[cashflyer]

Over the last 7 years, I have used FedEx, UPS, DHL & USPS. These are my experiences and YMMV.

UPS: Damaged a LOT of our packages. Finally quit using them for anything about 4 years ago.

Fedex GROUND: Damaged a LOT of our packages. LOST one package valued at over $15k. After a week of me calling them and them not being able to find it, I told the hub manager that I was going to have to refer it to homeland security due to the package contents. Amazingly, he called me back 20 minutes later and had found the package.

Fedex Express: Have damaged approximately 8 shipments over the last 4 years. Of those 8, they have paid only 1 damage claim. But overall, the service is good and deliveries on-time.

DHL: They caused me some grief with my most valued customer and that was the end of them.

USPS: Any documents and overnight letters are always sent by USPS. They are cheaper than the others and the price you pay at the counter is the price. No up-charges later.

With FedEx, I have found that one of the best moves you can make is to be sure you KNOW your customer representative, and that he/she knows you.

With all of them, the damaged goods policy is to deny the claim. They will find an excuse or reason, or just jerk you around until you give up. I used to do some B2B work with FedEx and discovered that they are "self insured". This gives them a much higher incentive to screw you over.

And for anyone who does not know, when entering your package dimensions always enter the largest number first. It has to do with how they make their calculations for oversized packages, and entering this way gives a cheaper rate. IE: 17x17x60 costs more than 60x17x17.