We hope these two parcel-punting pugilists know how to deliver the punches, because they both seem to have a problem delivering your packages.
Given the sheer volume that both of these companies deal with, even a very small percentage of errors adds up to an awful lot of ticked-off customers every day. But what really gets under the soft, supple skin of Consumerist readers is the way neither UPS nor USPS seems to care or accept blame for their own problems.
In just the last few months, there was the reader whose UPS driver would go straight to “final delivery attempt” notices on the first attempt, and who couldn’t get anyone at any level of the company to care; the UPS customer whose local driver first couldn’t get the apartment number right, and then delivered the package to someone else 11 miles away; and the small business whose damaged $5,000 package was caught in the blame game between UPS, the UPS Store and UPS’ insurance provider.
And then there’s the nearly insolvent U.S. Postal Service — which is not, contrary to a widely held belief, directly funded by taxpayers and hasn’t been for decades — a company that wouldn’t deliver to hundreds of people because their apartment building had a leaky pipe… dropped customers’ Christmas gifts into another dimension for more than a year… added food items to a care package from mom… and got an upper body workout by tossing parcels over the fence… all while racking up billions of dollars in debt.
You now have a 2.5 day window to choose which of these companies is worse. Failure to do so means you will have to pick up your vote at your nearby vote depot. Be sure to bring your slip and proof of address.
(Voting for this poll will close at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, March 18)
This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2012 series. The companies competing for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. See the entire WCIA 2012 bracket and schedule of match-ups HERE.
USPS. When I changed my address for my move, they somehow messed up the apartment number. My confirmation with them had the correct number, but those yellow slips on my redirected mail kept having the incorrect one. It’s great when credit card offers go to your neighbor. Depending on who the mailman is, most of the time I will get my mail since my name is on my box.
This one is close, but I’ll have to go with UPS after the year they’ve had on consumerist.
I think fully one-third of the votes will be from people who confuse UPS and USPS, personally.
And another third that think they are voting for the better company.
And the other third is trying to get the status of their package.
Voting for UPS, because I think USPS is not one of the worst companies in America.
Who else can fairly reliably get a letter across the country for 45 cents? Send a package across the country in two to three days for $5-$11 (using their flat rate packaging that they provide)?
Not only that they’ve got to deal with Congress for oversight. Try running a business with them in charge.
totally agree. USPS is inefficient but not worst or even bad.
And they wouldn’t be $2.5B in debt if they didn’t have to fund their pensions for 75 years forward…
Agreed. USPS is pretty good given the price. I don’t see UPS checking every work day to see if I have something going out.
I find it unfortunate that the USPS didn’t innovate more when they had the chance. They could been the top dog of delivery if they could have had a bit more flexibility and foresight. Now they are fighting an uphill battle.
I wouldn’t say they can “reliably” deliver a package. I’ve had quite a few problems with them in the past, not the least of which includes them taking 2 weeks to deliver a package that could have been driven over round trip in about 2 hours, or them sending my packages to places like Hawaii and Kansas, despite the fact that I live in California Of course I got no help from anyone on the internet, by phone, or in person, in getting the problem resolved other than waiting for them to figure it out on their own (on one of multiple occasions, after I got my package, the box was so smashed and torn, I was shocked that it still retained its contents). Every time I go to into the post office itself, I see one lonely worker helping a line that extends to the door and beyond. It’s really no surprise they’ve been going down in flames.
I can’t believe USPS is winning this one already.
UPS is much worse… They always want to deliver packages when I’m not home and I have to drive all the way across town to their sort facility by the airport after-hours to pick up a package that might or not be back yet.
Not here in NJ. UPS ground from PA, NY and NJ arrives next day. USPS often takes 2-3 days to deliver First Class mail from locations less than 60 miles away and sometimes it doesn’t arrive until 5-6pm at that. Even worse, companies that use Fedex + USPS take 2-3 days from West Coast and then can take another 3 days to travel the 50 miles from the USPS office they deliver to.
I have to deal with UPS, USPS, Fedex, DHL, Pilot Freight, etc. on a daily basis – I track quite a lot of incoming material as part of my job.
All of them have their problems, but USPS is the only one I actively try to avoid. In the past year, I haven’t had a SINGLE USPS delivery that hasn’t had some issue. This may be as “small” as their tracking number showing delivered a few days before it’s ACTUALLY delivered, but in many cases it’s much, much worse.
I do a tremendous amount of online shopping, mostly with Amazon. I get packages almost daily via UPS without incident. The few times a package is sent via USPS it it always a hassle. I had some Christmas gifts that I ordered a month in advance. They were sent via USPS, which proceeeded to play a game of cat and mouse with me about getting one package delivered. It was absolutely ridiculous.
