FedEx Woes Continue

I know this has been a topic of discussion in the past, and was hoping it was resolved by now, but FedEx delivery woes continue to be a thing.  I ordered repair parts for my old Civic on 9/12, with expected delivery dates of part of the order (from warehouse 1) due 9/14, and the remaining part of the order (from warehouse 2) due 9/15.  Would have been great, with a couple of days to spare if things got held up a little, to have the parts by 9/17 - which was an off day for me, or even 9/18. 

Long story short, the 9/14 due date parts (after FedEx figured out where they actually were) arrived on 9/19, and the 9/15 due date parts are still MIA, kicked back first to 9/21 due date (again, after they were supposedly found), then 9/22, then today (9/23), and as of 15 minutes ago tomorrow (9/24).  Not holding my breath that they will actually show up tomorrow to be honest.

Not saying any alternative to FedEx is better, but from what I'm experiencing, FedEx still stinks.  

Thanks to FedEx a local charity here is getting a brand new Sealy mattress. 

We had ordered one from Amazon, after it still not being here two weeks after when it was initially supposed to be, Amazon sent us another for free. The original one finally showed and the box is so beat up it's barely holding together. 

The first time I've ever really had a problem with them. But I just read an article that even though they have increased their base pay even compared to a few months ago, they can't get people to come work for them. 

We've had 2 issues with Amazon recently. The first was the new fridge for the RV, which seems to arrive at an Amazon warehouse in Georgia then just disappear. We had to wait a couple extra days to make sure it didn't miraculously reappear, then reorder it. The second one arrived without incident. 
 

The other was a box of mealworms for our critters. We order them pretty frequently, so I was a little surprised last week when the status had a wide range of arrival dates, then finally said they'd be here Friday by 8pm. They weren't, and the next day I received the message that if they weren't here by the 23rd we could reorder them, as we did with the fridge. Fortunately they arrived Monday. 

FedEx sucks for shippers, too. I was shipping exclusively through FedEx Ground, then I realized that the actual billed amounts weren't equalling what I was charging the buyers. Turns out, they give you one price when you go to ship then bill you a different amount. It's all apparently covered in the service agreement that the rates they give you ahead of time are "estimates," and the bill is the final amount. Except, gasp shock surprise, the final bill is *always* higher. It is literally never lower. UPS does similar things except the bills are often lower. I was losing $2/package or so, which isn't the end of the world, but add that up by a hundred packages or so and you see why it's worth it to change. At least with UPS I can count on the bill amount being somewhere around the quoted amount.

The thing that ticks me off is, if I took it to the counter the price they gave me would be the price because there's no way to go back and change it later. Instead I'm penalized for having an account and making it easier on everyone involved.

FedEx latest earnings results details their struggles. Suggest using another carrier.  Look at the latest wsj article. 
 

my friends are all leaving Amazon.  It's not the company I was a part of years ago.  Totally has changed.  My guess is that they'll eventually find the edge of their innovation and drop as they can't innovate as wuickly as they once did. 

In reply to dculberson :

Worst. Thing. In. The. World. Is to have an account with a freight company.  I finally refused to pay UPS a brokerage bill that showed up, as always, ten days after the vehicle was fixed and the customer gone.

I convinced the young lady that I phoned after the third notice, that if they promised to close my account and promise to never be a bunch of douches, I would pay their bill.

Success.  Now, they send me an email with all the charges before they deliver, and all I have to do is pay...

I disdain fedex.

Is it from Rockauto? Locally, I have had a much better experience with UPS but RockAuto seems to hardly use them which bums me out.

Funny that this thread pops up now. I just got this delivered today. 5 days late. Thankfully it was just a few silicone hoses, so nothing was really damaged 

Most people don't realize this, but unlike UPS, "FedEx Ground" is actually a network of independent contractors that are very loosely linked to FedEx itself.

https://www.pennlive.com/midstate/2012/08/independent_truck_owners_carry.html

I am not by any means suggesting that UPS is without its own problems but given the choice between the two I always go UPS, and my general experience is that UPS has fewer problems than FedEx.

I can tell you that when you're a vendor, your customers will tell you that every shipping service sucks.

The lack of people to work is a legitimate problem in a whole bunch of industries, it's not surprising that it's hitting shipping as well. I think the national unemployment rate is actually a negative number right now. Or should be.

iansane said:

Is it from Rockauto? 

Yes sir, it is from RA.  They had the choice of FedEx Ground for "X" dollars, or USPS for 2.5 times the FedEx cost.  In my case, no other choices were offered.  While I don't mind doing business with RA, if this is the best they can do for delivery, I need to look elsewhere in the future.

One joke I've heard about shipping is that if you don't want the package used as a football, the last thing you want to do is writhe "Fragile" on it. Instead, mark it "Urine samples enclosed."

Funny, I'm waiting for USPS to deliver two packages to me.  One is my repaired VW Corrado European headlight housings, which are unobtainium.  They were supposed to be delivered this past Monday.  No tracking on them other then they were dropped off and no note other than they're going to be delivered late.  What's even more awesome is the vendor is ignoring me, so hopefully USPS comes through and does deliver them.

Then the Ford working vacuum actuator that another GRMer sent me as supposed to arrive today.  Yup, same thing, track it and nothing other than it getting dropped off initially and a note saying that it's gonna be late.

Sweet.  I've started sending things exclusively with UPS and think I'm going to have insist that unobtanium parts get sent to me the same way, UPS only.

Keith Tanner said:

The lack of people to work is a legitimate problem in a whole bunch of industries, it's not surprising that it's hitting shipping as well.

