7 ms·
It's interesting to me that as Amazon and Walmart vertically integrate shipping, FedEx and UPS haven't responded by integrating fulfillment and warehousing.
by gok 7y ago
It's interesting to me that as Amazon and Walmart vertically integrate shipping, FedEx and UPS haven't responded by integrating fulfillment and warehousing.
- flavor8 7y agoThey seem to be dinosaurs. If the UPS website is any indication, they're deeply dysfunctional. Mind you, they're both worlds above USPS.
- dleslie 7y agoAs a Canadian, I greatly prefer USPS as it reaches my door by way of Canada Post. UPS, FedEx and DHL will leave packages in the open, if they deliver them at all. I work from home, and often they would claim delivery attempt when no such attempt was made. If they do happen to attempt and a signature is required but I am out, the nearest pickup location is an hour away. Whereas Canada Post always attempts, and if I am out they will leave the package at the nearest post office, which is a short walk away. Maybe USPS would have more value if it weren't being run into the ground? Canada Post performs reasonably well, after all.
- magashna 7y agoUSPS is run like a private company while also having the burden of being a gov entity.
- toomuchtodo 7y agoUSPS is a public utility that unreasonable people put for profit expectations on.
- zrail 7y agoUSPS is a public utility that unreasonable people in Congress put ridiculous requirements on.
- dleslie 7y agoCanada Post is run like a private company while being a Crown Corporation. It makes a small and reasonable profit, and bizarrely, sometimes the Tories try to kill it because it profits. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Post https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Post
- tomca32 7y agoDepends on the location. In NYC, USPS is far more reliable than UPS or Fedex. Just because they can actually get into buildings and leave packages inside.
- thinnerlizzy 7y agoNot in my part of Brooklyn. Don’t even think about getting a package shipped to your home address in my zip code.
- atombender 7y agoBrooklyn tenant here, absolutely not. USPS misdelivers all the time. FedEx tends to claim to attempt to deliver a package, leaving a delivery tag on the entrance door (usually indecipherable). Their redeliveries are unreliable, and my package tends to be put in a locker outside a nearby supermarket. UPS is solid.
- tomca32 7y agoFunny how that is different in different parts of the city. I'm in Astoria and USPS is the only reliable carrier for my packages. UPS is okay but they don't have the key so often can't get into the building. Fedex just straight up lies about deliveries and often never attempts them. By far the worst carrier.
- rootusrootus 7y agoI adore USPS. They are by far the most reliable carrier for last-mile delivery, at least in my city. And they have an added bonus that they can leave smaller packages in my locked mailbox. UPS isn't too bad, to be fair. But FedEx, good riddance. Usually takes two attempts for them to figure out how to get something on my front doorstep.
- pault 7y agoMy experience is the opposite; I always get fedex and ups packages on time, but my local usps branch frequently delivers late and often claims they attempted to deliver a package when I was home and nobody knocked or rang the doorbell.
- flavor8 7y agoUSPS won't attempt last mile delivery for me, requiring me to drive into town to pick up packages. The other two will deliver to my door. Post office staff here are surly. UPS and Fedex drivers are bright and friendly. Obviously it varies by location.
- leesalminen 7y agoSame here. Rural area. Our mail carriers are contractors nowadays and even getting a properly addressed standard size envelope in my mailbox reliably is near impossible for them.
- Consultant32452 7y agoThe primary function of USPS, as far as I can tell, is to deliver spam. For the privilege of occasionally getting useful mail or a package, I have to subsidize USPS by maintaining a box in my yard for them to fill with that spam.
- leesalminen 7y agoIt amazes me that the environmental activists haven’t taken this up as an issue yet. The amount of spam I receive is enormous and there’s no way out.
- briandear 7y agoA website is just a public face, it isn’t the product. Fedex has extremely sophisticated systems — they just aren’t written in React with pretty graphic design.
- flavor8 7y agoHave you tried, for example, the ebay/UPS integration? It's a disaster. It's expected by their customer support that while the UPS site shows the ebay credentials that they won't work for at least an hour. Have you interacted with UPS's technical support on anything? They're a disaster, and aside from the example I mentioned have in the past waved off other bugs as being expected. Have you tried shipping in general using UPS's website? You need to understand a lot about their system to really use it (for a simple example, the difference between "UPS account" and "having a working login under which you've provided your EIN").
