I’ve had that too. Mine went to Los Angeles post office twice. Then back to NY to me. Ten days and a phone call to that LA post Office. Nightmare. Started out in Minneapolis.
Around here, and maybe all over, FedEx Ground and FedEx are separate entities under the FedEx umbrella.
They FedEx Ground unit may use contracted drivers.
FedEx drivers are company employees. These are the traditional FedEx where you're getting the 2 day, Overnight Priority, or Overnight by that evening.
FedEx Freight are the big boys who deliver the very large commercial loads to businesses. For freight customers that a delivery may be delayed due to destination Freight terminal issues such as overload, they may contract with a known local Hotshot truck to bring your load, after consulting with you.
You would still get a bill of lading, and PRO number as required by a few governmental mental entities.
When I get something by Fed Ex, I always opt for one of the Express services with the guaranteed delivery.
Never had an issue
@bigkid posted:They aren't. Fed Ex and UPS people are employees of the company, not contractors (they may use temp workers at high volume times of the year, like now, but that is not contractors), and the idea that a logistics company like UPS and Fedex would allow having no set schedule and showing up when they wanted is quite frankly mind boggling. Both of them are known for their logistics (both companies have as far as I know a service division that sells their supply chain logistics to outside companies, act as consultants, etc). The way delivery systems work that would be sheer chaos, when they have to coordinate stuff flying in from someplace, getting offloaded, possibly flown or trucked another place. There is a whole branch of math called path theory that governs getting things from point A to point B, that governs delivery of packages and messages on a computer network. I know Fedex does hire contracting firms in some cases for final delivery, or they use USPS, but again that is a very different thing, those involve contracts with a firm that has SLA's with it and so forth.
I suspect what this refers to is that Amazon has its own delivery service, but it also hires outside delivery firms to deliver for them (as well as UPS, Fedex or USPS), lot of those 'white vans' are outside services. Again, though, it isn't having people working for them who come in when they want, do what they want when they want to.
Sorry but this isn't totally accurate. Remember that FedEx is actually several companies under the FedEx umbrella. FedEx Express, FedEx Freight and FedEx Ground all are subsidiaries of FedEx Corporation. FedEx Ground drivers are primarily owner/operators, independent contractors who control individual delivery routes and territories (just do a google search). Also, I have a friend who is a FedEx Ground owner/operator. He started with one truck and one route when FedEx Ground started at RPS Package back in the late 1980s. Today he has contracts for many delivery routes.
Question , could it be for example that Fed Ex Ground in Kansas is better or worse than Fed Ex Ground in Central Wisconsin ? Maybe there are regional differences. I’ve had problems with all shippers and been pleasantly surprised by all.
@train steve posted:Question , could it be for example that Fed Ex Ground in Kansas is better or worse than Fed Ex Ground in Central Wisconsin ? Maybe there are regional differences. I’ve had problems with all shippers and been pleasantly surprised by all.
Yes it is highly possible since FedEx Ground deliveries are primarily operated by independent owner/operators who have contracted routes. Although I'm sure FedEx has delivery standards as a part of the contracts, there are most likely differences in the quality of service offered by different contractors.
@train steve posted:Question , could it be for example that Fed Ex Ground in Kansas is better or worse than Fed Ex Ground in Central Wisconsin ? Maybe there are regional differences. I’ve had problems with all shippers and been pleasantly surprised by all.
The last 20 years of my professional career, I lived in three towns/cities, each within 150 mile radius of Indianapolis (IN). The only constant was that FedEx was my absolute last choice for shipping in all three areas. Two - USPS gave great service, one - UPS gave great service. So, yeah, it differs.
Steve