What Keith wrote above bears repeating. And here is an article regarding part that problem.

https://www.businessinsider.com/graphics-highlight-record-backlog-of-cargo-ships-in-california-2021-9

Personally, I’ve ordered 3x from RockAuto this year; 2 got to me on time and unharmed. The 3rd is on the way and on time. All were FedEx Ground which, as previously pointed out, is a network of independent contractors. A person specifying FedEx Ground as a shipper should keep that in mind.

When I ship I generally prefer to use USPS. I’ve only had 1 item get damaged out of probably hundreds. I did the paperwork and supplied pics and the claim was paid off in a reasonable amount of time without hassle.

In my experience, when I order something large and/or heavy, it ships through FedEx. I bought a Hidden Hitch Class IV receiver for my Ram through the Rich Guy Goes to Space company™ and it was shipped FedEx. FedEx completely destroyed the box and it was dropped off as a literal pile of cardboard with the hitch underneath. It was scraped up and they somehow managed to bend the frame mount brackets almost 1.5 inches in to where I could only get 3 of the 4 bolts in the frame. Dr. Evil's company wanted me to box it back to to return. I should have just taped the pile of cardboard to it and sent it back.

I've ordered parts through RA that shipped through FedEx as well. I like buying wiper blades though RA because they are half as much as it is at the local FLAPS. Often times, FedEx is the cheapest shipping option. When my wipers got delivered, the box was helpfully bent in the shape of a banana. Nice. RA offered to ship me new wiper blades but this time I chose USPS. The box showed up in perfect condition.

Shipping is screwed right now with massive labor shortages.  The trucking industry is also messed up with labor shortages.  Everyone wants everything shipped super fast, for super cheap, and handled like it's your newborn baby.  This isn't every going to be possible. This is just a simple microcosm of things that are going to spread to other businesses too.  

In my area (outside DC), UPS is vastly, vastly better than FedEx.  If you pay attention to the tracking on a daily basis, UPS will say "Delivery scheduled for X" and it will be delivered on X probably 95% of the time in my experience.  

FedEx, OTOH, will say "Delivery scheduled for X" when the pkg is put into the shipping stream, and it will move around by ~2 days DAILY.  I have seen it say a package is currently ~500 mi away, and it will be delivered YESTERDAY.  This happens like 75% of the time with FedEx.  

Also, the UPS guy in my neighborhood has been delivering stuff in the neighborhood for probably 15 years.  Have never recognized a FedEx person.

NorseDave said:

In my area (outside DC), UPS is vastly, vastly better than FedEx.  If you pay attention to the tracking on a daily basis, UPS will say "Delivery scheduled for X" and it will be delivered on X probably 95% of the time in my experience.  

FedEx, OTOH, will say "Delivery scheduled for X" when the pkg is put into the shipping stream, and it will move around by ~2 days DAILY.  I have seen it say a package is currently ~500 mi away, and it will be delivered YESTERDAY.  This happens like 75% of the time with FedEx.  

Also, the UPS guy in my neighborhood has been delivering stuff in the neighborhood for probably 15 years.  Have never recognized a FedEx person.

Same story in Northern Va. for me. UPS is almost always on-time and package almost never damaged. 

FedEx is late 75% of the time at least, and box is ALWAYS damaged.

Makes me happy to see their stock lose $40/share this month. FedEx sucks. If a vendor uses FedEx only, I'll look around for a different vendor, even if shipping is a little bit more for UPS or USPS.

Too bad nobody uses DHL. I get shipments of motorcycle parts from the UK that are always shipped DHL. I get my parts in no more than 3 days! From across the ocean! And tracking goes to my phone.

Yeah, DHL does my deliveries from the UK motorsports places too and typcially does a good job. 

I just bought a small item on Ebay and the seller used FedEx to ship it. It's been in FedEx's possession for 2 days now. It was supposed to be delivered tomorrow but it's now delayed until Saturday. The seller is only 225 miles away.

Yep 

All the points about the current insanity are good and true.

I'm still annoyed that my new action camera took a week to get to Portland, spent two days here, then spent another two weeks or so getting shipped to Chicago and back before going Out For Delivery...

I don't have much to add, except that I'm amazed anyone buys items from Amazon. There is no way I'd entrust my precious car parts to these fools. I live in a high rise building with ~120 units, and every single day I see Amazon packages in our mail room for the same street address number, but a totally different street, as well as packages for the same street, but a totally different address. Given my experience, nobody from Amazon ever does anything with them if you attempt to notify them of a misdelivery.
 

I've seen Amazon delivery people (driving what look to be personal vehicles) who can't gain access to the building just drop packages on the sidewalk outside the building (in the middle of downtown) and walk away. The regular UPS gal and the woman who works for the Postal Service have been on the route for years, have a company vehicle and uniform, and never seem to have problems getting access to the building, plus they seem to get the address correct as well. I guess some customers just want the cheapest option, and are cool with the fact that the way to be the cheapest is a constant stream of high-turnover contract employees who aren't enabled to their job properly and don't seem to be incentivized to do a good job.

In reply to ae86andkp61 (Forum Supporter) :

I have reasons for trying to buy less from Amazon, but delivery problems aren't one of them. But I don't live in a big building downtown.

In reply to ae86andkp61 (Forum Supporter) :

Fed Ex and UPS also have POV delivery programs.  These actually started about 18 months ago.  They are desperate for drivers and can't always get them trained to drive delivery trucks, and even getting trucks is a huge problem.  
 

These are all just symptoms of bigger underlying issues. 
 

It's a wee bit ironic given the grief a fellow auto enthusiast was given for composing about fake OEM parts too.  Of course I'm sure someone will claim these are unrelated, but failure to see a bigger picture is a poor excuse.

The really sad part, is all signs point to these issues becoming worse instead of better over the next several months.  
 

Any connecting the dots yet?