FedEx Ship of Fools

[kosmosattik]

I decided to try FedEx for the first time because they offered the lowest ground rate on a fairly large 11 lb. package.  Since the nearest FedEx office is about 20 miles away I dropped it at a designated pick-up spot--Dollar General.  The kid at the register scanned it in and sent a receipt to my phone number.  The scan showed up on eBay, so far so good.

Two scheduled pick-up days passed with no update to the tracking so I went to Dollar General to see what's what.  The package was sitting behind the counter, on it's side with the label not visible.  The kid behind the register was clueless but said he'd advise the manager.  The FedEx 800 number rep was worse than useless, talking in circles.  I called that nearest FedEx office in the hopes they were the dispatcher and could get the package flagged for pick-up.  No, that cannot be done.  Dollar General is the FedEx agent responsible for the package.  No surprise--algorithms and knucklehead are a potent combination.

Evidently, one can set-up on-line a FedEx account and schedule a pickup.  Evidently, an eBay label is not entered in the pick-up schedule.

Then I called the Dollar General and got the assistant manager on the line who also sounded like a kid.  He said sometimes the FedEx guy just comes in and grabs packages off a designated shelf.  I pointed out my package is not on a shelf.  He said it wouldn't fit.  I said, how about you get out a sheet of paper and a sharpie and tape a note to the shelf.  He chuckled, with a less than committal,  I'll let the register clerk know.   And what if the FedEx guy just grabs and runs again?  Chuckle again.

So, a Wednesday drop for pickup on Thursday is not a 10:00 AM pickup on Monday--maybe.  Now I feel compelled to go to Dollar General at 9:00 AM Monday with my own note, tape and instructions to the clerk.  No telling when the pick-up will actually be.

Never again.  In retrospect, I would redo this listing with up to $7 more charged to a the potential buyer ($4 to the actual buyer) via UPS which I used previously, with an actual store two blocks from Dollar General with zero hassles and fast delivery, even if that was an impediment to making the sale. 

[kosmosattik]

@rfmtm

I set up the UPS account directly with UPS.  I looked at your post again and saw you set up your UPS account through PayPal.  Sorry for that mistake.

Do you have a way of plugging in that packages specs to see what the cost is using your method?

[a_c_green]

---

@kosmosattik wrote:

I asked today's clerk why my package was sitting on the floor right below the pickup shelf right behind the register and the FedEx driver skipped over it on Thursday and then Friday.  I got the same answer as before--that's up to FedEx, we don't tell them what to do.   Of course the possible answer is the box was on its side with the label not showing, sitting next to a box of stock.  

---

That sounds entirely possible, yes.

I think, to be fair to the FedEx driver, that he's not expected to (or is told not to) go rummaging around elsewhere to find boxes that are not on the official pickup shelf. There is a designated area for boxes that he is expected to pick up, and he is not expected to go looking around for more elsewhere. After all, how far would he be expected to roam when looking for boxes that are not in the spot where he's supposed to find them? I would blame Dollar General for failing to put your package in the right place.

[kosmosattik]

Dollar General clearly has a process problem.  FedEx has a quality control problem with their agent, Dollar General.   And last but not least, the label was successfully scanned when the package was dropped off, it was successfully scanned when the driver picked it up, but now at the shipping hub there is a shipping exception:  "barcode unreadable and replaced."   And it took 28 hours from pickup to get to that status.

In labelling hundreds of USPS and UPS shipments over the years in exactly the same way, paper taped to packages, I've never had a damaged label issue.  So, who might be responsible for damaging the label between pickup and hub scan?

Also, the exception status is not posted to eBay--I found that on the FedEx web site.

I can't wait to see what FedEx back charges me for replacing the label.

Ship of fools indeed. 

[rfmtm]

@kosmosattik  Your UPS website rate quote appears to be the full retail rate without any discounts.   Also with the Simple Rate turned off (which generally gets you the best prices), what you are seeing is the rate for dimensional weight since it exceeds the actual weight.

If you post the to/from Zip Codes, I'll run the cost with the PayPal discounts, which generally are maybe a $1 or so more than the ebay discounts.

You can still get the PayPal discounts applied to your existing account by going to PayPal and setting up UPS shipping and rather than creating another account just input you existing account number.  Note they take a few days to show up for use on the UPS website, but immediately available through PayPal shipping.

One important note about ebay FedEx quotes is they rarely are what is actually billed, and always on the low side.

If you want your listings to show the discounted rates to your buyer, you must make sure the option to pass on your shipping discounts is enabled in your ebay shipping preferences.

[kosmosattik]

@rfmtm

The reason I turned off Simple Rate is because the package dimensions were too large for that option.  The example is 8208 cubic inches.  The max for Simple Rate is shown as 1728 cubic inches.  It's still not clear to me why they note a 50 lbs. weight class for an 11 lb. package.

