[markkanof]

In my personal experience with Fedex while living in multiple cities, it seems like they aren’t enthusiastic about residential deliveries at all. Delivering to the wrong address, throwing fragile items over a fence, putting packages in hard to find places, etc. Never had any of this with UPS and also have had really good experiences with FedEx Freight.

[sschueller]

I have to agree with you on that. I received a package this week and it was just unbelievably bad service. Compared to the Swiss Postal service fedex is in the stone age.

First package didn't arrive but a notice of final delivery attempt (was the first). They claimed the package doesn't fit in the mailbox and my "business" was closed.

Delivery notice has no QR code or quick way to access your shipment. Instead you need to type "fedex.com/ch_deutsch/mypackage" into a browser and then enter your tracking number, email and phone.

You are then presented with either having the package redelivered or delivered to an alternate address. No option to pre sign for the package or inform the driver where to put it.

If you want to pre sign the package you need to fill out the back of the delivery notice, sign it and make a photo which you send to [e-mail]. The notice will then be hand processed and you will be asked for the tracking number which is not on that side of the notice nor is there a field to fill out!

Tracking information is also completely wrong. Package is stated to be re-delivered on Tuesday after missed delivery on Monday however end of day no redelivery was attempted. Tuesday night I change the delivery address and I'm told package will be delivered on Thursday. Package arrived on Wednesday morning.

Best part. Package is actually a letter and fits in any mailbox :-/

[triangleman]

> it seems like they aren’t enthusiastic about residential deliveries at all

That is actually the case: Fedex started as an overnight delivery company and only got into Ground in order to round out their service. Ground is actually based on a network of independent companies branded as Fedex Ground but I believe almost no one in that division actually works for FedEx the corporation (compared to the original FedEx Express which is all corporate employees).

Compare to UPS which has always been ground-first delivery network and then got into overnight long after FedEx proved it could work.

[naravara]

Interesting. In my city it's UPS that I found to be unreliable, most often by marking things as "undeliverable" without actually bothering trying to deliver them.

At one point I actually got an email notice that they just tried to deliver a package and nobody was home despite the fact that I had literally been reading a book on the front porch for the past 3 hours. Nobody came by.

[basseq]

I've heard a lot of similar stories, and I wonder two things:

1. Is some of that volume bad addresses or poor wayfinding? Something about how the delivery person ended up at the wrong location and didn't know where to go, versus bad actors.

2. Why haven't delivery companies cracked down on this? Maybe they have, but I still hear about it a lot.

[Tomte]

> Why haven't delivery companies cracked down on this? Maybe they have, but I still hear about it a lot.

I don't know about the American package delivery space, but assuming it's somewhat resembling the German one (sub-sub-subsidiaries, work days until 11pm, because you've got a quota etc.): because it is impossible to fulfil the quota. So you get creative, fill out some "did not open door" papers and hope you can get around to delivering them the next day.

And it's impossible to fulfil the quota because that's directly profit. So companies can choose between abysmal service (but still not so bad that customers would leave, because everyone is playing that game) and lower profits. They have zero incentive to "crack down".

[Majromax]

> Something about how the delivery person ended up at the wrong location and didn't know where to go, versus bad actors.

That's still a "bad actor." A driver is ultimately responsible for knowing the area they're delivering to. Wayfinding is a very convenient crutch, but if it fails and the driver has insufficient local knowledge it's still a skill failure.

> 2. Why haven't delivery companies cracked down on this? Maybe they have, but I still hear about it a lot.

Because their contract is with the shipper, rather than the recipient. Even a complaint from the recipient is more a PR problem than an economic one.

Moreover, a recipient who accepts redelivery or goes to the depot for pickup doesn't even impose a significant additional cost on the delivery company.

[rtkwe]

I had a similar rough patch where things were marked delivered or undeliverable for them to show up the next day almost like the delivery person was faking deliveries to shuffle their numbers around.

[fromthestart]

>putting packages in hard to find places

I'm pretty sure this is performed as a courtesy to the recipient to limit theft.

[libria]

> I'm pretty sure this is performed to avoid liability and replacement due to theft.