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UPS vs. FedEx?

Andy D

Active Member
I used to swear by FedEx and only used UPS as last resource, but is it just me or is FedEx really sucking the last few years and UPS has gotten a lot better?
One of my vendors only offer FedEx & every time I paid extra for expedited delivery in the past year they missed the date & I had to scramble to make it right on my dime.

What has been your experiences?
 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
FedEx held strong during the pandemic when UPS was late on everything. I don't like how UPS took details off the tracking information. FedEx gives me the best discounts and their airport terminal is 15 min away from me so all those reasons I stick with them...
 

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
They're all the same. To me, it's your driver that makes the difference. I prefer UPS and USPS. FedEx uses contractors and they seem to have a lot of turnovers. We can call our UPS driver to meet him if we have a shipment were waiting on or for late pickups.
 
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Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
They're all the same. To me, it's your driver that makes the difference. I prefer UPS and USPS. FedEx uses contractors and they seem to have a lot of turnovers. We can call our UPS driver to meet him if we have a shipment were waiting on or for late pickups.
If you're in a rush and live near a terminal you ship to that terminal's address and hold for pickup instead of waiting for the driver to deliver. If I ship to our terminal it's available at 8am.
 

Jester1167

Premium Subscriber
It would get better if the Federal Government would stop the additional unemployment payments. I am sure the problems with both FedEx and UPS have to do with record levels of delivery and not enough employees. Everywhere I go they can't find workers to fill jobs.
 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
It would get better if the Federal Government would stop the additional unemployment payments. I am sure the problems with both FedEx and UPS have to do with record levels of delivery and not enough employees. Everywhere I go they can't find workers to fill jobs.
Their sort center employee get paid crap but have you seen what drivers make?? My brother inlaw got laid off during Covid from a factory that made airplane parts...he was an xray technician that would examine the parts as after they were fabricated. He tried to get hired as a FedEx or UPS driver but USPS was the only one that made him an offer so he's a mailman now. FedEx and UPS drivers can make $60-$70k a year which ain't bad.
 

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
Their sort center employee get paid crap but have you seen what drivers make?? My brother inlaw got laid off during Covid from a factory that made airplane parts...he was an xray technician that would examine the parts as after they were fabricated. He tried to get hired as a FedEx or UPS driver but USPS was the only one that made him an offer so he's a mailman now. FedEx and UPS drivers can make $60-$70k a year which ain't bad.
It's a pretty demanding job. All you do is go, there is very little slack time.
 

ChaseO

Premium Subscriber
They all have their moments, good and bad. I do not have a FedEx local to me, so I use UPS and USPS, but on the receiving end, I have problems will all of them from time to time.
 

netsol

Premium Subscriber
They all have their moments, good and bad. I do not have a FedEx local to me, so I use UPS and USPS, but on the receiving end, I have problems will all of them from time to time.

They all have their moments, good & bad, except USPS that never has a good moment
 

premiercolour

Merchant Member
Ups owns ups ground and ups express. FedEx owns express and subcontract ground deliveries to contractors. FedEx ground usually less care on packages because they technically don’t work for FedEx.
 

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
I have good luck with USPS and we use them the majority of the time. Can't beat their pricing either and they have free pickup that you can schedule online. For you tight wads that can't drop 50 cents on a box, USPS has free shipping supplies for priority mail. As far as damages, UPS owns that. I think they use rocket launchers to load packages into their trucks.
 

premiercolour

Merchant Member
We used priority mail shipping to Puerto Rico. We use fedex to ship lower 48 states. We use ups simple rate (flat rate) for heavy item below 50 lbs like vinyl, Perf, banner rolls.
 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
Ups owns ups ground and ups express. FedEx owns express and subcontract ground deliveries to contractors. FedEx ground usually less care on packages because they technically don’t work for FedEx.
Agree. I use FedEx Express when it's feasible.. it's a completely different system than ground and the drivers seem the most professional of all the carriers.
 

JamesLam

New Member
At the end of the day you have to figure who has the clout with all of the major couriers and who's paying the bills. The sales for Amazon (estimated to be 40% of online Christmas sales in 2021), WayFair, Alibaba and other online sellers went through the roof this past year with all of the $#!+ people bought from overseas. Your media suppliers didn't stand a chance competing for delivery space on the trucks. Add to that the drivers who normally had 70 to 80 stops a day were often delivering 2x that over the holidays. No wonder there were mistakes, missed shipments, delays, etc. Common carriers faced the same issues as shipments were delayed by a few days or even weeks. That being said, you can't blame the drivers as they were all over worked and had little help. Can't blame the courier companies as their job is to make money and they had to follow the money. This doesnt really answer the question directly but may highlight some of the issues courier companies and the drivers faced. One thing to address now is to remind the suppliers and couriers that the covid delivery surcharges, etc. are not acceptable and need to vanish. There is still a lot of gouging going on that doesn't really play into service but adds significant cost.
 

DeadDoc

New Member
Before being from Atlanta, I preferred FedEx over anyone. Now that I have moved. Every driver in my city sucks! And no it's not a pandemic problem here, it's the fact this city just sucks. :)
 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
UPS and FedEx is a tired discussion. I'd like to talk about what FREIGHT companies are better than others? Lots of options and some are much better than others.
 
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