Much of the time I ship large items like box is at least 24" one side 18" one side 10" on the other (like carry on luggage for example)
I was choosing UPS Ground Saver or UPS Ground, whichever was cheapest. I've rarely had issues with UPS and The UPS Store is a 5 min drive. I have been seeing some inconsistency recently with dropping of 6 packages at 11am and 3 arrived at the distribution center at 6pm and made it on the truck and the other 3 arrived at like 9:30p and didn't go out from the dist center until the next day! This seems to be an issue specific with driver changes for that specific UPS store but kind of irritating.
The other thing is I got like 1 in 15 cost adjustments with slight increases when I was 100% sure my dimensions were accurate and weight was actual plus a few ounces for safety. An item I know weighed only 12 pounds I get an adjustment saying ship weight of 30 pounds (I'm assuming that's dimensional weight.) Maybe I wasn't wearing my reading glasses when reading the tape measure though. 1 in 15 minor adjustments isn't much to worry about I guess.
I forgot the Office Depot has a FedEx Ship Center inside and it's a 2 min drive. LOL. I also noticed the FedEx Ground rates on large items are bit less most the time than UPS. Only downside is the cut off time for the driver to pickup to take to the distribution center is about 1.5 hours earlier at Office Depot than the UPS Store but 95% of the time that won't matter really to me.
So I'm thinking of switching from UPS to FedEx. What I'm mainly concerned about is reliability and upcharges. My understanding is UPS Ground Saver is the same as FedEx Home Delivery in that the final leg is USPS? And the $100 insurance for lost packages won't apply to UPS Ground Saver if USPS loses it on the final leg! I try to avoid those unless they are way cheaper than regular ground as in my experiencing sending anything that has to go through USPS is less reliable than UPS or FedEx at least on Ground shipping.
Curious other's experiences between UPS and FedEx Ground for shipping large items? I won't walk into a USPS location unless absolutely necessary. LOL. I also ship same day up of receiving payment by 2PM and don't sell a lot consistently so always take the packages in myself.
