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Comment by ezxs | Hacker News Reader

Beautiful... except they can't even compete with Amazon on shipping (literally had to have 3 things re-delivered just in the last 2 weeks). I would focus on their current business first.

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As usual, anecdotes are anecdotes. I consistently have a great experience with FedEx. It's almost like its a huge company that is only as effective as the humans that execute it's operations in a given area.

In other news, people in different areas share wildly different experiences with the quality of their local McDonalds service. The jury is out, is McDonalds service entirely and objectively good or entirely and objectively bad? We investigate at 11.

I also consistently have a great time working with FedEx, UPS, and USPS for both shipping and receiving. If something comes up for me, more than likely it's actually the shipper/receiver screwing something up with the paperwork on their end or the information provided to me.

Also, I'll mention that Amazon FBA isn't even competing for my money or time. I can't use them, since I don't sell anything through Amazon nor pay for Amazon Prime if I buy something from Amazon.

Meanwhile, FedEx and UPS are almost always available anywhere, and USPS also remains an option everywhere if the shipment is something they handle.

I dread receiving anything by FedEx. UPS is fine. I would frequently just get stuff not delivered by FedEx and then be expected to go to a warehouse to pick it up, which via public transportation is a two/three hour round trip.

This is actually a pretty interesting comparison. McDonald’s is franchised and so quality is highly dependent on the franchisee. FedEx is the odd one out in major delivery companies in that their model subcontracts to local companies in a similar fashion with the expected wild variance in quality. UPS is wholly owned and operated as a comparison.

Interesting, but I contend that even without a franchise model, you still have humans doing the work in the end, and human error and inconsistency varies greatly per human. You might say the bad workers would get fired in a well functioning company, but then if there's a high churn rate, that isn't a guarantee of high quality at that low a level in an organization.

The problem is that with how these companies are set up, if the humans are doing the work well they're basically doing it in spite of the company. Left to their own judgement, vanishingly few humans are going to (leave a package that's actively leaking oil paint; have a local terminal that can never be reached; leave packages down by the road instead of delivering them; falsely mark packages as delivered and then do it surreptitiously the next day). But the systems that command them highly incentivize such behavior in the name of never-ending "optimization" (aka corporate looting).

In the past few years (including this past week) Fedex has lost or broken quite a few of the packages I've sent or received. They took no responsibility for smashing a monitor I shipped for RMA that their Fedex Store employees packed, using the box that those employees recommended. (I know better now. Do not trust them to pack anything fragile or important. Always take pictures before shipping.) I now actively avoid them as a choice if there's any other option.

Anecdotally here fedex is the worst just for stuff getting stuck for crazy periods with no movement

The FedEx driver for my route misdelivers constantly. I get deliveries for my house number but three streets away (1234 Foo St. instead of 1234 Bar Dr.) just about every couple of weeks. I've spoken to the driver and to customer support, but it still keeps happening.

I now know that "neighbor" and get greeted with a laugh every time I swing by to drop off their packages.

Now if FedEx buys a dating service... this can be a feature

To be in that same boat as your story makes me wonder if it's a systemic bug. But also, holy hell, how is routing a truck to a street address not a solved problem in 2024?

I would also have accepted if they'd leave the EXIF data in their "delivery proof" images, so I can do my own GPS navigation, because the picture of some piece of grass with my box sitting on it, shockingly, is not a good way to track down lost parcels

If I could snap my fingers and end FedEx as a company I would do it without any hesitation. Hell, in a more constructive vein: if I could pay to ensure that no one ever used FedEx to ship something to me, I'd do that, too (even as I write that I'm cognizant that's perverse incentives for FedEx improving, but it would be a more likely fix than just praying for FedEx to go out of business anytime soon; it'd be like shipping insurance but in the other direction)

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