Who is your preferred shipper? Any stories to share?

[BuraddoRun]

Here's how I would rate the shipping companies I've had orders come in via:

1. DHL
2. FedEx
3. USPS
4. UPS

1. DHL: This is who I use when I order from Mandarake. After I place my order, it usually ships within a day, takes a full day to get from Japan to the U.S., and then arrives on the next day, making a total of 3 days or so. The very 1st time I purchased from Mandarake, I didn't get my package. After a week, I tracked it online and found that it was delivered to the wrong address and signed for by someone that wasn't me. I called DHL, and they said they would investigate. A day later a driver called me, apologized that he had delivered it to the wrong apt. complex, and said he would recover it for me. He did, and he called me when he was on his way to my home, and my package arrived unopened. Ever since then, the same driver has primarily delivered my Mandarake packages, and he always texts me when he's on the way. When I'm not home, he lets me text him permission to leave it at my door if I wish, and he even communicated this to the occasional other drivers that deliver to me. Seriously A+ service from DHL in my experience.

2. FedEx: FedEx is the only other delivery service in this group that has bothered to call me if there was a delivery issue. They also had very nice phone an in-person customer service in my experience. There has been occasional hickups where drivers didn't know my complex gate code and didn't leave me a failed delivery notice, but I do still trust them to deliver important packages to me.

3. USPS: For cost savings, I use USPS a lot. My local post office has generally crappy customer service, frequent long lines, and opens later than they are supposed to and closes earlier than they are supposed to. I have had at least 1 package get lost from them, but that is after sending and receiving hundreds. Luckily, what they lost was a DVD-R set of a fansubbed anime I bought years ago (when I didn't know how to find free fansubs myself), so the seller charged me a few extra bucks to ship a new set.
Another time, I ordered some music CDs from Yesasia. Weeks after I placed the order, an empty and open package arrived. I took it to the post office, and they said, "if your shipment was damaged in transit we shouldn't have put this empty pack in your mailbox." So she was basically telling me they would have normally not delivered it, and it would have just been "lost." She said she would give it to a supervisor to research, and I decided to give them a week before I contacted Yesasia. Miraculously enough, before that week ended, a bubble-wrapped "package" arrived in my mailbox. It wasn't labeled, but it was my Yesasia shipment, and nothing was damaged.
And yet another time, I got a slip in my mailbox telling me to go to the post office to pick up a pack from Amazon. So the next day I did so, and they couldn't find it. The lady said, "I remember processing it, but I don't know where it is." Her supervisor told me, "This happens a lot. She probably misplaced it. We will look for it." I gave them a week and called them back, and they said, "Sorry, it seems to be lost. This happens more often than you'd think." I called Amazon and told them the truth, that the USPS had simply lost my package, and the lady actually apologized, even though Amazon did nothing wrong, and she said they would send another (video game). Sometime after I got that 2nd shipment, I got another slip in my mailbox saying I had a package. Lo and behold, when I went to pick it up, they had finally found my original lost package. I shipped that one back to Amazon and called them to tell them about it.

4. UPS: By far, this is the company I have had the WORST experiences with. I will NEVER ship via USPS unless absolutely necessary. They have delivered to the wrong address (and not attempted to recover the package when they did so), failed to give me notices when they have attempted to deliver and I wasn't home, and given me consistently crappy customer service. I ordered a board game once, and they delivered to the wrong apt. WITHIN my complex. I called them to ask what happened and they told me "the driver says he gave it to a lady that signed for it." I am a man, and my name is an obviously male's name, and I live alone, and my apt. # (as well as the others in my complex) is clearly labeled right by my door. Fine, the driver was tired and rushed. Send him back to my complex to knock on the door he delivered to and get my package back. "Nope, we did our research. Your package is lost. Call the company you paid and have them file a report on us. [paraphrase]" Yes, the company re-sent my package, via UPS (why?). This time I told them to hold it at their facility so I could just go pick it up myself. I hate UPS...