- paulsutter 7y agoUPS and FedEx are huge in logistics. Their world hubs are surrounded by warehouses https://youtu.be/pQDMFqgw2Fk https://youtu.be/pQDMFqgw2Fk
- hangonhn 7y agoGood god, if they did that and integrated with Square and Shopify, it would be amazing. I like to think if there are companies out there who knows quite a bit about logistics, it would be UPS and FedEx. Although someone else might need to bring the warehousing expertise.
- kill_nate_kill 7y agoC'mon XPO Logistics...
- speby 7y agoXPO Logistics has this service offering. It's called XPO Direct.
- mauvehaus 7y agoRead Uncommon Carriers, by John McPhee, which contains the essay "Out in the Sort" [0]. UPS actually does do some 3rd party fulfillment and warehousing. The essay doesn't go into too much detail, but I get the sense that they're targeting smaller volume, higher margin customers. I further get the sense that they're doing so on the basis of being able to deliver small quantities of an item anywhere in the country ASAP while keeping required inventory levels low (because they do the warehousing near their hub). N.B. It's a 14 year old article at this point. Things may have changed. [0] Or if you're a New Yorker subscriber: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/04/18/out-in-the-sort https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/04/18/out-in-the-sor...
- blakesterz 7y agoRead absolutely ANYTHING by John McPhee! He's the best nonfiction writer alive today, he can make anything into an interesting story. Oranges, canoes, geology, fishing...
- reaperducer 7y ago...people who create wildlife population estimates by cataloging the roadkill in Georgia.
- tyre 7y agoAlso his book on writing, Draft No. 4.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- ctdonath 7y agoGreat point. If FedEx/UPS were to simply view inventory as packages awaiting an updated shipping address, and outsource a catalog service, they could easily compete.
- icelancer 7y agoAt least UPS does this. We've been offered it by UPS. The rates are insane and are not remotely competitive with Amazon or third-party options... but they exist.
- djsumdog 7y agoThe service is different though. If you use Amazon as your warehouse, on the lower tiers, you just ship inventory and they sort it by SKU .. for all stores! So some supplier could store a bunch of counterfeits with the same SKU, someone orders from your store, and your customer get a counterfeit (even if you've only shipped real products). .. This is one big reason most sex toy manufacturers won't sell to retailers that have Amazon stores. I'm going to guess UPS keeps warehousing separate per vendor.
- londons_explore 7y agoYou can easily use a different SKU if you want to avoid this. Most people like to use the same SKU to get more exposure on amazon.com though.
- sjaknanxnnx 7y agoCan the counterfeiter just copy your new SKU?
- namibj 7y agoYes.
- tuvan 7y agoInteresting, does Amazon do anything for damages when someone buys something thinking it is sold by you and receive a counterfeit?
- ABeeSea 7y agoAmazon famously doesn’t really sort any of their inventory. It’s more efficient to place inventory randomly. https://classic.qz.com/perfect-company-2/1172282/this-company-built-one-of-the-worlds-most-efficient-warehouses-by-embracing-chaos/ https://classic.qz.com/perfect-company-2/1172282/this-compan...
- segmondy 7y agoI know FedEx does both.
- reaperducer 7y agoIt's interesting to me that as Amazon and Walmart vertically integrate shipping, FedEx and UPS haven't responded by integrating fulfillment and warehousing. Actually, UPS does: https://www.ups.com/us/en/services/e-commerce/efulfillment.page https://www.ups.com/us/en/services/e-commerce/efulfillment.p... "UPS eFulfillment combines the fast and reliable shipping consumers demand with the scalable inventory management your operation needs. We can store the products you sell and get them into your customers’ hands quickly. Our eFulfillment platform and bundled pricing helps you manage inventory, orders and costs so you can focus on growing your business."
- gok 7y agoI've read about that, but I've also heard it's not very competitive. I think part of the problem is that they always use their own shipping, whereas USPS would often be much much cheaper.
- AaronNewcomer 7y agohttps://supplychain.fedex.com https://supplychain.fedex.com Fedex does this. Also in regards to another comment of yours, they also rate shop and use usps and etc.