Amazon and Fed Ex

[Pat & Pete]

I'm impressed with Amazon and Fed Ex , at least this time .

Yesterday ( Friday ) afternoon I placed an order for a replacement slide awning spring that broke , in the middle .

18 hours after the order was placed , I had the spring in my hand . The spring is all of 50" long , so an odd shaped package .

It should be noted that I paid an extra $40 for the guaranteed delivery service . They did what they said they would do .

I could have ordered the part from a local source , at a cost of about 5 dollars short of the Amazon total , but it may or may not have been here by Monday or Tuesday . Then add the cost and time of running for the part , plus the road time we'd have lost . We planned to be on the road North , tomorrow ( Sunday ) .

I guess this kind of thing happens every day , just not to me .

[JRP]

Yep, when it all works, its great.

 

The issue I have with Amazon, is they don't let you select a preferred shipper. So even if you select 2 day delivery, depending on the size & type of product, you have no idea if its going to come via UPS, FedEx or the dreaded USPS, until they actually ship it and send you the shipping confirmation/tracking.

[bobstokesbary]

Why dreaded USPS? I get replacement DriecTV receivers typically the next day when DirecTV ships them USPS. It all depends on how far things have to travel.

[JRP]

 

I think its more, where in the country you are located. My 3 homes are all slightly rural areas. The USPS does not deliver to any houses in these areas, everyone gets their mail & packages at a PO Box. So instead of UPS or FedEx delivering the product to my front door, I'm faced with a 50 mile round trip to the local PO and a wait in line to retrieve my packages. That's only part of it though, my experience with the US Post Office staff, indicates a lot of them need to be fired for incompetence. Lets just say, I'd pay twice as much for delivery, if I was guaranteed it wouldn't come via USPS.

 

Why dreaded USPS? It all depends on how far things have to travel.

[Jack Mayer]

I agree with Jim about USPS. It is hit or miss.....mostly hit, but often enough "miss". I wish I could specify what shipping method I use on Amazon. Most of the time my stuff comes UPS, but sometimes FedEx.

 

Here is my story from last week:

 

- Ordered at 2:45 pm on Wed. Prime shipping, 2-day.

- Arrived 10 am Thursday - the NEXT DAY.

 

Now that is good shipping. It came UPS.

[kb0zke]

Recently I ordered two replacement water filters and the filter mounting kit from Amazon. The filters were in one package, sent via UPS. The mounting bracket was in another, sent USPS. The USPS package arrived a couple of days before the UPS one.

[LindaH]

I'd like to know how it's going to be shipped, too. Quartzsite, for example, does not have home delivery so USPS mail must be picked up at the post office. Meaning that for FedEx and UPS deliveries, one address is given (street address) and for USPS deliveries, the PO Box number is given (and if you're a winter visitor just in Quartzsite for awhile, you don't have a post office box).

 

We spent a month in Quartzsite this past winter in an RV park (not something we do very often, but we had a Dish receiver that needed to be sent to us). The RV park where we were staying had an arrangement with a place in town to accept USPS deliveries for their customers. I still needed to know how an item was going to be shipped because if it was by FedEx or UPS, I gave them the address of the RV park with our space number. If it was going to ship via USPS, I gave them the address of the agent in town with a special PMB number.

 

Needless to say, although I ordered a few things while at the RV park, none of them were from Amazon.

[Randyretired]

Amazon has entered into an agreement where an item can be shipped via UPS and then delivered locally in rural areas by USPS. We have property where USPS does deliver locally but not to us. We only have PO Box delivery. Amazon will not accept a PO Box on orders. After 14 days our order finally made it to our PO Box but they required additional shipping charges. I refused it. Now USPS has a deal for PO Boxes that have a street type address so that even UPS and Fedx can be delivered to USPS and picked up at the PO Box. This works for us but it wouldn't work for some.

[skp51443]

If you open a UPS user account and request notifications of package shipments you will be offered a chance to upgrade your UPS package from USPS delivery to UPS actually bringing it to you. Wasn't real cheap and depending on where you are it could be slower.

 

We ordered something on the Friday the 17th, it shipped today via USPS and it is supposed to be delivered tomorrow, Sunday! UPS, FEDEX or even the Amazon local delivery folks would have taken until Monday or longer.

[Newt]

Amazon has entered into an agreement where an item can be shipped via UPS and then delivered locally in rural areas by USPS. We have property where USPS does deliver locally but not to us. We only have PO Box delivery. Amazon will not accept a PO Box on orders. After 14 days our order finally made it to our PO Box but they required additional shipping charges. I refused it. Now USPS has a deal for PO Boxes that have a street type address so that even UPS and Fedx can be delivered to USPS and picked up at the PO Box. This works for us but it wouldn't work for some.

