Fed-Ex Delivery Sucks

Wow, Mack, you really ran into a pair of jems, didn't ya!

Honestly though, there are jerks like that at EVERY company, just at some companies there are less of them!

 

I have had nothing but good service on bike parts I get delivered by fed ex...

yeah I would prefer the ships to be made with ups - (union thing)...


but fed ex does fine at my place - *shrug*

 

..........Ok, Ok...I've had enough of this stuff. Everyone is saying we (I work for Fedx) are always breaking and tossing around peoples pkgs. This is so far from the truth. Now keep in mind, just cause the truck sez Fedex on the side,dsnt mean it is an actual Federal Express from out of Memphis trained unit..

What I mean is that when I started at Fed, were had training on how to handle peoples pkgs as if they were our own. So much that if an empoloyee or handler is seen tossing a pkg or kicking a pkg it can lead to instant termination..

Keep in mind, Im talking about Fedex Express..Do any of you know the difference? From what I have read, it dsnt seem like it.In the 21 yrs I have been with the company we have bought about maybe 8 different companies.

The way to tell is by looking at the last two letter..EX..if those letters are orange, that is the original Federal Express...If the letters are red, that is ground, the old American freight lines...If they are green, thats the old RPS,Roadway Pkg Service..and so on and so on and so on...all the while remembering that they were just scooped up in a business deal that the employees probably didnt have any idea what was happening and also keep in mind they have not had all the training that we at Federal Express have had about pkg handling and service.


I notice Im reading that pkgs are always thrown in the truck and probably bounced around alot..That cant happen at Fedex Express, we are taught how to pack a container with pkgs to the point where if one is pulled out you almost hear air being released..Kidding. But there is a way we pack them where they dont bounce around so that when they get to a sta to be offloaded on the conveyer belt an carried to the area truck that is gonna deliver it, there is hardly any human touching a pkg till it gets to the destination of delivery.


NEXT...On the subject of leaving pkgs at doors.We are instructed by the shipper to get a signature only if the customer requests it, when a pkg is left at the door w/o a sig,its because the cust has whats called a "signature release" on file..

What that means is we can leave a pkg in a safe location with a comment stating where the pkg was left without a signature so that the pkg will be waiting for the recp when he or she gets home.


Everyone is trained in different ways, we at Fedex Express will always try to make pkg delivery/shipping an easy expierence and will take care of your pkg as it was our own..We have whats called the Golden Pkg theory. I wont go into detail on it but it does involve treating your pkg with extra care.


So in closing, just cause it sez Fedex, dsnt mean its an original Federal Express trained person. He may be an ex American, Roadway Pkg, Kinkos,Watkins or whoever the heck else Fedex is buying today. So if you see someone with a Fedex shirt and Fedex truck,dsnt mean its an original Federal Express Corp employee. Hope that helps gets some things straight.

 

Great post FedEx Guy,

All those divisions of FedEx would sure leave customers confused too! I remember delivering to customers, after one of y'all had just left, only to hear "but the Fedex guy was just here?!" Or, when they would give us (ground) an express package; if I tried to explain why I wasn't supposed to take it, I would just get a blank stare in return (much the same stare you get when someone hands you a package with a PRP tag on it, and you say 'no, sorry'). After a while, I just grabbed it and handed it off to one of the many Express folks I would cross passes with, or drop it in a dropbox (we had a daily express P/U at our terminal, but I was always late getting back and would miss the driver).

And finally, we weren't nicknamed 'Rapid Package Smashers' for nothing, I have seen handlers (and drivers) mishandle packages like there's no tomorrow. But it does go both ways: One daily pickup, became mine after UPS (United Package Smashers) so mishandled their freight, that almost every one shipped came back. They made decorative shutters, the packages were almost always an oversize 1 or 2 (mostly pretty wide), and would come back with the louvers broken. And once the driver stepped on one right in front of the customer, then tried to say it wasn't him, someone had done it before- despite the shutter being packed in clean cardboard, with no marks or anything on it!

