the package ends up in. It goes through a host of conveyors, slides, trucks, rollers, and chutes to get to the trailers, and not all packages that come in to the building are pristine in the first place. It isnt just some magic process where the package gets on a truck and ends up at your door. I understand you're paying for a service and you should be well taken care of. But at the same time, I used to slog it out every day inside one of those trailers and have a little bit of dedication to the business that's given me practically everything I have. Take a tour of the inside of a hub or terminal sometime and it will give you a good idea of the intricacies of the business.

[kornkitten42]

Talk to Nazar! FedEx lost his entire exotica shipment of new coals! Glad he got is insured though. It was estimated for delivery, had tracking number and all, and it just neevr showed and Fedex didn't "know" where it went. Luckily he got a new shipment in...... This time, unscathed and not lost.....

I'd be pissed
and as for DHL. screw them. I shipped scooters at one time, packaged BEAUTIFULLY, and they detroyed 3 out of the 10 I sent! SOOOO much bullshit to go through to get the items replaced and ended up just getting new ones drop shipped from the company and then washed my hand of the whole thing.....

[hipoblaze]

I realize that everyone has bad experiences sometimes. It isnt always the shipper's fault. I can attest to this on MULTIPLE occasions. 1st off, at some times, 1 more strip of tape would have gone a long way in making sure the box didnt fall apart, but the company shipping the package didnt do that. I work for FedEx. YES, some of the employees are jackasses. But that goes with every company. The damage rate for our particular hub is 1 in 1275. That means out of every 1275 packages that run through our machines, are loaded into trucks and are handled by our drivers, only 1 is damaged in transit. We run from 60,000 packages a day in our low period from January to July to 150,000 packages a day in our peak season. Not every package is going to get through unscathed.

So, on a slow day you damage roughly 50 packages a day, and on a busy day you can damage 118 packages and you consider this to be something to be proud of? Nothing personal but if through mishandleing you damage or destroy 50 packages on an average day, thats 50 people who trusted your service who are not getting what they paid for or are not getting the package their grandmother sent. And getting insurance, something you have to pay extra on anything over $100 in value, just to try to cover yourself incase you are one of the lucky 50 or 118, is a scam and even if you have it, good luck working through the red tape, call centers, and incompetant people in claims who's job it is to NOT have to pay out money for something they destroyed.

Hardly something to be shouted from the rooftops.

The damage rate is a lot higher in UPS and USPS by volume. A lot of it has to do with how much our employees are being paid as opposed to UPS and DHL and USPS. The only one that even comes close to our average (company wide, not just our hub terminal) is DHL. UPS employees are paid 8 bucks an hour. Ours start as high as 10. It makes a difference. Just because it is damaged doesnt mean it is destroyed, it could be as small as a busted corner on the box or a complete loss. Damage is damage. We have dedicated QA people whose job it is to make sure those packages are taken care of, and usually, they are. The ratio of destroyed packages is a LOT lower than damaged ones. You have to remember that it isnt only employee hands the package ends up in. It goes through a host of conveyors, slides, trucks, rollers, and chutes to get to the trailers, and not all packages that come in to the building are pristine in the first place. It isnt just some magic process where the package gets on a truck and ends up at your door. I understand you're paying for a service and you should be well taken care of. But at the same time, I used to slog it out every day inside one of those trailers and have a little bit of dedication to the business that's given me practically everything I have. Take a tour of the inside of a hub or terminal sometime and it will give you a good idea of the intricacies of the business.

damn skippy man i concur compeltely being that i work for ups i am a midnight outbound supervisor of one fo the largest HVD's in the phoenix az hub and yeah fedex pays 10 over the 8.50 we start at and yeah we have damages, but that is what our damage cage employees are employed to help repack or asses damges and get them properly taken care of cause believe me it hardly has anyhting to do with the loaders doing damages as compared to jsut the design of the systems then you also gotta think about if the package is missorted to the wrong belt then it is getting processed all over again through the hub and eveytime a set of hands handle the packages there is more liekly a chance of them getting damaged going down conveyors, moving diverters and slidesso it isn't so muhc the company's fault as it is the design of the material/equipment that is being used i mena hell every pacakge that comes through my hu is hand unloaded, hand sorted, picked off buy someone else sedning the package in tothe correct destination trailer and hand loaded i think that there most people don't realize and its gonna put some wear and tear on your box so 1 piece of tape ain't gonna cut it next time u might want to make sure it is tape up good and well causde u never know what could happen....hell a few weeks ago we had one of the midnight's loaded trailers on it way across the country flip over and roll, they had to re handle all the packages through the nearby hubs and assess all the damages and decide if it was salvagable or total losses

whatver enough of my ranting

joshey

[mobbed]

i like fedex i feel like since theyre a buisness theyll try harder for the buisness

[brownbob06]

my dad runs a business and gets pissed pretty often at Fedex because they don't ship things on time, and usually if he calls and asks where his package is at they say no one was at his shop... which really pisses him off because he works there all day with the big garage door wide open and knows for a fact they have not been there. He doesn't really have a choice however because some of the places he buys from use FedEx. UPS has never done me wrong!

And I too have received packages earlier than scheduled from UPS.

And Mobbed, what do you mean "since they're a business, they'll try harder for your business" What do you think UPS is? Edited May 5, 2008 by brownbob06

[theotherone31415]

i think every shipping company wants to make a profit and to do that they have to not damage stuff. it's not like there's a monopoly and they can get away with shit. if fedex were to damage stuff more they'd lose a lot of business and vice versa. not to mention other companies chompin at the bit to take their customers. the truth is, im gonna bet on the whole every company is the same. i've ordered the same amount from both ups and fedex and it's all been the same. what's made a difference is who's sending stuff to ya. if you care for the package (like neal for example!) it can go through hell and still come to you in one piece. i got a phunnel from him that was wrapped in SOOO much bubble wrap it could've withheld a drop from probably 10 stories.

i have respect for all working people. i give all of them the benefit of the doubt and expect them that they do the best that they can under the circumstances. i know there's jackass among em too. can't blame anyone for a few bad apples. but if personally one company has been better for you, you should absolutly stick to it!

[mattathayde]

i think every shipping company wants to make a profit and to do that they have to not damage stuff. it's not like there's a monopoly and they can get away with shit. if fedex were to damage stuff more they'd lose a lot of business and vice versa. not to mention other companies chompin at the bit to take their customers. the truth is, im gonna bet on the whole every company is the same. i've ordered the same amount from both ups and fedex and it's all been the same. what's made a difference is who's sending stuff to ya. if you care for the package (like neal for example!) it can go through hell and still come to you in one piece. i got a phunnel from him that was wrapped in SOOO much bubble wrap it could've withheld a drop from probably 10 stories.

i have respect for all working people. i give all of them the benefit of the doubt and expect them that they do the best that they can under the circumstances. i know there's jackass among em too. can't blame anyone for a few bad apples. but if personally one company has been better for you, you should absolutly stick to it!

that is a good point that i dont remember coming up so far except maybe once just about the box. but ya if its valuable and remotely fragile pack that sucker up good. when ive had to send my computer in for service (apple sends you a box with padding to put it in) the box has ben very strong theres about 3 inches of foam on all the sides and about 2 on the top and bottom of the machine with 2 layers of density plus the thing foam-cloth bag you put the machine is) its more secure than the original packaging that it comes in and even that is pretty secure.

-matt