FedEx and their complete lack of efficiency

Ron-P

I'm usually at home during the week and see both UPS and FedEx trucks on my street almost daily. Here's what I have noticed.

UPS - once a day, usually about 4:30pm

Fed Ex - 5 trucks a day, mostly before noon.

Five trucks on my street all before noon, this is ridiculous. I am amazed at their total lack of efficiency in that they cannot put all the deliveries on one truck and make one trip (like UPS does) down my street. Wow, just wow. No wonder their so expensive, gotta pay for all that wasted man power and gas.

fishbones

Well they do have a few different priority shipment options...before 8am, before noon, plus their ground deliveries, but...5 trucks sound a bit much? You're right, no wonder there so expensive!

F1nut

I've always found FedEx the cheaper of the two.

dekuda

Hmmmm.... One for priority 1,one for non priority(after 10:30), one for home dlivery only,one for pickup only. The other one must have just been lost
I still like using them because of there damage claims and tracking info but they do cost a little more.

brettw22

i've always found them less expensive, and more careful than UPS.

Also, this time of year, the sheer amount of packages and the fact that the people loading the trucks are probably seasonal pisses the drivers off a LOT more than it irritates you, guaranteed....

mdaudioguy

The fedex guy who dropped something off at my house yesterday was driving a rental van from Enterprise. Probably makes more sense to rent for the December surge.

I'm not sure the number of vehicles on a particular street is a valid measure of efficiency.

WilliamM2

Maybe UPS doesn't have as many packages to deliver? I know each of them stop by my business twice a day for deliveries, and twice a day for pickup.

UPS uses the same driver for both pickups, why not just come once? FedEx has separate ground and air pickups, so it makes a bit more sense.

SCompRacer

dekuda wrote: »

Hmmmm.... One for priority 1,one for non priority(after 10:30), one for home dlivery only,one for pickup only. ...

Good job. First Overnight by 8AM.

Ron-P

Some valid points for sure. I've just been really surprised at their number of trucks. But, this is not only a December thing. It happens quite often, not just this month.

Conradicles

What is the point of your thread? Just curious as i use both everyday and like them both...

brettw22

Conradicles wrote: »

What is the point of your thread? Just curious as i use both everyday and like them both...

If you read the thread title, you'd see that he was commenting on what he observes as being inneficient......

Did you really need someone to explain that or were you just making a comment for the sake of making a comment?

leroyjr1

I've always found fedex cheaper and less abusive to the packages.

kawizx9r

Guess it doesn't require me quoting anyone

In my experience with dealing on ebay and on here, I've always shipped with FedEx since it's cheaper than UPS and the fact that I've never had a problem with FedEx before.

Had 2 different items (that I recall) come to me in bad shape when shipped via UPS, never again I hope.

Systems

I bought an amplifier shipped Fed Ex from California.
They flew the package East 400 miles past me to their distribution center.
Trucked it 440 miles (40miles West of me), and then trucked it 40 miles east again to my location.
It took 9 days!

sucks2beme

I send so much stuff Fedex for work, it's crazy.
Most of the local truck guys and the guys at the local shipping counter know me. I've sent stuff to Mexico twice already this week.
I don't have many problems with them. But customs into Mexico
BLOWS! It gets there overnight and sits for a week waiting for them.

WilliamM2

brettw22 wrote: »

If you read the thread title, you'd see that he was commenting on what he observes as being inneficient......

Did you really need someone to explain that or were you just making a comment for the sake of making a comment?

He's probably just feeling bitchy, like you.

brettw22

so cute william....it's like you actually serve a purpose here. moron.

AsSiMiLaTeD

FedEx is always cheaper than UPS for me, they're also faster and more reliable for me.

WilliamM2

brettw22 wrote: »

so cute william....it's like you actually serve a purpose here. moron.

Better than being a hypocrite, like you. You seem so unhappy here.

inspiredsports

F1nut wrote: »

I've always found FedEx the cheaper of the two.

Ditto. And more likely to get audio and other fragile items there in one piece!

quadzilla

pepster wrote: »

I bought an amplifier shipped Fed Ex from California.
They flew the package East 400 miles past me to their distribution center.
Trucked it 440 miles (40miles West of me), and then trucked it 40 miles east again to my location.
It took 9 days!

That's because you're at the north pole. I've never had anything take longer than 5 days to be delivered. But there's an airport near me, and I live near a large population center, so both fed ex and ups have distribution centers here.