If I don’t care when a package arrives, I’ll send it USPS. If I need it to actually arrive at a certain time, I use UPS and FedEx.
Voted for UPS as they’re holding “ground” packages to delay shipping transit times. Package took 3 days from Oregon to Texas via USPS. UPS ground back to me? Over a week! That’s ridiculous.
Other than that, I have great service from both.
No, you get what you pay for.
You can pay more to get the package to you faster. You didn’t pay the extra money, so it’s going to take more time.
This one is personal. My UPS guy at home is AWESOME. I order a ton online and he never gripes, no matter how heavy they are. He also grabbed my cat when he got out the door. However, my mail guy at home couldn’t care less. So many items I’ve received stuffed into the box or bent in half (when marked DO NOT BEND) or just tossed into my driveway if it doesn’t fit into the box. One time, the mailbox was stuffed so full that when I was trying to pull the mail out, it pulled the box off the post. I don’t even bother ordering international stuff anymore because instead of leaving the signature form in my mailbox, he marks it as refused – return to sender. And complaining to the postmaster has done nothing. Good stuff. BURN USPS.
“Just crease, crumple, cram. You’ll do fine.”
United Package Smashers versus United States Package Smashers? Too tough to call.
Can we have a special situation where they join forces and both proceed? Like the Wonder Twins or something…
“Can we have a special situation where they join forces and both proceed?”
Only if we cross the streams.
There’s something very important I forgot to tell you.
Dr. Peter Venkman: What?
Dr. Egon Spengler: Don’t cross the streams.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Why?
Dr. Egon Spengler: It would be bad.
Dr. Peter Venkman: I’m fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing. What do you mean, “bad”?
Dr. Egon Spengler: Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.
Dr Ray Stantz: Total protonic reversal.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Right. That’s bad. Okay. All right. Important safety tip. Thanks, Egon.
I voted for UPS since I’ve had a couple issues with them, but honestly neither of these deserve to be in the contest. Not by a long shot.
The winner will surely be knocked out in round 2.
I’d put FedEx in as a contender long before either of these two.
Two Christmases ago there were so many people missing gift cards in my area that there were news stories telling people not to mail them or have them mailed. They finally busted a huge gift card theft ring operating at the regional USPS sorting center.
Makes you wonder because there had to be many times employees were walking out to their cars with their arms full…but somehow no one noticed (yeah, right).
In the town I used to live in, the mail was completely unreliable. Many times the entire street would be misdelivered, with everyone’s mail being in the next mailbox down or 2 mailboxes down, or even delivered to the next street over. There were so many problems that the city council and chamber of commerce set up meetings with the postmaster there and invited citizens for input. Businesses couldn’t conduct business by mail because it was so unreliable. The first 2 meetings were taken up with arguing about when the next meeting would be, and then the post office announced they would no longer attend any more meetings. Completely useless.
We had a rural mail carrier in my neighborhood that infuriated everyone. He was such a jerk, like leaving diagrams in your mail box that showed exactly how far off the ground it had to be, the exact 45 degree angle, etc. BUT he wouldn’t leave the mail. Guess it was too much trouble for him from the window of his giant Suburban. Same deal if it snowed. The snowplow would pile up snow near the mailboxes during the day, it would freeze solid, and even though the paper girl in her little Subaru had no trouble putting the paper in the box next to the mailbox, he wouldn’t deliver the mail until you chisled the ice out of his way.
He put mothballs in our mailboxes, with a note saying it repelled bees. I threw them out as they made the mail smell so badly I had to leave it outside. Once he shorted me on stamps, I left him a note asking for the missing stamps, so he pasted them to the far back of my mailbox.
We got rid of him when he was moved to another route. He should have been fired.
So I vote for USPS.
Sounds like he violated Federal law more than once. You should have contacted the USPS OIG Hotline: http://www.uspsoig.gov/hotline.htm
Sorry, I didn’t mean for that to sound quite so…blame-y. I really just wanted everyone to know that there’s an independent inspector general that you can complain to if your local postmaster doesn’t fix the issue.
That’s ok – we all contacted the Postmaster. What a joke that was. He did absolutely nothing. Like I said, our only relief was when he was moved to another route. I felt so sorry for the new customers. Our new mail carriers have been great! So, of course they’ll probably be fired or moved.
UPS so very much deserves to win this round. I don’t have problems with the USPS, and I use them quite frequently (I’m sending things through the mail about three weekends out of four). But UPS? Well, they’ll accept addresses they can’t deliver to (i.e. PO Boxes), and then reroute packages without contacting the sender or receiver.
