Never thought I'd say this, but.....

[TonyR]

Never thought I'd say this, but lately the USPS has provided me with more accurate, useful and timely tracking info than UPS. UPS has a black hole between the time it's shipped and the time it arrives on the front porch. It's been like this for months.

FedEx still OK, pretty informative and updated well.

Anyone else seeing that trend?

 

[Mike A.]

Generally, Fedex is consistently the best for me.

Toss up on the rest depending on the case.

USPS is a nightmare if they lose something. Might as well just consider it gone and not waste the time chasing it with them. SmartPost or whatever they call the hand-off service is the worst. I hate when I buy something and then see that they're shipping that way. Stuff goes off into limbo for days. But I use them a lot for my own business shipping and they generally do a pretty good job getting things there quickly, they don't break things much, and their tracking has improved a lot.

UPS lately I've had a lot more of the "Your package is scheduled for delivery today" then "Oops... just kidding. See you tomorrow." They also tend to break stuff more. My theory on that is that UPS tends to deal with a lot more heavier packages vs the others so there's a greater chance of a set of tires or whatever smashing yours.

Amazon's in-house can be great or terrible. They get things to me amazingly fast as times. Order after midnight and it's there by 7 am. Other times, it's your package has been delivered with a pic of another house and have to hunt it down or they don't show. I've not seen that they break much. That's mostly Amazon via UPS and Amazon not packing things well.

 

[TonyR]

I think the overall experience from the 3 main carriers varies by region based on what I read here.

FedEx can't seem to find my front porch; UPS and USPS, no problem.
UPS delivers most of my amazon packages (I use the term loosely); those plastic bags are not much better than slapping the sticker on the box the item was in when it was made. I think they'd arrive trashed regardless of who delivers them.

So far the last couple of years the only loss has been when a bag from amazon was delivered by UPS and was open when the man left it on the porch. It was supposed to have a cushion for my busted tailbone, a bottle of B-Complex vitamins and a Samsung 870 EVO 2.5" 500GB SSD for a client...yes, they put all 3 of those in a $%#@ plastic bag. You can see as he comes up the porch the bag is open, the yellow cap of the vitamins visible...only God knows where the SSD went.

Thanks to a decent snap shot, I've got some proof. BTW, on his head that's a bluebird house on a T-pole out in the field, he's not wearing a strange hat.

 

[TonyR]

I ordered a used m/b for a client's Dell desktop PC from eBay 5:30 PM Thursday, the guy shipped it early the next day, says I'll get it Monday. Not bad for free shipping. And look how informative the USPS tracking info is.

Guess I better quit counting my chickens before they hatch....wait until it's here, undamaged, installed, powered up and has a successful P.O.S.T.

 

[harleyl7]

USPS has been way more reliable for me in NC. UPS tracking information has been like a black hole as you said.

 

[looney2ns]

USPS sucks pond water. If there is a way to screw it up, they will find it.
I've had many conversations over the years with our local (worthless) postmaster to no avail.
Many items lost in space to never be seen again.
I cringe anytime something is shipped to me via USPS.

 

[TonyR]

Latest USPS tracking info on an eBay m/b....now UPS will offer details but you must create a free account, log in and all that....USPS reveals it first click. Look at all the detail!



EDIT: I know having good experiences with USPS is not the norm, somewhat like having neighbors: it seems neighbor can be terrific or horrible, no middle ground. So I consider myself lucky. It's a small PO, both the local post lady manager and our mail delivery lady has my cell and will call if they feel there's any issue, they both try hard to give us good service; sometimes I think it's too good to be true. I'm reluctant to pinch myself.

The UPS drivers themselves are great, it's just their tracking info that seems to be sub-standard.

And certainly no delivery service can be held accountable for the terrible packaging that Amazon has adopted the last year or so to increase their profits.

 

[The Automation Guy]

Never thought I'd say this, but lately the USPS has provided me with more accurate, useful and timely tracking info than UPS. UPS has a black hole between the time it's shipped and the time it arrives on the front porch. It's been like this for months.

FedEx still OK, pretty informative and updated well.

Anyone else seeing that trend?

If this is true, we have definitely slipped into some alternative universe!

 

[Starglow]

There are three houses on three different streets with the same house number as mine. USPS will often deliver packages to the wrong house and they'll just say it was delivered and won't help track it down, so you have to depend on the honesty of the person that received it in error to bring it to you or send it back to the post office. Amazon used to use "the last mile" where USPS would make the final delivery and I hated it because packages would get lost. UPS has been pretty good in my area regarding sending delivery updates.

 

[Mike A.]

There are three houses on three different streets with the same house number as mine. USPS will often deliver packages to the wrong house and they'll just say it was delivered and won't help track it down, so you have to depend on the honesty of the person that received it in error to bring it to you or send it back to the post office.

Yep, that's my biggest problem using USPS for my business. If they lose or smash something, then they're not too bad to deal with. If they F' up the delivery and their system is showing that it was delivered (anywhere), then it's near impossible to recover anything, package or value. And that's the much more common failure on their part vs actual loss or damage. Fedex/UPS usually can backtrack and recover things fairly effectively. USPS not so much at least in a larger area.

 

[Sybertiger]

I think the overall experience from the 3 main carriers varies by region based on what I read here.

FedEx can't seem to find my front porch; UPS and USPS, no problem.
UPS delivers most of my amazon packages (I use the term loosely); those plastic bags are not much better than slapping the sticker on the box the item was in when it was made. I think they'd arrive trashed regardless of who delivers them.

