Opinions of Fed Ex?

ZoWhat · Jul 10, 2021

Well here's my local FedEx driver delivering some corals last year.

Amazing 5-Star World Class Service caught on my security camera:

Guess he was practicing for bowling league he's in....

Mywifeisgunnakillme · Jul 10, 2021

zoa what said:
Well here's my local FedEx driver delivering some corals last year.

Amazing 5-Star World Class Service caught on my security camera:

Guess he was practicing for bowling league he's in....

That's ridiculous.

The UPS driver today--delivering before schedule at 10am from the same state as Fed Ex's afterhours delivery mind you--said Fed Ex employees dont get in trouble if they miss the priority (e.g., 10:30am) time dead. She said UPS drivers do get in trouble for missing priority time deadlines.

Mywifeisgunnakillme · Jul 10, 2021

I was thinking about it for a second after being done being mad. It is Fed Ex's fault. The lady today, and her supervisor just lacked the ability to do anything. The bureaucratic checklist she was reading from didn't have an answer to my query of going to get my fish.

Certainly the moral thing to do was do whatever you had to and make sure the animals--pets--live.

But Fed Ex obviously thinks so low of its employees that it doesnt give them the discretion to even make the most easiest of moral dilemmas right. Pretty sad. Fed Ex is so bureaucratic that its own employees are not allowed to take even the most basic, live saving, discretionary actions.

Big E · Jul 10, 2021

Quit putting deliveries in drivers hands. Do "Hold for pickup". This allows for an early delivery time and it never gets stuck on a standard delivery truck all day.

Use a Fedex print office or pick up at a local hub.

Since COVID this is a must. The world has changed, you have to adjust as all these delivery services are overloaded with business.

Mywifeisgunnakillme · Jul 10, 2021

Big E said:
Quit putting deliveries in drivers hands. Do "Hold for pickup". This allows for an early delivery time and it never gets stuck on a standard delivery truck all day.

Use a Fedex print office or pick up at a local hub.

Since COVID this is a must. The world has changed, you have to adjust as all these delivery services are overloaded with business.

If you read my post-- you would read that Fed Ex WOULD NOT hold delivery for me.

And yes, the driver did not in any way make the priority shipment a priority. It was just kid that barely had a clue and a license. He took 3 well plus hours (since they would not hold the package for me; the delay to seattle made my only hold option for Monday) to go five miles to my house.

It would have been nice if they gave him a phone call and let him know. They certainly can contact drivers. They just chose not to. He would have met me or done whatever they asked. Simply no one told him.

homer1475 · Jul 10, 2021

You do realize of course, that fed ex does not accept live animals for shipping from a business to a home address? So complaining about using a services illegally, is kind of pointless.

FedEx said:
Animals, Ornamental Marine Life (Including Live Fish) and Animal CarcassesA.FedEx Express does not accept live-animal shipments as part of its regular-scheduled service and does not transport household pets such as dogs, cats, birds and hamsters. FedEx Express may accept certain shipments of live animals such as horses, livestock and zoo animals (to and from zoo locations only) on an exception basis if approved and coordinated by the FedEx Animal Desk (call 1.800.405.9052). If approved by FedEx, we may accept non-venomous reptiles, amphibians, live/ tropical fish and beneficial insects on an exception basis under the following conditions:1.Shipments must be from a business to a business (from a breeder to a pet store, for example).2.The shipper must have its packaging tested and pre-approved by FedEx Packaging Design and Development for the type of animal being shipped. Call 1.800.633.7019 for assistance. It is the responsibility of the shipper to adequately package shipments for all temperature extremes and handling conditions.

As a side note, since COVID no shipping company guarantees any delivery's be on time(I call complete BS on this. Why charge more for priority shipping to not guarantee it's going to be delivered by the time they set?

Gtinnel · Jul 10, 2021

I've seen all of the horror stories on here about packages being delayed by days at some of the FedEx sorting facilities, but I have had better luck with my deliveries from FedEx than any other carrier. I guess I'm lucky because any package I order that gets sent through FedEx (for everything I order not just over nighted aquarium orders) gets delivered early in the morning, often around 8 am or so.