[zerospace]

Funny topic. I can tell you horror stories about each carrier, depending on where I've lived and what sort of shipping we're talking about. I've lived about 5 or 6 different places & had experiences with most carriers at each one, and there is one thing I will say -- the most consistent from place to place has been the USPS. No matter where I've lived, it seems their service is always about the same. I've gone from apartment to apartment (both complexes & converted old houses), and between normal single family homes, too. Each carrier seems to have its drawbacks, but there are a few conclusions I can draw:

1) USPS: USPS is the most consistent, in my own personal experience. It didn't matter if I lived in a gated apartment complex with central mailboxes, or a converted house with doors all over the place, or a regular single family dwelling. USPS always had the same kind of delivery practices & same quality of service. It may not always be great, but at least I can pretty much count on it being the same no matter what. I've had my fair share of issues with USPS and their wonderfully inconsistent tracking system, though. =P Probably my worst experiences with USPS revolve around their ability to scan and track packages properly. I've had outgoing shipments scanned as "delivered" the moment they were picked up, not scanned at all, etc. Not good.

2) UPS: UPS is the worst for apartment living. They have inconsistent service commitments for apartments -- some will tell you that they'll NEVER leave a package outside an apartment door, and yet I made a deal with my UPS driver in one part of PA for him to leave my packages with my upstairs neighbor because it was a 45 minute drive to their facility to pick it up (and they'd never guarantee a re-delivery time). UPS at homes, however, has been perfectly fine. I've lived in 3 different normal single family homes, and have had no serious issues with UPS in those settings. During the holidays, I've had UPS deliver packages in the middle of the night >_<. Probably the worst thing UPS ever did to me was fail to deliver a package and try to claim that delivery was attempted -- WHILE I WAS HOME. No notice was ever left, despite their claims to the contrary. A very nasty phone call got the driver to turn around and come back with my package. *sigh*

3) FedEx: I have never really had a serious problem with Fedex -- at least, nothing that warranted me spewing any venom their way -- if I had a choice when living in an apartment, I always picked Fedex. My driver actually KNEW me and my car, and would hand me my packages as I was getting out of my car during my lunch hour at home in PA. A local fedex driver here in CA also was kind enough to tell me that a package I was receiving had been damaged, and he recommended I just refuse delivery. He took care of everything for me & the shipper re-shipped my item without any major incident. My worst fedex experience was one time at a regular house during the holidays (very near Christmas), FedEx failed to deliver a package on the day it was "out for delivery" and actually lazily took it back to the facility. A few phone calls got it back out for delivery, but yeah.

4) DHL/Airborne Express: Given that the only time these days I ever deal with DHL is when I get a package shipped from Mandarake, I don't think it's fair to hold other carriers to their standard of speed. DHL is hella-fast from Japan to the US, but within the US in the past, I've had my share of issues with DHL for domestic shipments (formerly Airborne Express). This includes having a package left in a BUSH outside of a house. >_<

So yeah... I have no favorite carrier. They all suck in some way in my experience. When I buy, I don't mind any of them. When I sell, I like USPS for convenience, and UPS for extremely large or heavy items. Most of the worst issues I've experienced have been during the busiest times of the year for shipments, so mistakes are just to be expected given the volume they are all handling at that time.

[bulleta]

USPS is my preferred shipper. I've never had any problems with them, but really this is due to my location.

I live in a small town. And I know what you're thinking, heh heh... how small can it be? A couple thousand people? No. I'm talking less than 100 people. We have one stop sign. And two bars.

So for years UPS and Fedex could never find us. That doesn't seem to be a problem anymore, but I still have the same old lovely problem with them in that they think I have the plague and even if I'm home they go out of their way to not communicate me. UPS once left a blank signed loan check on my porch in an envelope on a windy day. Fedex ignored the fact that my front door was open, and took a cell phone I ordered into my garage, behind a car, under a table in the back of the garage without me even realizing they had stopped. I only realized it had arrived because the online tracker said "delivered." It was like playing freaking Marco Polo trying to find that phone...

Seriously? I know they have schedules But OMG...

But DHL is the WORST. I looked up an old thread here because I have posted this story before. This is from when Mandarake first started shipping DHL around 2010:
"I guess I'm the only one who had trouble with DHL.

Though I think the problem lies more in the fact that I live in the boondocks than with the actual company. But this is sorta long so I apologize in advance.

