Re: Shippers - was: Gene's catalog

Chris, saw this in the morass of my inbox as the spam came whizzing
by:-)

FWIW, We have a Fedex ground account as well as an express
account...got it as I thought their rates would be cheaper from
initial info.  Well...they sure ain't.  Seems to me like Fedex adds a
lot to their base cost and you have a hard time finding out just what
it will cost, plus if they pick up, the cost goes way up, so after I
got the bill for the first couple of shipments, I quit using it at
all.  I am not in love with UPS for a bunch of reasons, but for large
boxes, I go with them.  Small boxes are best via USPS Priority Mail,
IMO, but once the box gets over a couple of pounds the cost between
UPS and USPS starts to even out and you can't track Priority Mail
without paying extra for delivery confirmation, which throws their
cost out of whack, so if it does get lost, that's tough.

Set up for a Fedex ground account was easy tho' they drill you about
how much you're going to be using it - might have been easier my end
as we'd had the express account for s so many years, dunno.  

Fedex has only screwed up a delivery once in over 25 years of using
their express - which is a totally different business than their
ground, so they are basically reliable, tho' ground blew their first
pick up for us, as I now recall, and they had to ship it express at
their expense (ha!), BUT I think if you dig into it, you'll find they
are not the least expensive way to ship stuff.  Maybe that changes
with volume; have no idea.

Seems to me they are all going thru' the roof as far as shipping
costs go - the rise in oil prices has something to do with it, but
both UPS and Fedex tack on all sorts of charges for Lord only knows
what...sorta like the phone companies.  At least with USPS, what they
quote is what you pay.

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@hort.net
Shadyside Garden Designs

----------
> From: Christopher P. Lindsey <lindsey@mallorn.com>
> To: gardenchat@hort.net
> Subject: Re: [CHAT] Gene's catalog
> Date: Monday, February 13, 2006 8:49 PM
> 
> > Sam's club.... like 50- 60 bucks.. sits on a desktop. 
> > 
> > You do realize they (UPS) goes by the pound, not ounces, rounded
up, so it
> > doesn't really have to be critically exact... 5.4 or 5.8 is the
same to
> > them... 6 lbs.
> 
> OK, that's what I was curious about.  They seem to get more
expensive as
> you get to finer granularity in terms of ounces.  
> 
> Do you know if FedEx operates the same way?  I'd really rather use
them 
> instead of UPS, especially with live plants.  FedEx unloads their
trucks
> and allows customers to pick up orders if they've missed delivery;
UPS
> just leaves it on the truck overnight and tries again the next day.
> 
> When I was building computers I ordered a critical piece for
overnight
> delivery via UPS.  It came the next day, but they wanted a
signature and
> I must've been in the shower or something when they came.  I went
to their
> offices and asked to pick it up, but they told me it wasn't
possible.  I
> had to wait for the driver.
> 
> I've avoided UPS like the plague since and happily picked up stuff
after
> work at FedEx.  :)
> 
> Chris
> 
>
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