That aside, I rarely seem more than one fed ex and on ups truck in the morning, and another in the afternoon. Not sure why so many are roaming around the OP's neighborhood.

steveinaz

As a warehouse manager I see Fedex, UPS, and DHL everyday. I can say with confidence that Fedex is by far more professional. Their trucks are packed correctly, where UPS, the **** looks like it's literally thrown in a pile. We only use DHL for specialized shipments, going to places where Fedex has bailed due to war time concerns. Fedex will also deliver early, if your package arrives locally before its estimated delivery date---UPS will sit on a package until the delivery date, and then it's often sitting on the front porch the next morning.

I've only made 2 formal complaints (work wise) and they were with UPS. They actually responded quickly to our complaints because we have alot of deliveries from them. I've never had a problem with Fedex or DHL.

With UPS you get excuses, with Fedex you get results. That's been the general feeling I get between the two.

As far as efficiency, I don't know, because I don't know the intimate details of how they operate--you'd have to assume that they are doing things as efficiently as they can?

tonyb

I see the same thing the OP does, 5 Fedex trucks on my street and one UPS truck in a day. Some may call this inefficient, and maybe so, but look at it this way. Packages come in at all times of the day. You could wait a whole day and route one truck accordingly or if your priority is customer service and getting the package to it's destination as quickly as possible, then 5 fedex trucks doesn't seem so unusual.

As a side note, I see UPS drivers all the time running from house to truck,truck to house, always driving in a hurry. Fedex drivers appear more relaxed, less pressured, and better drivers. I would be curious to see accident stats on the 2 companies.

steveinaz

Tony, Fedex's equipment always looks far better maintained as well.

cheif pontiac

What color are the stripes on the trucks, that is an indicator of what service they are providing. There is purple and orange, purple and red, purple and green. Each is for a different service. FedEx drivers are independent contractors and are paid by weight, they "own" their routes for their service and actually pay to have them. So having more trucks is actually more efficient, for FedEx. FedEx is not maintaining the trucks, the driver is.I am sure each driver would like more work. Some drivers own multiple routes and have subcontractor drivers. This time of year it would not surprise me that a driver with several routes has a subcontractor in an enterprise van.

UPS drivers are company employees and their day is schedule for them. They have to be at X location at Y time. For Example Polk HQ at 11:32. they check in with those electronic boards and are tracked by GPS. AT 11:33 the driver will get a call from their boss asking wher the heck they are if they have not checked in. This is why they are in a rush.

UPS only concern is time. They treat packages like crap. I have shipped over 30,000 packages in the past 4 years and I will stake my life on the fact that FedEX has less damage and is cheaper.

UPS BLOWS!!!!!!!!

newrival

dekuda wrote: »

Hmmmm.... One for priority 1,one for non priority(after 10:30), one for home dlivery only,one for pickup only. The other one must have just been lost
I still like using them because of there damage claims and tracking info but they do cost a little more.

theres also a direct delivery. that can get to places the same day. or with a certain number of hours

newrival

cheif pontiac wrote: »

What color are the stripes on the trucks, that is an indicator of what service they are providing. There is purple and orange, purple and red, purple and green. Each is for a different service. FedEx drivers are independent contractors and are paid by weight, they "own" their routes for their service and actually pay to have them. So having more trucks is actually more efficient, for FedEx. FedEx is not maintaining the trucks, the driver is.I am sure each driver would like more work. Some drivers own multiple routes and have subcontractor drivers. This time of year it would not surprise me that a driver with several routes has a subcontractor in an enterprise van.

UPS drivers are company employees and their day is schedule for them. They have to be at X location at Y time. For Example Polk HQ at 11:32. they check in with those electronic boards and are tracked by GPS. AT 11:33 the driver will get a call from their boss asking wher the heck they are if they have not checked in. This is why they are in a rush.

UPS only concern is time. They treat packages like crap. I have shipped over 30,000 packages in the past 4 years and I will stake my life on the fact that FedEX has less damage and is cheaper.

UPS BLOWS!!!!!!!!

Nice insight.

although, saying "UPS blows" is pretty unnecessary. I like UPS and they do a good job. If you prefer FedEx, great. But obviously UPS isn't as bad as you make it out to be or they wouldnt be a multi billion dllar company.

inspiredsports

It is pretty cool that for the most part, in just a matter of hours or days, Fedex, USPS and UPS get very fragile and valuable items from nearly all points of the globe to one another in good shape most of the time. And all you have to do is click a few buttons and then open your front door. We are spoiled when it comes to our shipping expectations.

dorokusai

They contract out a lot and the drivers are paid for how many deliveries they complete. It's not a bad gig.

dpowell

I've always found Fedex to be less expensive than UPS. I like seeing multiple Fedex trucks. Increases my chances that I'm going to receive something on any given day.

bobman1235

I wouldn't stake my LIFE on which delivery company is "better". Maybe that's just me. Seems a silly thing to stake my life on.


The amount of arguing on this board about shipping companies is insane. Can't we just make a sticky with a poll on it and be done with it?