In the battle of the overnight shipping, which service reigns supreme? Is it FedEx? Or UPS and its long-haired whiteboard dude? Or the folks in blue at the Postal Service?
Consumer Reports mailed 48 packages from Yonkers, N.Y., to 16 consumers in 12 states, using regular next-day delivery (Standard Overnight for FedEx, Express Mail for the Postal Service, and Next Day Air Saver for UPS.) All of the packages got there the next day — but the price was wildly different.
CR says:
The Postal Service was the least expensive by far for local and long-distance deliveries. For letter-size envelopes, such as the ones it gave us for sending the books, it charges a flat rate of $16.50. (Flat rates for slower delivery are lower.) The other shippers base prices on weight and distance traveled. UPS charged $62.87 to send our book next-day to Oregon and $29.55 to Manhattan. FedEx charged $54.57 and $27.48, respectively.
…Asked how the Postal Service, an independent part of the U.S. government’s executive branch, can deliver overnight shipping for less, a spokeswoman, Yvonne Yoerger, said: “We have an infrastructure in place and letter carriers everywhere. We’re simply adding package delivery to a network that already exists.”
Way to go, USPS.
Overnight shipping: FedEx vs. UPS vs. the Postal Service [CR]
(Photo: The Joy of the Mundane )
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I’ve noticed a big change in USPS service in the past three months. Before, they would go out of their way to make sure my packages would get to me. Now, they don’t give a rats ass.
I wouldn’t ship anything I truly cared about through the USPS. I’ve hardly ever had any issues with UPS and we ship about 30 packages a day – average value of $1k.
I hate the USPS. Every time, EVERY TIME I send a package with them, it gets “lost”.
And what’s with the “delivery confirmation” and “insurance” baloney anyway? I asked the gal at the counter if she thought that the package wouldn’t get there if I didn’t buy the extras. She laughed. Guess what? Didn’t get there.
I suspect that when some employees see a package without that stuff, it’s like they see a package with their name on it, because those are always the ones that don’t make it.
I have lost almost every package I send that way.
Which is why, I now only use UPS for that kind of thing.
I trust the USPS with my least valuable stuff, delivering junk mail to me. Anything else, well, no way they get to put their grubby hands on it.
It depends on the post office to run the anchor lap and unfortunately this is where it breaks down. According to the tracking, once it hits the PO it’s at least another week before it lands at my door.
Most people don’t realize once UPS or FedEx takes your package, it gets thrown on the same planes as the USPS stuff… that’s why they all basically have the same turnaround time…
You pay more for the branding and advertising costs that UPS and Fed Ex have to cover.
And as “an independent part of the U.S. government’s executive branch”, the USPS can “afford” the low rates because they are pretty much subsidized to continue existing by the gov’t. (The ORIGIANAL Bailout, still ongoing….)
The USPS hasn’t actually turned a profit in decades, especially with the advent of the internet.
I am always shocked at how much people overspend on UPS and Fedex when the USPS comes through every time and for less.
Idiots.
@Maulleigh: Unfair. I recently had to ship a 9-lb package overnight to another state but couldn’t leave work to mail it, and scheduling a pick up wasn’t an option. USPS was much cheaper, but had no branches within 10 miles open past 5 pm. Meanwhile, each of the 3 Fedex places within walking distance would accept my package until 8 pm and deliver by noon.
I paid about twice as much as I would have for USPS so I didn’t completely enjoy the experience, but I was happy for the extended hours. Paying more for more service was worth it that time.
I used to be a HUGE fan of FedEx. There were quite a number of absolutely incredible stories, where they went above and beyond to ensure a package was delivered on time.
Sadly, that level of quality ended pretty abruptly in the late 90s.
The last time I attempted to use them in quantity, their failure rate was astounding; something like 8 out of 25 packages were not delivered on time, all for different reasons: the drop box didn’t get picked up, the plane broke and they couldn’t be bothered to move the packages to another plane, packages got stuck at the hub, etc. The big difference I noticed was that, unlike before, nobody — even the so-called “executive customer service” — really gave a shit or was willing to do what was necessary to fix the problem. And on top of that, an 8 week hassle (which I was told was “normal”) to get payment for a damaged package.
Contrast that to UPS which used to be pretty mediocre prior to the 1990s; I don’t think I’ve had a single delivery failure, no damaged packages, and when I’ve had to contact customer service to do something (arrange a redelivery or meet a driver or something), they have always been fantastic.
It’s almost as though the management that gave a crap at FedEx all moved to UPS, and the management that didn’t give a crap at UPS all moved to FedEx.
Postal service seems also to have improved dramatically. We send a lot of our stuff priority now, and, while it does depend on your local post office, we’ve had almost no problems with them in the past several years.
I work for a company that ships a lot of stuff – we use FedEx because our experience with them has been the most positive. If you do a lot of overnight shipping, look into FedEx’s Next Day envelopes. I believe they cost between $10-15, for as much stuff as you can pack into one (our shipping guys have gotten pretty good at that). DHL has a similar program called FlightReady, but DHL is going out of business, so we stopped using those
Lets not forget that the USPS is a government sanctioned monopoly. Your mailbox – the one that you bought, installed and maintain – UPS and FedEx are prohibited, by law, from putting ANYTHING in it. USPS also pays ZERO vehicle registrations, sales taxes, excise taxes, fuel taxes, etc etc etc
Ouch…wonder how much it cost Amazon.com to ship me a lawnmower and an over-the-range microwave overnight halfway across the country…probably way more than the extra $4 I paid!