I'm trusting FedEx/ UPS less by the day

I stopped using FedEx when I checked on a preamp delivery and it was marked as delivered but wasn’t.  I called FedEx and was told that late in the day drivers might mark something as delivered when they plan to deliver it the next day.  Since I paid for 2-day delivery, I was not happy.  My conversation with FedEx did not go well.

The next day, still no delivery.  I called FedEx again.  Support said they would contact the driver. Later that day, a lady in our development rang my doorbell.  She delivered my $7K preamp. FedEx did deliver it on the right day, but to the wrong house.  I never did hear back from FedEx support.

I’ve been pretty lucky with UPS and have had zero problems with the USPS.  

Just yesterday FedEx was stupid enough to send me a customer satisfaction survey. I rated them zero in every department. Things were fine before and during the height of the pandemic. (For every shipment of sensitive electronics gear I receive 25 of overnight perishables). Since then, you pay for overnight and NEVER get it; you check the website and all tracking information is ludicrously false. FedEx had cornered the market on overnight fresh food deliveries and was doing  a crackerjack job. Then the bottom fell out and now UPS is making inroads. Hardly great, but better than FedEx.

That said, everyone is right about low pay and lousy treatment of drivers. Many of them don't care, and understandably so. But my troubles have been upstream, in the Newark-to-Memphis and Newark-to-Indianapolis routes -- air transit and regional distribution centers. Can't blame that part on drivers, but maybe upstream employees are treated no better and good workers have vanished on all levels.

A few packing issues. Never a shipping issue. I had two packages sent to the wrong address because the seller put the wrong address on the package.

If it's close to 75lb or very expensive, it goes freight. No exceptions. I've strapped a few preamps to pallets with enough stickers to turn the box RED!

Just had to add my two cents to this one!

I've never had ANY problem with UPS or AMAZON deliveries and only one or two with USPS, which was quickly and effectively redressed. FedEx, on the other hand, is a raging disaster of a company, in my area anyway!

My brother-in-law recently had a pair of small floor-standers delivered by FedEx. He had home security camera video footage of the numbnut carrying the boxes (around 40 to 45 lbs. a piece) over his shoulders to the front porch and flip-dropping them to the ground at the front door. Fortunately, only the exterior box/packaging was damaged. He lodged a complaint with FedEx, nonetheless. Don't these bozos have dollies or hand-trucks in their delivery vans? Haven't they ever heard of the concept "don't work hard; work smart"?

My last 3 deliveries via FedEx were an 800-dollar laptop, 1200-dollar laptop and something considerably less expensive. The 800-dollar laptop was left or thrown in the brush at the foot of my 200-foot driveway. The 1200-dollar laptop was left on the ground in front of my neighbor's barn, directly across from my driveway, the evening before a snowstorm. My address is clearly marked by a metal pole with a big red number on it right at the foot of my driveway! The package of considerably less value was, similarly, dropped or thrown in the brush at the foot of my driveway.  Any one or all of these packages could easily have been seen and stolen by people driving by.

ALL of our UPS, Amazon and USPS deliveries are placed on our porch, out of the elements! On two occasions, when a UPS driver didn't want to risk driving up our rather steep driveway in the snow, s/he actually walked it up and placed it on our porch! I never thought of it at the time (shame on me!) but, if this happens again, I will do everything I can to find out who that person is and reward them with a generous tip!

Another horror story, this time courtesy of UPS.  I had a pair of monitor speakers that used a pair of nicely built stands made of plaster and lead bars.  I shipped both sets double-boxed and got a call from the buyer who asked me to report the stands damaged.  When I got them back the boxes looked somewhat damaged but I was shocked at the contents:  white powder and lead bars, no exaggeration.  I spent time trying to estimate at what height they were dropped to disintegrate those stands.