This
The FedEx store is across the street from me. The employees and I have talked about putting a special chair and a mini fridge for me.
M-F 11 AM to 6 PM. I grab stuff right after work.
Our Walgreens is a pick up location for FedEx, but they will not accept alcohol.
I have had the same (good) experience with both, but I think that is likely due in part to the fact that my shipments come to my office, where we have large deliveries every day. It isn’t like delivering to a home, where (a) they might not know the address or (b) there might not be someone there to sign. When I retire, I will have to figure out an alternative that doesn’t get me in trouble. I’ll need a DC address, since everyone still ships to DC (unlike VA). Maybe I’ll just bribe the guys in my mailroom to receive my packages!
I would guess that, to get the best overall deal, the winery has to agree to use one shipper exclusively. Most corporations use one or the other exclusively, I think.
More wineries on catching on and offering both options. Which is great. Give us a choice.
Is this groundhog day? Every year these threads start.
I will pile on and say it all depends where you are located.
ups left an obviously marked wine shipment for me with no one home, gotta give me them some praise for that, lol.
UPS is the nightmare delivery service here. Already had them state ‘not available for signature’ when I was home (and no tag on door!). They delivered to the wrong street last year ( thank goodness for honest person on the other street). Anyone but UPS!
I do like MyChoice but have had times when a shipment doesn’t show up and I forget about it and the shipment is attempted at my home
I will ship to hold at my local UPS store and then will accept it but it costs $10 a day to hold, unlike FEDX which is free.
I can confirm that FedEx ground shipments continue moving across country over weekends; a box from Napa left last Wednesday and got to Maryland (next door) yesterday, Sunday. Following some FedEx logistical logic, it went from Napa to Utah to Idaho and Wyoming before dropping down to Ohio and then on to here (almost).
But in my experience communicating with FedEx can be hit or miss, as is the utility of their website; per the website, most of their “locations”, such as their presence inside Walgreen’s pharmacies, etc., won’t accept wine shipments. That might be a regional restriction, however.
Craig, my local UPS depot is open to customers from 10-1 and 3-6, but there’s a back door if you’re outside those times. No appointment requirements, thankfully; it’s mostly a place for the tractor-trailers to unload and the local delivery trucks to depart from and is pretty casual in the small walk-in customer service office.
Yeah, they let my teen daughter sign a couple weeks ago.
Meanwhile, UPS was a disaster for me, compounded by a surprise shipment date from the winery that meant the first attempt was the day I left - Thursday. I figured they’d come back Friday and then Monday, when I’d get the wine. Well, surprise - Saturday delivery! So I had to send to the shipping center 20 miles away, where it took them 30 minutes this morning to locate the box.
I had two shipments leave CA last Monday (one by UPS from NoCal, the other FedEX from LA). The LA shipment arrived on Friday; the UPS shipment is on a truck for delivery today. I am not all that happy the wine spent the weekend in the UPS warehouse this weekend, and I am not really sure why an extra day was necessary to cross the country from NoCal. I just hope the shed where it slept wasn’t heated.
Every year something goes wrong with a Fed-Ex or now also UPS delivery. Which leads me to very year promise that I’m finished with lists and will henceforth only buy retail. Of course this never happens, but I am trying.
So far this season I got one shipment on the hottest day of the year (clearly not the fault of UPS) and one shipment got delayed so that the rescheduled delivery day was a holiday and consequently had to sit over the weekend (fault of UPS).
If memory serves correctly, most UPS shipments from California to Atlanta that ship on Monday arrive on Monday, while most FedEx shipments shipping on Monday arrive on Friday. As a result, for cross country shipments I prefer FedEx, or if shipped by UPS that the shipments go out on Tuesday or Wednesday.
I was too optimistic about the package that should have been delivered today. It was not delivered by 5pm where I work. Maybe tomorrow. This is a new record, Tuesday to Tuesday for a box of wine from the Bay Area to LA.
FedEx got my package coast-to-coast very quickly, moving even over the weekend, but then it sat for 2-1/2 days in Hagerstown, Maryland, about an hour or so from their Virginia distribution point. WTF? So Wednesday to Wednesday, not so hot.
No promises on a bottle from retail either .
I live on a dividing line for UPS. The Spartanburg UPS hub is responsible for my deliveries. The Greenville hub does not service my address. The street next to my house has a UPS store. UPS trucks from both hubs drive up and down this street, but only the Greenville trucks are allowed to drop off packages at the UPS store. If I do hold for delivery, the UPS Store is not an option, only the Spartanburg hub customer service center is allowed to hold my packages, and that is 20-25 miles away. Sucks.
I joined UPS MyChoice last year, and that was half good / half bad. As a member, I could choose to have all packages sent only to this UPS Store - for wine that was great - but all my other packages went there as well, I felt like I needed to start bringing dinner with me - I was there so often. If I know someone is going to use UPS, I list the UPS Store address as my address, works fine.
FedEx is easier, they have the same geographical diving line for their trucks, but the Hold for Pickup option is more flexible and seems to allow for some overlap.
But no complaints about either one in terms of missing, damaged, delayed.
Except they didn’t call you that your gourmet products came in…but all’s well that ends well!!
Depends on where you live. I haven’t had any UPS issues for a long time. FedEx is another story but they have been better in recent years.
JD