So far the last couple of years the only loss has been when a bag from amazon was delivered by UPS and was open when the man left it on the porch. It was supposed to have a cushion for my busted tailbone, a bottle of B-Complex vitamins and a Samsung 870 EVO 2.5" 500GB SSD for a client...yes, they put all 3 of those in a $%#@ plastic bag. You can see as he comes up the porch the bag is open, the yellow cap of the vitamins visible...only God knows where the SSD went.

Thanks to a decent snap shot, I've got some proof. BTW, on his head that's a bluebird house on a T-pole out in the field, he's not wearing a strange hat.

View attachment 172428

Shocking....the $5 bottle of vitamin C is there but the expensive 500GB drive is missing. While on that note, you ever wonder why when a mistake is made on billing that 99.999999999% of the time the mistake is in the favor of the merchant and not you. If those kinds of mistakes were honest then you'd think you'd see the ratio be more like 50-50%.

 

[Sybertiger]

Speaking of Amazon, I've had them deliver packages to my house that are meant for the house across the street or the house next to me.

 

[Mike A.]

...While on that note, you ever wonder why when a mistake is made on billing that 99.999999999% of the time the mistake is in the favor of the merchant and not you. If those kinds of mistakes were honest then you'd think you'd see the ratio be more like 50-50%.

Naaaa... As a merchant I have to deal with the other side of that. If you dispute any charge with your credit card provider, a buyer will virtually always prevail. Other than maybe in some high-value cases where there's more involved or in cases of clear, continual abuse by someone, it's nearly impossible for me to counter a dispute. For delivery issues I must show actual physical receipt which basically means needing a signature by the person which costs too much and nobody wants for ordinary items. For damage/loss, you win. The shipper is my agent and it's on me to deal with them. Anyone who blows you off re that is just hoping that you don't understand how it works and don't dispute the charge. (Things do change when you have more formal FOB terms and legal claims and things like that but not what we're talking about here and even then the credit card company generally doesn't want to be involved in that). For disputes for unauthorized charges, even when people forget that they ordered something or don't recognize the charge, I'm basically just screwed. No countering that one. For outright fraud, I have no protection as a consumer does. From the perspective of the credit card provider that loss is my cost of doing business. For any of them I can fill out all the forms and show the order and delivery receipts, etc., that they request when someone files a dispute but it makes no difference. I'll lose nearly every time. The only thing that saves me beyond that sometimes is when there's some seller protection through PayPal or similar but that's independent of the credit card company.

 

[looney2ns]

I should have added to my above post that we very rarely have any issue's with UPS or Fedex.
USPS, we have a different mailman almost daily. It's been years since we had a regular.

 

[mat200]

USPS .. I no longer trust them to get me my mail accurately ..

 

[Keizer]

The USPS is horrible where I live. For the longest time I wasn't getting my mail and some of my mail wasn't making it to its destination. I had them send test letters trying to figure out what was going on. As it turns out they had an employee down at the post office that got caught on camera pocketing and throwing peoples mail away. They fired him and he was gone for awhile. He ended up getting his job back because they didn't follow proper procedure when letting him go. What's ironic is this guy was the nicest one down there. Super friendly and helpful. The other two women that work there are horrible. One of them says Fuck every other word right in front of customers. One day I blew up at this lady cause she raised her voice at me in front of all the waiting customers. Decided I would make an example out of her. Long story short I cancelled my PO Box with them and now get my mail delivered to my home address from the next town over. I also switched all my bill pay to online. I never even have to go down to the post office anymore. Screw them miserable government employees.

 

[Keizer]

Here's the USPS tracking for the package I was supposed to have delivered today.

 

[samplenhold]

USPS, yeah it is not that great.

• When we go on RV trips, 3-5 times a year for 30-40 days at a time, we always have them hold our mail. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. One time I came home to one of those white PO boxes on my porch full of mail. Written on one of the pieces of mail, on the back, stated that I need to empty the mailbox more often as there was no room to put mail in. Of course, it was written on the back of SOMEONE ELSE'S MAIL put into my box.
• I originally did not have them deliver the mail at the end of the hold. I had it marked for me to pick up at the post office. One time when I got that mail it was given to me in a plastic bag from a grocery store. When I got home and started looking through it, I found lots of mail for other people, including a bunch of outgoing mail wrapped in a rubber band. It was obviously some bills that some poor woman had mailed, probably weeks ago and was just thrown in with my mail. I bet she got crap for missed payments. When I brought it back to the post office, the person could not have cared less.
• Our mailbox is one of those community boxes and the slot is like 2" high. The mail person opens the whole front and it folds down and they shove the mail in, then close the whole front up. Well a few times they put a parcel (box) inside that they had to force in. Of course, when you open your little door, the top of that front has a lip so you cannot get someone else's mail. That makes it impossible to pull that box out. I have had to cut the box open to get the contents out.
• This last time we were out, they never brought our held mail. They did begin delivering new mail on time. We had to call the post office and it took a few more days for them to bring it.

 

[samplenhold]

UPS:

Had a package being delivered yesterday. Allways get emails that state it will need to be signed for. But have never had to sign. They have always just left it. But yesterday the guy did not leave it. We were not home and he left a sticky on the door saying would be delivered 'tomorrow', which is today. Got an email stating it would be delivered 7:30- 11:30 am. Cool, so I went to bed knowing I would be up before 7:30am and would just stay home until the package arrived. When I woke up a new email was there stating the delivery time was now 1:30-3:00pm. OK, will make sure we are home then. Good thing I did not go out as the guy shows up at 11:55am. Rings the bell, I open the door and he hands me the package, turns and leaves. I never had to sign for it.

 

[Mike A.]

Like I said above... A package for me entered SmartPost limbo on the 22nd where it's sat since.



Hate it!