I didn't even know Mandarake had shipped it DHL because this was before they had that little selection drop down menu like they do now... if I had read beforehand I would have seen they were shipping DHL something I would have told them not to do. I just assumed it would be EMS. Like it always had been.

I ended up getting a phone call from them asking for my street address. At first I was freaked out because like I said I didn't know it had even gone out that way. Anyway, I live in a very small town. My mailing address is a P.O. Box (which is what Mandarake has), we don't get home delivery - it's not an option. So I give them my convoluted street address. That was Wednesday.

Thursday, I'm tracking it online. It goes out on delivery from the nearest warehouse - 3 hours away from me. And is out all day.

So I have high hopes. ... Until it returns the warehouse again at the end of the day with a note to call them with the correct shipping address.

*sigh*

So I call them. I ask them what address they have. Whoever called on Thursday either didn't write it down, or it never got attached to the package, I don't know what went wrong. So I give it to them again. And I stress to them to FEEL FREE TO CALL FOR DIRECTIONS.

Friday it goes out. And gets returned to the warehouse again.

So I'm pissed. I call again. He tells me my address doesn't exist. I was on the phone for about 20 minutes with the guy. I had to bring up Mapquest and basically tell them step by step how to get to my house. I asked why no one ever called, he said that not all drivers have cell phones. REALLY??? And not only that, no GPS? I mean, my street address wouldn't have come up but you could have found the town at least...

At this point, I didn't get the package till Monday. Finally. They also said it was our fault because they didn't even have the right address at first. True... but you had it for 2 other attempts."

Basically, I don't like being told that a company's incompetence is my fault because they can't call and ask for directions. I believe I waited a week total longer for that package than it would have taken EMS. So no, thank you. Not that I can win anything on Mandarake lately anyway... but that's another story. lol

[graymouser]

It has been interesting reading the different points of view about shipping.

Honestly, I have no strong preferences. I have lived in the same 113 unit condo complex for the past 18 years. I routinely get other people's packages and vice versa. It does not seem to matter who is doing the delivering. I have always thought that the complex was very logically laid out. Its basically a square surrounding a central plaza with lawn/tot lot/pool. Apparently my perception is way off the mark. I was once on vacation for 2 weeks and came back to 3 packages sitting on my doorstep. None of them were mine and all arrived on different days (2 different delivery services too). I felt really sorry for the people when I finally brought them their stuff.

I tend to prefer USPS for shipping out to other people. None of the delivery services are located nearby. The closest is about a 20+ minute drive. With USPS I can print the labels at home and take the packages to work with me to be picked up with the regular mail.

[ReiTheJelly]

4. UPS: By far, this is the company I have had the WORST experiences with. I will NEVER ship via USPS unless absolutely necessary.

My sentiments, exactly. I've never had anything but problems with UPS, which is why I dislike that Amazon uses their services.
I've had boxes show up with holes big enough to stick my entire arm through!


As for FedEx, I dislike them for international shipments because you're more likely (as a US citizen) to get hit with customs fees, whereas I never get hit with fees for EMS items that get transferred to USPS.

DHL is okay...except if you aren't home to receive the shipment. Then it can become a huge nightmare to obtain your parcel.


While I've had a few issues with them, my heart and soul belong to USPS.

[zerospace]

DHL is okay...except if you aren't home to receive the shipment. Then it can become a huge nightmare to obtain your parcel.

Really? I signed a waiver for DHL, and my delivery lady always just leaves my package on my front porch behind a pillar so it can't be seen from the street. She actually used to call me if I didn't answer the door right away (her timing was always awful -- she was forever catching me in the shower in the morning >_<). She would actually wait for me when that happened. Then, one day she asked if she'd ever offered me the waiver, and after that, she just leaves my packages & I've never had any trouble since.

LOL about UPS and the boxes with holes .... that happens sooooo often. Amazingly, I've never had anything arrive damaged as a result of their obviously poor handling -- which is kinda shocking, all things considered. I should also note that I've had boxes arrive from USPS in similar condition, sadly, though it has happened far less often than with UPS. For artwork, I would never ship via UPS or FedEx -- I have such little experience with DHL other than Mandarake that I can't say if I'd ever choose them for my own shipments. USPS is convenient and generally handles things well, so I see no reason to "fix" what isn't broken .