So I guess overall I prefer FedEx if the package makes it to the delivery truck when it is supposed to.

PhilMStudy · Jul 10, 2021

homer1475 said:
You do realize of course, that fed ex does not accept live animals for shipping from a business to a home address? So complaining about using a services illegally, is kind of pointless.

As a side note, since COVID no shipping company guarantees any delivery's be on time(I call complete BS on this. Why charge more for priority shipping to not guarantee it's going to be delivered by the time they set?

Yeah they lose their ability to claim this when they have shipping contracts with companies like LiveAquaria for residential shipping lol

you think they have no idea what’s happening there? Really? FedEx if you look at statistics is having the worst time of major carriers during pandemic and most of it is due to terrible SOP’s pre pandemic

The_Skrimp · Jul 10, 2021

Fed Ex… Where nothing is ever on time and they’ll stomp on your box for good measure. I lost about half of my last Live Aquaria order thanks to Fed Ex. I wish companies would ship with anybody else honestly.

jsbzcmcdaniel · Jul 10, 2021

I have decent luck with both but I personally prefer FedEx. FedEx is always here by 9:30am but UPS wont get here before 4pm. I have a good relationship with my UPS driver because he delivers to my house 2-3 times a week for work stuff. If I buy fish or coral and the seller ships UPS I will go on the UPS website and track the package. I live in a fairly large master planned community and unfortunately my section is the last stop. The UPS website will show you the exact location of the driver so I will drive to where he is and ask for my package. I have tipped him on a few occasions because he doesn't have to let me stop him and get my package. Its worked well for both of us.....

Cell · Jul 10, 2021

Mywifeisgunnakillme said:
There is no liability. What does your statement even mean? I feel non-attorneys blame things like this on "liability" all of the time and have no idea what can create "liability". Liability for what? Drivers come to your house all the time. There is no difference in meeting a driver somewhere else. There is no liability whatsoever. Especially since they hire me and spend thousands on representing their employees in litigation.

Why they won't do it, on the other hand, is because it would cause a change in schedule, albeit ten minutes, and be slightly more work. It might through off another delivery (on NON LIVING ANIMALS). And they'd probably have to spend five minute notating what they did and why. God forbid. It's just lazy and terrible customer service quite frankly

No liability? What happens when they arrange to meet you in some random spot and you then say later that you never got the package? What happens if you or the driver get injured during said handoff? What happens when a driver does this and gives it to the wrong person? "I'm a FedEx lawyer, give me special treatment" is not really a good argument. And a lawyer for a company asking said company to break the law and put itself at risk is just strange.

Cell · Jul 10, 2021

"FedEx guy told me to meet at xyz street corner and I got beat up and my package stolen". Zero liability for you. Cant say the same for FedEx.

It could also be a way for thieves to steal a truck or from a truck. "Meet me in this secluded spot over here please".

fish farmer · Jul 10, 2021

Mywifeisgunnakillme said:
I was thinking about it for a second after being done being mad. It is Fed Ex's fault. The lady today, and her supervisor just lacked the ability to do anything. The bureaucratic checklist she was reading from didn't have an answer to my query of going to get my fish.

Certainly the moral thing to do was do whatever you had to and make sure the animals--pets--live.

But Fed Ex obviously thinks so low of its employees that it doesnt give them the discretion to even make the most easiest of moral dilemmas right. Pretty sad. Fed Ex is so bureaucratic that its own employees are not allowed to take even the most basic, live saving, discretionary actions.

Did you actually talk to local office people or call center people in another country who are probably working off a checklist?

I've had better luck with various businesses who use call centers when I actually get to talk to the office down the road.

