US Post Office versus UPS and FEDEX

JDEM

Well-known Member
It has snowed for five days in a row here in northern Michigan. Maybe 34" and real wet and heavy stuff. Hardest plowing I've done all year.
We have an 800 foot, very steep driveway. That connects to 1 mile of private unmaintained road except for when I, or a neighbor decides to plow it. At the end of that mile-long private road is our mail-box. That is on the end of the town road that IS maintained by the town.

So - we had no mail delivery from the Post Office for two days. On the other hand - both FEDEX and UPS both showed up at my house. Both guys drove down the private road to the top of our driveway and both then walked the 800 feet down our driveway carrying packages. Got to give them credit. I guess the private sector has stricter rules about getting stuff done. I am pretty surprised at how wimpy the Postal Service has gotten.
a265326.jpg

a265327.jpg

a265328.jpg
 
I live in Massachusetts and my driveway is about the length of yours. I have 150 feet of hill at the road that is about 15% grade then it is flat all the way back. UPS, no matter the conditions, always makes it up and puts it on my porch. USPS, since I complained about them not even trying to deliver the mail two years ago typically makes it, and FedEx is terrible. I have had more packages ruined and stolen that were delivered by FedEx (or left at the street, or thrown out halfway up the hill) than received. I have gotten to the point that if a company will not ship some other way besides FedEx I have stopped ordering from them. I wish they all came UPS. I have a typical driver that comes, but have had many other fill-ins and always the same reliable service.
 
Does your FedEx label say FedEx Express or FedEx 2nd Day? If so, I'm not too surprised. Those guys are pretty darn good! However, we have LOTS of trouble with the FedEx Ground (Home Delivery) packages. Both come from the same facility, but each has their own deliveries. Can't count how many times both have been here on the same day, and we're 200+ miles from their location. Don't make sense to me.

Our mail carrier is contract, and is a neighbor. He's been awesome!

UPS is the best! When our current driver first took this route, I still had the JD 4010 with 3-pt snow thrower that didn't do the best of jobs. She was terrified of even coming out on the main roads, must less the last 1/2 mile of the drive. Now, no need to worry. She'll take that UPS truck through impossible conditions and never bat an eye! ...She's retiring this Summer. :cry: :cry:
 
I have pretty good luck with USPS and ups. Fed ex couldn't even find my house with a picture on the pkg and directions for three weeks. Finally found my phone in a bag hung on my mailbox after they said they deliverd it.
 
The person in the local UPS office asked my wife once this spring if our driveway was plowed, she said if their drivers get stuck it's considered an accident and more than 2 they get fired.
 
Have to chime on this

North - South in my neck of the woods is great for UPS

East - West not so good. So bad in fact that they paid a private courier to hand deliver a package to American Airlines and then another private courier retrieve it at the airport and hand deliver it to me by 8:00 am in the morning

They couldn't find the original package for a month and I got to one of the regional VP's. They kept trying to talking me into waiting for their expedited service and I said you had a month to fix it. Want it by start of business

FedEx never has an issue. USPS where I lived before didn't miss a beat. In my new house the substitute local delivery guy can't count and sometimes is off by a house or two
 
USPS was once reliable.

Neither rain nor snow nor dark of night and all that.

Those days are over.

Dean
 
I?ve never had a problem with usps, but I don?t have a 800 ft driveway off, a mile of unmaintaned road. I am a mile off the pavement on a dirt road. Ups guy is great, the fedex guy is unreliable as hell. I won?t order something if it is shipped by fedex.
 
So. Are you for eliminating the USPS? How about 3 deliveries a week? Easy decisions. Lets cut costs, close half of the post offices, 3 days a week delivery? All for it?

Not me. USPS is like the difference between being a grand mother who shows up for holidays, vacations and parties, and a Mom, that shows up 7 days a week, good and bad, sick or well, All a's or all f's.
 
We ship by post office all over the USA almost every day. Cheapest route for us to go. We receive larger stuff by FedEx and UPS. The FedEx driver had a tendency to drop our stuff in the yard, rain or shine. When he showed up the other day, I showed him how to open a door and where to put the stuff. Yep he had to take 10 or 15 more steps to do this. I know-Those steps probably add up over a days time. When I worked at the car dealership he would toss the stuff in the back of my pickup rather than drive the 15 miles out here. That was OK except when it was raining.
 
