DHL. Fedex, or UPS?

[ecommerceprofit]

Which is the best company to partner with? In terms of price, lost packages, service, technology savy, etc. We currently use DHL but are considering a switch. I know no company is perfect but overall which is best?

[jwurunner]

Hi,
We have been using Fedex for 6 years now and have been quite pleased. We use the following services:

Fedex Ground
Fedex Ground Canada
Fedex Home Delivery
Fedex Express
Fedex Express International

Depending on your volume, they give an excellent incentive package. As for technology, they have falen a little behind but help with 3rd party software. Unlike UPS, Fedex will take care of damage claim and lost packages. They have a dedicated team for solve most issues along with the local reps whom are quite empowered.
We have had nothing but issues getting UPS to do anything let alone give give us respect. They claim all damaged and lost packages are our fault.
Granted, we have probably had a better experience with Fedex than most but we are not complaining.

[hfwd]

We use UPS & have never had any issue with damaged shipment. When they lose shipments (rare, but it happens - such as when they leave packages without signatures), they never give us a hard time about refunds & insurance.

We haven't had much experience w/ FedEx. Their overnight department & Ground are very different (as far as I know, FedEx Ground delivery is franchised out or outsourced). Before we moved to a new city, FedEx Ground was horrible - the shipments never came on time. Now, it's actually decent.

DHL is good for overseas destinations, especially Asia. We use it to ship some time-sensitive stuff there. They're making a very concerted effort as a viable option in addition to UPS & FedEx. For a while, we considered them but their Ground service was spotty (probably growing pains). It's supposed to be much better now. DHL is more likely to offer you discounts to win your business.

Don't forget to consider postal - priority mail is fast & cheap. It's also quite reliable for most deliveries.

[sja65]

With all three, a lot of it comes down to your sales rep. We currently use UPS, and don't have any problem with claims. I'm in the process of adding FedEx, but there software is so buggy it is almost unusable (if you are on floating discounts, their rate request software does not return the proper rates - for online transactions, that makes it hard to estimate your costs). I can't even get the local DHL rep to return calls.

I'm sure others have had better responses from DHL, and worse from UPS. If you don't run into the technical problems with FedEx, they may be fine too. You may just want to get a feel for your local reps and the discounts they can give you.

[Corey Bryant]

On a consumer side, I prefer UPS or Fed-Ex. DHL contracts with the USPS and nothing against them, but we have a lot of problems getting our mail at home. Every other day we have a new mailman. So I would rather use a company that I trust and pay for the shipping and handling myself.

-Corey

[ecommerceprofit]

These are great replies :-) Thank you all! I should add my own experiences with DHL so others searching for similar info. in the future will benefit.

I have used Airborne (now DHL) since 2001. I originally used Airborne because their rates were super cheap and ground packages would get to destinations across the U.S. quickly - I heard it was because they used air for everything in the beginning. The company has gone through a lot with the integration from Airborne to now DHL. The company had major problems with pickups - this has been solved for us. The rates are as good as UPS/Fedex for Ground but not as good for air. The technology is getting better every day. I just wish it was better - there is no way for us to see if a package was delivered on time or not unless a customer tells us - UPS claims we will know with them using their system and they say they will beat their price on air.

[philbish]

I've been quite happy with UPS and USPS

[guitarslinger]

Here in the UK we use UPS and are very happy. Been using them for two years and only had one problem with them not wanting to pay for damaged item. And it was a marginal call.

We use their standard service for delivery to UK, ireland and Europe and get some MAJOR discount off tariff. Around 65% up to 30kg. We don't ship *that* much either, so we are quite happy. The rep for our area returns calls and is happy to do a deal so long as your shipping levels have gone up since the last time he checked.

Their UPS online shipping is AWESOME! Get a daily pick up and just print out their shipping labels online - stick them in a pouch - off u go. BOSH!

[ecommerceprofit]

After 4 years I switched from DHL to UPS - mainly due to UPS having 3 day service and because of better technology tools

[SlimKim]

what you ship may figure into the equation

about a year ago I ordered a fancy top of the line computer online and also a nice 19' flat screen from another popular online store

i ordered from two places cuz neither had exactly what i wanted of each

both were shipped by Fedex

I got the computer right away but the big-expensive-realtively-small-package-lightweight flatscreen disappeared at the Memphis hub

they could track it to Memphis, but didn't know what happened to it then

Course they wait 20 days (I think it was) on big ticket items in hopes they will surface before paying you. I figure stuff like that happens, so i order the same item again ... you guessed it ... they tracked it to Memphis again and it vanished into thin air.

So I wait another 20 days, get my refund and go to BestBuy and pick out a suitable model.

I'd buy another computer online but not a monitor :)