 

 

UPS with USPS delivery is not an amazon exclusive.

 

Newt

[KodiakJack]

We love Amazon Prime. Most of the time they hit the delivery target dead center. Compared to what we were used to "the first dog sled after the new snow" Amazon is great....wonderful in fact! Did I say great?

Later,

J

 

PS Don't really care how they ship as long as it is on time.

[docj]

 

It should be noted that I paid an extra $40 for the guaranteed delivery service . They did what they said they would do .

 

That's why I have Amazon Prime. Even one day delivery is only ~$4-9 extra depending on the item. I'll be receiving a fairly large, heavy item on Tuesday under the free Prime 2-day delivery. I really laughed when my Magnum inverter which must have weighed ~75 pounds came as second day at no cost to me.

[AprilWhine]

I recently received an Amazon package on Sunday, delivered by USPS.

[Dog Folks]

Why dreaded USPS? I get replacement DriecTV receivers typically the next day when DirecTV ships them USPS. It all depends on how far things have to travel.

On other other side of the coin: We have had our mail forwarded to us about 95 times in the past 9 years. Always by Fed EX. Always delivered properly.

 

Just once I thought I would save a few,(just a few,) dollars and have the mail sent via USPS.

 

They lost it.

[bobsallyh]

Back in November we ordered a ceiling fan thru Amazon with 2 day shipping. Well it was coming Fed-EX and we tracked it. On the 2nd day the tracking showed it arrived in Yuma and "on truck for delivery". Well 2nd day comes and goes. 3rd day we look at tracking again, still "out on truck for delivery". So late in the afternoon the Fed-EX van goes thru the RV park and no stop at our site. I jumped on my bike as I saw the driver going into the next RV park beside us. As he stopped for a delivery I asked him if he had our package. He did look and said no, that we should call them. Now is when the real fun started. Of course no local number available so we use the number listed on the tracking. Goes to some central joint and the person says "I'll have someone call you from Yuma". So about an hour later we get a call from Fed-Ex in Yuma. My wife explains the situation to her and asks if we can just come to the facility an pick it up. "Well you can between hours such and such after all the delivery trucks are in for the day. In order to pick it up, your drivers license address much match the address on package"! Yeah, and with a 100,000 snowbirds in Yuma, how does that work? We told her it was very poor service and certainly not the first time we had been hosed by Fed-Ex. Well after dark that evening, there was a knock at the door, I answer and the first thing I see, is a little Chevy sitting out front. A guy in regular clothes hands me a package, says he is a supervisor at the local facility and he was on his way home, that he was told we were upset, so he dropped it off on his way home. We very rarely order from Amazon. Of course we always get an email asking about "your Amazon experience". I answered one when we never got another 2 day delivery that stretched to five days and never heard back from Amazon. Has anybody ever requested a rebate or a voucher on a Amazon package where you paid for quick delivery and it didn't happen?

[docj]

Has anybody ever requested a rebate or a voucher on a Amazon package where you paid for quick delivery and it didn't happen?

 

We order a lot of stuff from Amazon all winter long and even while we're traveling in the summer and all of it comes as 2-day because of our Prime membership. I think there have been ~3 times in 4 years when stuff didn't arrive when scheduled. Once Amazon sent it a second time and said to keep the first shipment (if it ever arrived, which it finally did). The other two times I think they issued a $10 credit because the item didn't arrive on the scheduled date.

[sandsys]

When we were snow birding in Arizona our UPS/FedEx address was in California but our USPS was General Delivery in Parker. I needed to know how things would be shipped before I gave them an address. Amazon won't tell you. Now that I am back in the apartment in Minnesota with Dave I can safely order anything because it all gets delivered to the office here. Of course, we then have to fetch it from the office--good thing we are retired. We have been known to take a luggage cart with us to the office, though, if we expect a big or heavy box. So whether or not that "last mile" bit works for you depends on where you are.

 

Linda Sand

[jlb27537]

Strange thing today. We were in the street visiting with a neighbor. Today is Sunday. A mail truck is driving around in our gated community. We stop him, he for sure is lost. He had his smart phone in GPS mode trying to find a address. I looked into his truck. He had probably 10 packages, all with Amazon tape on them. All different customers.

 

The USPS working on a Sunday, would not have believed it, had I not seen it myself.

 

Jim