 

How do you explain leaving a firearm at the door step with an over 21 signature required? How do you explain customer service that states said firearm was deliver and it was my problem. How do you explain the reappearance of said firearm the next day at 8am, after a phone call to the ATF? This has happened to me three separate times over 2 years (2001 thru 2003). All firearms are shipped overnight express.

Mark

 

Fact is that it doesn't matter which LTL you are talking about, all of us have our problems. There is just no way you can handle as much freight as we do, going through as many hands as our freight does, that there won't be damage to a lot of stuff.

While I don't work for any of the above mentioned companies, I do work for a regional LTL. It really frosts me to see the way freight is treated. And of course, it is always THE OTHER GUYS fault.

But looking realistically at it:

1 Freight is picked up by one truck/driver.
2 Then transfered to dock.
3 Then put on line haul.
4 Then transfered to dock.
5 Then put on another line haul, (this can go on and on.)
6 Then put on dock.
7 Then put on delivery truck.
8 Then delivered by one truck/driver.

Of course, if you are talking interlink, then you have that many more transfers. Everytime the freight is handled, there is that much more chance it will get damaged. And lets face it, some of the dock help is a little less than proud of their work.

I find it a real wonder that anything gets through the system without being smashed, bent, broken, mangled etc.

Then I am the one who has to explain to the customer why their extremely fragile widget is in bits and pieces instead of one nice shiney piece.

Add to this the extremely intelligent shipper who trys to get you to pick up a shipment that is totally unprotected, not realizing that his widget is going to go in with general freight. He has no idea, that his glass table top is probably going to have a transmission riding on top of it, going down the highway. In a trailer that is sprung, instead of air ride. Can you say "bounce?"

I just love it when you get one small item from a shipper, and he asks you "so are you going to be the driver who delivers this?" when it is going clear across the country.

It is amazing to me the number of people who work in receiving and shipping, who just haven't a clue about the movement of freight.

 

Ordered two gallons of paint for a Chris Craft. Not just any paint will do. Only a few companies that still make the right tone of red for the Bilges. I am talking about antiques boats... pre WW II. got home on a Sunday and the box was in a trash bag.. thought how nice to keep the box from getting wet.. luckly i took the package to my shop instead of leaving it inside the house.. opened the bag the next day.. paint smell..not good.. humm..corner of brown box is red.. opened the box and luckly the shipper put the two cans in a plastic bag. both can lids were popped open.. you could see the dents in the sides of them.. in fact you could not see the cans due to all the paint on them. took pictures and called FEDEX.. was told the shipper has to file a claim... still two months later and the shipper and myself are still fighting with FEDEX.. only $120 worth of paint... and FEDEX actually admitted they did the damage... I told them.. I paid for the paint.. so I want my money.. song and dance, song and dance....arggggg

 

Man, that sucks. I had a similar experience; the dock folks (also know as QC, quality Control, HA!) tried to push a few cases of HM on me, for delivery. The boxes were wet and stunk (it was some kind of corrosive, a plastic bottle in a box) and I flat out said no, the product was obviously leaking. They took the boxes away, only to return a little bit later with the bottles repacked into clean, new boxes.

Well, low and behold, the bottles were leaking, and had rewet the new boxes. So I obviously said no, and thought the issue was over. Ten minutes later, here comes the P&D manager, ready to write me up if I don't take the packages. I told her flat out, if she forced me to take the packages, I would call the Livonia (MI) Fire department and tell them that I had a HM situation with possible spill. Taa Daa! Mission accomplished!

 

Way to go WB. If more drivers showed a little backbone it would make things better for all. Some of these Hitler wanna bees need to be put in their place. Years ago I worked for MFML. They would send us out for swaps form FTW terminal to Grand Prairie. Single axle rig and supposed to pickup trailer w/ 45,000 lbs. We quit griping and started calling DPS and telling them the route we would be driving and they were always waiting. Dispatcher got tired of getting his butt chewed and things changed.