Fed ex sucks!!!

[neo 7]

I am a maintenance employee for one of the companies being discussed here.

It's all about the numbers. Delivery services closely regulate their routes. Drivers are timed and management is constantly pushing them for more efficiency.

A lot of supervisors don't care about the nuts and bolts of the operation as long as the numbers look good on paper. With that being the primary goal, customer service will suffer.

 

[saltydude]

Oh come on they’re not that bad. Lol see link.

Search Results | TalkBass.com

Yeah they lost one of my Bearfaced cabinets for almost 2 weeks until I basically figured it out for them.
They have a master/ slave tracking system when it comes to multiple parcels.

It doesn’t work when they are BOTH labeled with the same master number. Once I received one cabinet the system was satisfied.

Teams of loss prevention folks on two continents couldn’t figure it out. After much SELF investigative work. I put two and two together (with many phone calls) and found it sitting in the corner of my local FedEx office two weeks later. Human error.

 

[Jhengsman]

So the business all of these companies are in is delivery. If you factor in the amount of packages being delivered on a daily basis, the success outweighs the non-delivery stories. The difference is, nobody starts a thread when everything goes right. If I think back on all of the years I have ordered guitars online, I would have to be honest and say that the majority of those deliveries were made on schedule without incident. I have bought a lot of guitars online since 2000. A Lot! And I have lived in very different places over those years in multiple cities/states. So maybe I’m just lucky?

Here’s another angle to look at this. I’m not sure about UPS, but I do know that FedEx employees at certain levels are compensated when they have a better delivery success rate. They are actually losing money over time if they are consistently failing to make deliveries.

Anyhoo... I’ll stop with the positivity. Carry on everyone.

I go back a few years further when you could say that the business of the USPS was to stay busy. Back then anything was done to avoid paying employees penalty overtime, meaning more than 10 hours a day. All sorts of internal forms and reports went in saying so many places did not get delivery but attaboy for holding down operating cost.

Then came the home computer, scanner and tracking so today delivery folks are out 12 hours a day breaking OHSA standards for drivers losing more time due to working in rush hour traffic with stuff still in their trucks with the question how do we explain this. At first it was falsify the scan report and hope that you wouldn't get a complaint. For the simple fact the missing delivery report "would" get caught and the false report "might" get caught and for the line supervisor the discipline was exactly the same for either event.

As the years went by with every piece carrying a tracking barcode, not just express and high value pieces it became increasingly impossible to keep up with the load on heavy days or even find willing employees. And it took about 10 years to even have the scanner report option that you just could not get to a piece because you ran out of time. And now that scan goes up only after the carrier ran out of time that day when every one knew before the truck rolled away from the loading dock that many pieces were going for a ride and coming back when he ran out of time.

 

[JonTishBASS]

I remember ordering a Badass bridge for my Precision and a new Jazz Bass neck and I did not get it because the idiots behind eBay didn't recieve the payment properly. I payed those idiots $200 (full payment) and somehow they did not "take the payment". I was so pissed off that I spent $200 and did not get my neck or bridge. Lets just say I felt like throwing by computer out of the 2-story window after that.

 

[whitedk57]

Get a job with a company that has a shipping department or that accepts shipments. Now if you work somewhere where they don't have that, check if a trusted friend works at such a place.

Don't do the home delivery game - it's just agonizing...

 

[Clark Dark]

So ya order something online. You wait all damn day for the fed ex driver to show up. 5 o’clock in the afternoon you check the status and it says “customer unavailable”.
Bull freaking crap. I’ve been home since 7am. This morning. This is an every time thing with fed ex here. They suck

...I bet they didn't even ring your doorbell
but said YOU were unavailable

 

[mikeswals]

Always pick up your package from their office when possible.
It has saved me a lot of trouble doing it that way.

I have mine delivered to my workplace....
A) They take their commercial daily delivery stops more seriously,
B) the commercial delivery stops tend to be about the same time everyday,
C) and I don't have to take time off work.

 

[crucislancer]

I’ve been working in shipping/logistics for over 25 years now, either as a freight forwarder or in the shipping dept of a manufacturer. From my experience, it really all comes down to the local terminals and who works for them. When I was in Petaluma, CA, I found UPS to be the more reliable courier when it comes to loose packages. Now, here in Spokane, WA, Fed Ex seems to be the most reliable. Manpower (or lack thereof), weather, poor training, accidents, poor management……..so many factors involved. I’ve had previously reliable carriers do a 180 and turn to one of the worst because of issues at a terminal along the way.

Just yesterday I got a new bass through Fed Ex Ground/Home Delivery, and my only real quibble is that if the driver knocked or rang the bell, no one heard it, and the box was left on my porch (not his fault, the shipper didn’t turn on Signature Required when they ran the package through Fed Ex Ship Manager). Fortunately, I signed up for updates on that tracking number and it was updated very quickly as delivered. My wife had it in the house a few minutes later. The package arrived in one piece, and the contents inside were pristine.

If at all possible, make sure that before you click that buy button, you have as much info on the shipping process from the seller/retailer as possible. UPS, Fed Ex, USPS all have options to ship to their local terminals or stores.

 

[mattj1stc]

A few years ago, I sold two different pieces of gear at the same time to two different people. My local UPS store mixed up the labels and sent the wrong thing to each person. What a cluster. The worst part is that you find out that UPS is not responsible, the local UPS store, which is a franchise, is. What an embarrassment for me but also what a disappointment for each person. Took over a week to sort out.

