[AT] shipping wars

[Steve W.]

charlie hill wrote:
> Yes Ivan and others,  I stand corrected, it is FedEx Smart Post.
> I ordered something a while back that I needed in a relative hurry
> but not overnight.  FedEx Smart Post fit the delivery time and the 
> cost just fine so I selected it only to find out that the promised 
> delivery time was the time they promised to give it to the post office
> and that the tracking stopped when it was handed off to USPS.
> It still came the next day (after I expected it) but it was something I had
> to have by a certain time and I surely was anxious until it showed up
> with my mail.  Luckily I have a good mail carrier.
> 
> Charlie
> 
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Ivan 
> Sent: Friday, February 13, 2015 3:37 PM 
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group 
> Subject: Re: [AT] shipping wars 
> 
>     Sure that isnt FEDEX Smart post  ?     I ordered a part for my truck 
> from a place in West Virginia on the 8 th . Today the 13 it left the 
> next town over in route to the post office here in PA .      The real 
> kicker is the truck has to drive right past my house to get to the post 
> office .
>   I've had some bad service from UPS also , but it seems to depend on 
> which direction its coming from .  The other side of the state or 
> farther east  takes upwards of two weeks   but if its coming from the 
> west they can get it here in two days  .  My best service is usually 
> from the post office priority mail .  Ivan
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Both FedEx and UPS have agreements with the USPS. For residential 
shipments they can drop your package at the post office that serves your 
  area and they consider their part done. The USPS carries it "the last 
mile"

UPS is also the actual carrier for international packages for USPS.
USPS used to send the packages on ships. Then they contracted with UPS 
and average package delivery time dropped dramatically. My BIL lives 
outside Tokyo and we ship things both ways a lot. Prior to the UPS deal 
it would take an average of 3 weeks to ship items, and there were 
multiple losses. You could pay a premium price (usually 3-4 times 
"standard" rate) but there were a lot of issues with that as well.
Now the average package delivery time is a week and the price only went 
up a few dollars.

One thing I have discovered though. I use a "business" name on some 
items and those are always delivered by the UPS truck. Stuff that is 
sent to my residential address sometimes comes through the P.O.

-- 
Steve W.