Here’s a recent interaction I had with UPS: I ordered an item online and did not realize the sender would be using UPS as the shipping company. As such, I gave my PO Box as my mailing address. Well, the sender submitted this address to UPS and, rather than UPS say “Oh, we can’t deliver to this address” (which they can’t), they run it through their system and then go to public records to find my physical address. The one I’m not at during the time the UPS would be making deliveries. So, this means working from home to get a delivery rather than allowing me to provide a better mailing address. And the topper is that UPS will not ever notify a sender that they can’t actually deliver to PO Boxes. Nope. The onus for that is on the recipient.
So, UPS for the win on this round.
Personally, I’ve never had a problem with USPS. They’re slower, but more reliable. (personally speaking…)
I agree. UPS seems to change their shipping on the fly (I know we said Tuesday, but now it’s going to be Thursday!), and they are just as slow as USPS, while delivering busted up packages, but somehow demanding 2x the cost.
I haven’t had any issues with either, so I won’t vote.
I’ve actually had pretty good experiences with the local USPS here. My hold mail requests work, get things delivered when they should be, etc… My only issue with a shipping company has been Lasership from Amazon.
Id say they all suck as I have no problems with UPS or USPS heck UPS have given better service then fedex.
This is one I’m going to sit out. I have never had a problem with either of them.
I can’t vote on this one because I’ve always had decent service from both of these organizations. Now if FedEx was in the mix, it would be another story! My only gripe with UPS is that they claim they ship to remote communities in northern Canada, but what they really do is ship to a hub city and then turn the package over to the post office (Canada Post). As a result, the package takes about the same time to arrive as it would by mail, but for significantly higher cost.
Unfortunately I’m going with USPS with this. UPS thus far has not lost anything. USPS has misdelivered packages and then lied to my face trying to cover it up.
Voting for USPS. I can at choose to not use UPS, but there is apparently no way to stop the daily flow of tree-based spam that I get from USPS. (Yes, I know bulk subsidizes the first class mail – don’t care. I’d rather pay $2 to (very rarely) mail something and not have to deal with the ads.)
my expectations are pretty low for USPS [as with many government organizations]
but i voted for UPS this round because of the things UPS has done to other people and the way they keep leaving my neighbor’s packages in my carport
and because when i go to pick up packages i have to sign for at my local post office it’s actually a pleasant experience with friendly people. my roommate insists on waiting in the car if she’s with me because she doesn’t believe a trip to the post office could be anything but a nightmare.
I’ve had YEARS of problems with USPS. Actually still have the problem of them smashing anything they can into my mailbox whether it actually fits or not. The postmaster told a friend of mine “I’m the postmaster, what are you going to do about it?”
UPS isn’t perfect but I guess we have good delivery people around here.
My step dad is a driver for UPS and I had awesome health insurance till I was 26, so have to vote for USPS even though I’ve never had a problem with either.
Seeing that UPS delievered over $2000 of pipe covers to another house they get my vote.
yes the address was correct on the box.
“… all while racking up billions of dollars in debt.”
Okay, Consumerist. At least be honest enough to explain where most of that debt is coming from. It’s called the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 and it’s requiring the USPS to prefund its employees healthcare benefits for the next 75 years — effectively paying the benefits for people who aren’t even born yet. This entails a $5.5 billion annual payout to the Treasury.
Seeing that UPS delievered over $2000 of pipe covers to another house they get my vote.
yes the address was correct on the box.
I am sorry to see these two in the running. USPS is truly awesome for the speed they accurately handle billions of pieces of mail every day. UPS hasn’t really ever let me down. They’ve both had hiccups – but they generally work very, very well.
Too bad FedEx isn’t in the competition. I’m going to post the video to the “Golden Package” anyways… http://youtu.be/zyq06fuapD0
USPS operates by taking taxpayers money, and it’s crumbling as we speak, and will soon be financially insolvent. I think that makes it the worse of the two, because as a taxpayer, I cannot opt out of paying for the stupid USPS, or for foreign wars, the war on drugs, or any of the other colossal wastes of money that the Federal government forces upon us.
Wrongo. 99% of its funding is self-generated from postal products and services. The remaining 1% is government funded but only for free franking privileges (congress people, senators, etc.) and stuff like books for the blind.
I had a recent incident with the USPS. They just threw a package next to the mailbox during rainy weather. If not for a helpful neighbor, that package would have likely been ruined.
Prior to that, I had an item shipped and held in limbo for awhile before being finally shipped to me.
Then there is all the spam.
The Postal Service needs to be de-privatized and stop giving preferential treatment to spammers and bulk mail outfits that only serve to transfer trees to landfills.
USPS has had a rough year. Pity voting for UPS.
I hate UPS; they seem completely unable to deliver packages.
I try to avoid any online purchases that do not allow me to use USPS, but was forced recently to special order something that they company would only send by UPS ground. UPS (and FedEx) seem unable to call when they come, so this time I put a note outside that said: “UPS please call xxx for delivery” The driver wrote on the note “Sorry, no phone” AND PUT IT BACK ON THE ENTRY PHONE.
