1. Home
  2. ⋐⋒⋐ Computer Numeric Control
  3. FedEx vs. UPS -- other alternatives?

FedEx vs. UPS -- other alternatives?

Awl --

Inneresting comparison.

I may have to ship bases for my Folly that measure 4 ft x 6ft x a cupla inches -- basically a fancy board, from NYC to say, Newark, NJ and LA.

UPS wants $28 and $70, and FedEx wants $24 and $58, so FedEx is considerably cheaper (UPS winds up being 15-20% more expensive, for one-time deliveries), which surprised me.

If you have an account, there are also discounts for regular shippers, and I'm hoping these discounts are substantial.

Fedex is having someone call me to give me an idea of these discounts, while UPS won't even talk to me unless I already have an account -- which is already saying sumpn, eh?

It seems the smart thing to do is to have accounts with both, to keep them dueling.

The US Post office has a 130" girth rule or sumpn, which basically sez they're not gonna ship big stuff.

DHL no longer does domestic shipping. HF uses dert cheap YellowTruck, but you gotta then pick up from their terminal.

Are FedEx, UPS ultimately the only games in town?

Reply to
Existential Angst
Loading thread data ...

The discounts are substantial. We've used FedEx exclusively for the last 15 years. Our discounts run 35-45 percent depending on the type of service. We are not a high volume, high dollar shipper, but we do average 1-2 packages a day.

They will probably not give you that level of discount until you've established some amount of consistent shipping.

Another thing to keep in mind comparing UPS and FedEx is the quality of service. FedEx will work with you and they have never gone on strike. Unlike UPS.

Run away from DHL

Reply to
Jim Stewart

Fed ex has the contract for USPS internationational shipping and in my experience, the quality of service at least in that portion of their business is beyond dismal.

Very few blue collar workers are worthy of family wage level jobs let alone medical and retirement benefits these days--ESPECIALLY a DELIVERY PERSON...

On the other hand, bankers, politicians, gov employees and corporate CEOs would all starve to death...

Reply to
PrecisionmachinisT

UPS - Universally Poor Service.

Reply to
clare

I don't know of any others, I have a UPS account and get no discounts as I ship very few packages.

I will say this, UPS can break anything. And when they do, they deny insurance because you packed it poorly. Unless you pay them to pack it you are giving them a green light to break it.

My Cousin ordered a toilet from HD, free shipping. He had it sent to my shop since I'm here all day. HD put the two boxes into a bigger box, 40 x48" and strapped it to a pallet, then shipped it truck freight. I believe the whole idea of all this trouble was to make sure it went truck freight and was handled by forklift or pallet jack only and could not be picked up and thrown across the room onto a conveyor. I walked out to the truck to carry the boxes in, looked at it and went back in to get my forklift.

Remove 333 to reply. Randy

Reply to
Randy333

Did it surprise you that for the items I cited, FedEx was cheaper than UPS? Sig'ly cheaper.

Also amazing that HD would take any initiative to get anything right.

Reply to
Existential Angst

UPS once broke a toilet that I had shipped to the shop--nice Kohler wall mount...

Of course, they didn't want to pay--told me that it wasn't packaged properly and so on..

But when I pointed out that was in the original manufacturer's packaging and that somehow Kohler is obviously successful in shipping them all over the globe without problem, they finally took responsibility.

Reply to
PrecisionmachinisT

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.