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I just had to send a 16 oz booklet via USPS from San Antonio to Vernon, Calif (Los Angeles). It was sent after 7 PM on thursday and is guaranteed to get there by 3 on Saturday for the price of $18-19, thereabouts.
I went to local Fedex to price it. The same kind of delivery was $52!
I know that many ppl rag on the USPS, but it is still more affordable than anything else, at least in my situation.
Anybody have an experience where Fedex is the least expensive option?
We do a lot of shipping, mostly in the US, but some international. For the most part, considering time, size, and weight of package, USPS wins. For some of the larger packages, we do better with FedEx or UPS - they are mostly neck & neck on pricing, but FedEx wins our business more often than UPS.
For international, it's USPS all the way. Our international customers specifically ask us not to use UPS.
I just had to send a 16 oz booklet via USPS from San Antonio to Vernon, Calif (Los Angeles). It was sent after 7 PM on thursday and is guaranteed to get there by 3 on Saturday for the price of $18-19, thereabouts.
I went to local Fedex to price it. The same kind of delivery was $52!
I know that many ppl rag on the USPS, but it is still more affordable than anything else, at least in my situation.
Anybody have an experience where Fedex is the least expensive option?
It depends on your negotiated rates with the various carriers and the service that you want. In a lot of cases, FEDEX is cheaper than the USPS rate and I have had a lot better experience with the product arriving in good shape.
My problem with using USPS, especially the counter service, is that you take an identical parcel sent to the same city to the post office to three different postal employees in the same office and you will get three different rates. And that is after a 15-20 minute wait.
FEDEX is never the cheapest option for Saturday delivery. It is a service that they do offer but they price it so as to discourage its use.
A postal scale, an online visit to usps.com, and a printer will solve that problem. You also get a 5% discount for printing your own shipping label online. We virtually never go to the post office, and we ship a lot. They also pick up for free, unlike FedEx and UPS.
I always use USPS. In the small town where I live, Fedex has no presence so its a hassle trying to use them. UPS does have a presence but are invariably more expensive than USPS.
I have received a number of things that, according to the tracking, Fed Ex or UPS simply collected, and then mailed (USPS) to their delivery center here, then brought it over in their truck.
One day I was in the post office, when the UPS delivery truck brought a box of stamps for the post office to sell. Even the post office ships their stuff by UPS. (It's like when you phone AT&T, the first message you hear tells you that for more efficient communications, hang up and log into att.com.)
The thing I don't like about UPS and Fed Ex ground, is that wherever the package is at 5-pm Friday, that's exactly where it is at 8-am Monday. I believe the post office moves and sorts on weekends, at least on Saturdays.
Well for now they (USPS) do, but I am dreading when the USPS goes to M-F service only. It's only a matter of time...
They've talked about suspending Saturday delivery (which I would be all in favor of if they would expand their window hours on Saturday when most people have time to go there) but not weekend transit that I'm aware of.
I despise FedEx. Their GPS tells them that my address should be in the next block and they refuse to acknowledge that it's a mistake on their part.
I hate Fedex and UPS. Use the USPS almost exclusively. They are a third to half the cost of the other two for what i ship. Only negative is lack of tracking.
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