Working in the engineering field, people send things at shipping prices of $50-$200 plus per package on the daily. The only thing that matters is that it arrives where it's needed fast. I can't say for sure, but I would expect that UPS is still more inclined to cater to the relatively price insensitive business customer over the Amazon Prime residential customer.
"FedEx recently stated that only about 3% of its revenues are derived from Amazon, while an estimated 7% of UPS’s revenues come from Amazon."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2017/11/22/wh...
Non-Amazon traffic, for example, business to business traffic, might not be growing as fast, but Fedex/UPS can charge $50+ or even $200+ for a single shipment - that's more than probably the average lifetime shipping profit made from a single Amazon prime user - in one single business-to-business shipment!
A regular North American business would probably have anywhere from 10 to 100 packages a day sent out via courier/UPS/Fedex.
No problem seeing where the profits come from.
Volume does not mean profit, especially when the volume is trying to push for eliminating UPS and FedEx's profits (via offering free shipping)
It's common to be able to choose the day and the delivery time. 8am-12pm, 2pm-4pm, 4pm-6pm, 6pm-8pm, 7pm-9pm and I've never had them be 1 minute outside their designated schedule.
And, prices are cheap. Price to send a large package from Tokyo to Osaka (think SF to LA) (larger than the USPS would even allow), $20
Economic and political differences probably have a lot to do with the price difference, but another factor is size. Based on the overall difference in geographical size, I would absolutely expect higher shipping costs in the US. That SF to LA shopping cost likely subsidizes the cost of shipping from LA to Orlando (far and moderately expensive) and even the cost of shipping LA to rural Wyoming (closer but possibly even more expensive).
As a country grows in area, a graph between all points within would increase exponentially. So I'd posit that, similar to the square cube law, shipping costs would grow exponentially with increases in geographical area.
Another example of cheap and fast delivery is in New Zealand, which is very roughly similar in size as Japan (and an island!) But infrastructure there is much, much, simpler.
It’s partially because of different relative distribution of supply and demand and partially because infrastructural technology is just better here. (Random customer visible example: high-end apartments in Tokyo generally have an on-site package locker so that companies can drop off packages even when the recipient isn’t home, which is a major convenience and avoids unnecessary redeliveries.)
It was kind of a terrible experience. Just because you had the address and unit number on there, you needed to be "in the system" so they could email/txt you an access code. I had a box of flowers for Mother's day that didn't show up until a week later. When everything did work as expected, it was still very problematic. Any "delivery" alerts were meaningless because it may not have been registered to the package room yet. The package room was a mess and was often difficult to find your packages--then you had to carry them all back to your unit. I'm not sure if they bundled access codes (i.e. 5 packages arrive but they only register the first and give you one code), but this seemed to happen to me. If you did forget a package they expired unused codes after you access. So if you forgot or couldn't carry everything you can no longer access the room.
I'm sure this simplifies things for the carrier, but I wouldn't be surprised if missing packages increased sharply when these were introduced. I also got the feeling packages were delivered to the front office before this system was in place (which would be the same, or perhaps, less work for the carriers). Which negates a lot of the issues mentioned above, but does mean you can only pick up your packages during office hours.
I haven't experienced Japanese package delivery, but when I first heard about it a few years ago I got super envious.
One system I saw recently had a touch screen where the carrier selects the address and individual they are delivering to, and then that individual is notified. They could use their permanent password, door id fob, or a one time access code for each parcel. As for not being able to get it upstairs; there was nothing stopping you relocking parcel.
I still think the worst part of the experience was sifting through all the packages. They had a shelf dedicated for each floor, but a sign saying people move stuff. I saw the office staff go in and resort packages onto the correct shelf everyday.
I've had much, much better experiences with Amazon locker. If I was still in an apartment and one was 0.5 - 1 mile away I would choose it every time (assuming it was a 24hr location).
That said, it's not all perfection. Recently one of the large delivery companies had problems fulfilling all its evening delivery slots and the number of re-deliveries weren't helping. I think every building should have lockable delivery boxes at the front door as standard, then almost all packages can be left without customer interaction.
Definitely. The consumer side is less relevant compared to the business side.
We spend tons of money on UPS' insurance products that they must kill us on, but we have no choice, as we send $10k+ packages regularly. USPS' insurance is a complete joke but UPS/FedEx honor theirs pretty regularly, even if there are some hoops to jump.
one time with the USPS, the mail person folded a large hardcover book in half like a taco to fit it into a PO box. when i called the local post office to complain to a manager, she explained that the shipper didn’t purchase insurance and so they couldn’t do anything. when i explained that was for accidents and not intentional destruction of packages she basically yelled at me and that was that. no follow up, no nothing.
these shipping companies hide behind these insurance policies because they basically can do whatever they want with your package and it’s the only little power you have. and it’s obviously something they make a lot of money off of.