ZoWhat · Jul 10, 2021

CORAL DELIVERY, YEAR 2042

Special delivery instructions: Fly into the house via the open front door and gently release package next to the aquarium via the exact GPS coordinates given by the customer. Call, text and email customer upon arrival via the Bot

Phlynamjax · Jul 10, 2021

So my order suppose to came yesterday and it got delayed. It did made to the station near by me about 12 hours ago. I called them to see if I can go pick up the order and they said I can’t because my package is still in the container. I’m so upset!!

Mywifeisgunnakillme · Jul 10, 2021

Cell said:
"FedEx guy told me to meet at xyz street corner and I got beat up and my package stolen". Zero liability for you. Cant say the same for FedEx.

It could also be a way for thieves to steal a truck or from a truck. "Meet me in this secluded spot over here please".

This is made up non-sense and in no way the reason they would not meet me. Policies are not written around such garbage hypotheticals.

The only liability they faced was:

Saving a few pets lives.
Making a customer happy.
Not being lazy.
Being competent.
Attempting to think for themselves instead of reading off manual typed by a pencil pushing moron.

I have met fed ex drivers on their on own route at least half a dozen times. Fed Ex is just a bureaucratic waste of a company to deal with.

mindme · Jul 10, 2021

N.Sreefer said:
Weird mabey its just my area but fedex is always on time when I order from fragbox. Ive had ups deliver a package from another site that was 3 days late and DOA(winter in canada).

You are earlier on the route.

Like he said in his example, it took 3 hours even though the truck was 10 minutes away. If he had been earlier in the route, he would have gotten his package much earlier in the day.

Mywifeisgunnakillme said:
That's ridiculous.

The UPS driver today--delivering before schedule at 10am from the same state as Fed Ex's afterhours delivery mind you--said Fed Ex employees dont get in trouble if they miss the priority (e.g., 10:30am) time dead. She said UPS drivers do get in trouble for missing priority time deadlines.

I wouldn't doubt this is true. When I confronted a driver about being 5 hours past the "guaranteed" scheduling time, he didn't care at all. His response was call Fed-ex.

I did call Fed-ex and I got no where. Nobody to even take my call, just automated crap asking me if I wanted to track my package etc.

I avoid them where I live now, but in other areas they were the best.

Mywifeisgunnakillme · Jul 10, 2021

homer1475 said:
You do realize of course, that fed ex does not accept live animals for shipping from a business to a home address? So complaining about using a services illegally, is kind of pointless.

As a side note, since COVID no shipping company guarantees any delivery's be on time(I call complete BS on this. Why charge more for priority shipping to not guarantee it's going to be delivered by the time they set?

Shipping fish to a home is not illegal. If Fed Ex has a written policy of not shipping live fish--they obviously do not follow it. That, in a legal sense, makes the written policy null.

MnFish1 · Jul 10, 2021

Mywifeisgunnakillme said:
Maybe it's just coincidence, but i never have shipments on time with Fed Ex?

Paid for priority overnight shipping to arrive by 10:30AM. It's 4pm and the package has been on delivery truck, 5-10 minutes away in the town next door, since 2pm. No option to hold at facility when i called this morning. In the past, both UPS and Fed Ex has given me the driver's cell phone number, or they have called me, and i have just met them on their route. No inconvenience to any one. Fed Ex won't do that today. I have never had a driver feel bothered by it in anyway. They've always been just as concerned about the critters as me. It's thousands in coral and fish. I said i would give them a $1000.00 right now to let me go meet driver or the driver come to my house now... He is literally 10 minutes away. I got nothing from Fed Ex supervisor. Pretty frustrating.

There are a lot of reasons for this. I have never been able to contact a driver (despite trying) - on a couple of occasions. The sad part is that Fed Ex does not cover (In my experience) - living 'pets'. So if they all arrive dead, you only have recourse to the seller. Complaints fall on deaf ears. Its covid or weather related, etc etc. I have basically stopped ordering livestock from online vendors - partly becasue of this issue. If I do - I make sure its ONLY when the temperature is not going to cause a problem (i.e. not in winter or summer). Hope everything works out