I did not want to derail Comet24s Amazon rant, so I will add another delivery whine. The folks at my FedEx hub are great to me. The delivery side of things, not so great:
I ordered something from Dell and they said I would get it today. Of course, a signature is required so I am house bound until they show up.
I hear the truck come down into my parking lot and the delivery dude parks, opens the sliding door and trots to my neighbors townhouse. He knocks once, trots back to the truck and blasts off like a Saturn rocket. Wait... No joy for me? I grab my keys and sprint for my truck. On the way I notice that there was no package at the neighbors (why knock?) and no failed delivery notice either. I am losing the chase until delivery dude pulls over into a business lot and I catch him. He tells me that he has no package for me and that it will be delivered by another truck "from a different division". I thought this was BS. I drove home and about 10 minutes later, here comes another FedEx truck. I greet this guy in the lot to prevent any escape and.... He has my box! And the last kicker: No signature required!
Now you know why FedEx shipping costs so much. So they can send multiple trucks to the same address. And then not deliver anything!

FedEx has 2 seperate divisions, Ground is one, and Express (overnight) is the other.

They don’t mix.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:

FedEx has 2 seperate divisions, Ground is one, and Express (overnight) is the other.

They don’t mix.

I believe, not positive, that Express is actually handled by Fedex, and Ground is handled by contract companies that represent themselves as Fedex.

At least it was delivered. My oil sample was sent to Blackstone on the 4th and is officially lost thanks to the USPS somewhere in their Atlanta distribution center. Called the postmaster and it seemed like business as usual to him. Thankfully it wasn’t something valuable. Needless to say I won’t be using them again.

The shipping label was pre-paid by Blackstone but from now on I’ll just pay and use UPS.

There are two consumer delivery divisions of FedEx... FedEx EXPRESS and GROUND.

Express is actually FedEx and is 100% their own employees. This is the overnight/2nd day stuff. Ground on the other hand used to be a company called RPS. They are all contract companies that own the routes and simply deliver on behalf of FDX. The ground guys are the worst- My neighbor down the street from me owns a few routes around here and simply hires the cheapest labor that he can get. There is no incentive to do a good job because the faster they deliver the quicker they go home. They are also paid by the piece as well.

I chose to purchase an item for $50 rather than send a lead dispenser back to the mother ship for warranty work (free) due to FedEx. No terminal near me. 40 minute drive each way. Dealing with unmotivated associates. For $50 I'll gladly forgo all of it.

The second (actual delivery) had "express" written on it. Other dude must have been ground.

Ah, the very rare complaint about receiving something someone ordered. I don't understand these posts.

In order to be more clear, the complaint was about a delivery service coming to a residence, but not actually delivering anything. Which I would guess is something someone paid for.

quote:

Originally posted by qxsoup:
There are two consumer delivery divisions of FedEx... FedEx EXPRESS and GROUND.

Express is actually FedEx and is 100% their own employees. This is the overnight/2nd day stuff. Ground on the other hand used to be a company called RPS. They are all contract companies that own the routes and simply deliver on behalf of FDX. The ground guys are the worst- My neighbor down the street from me owns a few routes around here and simply hires the cheapest labor that he can get. There is no incentive to do a good job because the faster they deliver the quicker they go home. They are also paid by the piece as well.

Ask your neighbor about the fines he has to pay if packages aren't delivered properly, or if his guys miss a pickup. The route owners are monetarily held responsible to make sure their drivers do a good job.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:

FedEx has 2 seperate divisions, Ground is one, and Express (overnight) is the other.

They don’t mix.

I believe, not positive, that Express is actually handled by Fedex, and Ground is handled by contract companies that represent themselves as Fedex.

That's a positive. Never had issues with FedEx Express. But, the Ground assholes stole an AR upper I sold several years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by Ox190:

quote:

Originally posted by qxsoup:
There are two consumer delivery divisions of FedEx... FedEx EXPRESS and GROUND.

Express is actually FedEx and is 100% their own employees. This is the overnight/2nd day stuff. Ground on the other hand used to be a company called RPS. They are all contract companies that own the routes and simply deliver on behalf of FDX. The ground guys are the worst- My neighbor down the street from me owns a few routes around here and simply hires the cheapest labor that he can get. There is no incentive to do a good job because the faster they deliver the quicker they go home. They are also paid by the piece as well.

Ask your neighbor about the fines he has to pay if packages aren't delivered properly, or if his guys miss a pickup. The route owners are monetarily held responsible to make sure their drivers do a good job.

To the OP quoted, drivers are usually paid a salary by their boss, who is contracted to FedEx. This provides incentive to the drivers to work as quickly as possible. Hourly rates can be applied to part-timers and those people working overtime. In my experience, most of the drivers are conscientious about their jobs and do good work. There are a few who are absolute fucktards, though.

To the second poster, around here, the fine is $400 each instance for verified customer complaints or missed pick-ups and deliveries.

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:
At least it was delivered. My oil sample was sent to Blackstone on the 4th and is officially lost thanks to the USPS somewhere in their Atlanta distribution center. Called the postmaster and it seemed like business as usual to him. Thankfully it wasn’t something valuable. Needless to say I won’t be using them again.

The shipping label was pre-paid by Blackstone but from now on I’ll just pay and use UPS.

Go to your local Caterpillar dealer. They sell an oil sample kit (bottle/pre-paid shipping label, etc.) about $30 includes sampling it, postage each way and BUT it is done by a regional Caterpillar dealer that has a special facility for oil samples. Caterpillars S.O.S. service is excellent and the regional facility might be really close to you and you could drive it there, mine is 45 minutes away. They do samples for any type of oil,engine,gear, coolant etc.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

Go to your local Caterpillar dealer. They sell an oil sample kit (bottle/pre-paid shipping label, etc.) about $30 includes sampling it, postage each way and BUT it is done by a regional Caterpillar dealer that has a special facility for oil samples. Caterpillars S.O.S. service is excellent and the regional facility might be really close to you and you could drive it there, mine is 45 minutes away. They do samples for any type of oil,engine,gear, coolant etc.

We, and everybody at the airport who does oil analysis tracking, use Blackstone. Does Caterpillar do aircraft engine analysis?