The final match of Round One delivers the one-two punch of FedEx and UPS, both of whom were scheduled to fight earlier but had to reschedule because they were running late. [More]
Worst Company In America Round 1: UPS Vs. FedEx
March 27, 2013
UPS SurePost Gets Package To My Door Four Days Late, Smushed
By March 12, 2013
“There’s a reason the USPS is going bankrupt, and it’s because of their shoddy customer service,” read a subject line in our tips mailbox. Jeremy’s package, shipped UPS, got handed off to the U.S. Postal Service, and at some point things went very wrong. UPS SurePost is that company’s answer to FedEx SmartPost: a service that uses the private companies’ systems to get packages from the sender to sort of near their destinations, then depends on the U.S. Postal Service to travel the last leg to your doorstep. [More]
Hundreds Of FedEx Packages Missing After Driver Kicks Them Out Of His Truck
By December 17, 2012
If you live in the area of Papillion, Nebraska, and you’ve been waiting on a FedEx package for a couple weeks now, you’re not alone, after a driver for the delivery service decided to simply dump hundreds of parcels in the road. [More]
Insider Explains Why FedEx SmartPost Is So Terrible
By November 21, 2012
The overwhelming crappiness of FedEx Smartpost as a shipping method is a frequent topic around here. But why is it so terrible? We could have guessed that a partnership between ostensible rivals FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service might not work so well, but one reader with inside knowledge about why it’s so terrible reached out and shared their knowledge with us. The basic reason? The labels are terrible, and confuse the equipment. [More]
FedEx SmartPost Package Takes A Week To Tour Southern California, Tantalizingly Near My House
By November 13, 2012
Tim’s new shirt from Teefury didn’t have to go very far. It just had to make a short trip across the Los Angeles hypermetroplex. But somehow the eventual delivery service that is FedEx SmartPost couldn’t get the package to go in a straight line, which meant that it took a meandering route around the area. Really, they could have put the shirt in a cardboard tube and rolled it to Tim faster. [More]
FedEx SmartPost Is Actually Rather Stupid
By July 25, 2012
Jane’s order from the Gap shipped using FedEx Smartpost. That’s a service that uses FedEx’s network to get items from the vendor to the local post office, then turns packages over to the USPS, which is stoping by your house anyway, for final delivery. This seems like a really great idea in theory, but leaves a pretty big crack for packages to slip through. Both systems say that her package has been delivered. It hasn’t. Well, it sort of had–it was delivered to the local post office, which normally isn’t what “delivered” means using SmartPost. [More]
How Is FedEx SmartPost So Freaking Slow?
By July 28, 2011
J. likes ordering from Woot, but hates FedEx SmartPost, the company’s shipping method of choice. Describing it as “some sort of misbegotten bastard child of FedEx and the US Postal Service,” J. calculates that it would actually be faster to travel from Woot HQ in Texas to his home on Brooklyn by bicycle. Which would be helpful if he weren’t ordering inanimate objects. [More]
Roku Uses FedEx TARDIS Service, Sends Package Back In Time
By January 6, 2010
Roku and Fedex have done an amazing thing. They didn’t send Merujo’s new media player via Smartpost. They sent it three months back in time and to the wrong city and state. Or maybe they just can’t find the correct tracking number. [More]
Watch Out For FedEx SmartPost
By December 23, 2009
Cristiana says beware the trap of sending things via FedEx SmartPost: the USPS handles the local part of delivery, and “since you now have two shipping companies involved, nobody wants to take responsibility for the package” when it never arrives. [More]
The Post Office Stole My Woot! Shirt!
By January 10, 2009
I ordered an awesome shirt from Shirt.Woot! How awesome? Awesome enough for the U.S. Post Office to tear it right out of the super-durable SmartPost package Woot uses to protect their shirts. The Post Office, bastion of empathy that it is, didn’t want me to miss my order completely, so they delivered my ripped empty package wrapped in an obnoxious “WE CARE” apology bag. Heartbroken, I tried emailing Woot for help…