If the PayPal rate is generally $1 more than the eBay rate, what's the advantage?

I appreciate your offer.  Could you could run 24" x 19" x 18", 11 lbs., from 14092 to 77382 through your UPS/PayPal setup for comparison to eBay's $44.84 rate.  Yes, I always charge the buyer for shipping with eBay discounts turned on.  What I see is what they get

[rfmtm]

With the PayPal discount UPS would be $45.74.  So not even a dollar more than ebay. 

The advantage is you get to deal with UPS directly and not have ebay involved should there be any problem.  This alone is worth paying the extra $1.   Also using you own account lets you use all the available UPS options. 

Ebay also forces all rates to residential so you're paying a surcharge even for commercial addresses and this also invokes lower weight limits. 

Even without the PayPal discount the current discount code: THRIVE gets you 45% off retail using the UPS website.

[kosmosattik]

@rfmtm

Thanks a lot for taking the trouble.  Since PayPal requires that I actually have a package to ship before setting up the UPS account with them I probably won't be doing that.  It amounts to another experiment with a sold item which I try to avoid.  I'd need to see some meaningful savings.   eBay alone provides enough experiments with our live production, uncompensated, beta testing.

Frankly, having shipped hundreds of packages with USPS and UPS eBay labels over the years, I've never had one not delivered so far as I know.   No one has ever complained about non-receipt except once with one of those cheapo USPS sport card mailings that tend to get lost in the ether with dead end tracking and it showed up the next day anyway.  I won't use that sport card method again.

Using eBay print label with USPS and UPS I've never had a shipping back charge, never had a return to sender, never had a package reported as damaged.  In fact, I've never had a "not as described," a request for return, or any backlash whatsoever.

Given what you say, I'll stick with the convenience and simplicity of eBay print for USPS and UPS, drive three miles to the Post Office or UPS store, get a weigh-in with the weight printed on the receipt.  No muss, no fuss.

[rfmtm]

@kosmosattik  Sounds good.  I never had a problem with ebay USPS either so that is my preferred method for postal items. 

As far as UPS, in the past ebay always sent you to PayPal for UPS, and that worked too.  Right now most of anything I ship UPS, requires options I can only get on the UPS site.

The bottom line is, like you originally posted, FedEx is a Ship of Fools, especially ebay's FedEx. 

[kosmosattik]

Now we're beyond blaming Dollar General.   Recap:

Dropped at Dollar General on 8/11.  I witnessed the scan which appears in tracking; nothing wrong with the bar code.  Estimated delivery 8/17.

FedEx pickup on 8/16 per tracking, Having missed two pick-up days.   Estimated delivery bumped to 8/20 per the FedEx web site.

28 hours after pickup, FedEx posts an "exception" for bar code not readable on 8/17 at 3:18 PM, with a replacement label printed three minutes later.   Did the driver not make his way to the hub on the day of pickup?

Despite FedEx and their agent f'ing this up, are they hustling the package to it's destination?   No, they are not.  The three minutes it took them to reprint a label which they damaged has added 3 days to estimated delivery--now 8/23.

7 days, still at the local hub, will it show "in transit" by tomorrow?  I'm not holding my breath.   

[kosmosattik]

@wastingtime101 

"We haven't even gotten to the part yet where this is a fairly large package, so you might see an extra charge on your monthly bill based on dimensional weight."

This is a dimensional / weight shipment.  I pack, measure and weigh before listing.  My weights are accurate as evidenced by past weigh-ins at the post office and UPS store.  My dimensions are  accurate.

Not so many months ago there was a disclaimer in the eBay shipping calculator for FedEx rates saying various surcharges may apply--fuel surcharges and others of a vague description.   That disclaimer no longer appears.   Had it appeared when I listed this item I would not have attempted this experiment.  I figured there was a chance eBay got on FedEx's case for getting barraged with upcharge complaints or FedEx cleaned up their act to be competitive in light of underperforming sales.

We'll see.  I am wondering what they will upcharge for reprinting a label they damaged.

I was going say Fred Smith is rolling in his grave only to discover he is still alive and still the FedEx CEO at 77 years of age.

[kosmosattik]

Final update:

The package arrived 6 days (4 business days) late relative to the original estimate. 

The shipping charge was billed back through eBay today and was actually $0.38 less than what eBay calculated and the buyer paid.  Go figure.  Better than a sharp stick in the eye upcharge.

Only about 1/3 of my buyers post feedback, but in this case even if the buyer was very pleased with the purchase, no feedback would be appropriate given the shipping delay.

If I had an actual FedEx store nearby I might try them again.  They don't so I won't.