I sent a regular Styrofoam package to So-Cal. Individual bottles were wrapped in bubble wrap to take out any residual slack. Package arrived in Anaheim and given a "Destination Scan" status. A few hours later status mysteriously changes to "in transit". Stays that way for 3 days. My attempts to find out what's going on met with "it's in the system, will let you know when it changes". They finally admit damage but deny fault & blame me for inadequate packaging. Package finally returns a week after damage acknowledged. Any other horror stories? I think I'll use Fed-Ex from now on. Are they any better? Needed to vent. Thanks.
Yes. Bad experiences with ups too. They treat packages like shit. Use fedex now 100% of the time. No problems so far, knock on wood.
Both services have screw ups at times, and I'm not sure fedex is any better, even though I use them pretty much exclusively. If you take a look at the trading help forum, you'll see plenty of fedex horror stories as well.
Yeah. I know the trading help forum is the "proper" place for this but am interested in the opinions of my NW friends. Thanks for keeping it here.
I've never had problems with UPS but had a Fedex box disappear off my porch after it was listed as "delivered". Do you guys typically send with signature required? Seems like the only way to guarantee delivery.
My cousin shipped me a 6 bottle shopper from Denver to Chicago. When it arrived at the FedEx hub 20 mins away from my house, it stayed "in transit" for 24 hours. After calling, they said it was mishandled and sent back to Denver. There was no damage and the address label was fine. FedEx acknowledged that they didn't know why it was sent back and paid to send it again. Package showed up about 2 weeks after the original ship date. Annoying
I've had a box damaged by FedEx that was coming to me so I can't speak on how well it was packaged. USPS has damaged all but one package that was sent my way and I've had UPS boxes taken from my porch because they refuse to put them in my garage. They all have caveats, but my choice is FedEx.
I stopped using UPS because of a few damaged packages about 15 months ago. One I sent and one sent to me. I did get the beer back minus one broken can. Since then I have sent 35 or so using FedEx and close to double that using USPS priority shipping boxes. All made it safe and sound. Usually just personal preference though. I have heard and read horror stories about each option.
a few years back, i sent out 6-7 cases via fedex back from boston to LA. one of the packages was seized and discarded because of a leak. customer service said it was a "coffee-like spill", which was likely the few iced coffee bottles i also decided to ship alongside the beers. bottom line, it'll inevitably happen at least once.
FedEx is better! They repack damaged boxes and return to sender without asking questions. UPS is better! They make sure to leave the box on the porch and not your neighbor's down the street. Oh really, fool? Really! *bashes FedEx and UPS together* Stop looking at me swan! In all seriousness, because each service has human employees, each branch is like a unique ********* with varying degrees of competence and adherence to policy. Also, every driver has their own degree of diligence they try to live up to depending on how well their day is going. Itt's all luck of the draw I personally have found, through experience, that FedEx asks more questions when you bring a box in to the store. Since I don't own a printer and don't intend on buying one, I don't have an account and therefore don't have the luxury of printing a slip and simply dropping off. FedEx usually either asks what's in the box and grills me if they don't like my answer, or they question the integrity of my box and try to get me to use one of theirs. With UPS, I could bring a bunch of loose beer bottles held together with just a shit ton of packing tape and I could tell them they've been refilled with olive oil or castor oil or hemp oil or whatever and they wouldn't give a flying fuck
