I hate FedEx

[loader963]

Small Blog Factor incoming.

I broke my cpu earlier this week, so I ordered a new one on Tuesday off Amazon. Typical story right? Well the guy didn’t offer prime shipping ( and that’s ok I get it) and I was in a hurry so I went ahead and paid the $23 expedited shipping. Got a delivery date of Friday 5/25 and I was happy.

Well last night (24th) I got a text from the FedEx alert that I was getting a package delivered today (25th). It also alerted me that is required a signature from the verified recipient. Dealing on eBay, I’ve used this a few times with Usps, and while it’s annoying I understand and don’t blame the seller. So I simply routed the package to the nearest FedEx drop off / pickup site. Which in my town is in a Walgreens. Snuck by there this afternoon around 5 and clerk said I didn’t have anything. No big deal, it’ll be here in a bit and I’ll ride back out. Checking the tracking all it said was in progress.

Fast forward to 8pm, my phone dings. It updated that the package was attempted to deliver but business closed / no answer.... knowing Walgreens is still open at this point I check the time and it was at 11:47am. I know Walgreens is open from 7am-10pm on weekdays. Not to mention they have an authorized FedEx station right beside the camera department. And now it’s showing next delivery attempt for Tuesday.

I’m ill. Not at the seller, well maybe a bit for verified sig confirm on a couple hundred buck item, but at FedEx. Surely they can hit their own locations without screwing up. Those guys never have a stable routine, showing up anywhere from 10am-7pm when they do a home delivery to my house. Ups and Usps never have this problem with my area.

Anyways thanks for letting me vent. Unless anyone else has any delivery horror stories they feel like sharing.

 

[jØrd]

I will share this, from the tracking page of Australia Post

Still waiting? Over 90% of late items arrive within 3 business days of their due date.

IMO this is like saying "90% of our self driving cars that are involved in a traffic collision don't result in a fatality". YOUR STILL NOT WINNING. Also, there hasnt been a tracking update on this item in over 7 business days. I also have a horror story or 12 from Fastway here but i'll save those for another day. At this point i get hype if something is being delivered by FedEx, it usually means a higher level of service that ends w/ stuff actually being delivered.

 

[loader963]

^ I’ve heard that international shipping to Australia can be horrible. Is it customs, just the vast lands with low population density, or what? Ive read on eBay forums, and a couple stories here where it’s so slow to get to there.

 

[jØrd]

Mostly it’s just a really shitty postal service. Customs are generally ok, distance doesn’t help but AusPost are just a garbage fire. The good couriers cost enough that they compete in a different price bracket & the cheap couriers are either significantly worse or only marginally better so they don’t really need to compete for their customer base either.

 

[Duality92]

Everywhere has their own problems, I can ship almost anything to USA from Canada for like $25 CAD, which is like $20 USD. USA ships to Canada with ANY service I have to pay $30 USD for shipping on top of customs, which is like another $20 USD + a % of the items value.

Example: I bought a CPU off SiliconLottery.com, costs me $25 USD in shipping and another $74 CAD in customs. This was a 7700K. I delidded a 7900X for a colleague and sent it back to him in the states, with $1000 insurance, it costs me $32 CAD and no customs for him.

When getting sponsored products from ModMyMods for builds, sometimes it's like a grand worth of watercooling products and they cover customs, but it's like an extra $200 USD. It's like China, simple and cheap export, complicated and expensive import.

 

[loader963]

^ I didn’t think there was any customs between the US and Canada. That’s horrible.

 

[Duality92]

There isn't between Canada -> US, but there is US -> Canada ¬_¬

I know carriers offer customs paid by shipper option, when Gigabyte and Seasonic send me gear, that's how they do it, In Win too IIRC.

 

[jtd871]

^ I didn’t think there was any customs between the US and Canada. That’s horrible.

Depends on the product and actual place of origin / value added. Some of the formulas get complex and it's way simpler (mentally) to go to the highest duty tier - especially if it isn't your money being spent.

 

[Soul_Est]

Hence why I've been saying so much for free-trade. Working in customer for a courier company for while definitely opened my eyes as to how annoying borders are.