These two are about the same. The package being thrown over the fence was amazing.
The biggest problem with the USPS is that they are either incapable or unwilling to change. This is partly due to a number of heavy handed union deals that have been struck with the pressure of congress on the USPS to accept them.
For years the USPS has been an unfunded federal jobs program. Sorry folks that work there, but the USPS needs to go on a diet and that means letting some people go.
I have to go with UPS. Sure, USPS has it’s problems, but I’ve become a little POd that it now costs me more to ship UPS than USPS when just a few years a go it used to be the other way around.
What makes me amused about that is that USPS one price Priority parcels are shipped by, wait for it, wait for it….
UPS.
Saw the UPS truck backing up at the post office next to me and I was absloutely in hysterics!
i votes – USPS I keep getting not only my own junk mail but also for ppl who lived in my house 10+ years ago, not to mention my neighbor’s mail once in while.
UPS – i just wish they would ring the bell, n not have my package sit on the porch the whole day.
USPS by far, they are closing a sorting center here in town and laying off 400odd. They claim to be transferring 25-30% of the workforce, but I want to see proof of that.
UPS is on the ALEC Corporate Board of Directors. That’s enough for me.
The USPS has its problems, but a lot of those problems have been caused, directly and indirectly, by improper Congressional management, and a lot of that Congressional mismanagement is the result of lobbying by the likes of UPS and other ALEC member corporations.
USPS has much more reasonable prices and, in many cases, more reasonable shipping times. I could spend $10 to ship something with USPS and have it there in 2-3 days, or $30 to ship something with UPS and have it there in (maybe) a week.
Added to that, it is much easier for me to get a missed delivery from USPS. Take the yellow card in to my local post office, currently accessible six days out of every week. Present card, get package, done in under half an hour. UPS, I have to reschedule for a time when I am invariably not available, OR drive to the “local” depot half an hour away, that is only open in the evenings on Monday and Tuesday. And, then you have to sit around and wait a long time while they wait for the trucks to get in and maybe give your package to you.
USPS may win this round thanks to a nightmare of a year (that’s mostly not actually their fault), but UPS is the one that really deserves to. They are consistently bad, and borderline evil.
My only problem with USPS is that they have bad hours when you need to pick up anything from my local post office.
UPS, on the other hand, constantly puches holes in boxes we receive, aswell as leaving them out on our front stoop without covering the boxes when there is rain or snow. With a household Amazon habit that means quite a few close calls with soaked and/or damaged outer boxes. As long as the inner packaging survived that isn’t a complete disaster, but it does make for crappy looking Xmas or birthday gifts.
I’m still pissed at UPS for stealing 2MHz of the 220MHz amateur radio band 25 years ago, so they’ll always get a vote from me.
USPS
I’m speaking about you Tustin California USPS employees.
Every week I get mail addressed to the correct house number but for an entirely different street and resident name and I always end up missing mail addressed to me.
I’ve already spoken to you people about it but nooooooo, It’s too difficult for the special ed civil servants to properly do their job.
Sorry. I was ranting again.
UPS. When the post office screws up, it because of entrenched, tenured, union folk that can’t be fired or even disciplined without a court order.
UPS can stop the shenanigans whenever it wants, but chooses not to.
USPS by a mile. Much like newspapers, they are a dying/dead idea. The only thing I get in the mail anymore is either junk, or flyers.
USPS recently made HyVee sign a no competition agreement to provide customer service. HyVee (in Fairfield, IA) is not allowed to contract UPS or FedEx any more. (for customer shipping)
USPS recently made HyVee sign a no competition agreement to provide customer service. HyVee (in Fairfield, IA) is not allowed to contract UPS or FedEx any more. (for customer shipping)
This was a close one, but considering I pay a hell of a lot more for UPS to mistreat my packages, they get my vote.
If I have customers who ask if they can mail us something, I always recommend doing it electronically because of so many lost in the mail complaints we receive every year. Granted, ~1000 out of the 300,000 pieces of mail isn’t a huge percentage, but it still sucks the big one.
I can’t stand UPS. I like FedEx. The mail–meh, it definitely needs an overhaul, but mostly it’s okay.
UPS hands-down. USPS in general provides cheap, reliable service
Printing postage at home (USPS.com): Three minutes
Waiting in line at the local post office: About five minutes.
Having to drive to UPS to pick up a signature required package: About the same as a trip to the DMV.
’nuff said.
I don’t have any real problems with either – but give the edge to UPS – even when a signature is required they just dump, ring, and run.
UPS. For hiring highly-skilled workers, assigning them to Alaska, then laying them off in the middle of a recession. The next day, UPS increased its stock dividend. The savings from that layoff went down the toilet.