All my UPS packages get held at the depot less than a mile from where I work. FedEx has a depot near my work, but will not allow my packages to be held there. I have to drive 35 miles round trip (and pay to park) to get them.
It’s clearly a location issue as to which one is better or worse, but FedEx is the only one that has ever broken bottles in my shipments. So far they have done it three times.
In all my years that has only happened to me once, and it as UPS about 2 months ago - a full case…luckily replaceable. But I will call it a fluke as of now.
Some vendors use UPS for one season and FedEx for another (and change without notice). So I’d like to change my ship-to address to either the UPS store or FedEx/Kinkos center both of which are less than 2 miles from my house/office BUT if I pick the wrong one the package gets returned BOOM with no notice.
So, for FedEx I just change the order while en-route to hold at location and with UPS I hope I’m at home which is mostly the case.
It’s a PITA.
As to the comments on different FedEx trucks at different times of the day, FedEx now uses subs for many of their trucks. They may be FedEx logo, but the trucks are actually owned by a sub-contractor.
That said, I have yet (knock on wood) to have a negative experience with FedEx. However UPS simply sucks hind titty and the reasons are endless. From a consumer POV the real killer is what happends when you get the “we missed you” slip on the front door. FedEx is seamless; go to their website and redirect to a FedEx/Kinkos location for pickup when you want and their website functions great. UPS? Their “My Choice” is total crap, you can’t redirect and anything you want to try and change requires the payment of a fee. It has gotten to the point where I simply will not ship with wineries who use UPS and don’t hesitate to communicate this.
I’ve had lots of not good stories to tell but…Today Fedex was scheduled to deliver the Aubert to my house. I had a meeting last week that was rescheduled to this morning and I figured no problem because the deliveries are always late afternoon. Not today. As I got close to home, I could see the hang tag from a mile away! Ok some exaggeration. But, I had left a note telling the fedex guy how excited I was about the delivery and that I would be home a little after noon. I also included my cell phone so that he could call if he arrived while I was gone and wanted to see how close I was to getting home. The FedEx guy called me! But I missed the call as I was driving. But I called him back when I got home and he just came back and delivered my wine! Ok one for the record books - I won’t count on that again. He also told me that that aubert winery must be popular because he had 9 (NINE!) ![[shock.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0b1dcf699ec319f43254f92e3f145786dcd93904.gif "shock"){kind=small}
cases to go to someone down the road from me. Clearly, I need to do a better job of meeting all my neighbors.
Clearly!!!
That’s cool though. When I was in NC, I left the FedEx guy a note and he called me and arranged to meet me at a grocery store parking lot on his route, which was super awesome! It’s great when you get a good one.
My experience has been:
UPS - Excellent
FedEx - Very good
CA Overnight - Poor to Horrible
I’m pretty sure all shippers give bulk discounts for volume shipping, which is also why ‘big guys’ such as WL can offer free shipping so frequently. So it’s not not surprising that a winery or retailer might be tethered to one or the other.
FWIW, we have always used Fedex and rarely have issues. With damaged boxes, sometimes shit happens, regardless of carrier. Sorry it happened in your case.
In fairness to FedEx, it could have been how the box was packed.
I’m constantly amazed when boxes (that sometimes contains thousands of $$ of wine) have a single piece of tape across the bottom going up 1/2" on either side!?! WTF? Does the cost of a roll of tape make or break the shipping department? Retailers seem to understand this and secure boxes better, but fulfillment companies are the worst.