I think you're running into the policies of your local, privately-owned UPS store. I insure stuff with UPS regularly, with zero interaction with UPS staff. I login to the website, print the label and go. There's no UPS person approving or rejecting my insurance request.
have you ever had to get an insurance payment on a damaged shipment? when shipping this musical equipment, damage can be catastrophic if the insurance coverage is rejected after the fact once a UPS person comes into the picture.
Anyway, the apartment management people basically told the USPS inspectors “new mailboxes cost money” and that was that. I moved out a few months later and mentioned that this incident was partially the cause. USPS recommended that I use a post office box to ensure that my mail wouldn’t get stolen, which I understand, but at the same time is pretty ridiculous IMO.
TL;DR USPS was very responsive and sympathetic to my situation, but ultimately couldn’t actually make my huge apartment company secure their mailboxes.
Getting USPS to care is impossible. I actually got a reply from Jeff Bezos in addition to a "?" email because Amazon was using USPS on Sundays for delivery, but USPS is unreachable on Sundays and Amazon has no way of contacting them either, so when USPS deliverymen refuse to deliver packages to my very obviously open business on Sunday citing that we weren't there (bullshit), there's nothing I can do. I wrote it up, sent it to Jeff, and they blacklisted USPS for my route on Sundays and now use Amazon drivers.
Unfortunately, if you go through USPS, they don't care. Much like any other government service you use.
Sure it is, that's an inherently political argument to make.
My counterpoint: I ordered a few things from a vendor (Waytek) recently. Waytek ships via UPS exclusively. I chose UPS Ground service which would've gotten the package to me in about a week. UPS got the package to California, to the regional sorting center in California, sent me an email telling me to expect a delivery, and then got the package to Massachusetts that same evening. UPS said they'll deliver the package in another week or so (assuming they don't bounce it back to the east coast). Despite being able to ship it on their dime cross-country in less than a day, they've put the package on the slow boat back to its intended destination. The UPS response has been: keep an eye on the tracking number and take it up with the vendor if you have any issues. Waytek's stance is that it's officially my property and their duty ended when they dropped the package off with THEIR shipping vendor (UPS).
Tell me again how private corporations are inherently more accountable?
Meanwhile I've ordered replacement parts for the Waytek order from a vendor that ships USPS. The tracking information is showing an estimated delivery date of two days from now (Tuesday), but they're also showing that the package has left the local regional distribution center. That gives me about a 95% chance of having the package in my box 10 AM tomorrow morning (one day early).
There are two reasons why I called it a rant. The first was begging the question of whether that’s true, as you also made the mistake of doing, since there was no attempt to introduce data or analysis showing that the USPS is substantially worse. Since Amazon famously does that kind of analysis, cares a lot about customer satisfaction, and uses a number of carriers it seems especially unlikely that there’s some huge problem they haven’t noticed.
The second reason, however, is the error of treating the quality of government as constant and inalterable. That’s effectively arguing that there’s no difference between South Sudan and Norway, and it’s what really made me regret wasting space on a lazy rant. Even if it was true, the grownup discussion would be how we should have better management and incentives rather than assuming it can never work, just as reasonable people react to a bad experience with a company by supporting boycotts, regulation, or legal improvements rather than saying the private business model can never work.
“Continuously delivery” would probably be difficult. Your typical truck will head out with 6-800 packages to be delivered in a 8-9 hour day, and they don’t all come in at once. Maybe you could send out trucks more often during the day, with fewer packages to be delivered over a larger area, but I’m not sure it would be that beneficial. You’d increase fuel and maintenance costs, plus you’d be paying your (fairly expensive) drivers to spend more time driving rather than delivering packages.
For example : Farnell ships with UPS. Farnell is a mostly B2B electronic components distributor.
EU experience from good to bad : UPS, Fedex, DPD, TNT and then DHL which is the worst from a receivers perspective.
edit: I should add, running a business from a residential location.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9N...
Why can't I just order it dropped at the post office for me?
Also it's become exceedingly rare for UPS or Fedex to leave me a slip these days the only missed delivery because of signature requirements for me have been USPS attempting to deliver international packages, can't actually remember the last time UPS or Fedex has delivered a package requiring a signature.
So they just leave it in the hallway in front of the apartment door?
When a package is coming via FedEx, IHOP on their website, no registration required, and rerouted to the most convenient Kinkos. I pick it up when I want.
When a package is coming via UPS, I weep.
You can use Store Hold[1] at UPS Store (formerly known as Mail Boxes Etc). Wikipedia claims they have more locations than Fedex Office (~5000 vs 1900)
[1] https://www.ups.com/us/en/help-center/sri/store-hold.page