We also have a 800ft driveway,and steep too. I put a old ceder chest about 150 foot up from the county road, and behind some trees that the UPS and FEDEX guys use all the time in snowy weather. The postal service will not even attempt to deliver,they just put a pink tag in our mail box and we have to go to town to get it. Some people are just lazy, or upper management comes up with stupid rules just to justify their jobs. Not happy with the postal service.
Tom
 
I think it's a employ issue for the most part. I've had problems with all three. USPS does the best job for us though, overall. I drove for USPS for a short time in the 80's and it was a much better gig back then. Now all of them I know are independent contractors that have to bid their routes. With few benefits. And drive their own cars. So I can imagine if they figure the delivery is going to take them out of service they are going to be leery of doing it. I think some of FEDEX is independent too, but they don't win any races and too often FEDEX just gets it close and USPS delivers it. In my area of rural Missouri USPS is hands down the quickest unless you pay the others for a service upgrade.
 
Perhaps the post office folks have gotten word about how tough you've been with the local taxation board, maybe bureaucrats stick together?

LOL!

That being said, at my little place on the tundra, I have FAR better service from the USPS than UPS or (God forbid) FEDEX (when it really really really needs to be delivered whenever we get the heck around to it).

Obviously, YAMMV!
 
All 3 of them are going down hill. UPS drivers can't even stay on the pavement and tear up my grass nearly every trip. USPS carriers give my mail to someone else and leave packages where I cannot find them. They also cram small packages in my mailbox smashing everything behind it.
 
We've had good luck with USPS and UPS, less so with FedEx. In our experience they have problems reading the address labels.
 
Yep I consider who the delivery company is when I order parts or whatever on line.. post office is on the bottom of my scale.. ups on the top side with fed in the middle...

Interesting though that ups and postoffice will share and use each other in the delivery process. I have ordered before and started out as ups ended up coming postoffice and vice versa..they must contract each other once in a while.
 
My place is easy for delivery people to get to so that's not an issue. Damage is! We had an awesome UPS driver for a couple years. I swear the others could break an anvil. I've seen them throw and kick packages out of the truck!
USPS is one step above UPS when it comes to breaking stuff.
Never had a breakage issue with FedEx.
As for pricing I've found FedEx to be the cheapest on bigger items.
UPS and USPS were always close on price on larger items.
Hands down UPS is the worst to deal with if you have a damage claim. Never had damage with FedEx so no opinion on them. USPS does a good job of handling claims.
 
Have had many damaged packages from FedEx, but ONLY from the FedEx Ground people. As I understand it, the FedEx Express folks are full-time employees with benefits and all, while the FedEx Ground folks are more like contract labor? Maybe that was just during Christmas time. In any case, the two are run independently. FedEx Express has been great.

Just got a package today that disappointed us. UPS delivered. Somewhere along the route, someone dropped the box. Box came open. Two large cans of apples were in there; now one can is badly dented. They taped both cans together to keep them from rolling around so much, but now when the tape comes off, so will the labels. And finally, the box was taped back together quite haphazardly. I'm going to call about the damaged can, as a can opener won't work on wither end of the one can. Am sure it'll get fixed without problem. ...Normally, no problems at all from UPS.
 
Yes, I've also heard FedEx Ground drivers are independent contractors. I collect original gas pump globes (check out some of my collection http://www.lastgas15.com/galleries/gas_globes/ ). I sell a few too. Never had a problem as a shipper but I've received some that were broken in shipping....including one where I saw the UPS driver throw the box out of the truck onto my driveway!

Once you get past a couple hundred dollars in value UPS usually denies a damage claim. They blame it on poor packaging....even if a UPS store is the one that packaged the item!

USPS claim process can be slow, but they're good about paying.
 

i won't order anything if i know it will be shipped fedex, nothing but bad service from them in 2 different locations for 30 years running.

i trust UPS and USPS.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top