 

[skyline_01]

+1 for having things shipped to work. I live in an apartment complex and anything that's shipped to me potentially sits out in the elements all day when I'm at work, and I also worry about porch pirates (although I've been lucky so far). At work we have UPS/FedEx drivers regularly picking up/dropping off throughout the day, and the shipping mgr. will usually bring packages right to my office. Over the last few months I've had a bass and a bass head delivered to work and also shipped out one of my bass heads with no issues.

 

[David Sutkin]

And let's also mention that unless you put the value of the instrument you are shipping on the form .... The MAX they will pay is $100 if the item is lost .... So, do yourselves a favor (for those who might want to skimp) ... Pay the extra insurance charge, you'll regret it if you don't and the instrument gets lost.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

And let's also mention that unless you put the value of the instrument you are shipping on the form .... The MAX they will pay is $100 if the item is lost .... So, do yourselves a favor (for those who might want to skimp) ... Pay the extra insurance charge, you'll regret it if you don't and the instrument gets lost.

Special note to that: FedEx now limits insurance to $1000 for vintage instruments. What do they consider vintage? Twenty years and older.

 

[Lava]

Eh, I've good and bad experiences with all the carriers.

 

[bass40hz]

They suck everywhere, here in NJ too...I got a brand new Spector bass delivered last Saturday, after being 2 days late, the driver walked up my stairs and dropped, yes dropped, the bass down on its side, didnt ring the bell or anything, I was there as you were, but I watched him and after he dropped it and started down the stairs I opened the door and said thanks...the box was also clearly abused, I oped it up and the control cavity cover was cracked in 3 places and looked as if it were kicked in, there were also 3 nice deep dings right near the control cavity on the back...it was a limited run model and I could not have it replaced with same. FedEx are always a problem but people still ship with them, I told the retailer I bought it from if I have a choice please use UPS, he said no as it will add another $50-80 to the cost as UPS is more expensive...he further tells me he places more claims with FedEx for the same reason than he would like...well, this is an example of you get what you pay for. I will never CHOOSE to ship FedEx...ever, they suck...period.

 

[ToneMonkey]

Yup. Same damned thing happened to me. I was literally no more than 20 steps from my front door the ENTIRE day. My office window looks out on my front porch. Somehow the driver managed to sneak up and put a sticker on my door, one of the few times I left my office. I'm pretty sure he just didn't want to muscle the box off the truck (it was a tube guitar amp).

I bill my time at $75/hr. There's a special place in hell for people who don't respect that. I always specify UPS from now on if I can (sometimes I can't). I never willingly pay FedEx a plug nickel, even if they happen to be cheaper.

So that incident was strike 2. There won't be a strike 3. Here's why... Strike 1 was when I shipped a Genz Benz head. It was DOA on arrival. I tried to collect on a claim. FedEx denied it because "I couldn't PROVE that it was working before I shipped it." I lost ~$500 on that sweet deal.

 

[ToneMonkey]

+1 for having things shipped to work. I live in an apartment complex and anything that's shipped to me potentially sits out in the elements all day when I'm at work, and I also worry about porch pirates (although I've been lucky so far). At work we have UPS/FedEx drivers regularly picking up/dropping off throughout the day, and the shipping mgr. will usually bring packages right to my office. Over the last few months I've had a bass and a bass head delivered to work and also shipped out one of my bass heads with no issues.

I agree that it has its advantages. But the potential issue is that PayPal won't protect sellers unless they ship to the confirmed address. Now, if your work is your PayPal confirmed address, no problem. Otherwise, I have to back out of the transaction or risk being on the hook for the entire amount, which can be substantial.

 

[skyline_01]

I agree that it has its advantages. But the potential issue is that PayPal won't protect sellers unless they ship to the confirmed address. Now, if your work is your PayPal confirmed address, no problem. Otherwise, I have to back out of the transaction or risk being on the hook for the entire amount, which can be substantial.

I didn't really think about this but it's a very good point. I've been luck thus far I guess plus I don't buy/sell a lot of gear. I may consider changing my practices going forward.

 

[swarfrat]

Years ago, a friend had UPS leave an "Adult Signature Required" package on the doorstep of his office. He's a class 3 FFL, and the item in question was a 1928 Thompson submachine gun. In addition to being a freaking machine gun, is irreplaceable (literally) and worth about $30k at the time.

He brought the package unopened to the UPS office, and asked to speak to a supervisor, who didn't seem to think leaving a box on the doorstep when it was marked ASR was a big deal. So he opened it up in front of her and she got the point.

The 'mark it delivered and come back later cause I'm running behind' does seem to have gotten much much worse in the past couple years.

 

[fingerguy]

They deliver most of my Amazon packages; hardly ever have issues.

 

[Tommy V]

i've made six purchases from zZounds in the last 3 months, and they only use Fedex.. Five of those were delivered on time, to my front porch, with a delivery text sent to my phone (i was home, no one knocked, just a text message).. The last purchase was a Squire VM SS Jaguar bass that Fedex tried to deliver to my neighbor, because, as the driver claimed, that's where the GPS sent him.. He informed me that Fedex in this area uses subcontractors for delivery, and some of them do not have proper navigation equipment installed in their rented trucks.. He was driving a U-Haul, using a GPS plugged into the lighter socket, and his private cellphone to send delivery confirmation texts.. not a great setup, at all.

I love zZounds, and will continue to use them, but all future deliveries will be going to the local Fedex office.