FedEx is Worse Than the Cable Guy
I’ve spent the day tied to the homestead waiting for a package from FedEx which according to their website has been “On FedEx vehicle for delivery” since 6:20 am this morning. When will it arrive? Who knows, but if I want to lay my hands on it, I have to be in my place from the time I get up to the time they deliver my package.
Six PM rolls around and still no package, so I give them a call. They’re response? They claim they tried to deliver the package at 5:35 which was 25 minutes ago. I told him this was absolute garbage as my desk is by the window and I’ve been home all day long. Of course they can’t do a thing except make me wait around for them another day.
Disregarding the fact that they outright failed at getting a box to my front door and then lied about their failure, the fact that they track every single package with a great deal of precision should mean that they can give us a more reasonable window in which it will be delivered (theoretically).
The cable guy gives a three hour window these days. The US Postal Service, which is considerably cheaper, shows up at roughly the same time every day with any deliveries. I can’t imagine why we pay a premium to FedEx for service so terrible.
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UPS is not much better. I work from home and they don’t even knock. They leave a note saying they tried to deliver. They assume that no one is home so they don’t try very hard. When I caught one he said that he assumed no one was home.
ditto on what chong said re: UPS. i hate them with somewhat of a passion.
the only delivery people i like is the usps because at least they will drop things off (which, i suppose, could be good or bad, but i trust the people in my building enough not to worry…).
i wish that when you ordered things online it was easier to specify how you wanted the package delivered. normally the options are based on the time it takes, not the delivery service.
I agree, UPS isn’t any better. I bought something and it was shipped UPS home delivery. I could not be home, I called to have them change the delivery address to where I work. UPS said that was not possible. Then I asked If they could hold it at the delivery center and I will pick it up. They said that was not possible at the “home delivery” level (cheapest) and for me to receive the package at work, they would need to send it back to the company that delivered it and re-ship to the new address. This would take two weeks. WTF! I ended up cancelling the order and sending it back. Re-ordering with my work address and it finally got to me 4 days later…
FedEx Home Delivery contractors are there own buisness not employees. We have to run our routes different everyday unlike usps. We also work 60-70 hour days. How the hell do you expect us to know when we will be in a certain area at a specific time? When you drive 250-300 miles a day and stop your truck 90-125 times a day. One customer isn’t more important than the other 89-124, and we have to pay our own expenses and fuel. We supposed to turn around and drive 60 mile round trip to get to your house because I was there at that time the day before. We don’t have time for you to get off the toilet and get to the door before we have to leave for another delivery. And then drive back 30 miles to where we left off on the route to get to you. Contractors have the right to refuse to deliver to a customer like you, and in this case I would wait till my last stop of the day around 10:30-11:00 p.m. if I decided to deliver it to you with an attitude like that. Do some research and respect delivery drivers, you havent driven 1/100 the miles or worked 25% the hours and physical/mental stress FedEx and UPS drivers do. We are not employees.
Dear FedEx Contractor,
If the US Postal Service can do it, why can’t FedEx?
In the meantime, if you feel like you work long, underappreciated hours and that FedEx is taking advantage of you, don’t blame the customer. Blame FedEx. And get either a better job or a union.
Many contractors are trying to change how FedEx handles things through class action litigation and are fighting to join the union. If you are interested in learning more about the FedEx contractor struggle or issues inside of FedEx, please go to http://www.fedexaminer.com/FedEx/
It’s a year later from these original posts but if anyone ever reads these hopefully this helps. Drivers for both companies work hard but who really cares, that’s what they get paid for. The truth is most drivers take pretty much the same route each day they work. The shippers are the one’s requiring signatures and that makes it a pain for everyone, the drivers would much rather be able to just leave the box at the door and be done with it. FedEx drivers dont get the full pay if they don’t deliver but they still have the expense for going to the site. My best advice is to talk to the driver if you ever see him/her they know more about their route than a secretary you’ll get by calling the company. They should be able to give you a three or four hour window theyll be there by. I have a few that I even have a phone number for that I’ll call before I get their. FedEx policy is residential packages don’t need signatures to be driver released unless requested by shipper or customer so also be careful what options you select.
the reason FedEx wont drop off packages is because people will claim they never got the package and demand compensation from the fedex contractor. drivers get fired for just leaving packages on door steps. you need to sign the little form saying its OK just to drop it off and they will.
Umm. I was there all day. Did you read the post?