FedEx Trumps UPS

ByHeather

Fed ExA few years ago Book of Joe inspired me to open a personal FedEx account. His logic was impeccable and extremely practical. Since then I have shipped numerous packages enabled by the wonderful tools on my account at the FedEx web site. Some of the outstanding features include:

  • Create the order online.
  • Print the shipping lable.
  • Send emails to yourself, the recipient, and any third party when the item is picked up, delivered and if there is any interruption in the delivery.
  • Track your shipments based on your account history.

A few weeks ago we moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. We now live a stone’s throw from a UPS Store so when I had a few packages to ship recently I decided to give the competitor a try. I logged on to UPS.com and created an account. Within minutes I had created three entries in my address book and printed three shipping labels.

I dropped the packages at the nearby UPS Store and declined a receipt. I mean, why bother with a paper record right? I assumed I could just go home and track the shipping status via my online account, where I had created the shipments!

Imagine my surprise when I logged onto my UPS.com account later that evening and could find no record of my shipments. The UPS online system has no tools to keep track of history. My packages are gone and I have no idea what the tracking numbers are. I guess I will call my family tomorrow and see if they arrived.

I am sure that the UPS shipping tools for corporate customers have all the history and tracking that one could want. But for a personal account, my money is with FedEx.

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