UPDATE:pissed at FEDEX!!

[Scheetz]

there are four major carriers, and they all perform about the same

not true. Out of the 3 companies I deal with, UPS/Fedex/USPS (never delt with DHL) UPS out performs them all. Fedex tends to screw up the most, USPS needs better tracking but UPS is pretty good about getting stuff on time or ahead of schedule.

Thus I ship with UPS, plus they ship to 98% of the homes in the US. Thats right, I have numbers. They can reach over 80% of the world in less than 48 hours.

Ship with UPS, and you will be golden. I am not saying they don't screw up, but they do it less than the others.

Well, I'd call bullshit, but (a.) I don't know how much shipping you do, and (b.) I can't find a single good academic study on this, except for one that asked academics about their satisfaction, which is way too meta for me (incidentally, FedEX and UPS had similar satisfaction ratings). What I will say is that your numbers ("Thats right, I have numbers") are totally, completely, utterly useless without equivalent numbers for other carriers, not to mention that when shipping a package from here to the West Coast via ground shipping I couldn't give a damn how many countries they could get my package to in 48 hours (and you'd probably find that DHL will kick the ass of anyone else in terms of rapid international shipping, but that's moot).

haha, I am sure DHL kicks ass over seas, after all they started there.

As far as numbers go, I have them because I did a case study on UPS for business purposes. I dont know what Fedex does, but I know my box is always fucked up when it arrives through them.

[Hookah Master]

that recently happened to me.  i ordered a 3 250g of romman from hookah-shisha.com and they shipped it and it went:
Austin TX
Mesquite TX
Memphis TN
Knoxville TN
Roanoke VA - Got put on the wrong truck
BECKLEY WV
Roanoke VA
Richmond VA
Chantilly VA

Shipped it Monday... should have came Thursday but it came the following Monday.  Unfortunately UPS and other shipping companies are swamped with orders and theres nothing you can do.. thats life.

Chantilly??? we should meet up sometime! I'm in Centreville

Im in vienna. chantilly is the UPS facility.