Fed up with Fed-EX

I ordered the wrong belt a few weeks ago from a place that ships any belt for $6.99 it was a large belt (7/8” X 250”), I had to return it on my dime. Took it to the USPS and it was $19.45 to ship it back, my refund was $26.55. I should have just kept it.

 

I expected it to be all banged up, but amazingly it was all intact.

 

Ordered 2 items yesterday 3-4 for my truck within 5 minutes of each other. Both have free shipping. Yesterday afternoon I got an email with tracking number, the first item is being shipped UPS, picked up and a delivery date tomorrow 3-6 from Kansas to N.C. The second item was shipped Fed-Ex and I got an email yesterday with the tracking number. Just checked Fed-Ex and it says "shipping info sent to Fed-Ex" and there is no delivery date, yet

 

I recently had them leave a package on my doorstep that was signature confirmation. Nobody was home and nobody signed for it, so they left it in front of a door on the side of the house that literally never gets used (between mine and the neighbor's house, no reason it should be there). It was over $300 worth of car parts.

I thought that was odd... what would happen if it would have been stolen and they didn't have a signature on file to confirm delivery?

 

My dad had home depot order sent to his work fedex delivered it to wrong unit someone else signed for it (not his workers). He called HD they said Fedex responsible since it was signed for. Called Fedex they said its signed told him call credit card. Card opened case then got denied since it was signed. Its not even his writing so hes pretty frustrated. I thought HD was easy customer service. Seems like his only option is small claims court but is it worth time/effort for something $50?

 

I used to work as a driver for FexEx, trust me, that job is a tough gig. First off, drivers get paid by the day, not hour, so they don't make any extra for working longer hours, during my time with them I dont think there was one day less than 10 hours, five times a week. Now, i realize a lot of people are salaried and dont make overtime pay but 50 hours/week, every week is tough. Furthermore, all fedex drivers are contracted through independent owner/operators, that means they get no benefits, no health insurance, no sick leave, no vacation, and no holiday pay even though they work the hardest over holidays like Christmas when the trucks get packed so tight you can't even see the floor, and you're working from 6am till 8 or 9pm to get it all unloaded (remember for no extra pay).

I'm not saying that the job doesn't have any upsides, heck you get to spend the whole day outdoors, get to see "behind the curtain" at lot of businesses, meet some cool people, and the days go by pretty fast. But you work your rear end off doing it. I'd people wonder why they dont get out of their trucks for signatures like the guy above, drivers have so little time to make deliveries, the slower they go the longer they work (daily not hourly pay) so they're incentivised to move fast. I did the math once that I calculated having only about 3 minutes per stop to get my deliveries done in time to get home by 6pm -and that included drive time. 3 minutes. Assuming you can get from house to house in 2 minutes, that leaves the driver with 60 seconds to A. Find your package in a sea of boxes, b. Walk up your driveway, c. Deliver the package and d. Get back to the truck. I cant tell you how much I hated those boxes marked "signature required" when 75% of the time, no one is there to get it. The drivers dont have any time to wait for you to get dressed, tie the dog up, put the baby in the pack-n-play, or whatever else the homeowner is doing to come get the door when they only have about 15 seconds to spend at your front door, it's that tight people. So just try to understand where they're coming from.

Sorry for the rant, cant sleep. For the record, usps and ups are both union jobs with much more regulation and driver protections and that's why the quality of service will always be better than fedex.

 

Thank you for sharing this with us. Sound like fedex sucks because, well, fedex just sucks.

 

FedEx is a different business model. They pretty much invented the overnight business. They didn't do a good job scaling their business for other services. I read they're reorganizing to streamline things. Right now I guess Express, Ground and Home delivery all run basically independent of each other.

I have no real trouble with FedEx, UPS or USPS but like someone else mentioned it seems driver related. I get the same mailman and UPS driver, FedEx being contractors it's not consistent. If I have to ship something I usually go UPS or if it makes sense USPS. With FedEx about half the time right after I get ship notification I change the delivery to have it held at a FedEx Office. This seems to simplify their routing algorithm.

 

Having a lot of commercial experience with all three, the only correct answer is Option 4 - They All Blow. Shipping physical products really is a pain in the ass no matter which of these companies is used. They’re either slow, damage items, lose items, really expensive, not helpful in resolving issues, never take responsibility for damages, etc. They all suck and are the most annoying part of selling items to customers.

 

Only FedEx GROUND are independent owner/operators. They have to buy their own trucks and the routes.

Our son delivers for FedEx Express, is paid hourly and has full bennies, 401K and health insurance.

 

lol

 

Have no issues with FedEx and most of my online parts ordering is from Summit racing . I ordered parts the other day on Thursday late afternoon and FedEx had them at my doorstep at 11am Friday

My parts are from their Sparks Nevada warehouse which over 400 miles North of me

 

Don't get my started over the incompetence of OnTrac Delivery service !!!!!!

 

Once again, FEDEX built a large facility 3 miles from my work and also at the nearest airport less than 8 miles away. My package went to Concord and has been shifted to the post office for delivery. I do not understand their system.

 

The difference between FedEx and UPS for non-urgent things may exist but if you are shipping important and urgent things UPS truly and completely sucks in comparison to FedEx. I have lost count of the number of times UPS has left me high and dry in my professional life.

 

Generally fedex has been pretty bad. I ordered a set of tires from discount tire direct. All the tires made it to some place in GA where for whatever reason 3 tires kept going and one got left behind. This was over a weekend so I had 3 tires sitting in my garage waiting for their buddy to show up. The 4th tire took and extra 4 days and I had to reschedule my appointment at DT.
They could have been getting me back for the time I ordered river stones from Walmart. I want to say they we 16lb bags and I order ~500lbs worth. It was free shipping and was way cheaper than anywhere else for the same stones. It ended up being like 10 boxes that were 48lbs a piece and they carried them all the way to the front door.

 

Few years back I ordered a 55” tv on a black Friday deal from Newegg I believe. At the time I was living with my parents and so the nearest fedex facilities was about a couple hours away— but that’s not the issue. Problem is the FedEx mother fracker delivered this GIANT tv box to some people who live a few miles away. And so when it was marked delivered I got excited and then I got concerned. Figured I would wait till the next day as they have marked shit delivered before and not delivered till the next day. Longer story short— I was gonna be boned because driver said it was delivered and was signed for and everything. This guy in a pickup truck with a giant box comes to my door and says I think this is yours and that he recognized the last name. Huge giant box that this little tv box was in. Anyways fedex can suck a D. Poor guy who delivered said he though his mother bought him a new tv and he was super bummed. Nice guy— glad he gave it to me need more folk like him.

 

Amazon does the same silliness. Package passed about 20 miles from my house enroute from Texas to Kansas I now back to Oklahoma

7:42 AM
Package arrived at an Amazon facility
Lenexa, KANSAS US
Monday, March 9
8:27 PM
Package departed an Amazon facility
Wilmer, TX US
4:42 PM
Package arrived at an Amazon facility
Wilmer, Texas US
Package has shipped

 

FedEx strikes again. I ordered a package, it said it would be delivered today the 1st. It could have been delivered the 29th or the 30th but they said it wasn't due for delivery