VACaver wrote:As far as shipping to a customer, I never mail anything...it's UPS of FedEx only. Sure, it's a bit pricier, but not much. More important, it provides a history. When a customer calls and complains about not receiving his order, I can look it up and tell him when it was delivered
Personally I'd never again use UPS by choice. They really do suck. Over the years I've had bad experience after bad experience with lost packages, poor service, grumpy employees and agents etc. UPS tracking is great, but what can you do when it says your package was "successfully delivered" to some random address half way across the country? This has happened to me more than once when sellers have chosen to ship UPS. Plus I've been hit with $12 shipping charges for bite-sized items which you can mail for $2.
FedEx has never been a problem for me, but then I've only sent/received packages using them a few times. USPS isn't perfect (what is?), but with all the flat rate options, electronic postage, delivery confirmation and free pickup they really do outshine UPS for reliability, convenience, and cost - in my experience.
Sorry for ranting again folks but when people talk about how great UPS is, some things just need to be said.
In fairness to all, perhaps it would be nice if vendors gave their customers the option of how they wanted items shipped. Some already do.