I felt bias in ths article leading positively to FEDX and negatively to UPS but after all is said and done, most people voted for UPS. GO BIG BROWN.

I LIVE IN A RURAL AREA AND IM LUCKY IF FEDX DELIVERS ONE DAY A WEEK . UPS DELIVERS EVERYDAY . RON.H. R

You get for what you pay for. UPS hands down. Fed Ex is stop and drop, period.

I understand that UPS has an additional 200+ leased airplanes making the 3X comment incorrect.

I have found that FedEx has different drivers every day on our route..and they can never find our house..UPS has the same driver for the past seven years..I told FedEx to give my packages to the UPS diver because they always find us..we are NOT hard to find...

I found the comparison article concise and straightforward. Preference for one company over the other is more likely, matter of personal experience rather than either company having realized advantage. Just the same, I voted for UPS because that is my livelihood;)

regards, john debba

IM LUCKY IF FEDX DELIVERS ONE DAY A WEEK UPS DELIVERS EVERY DAY . RON R.

Art, I believe the article considered planes owned by the respective companies, and not leased and contracted planes. I dare say with FedEx having more than twice the volume of UPS air shipments, they probably have over 900 planes to handle the load.

regards, john debba

UPS BY FAR IS THE MORE SUPERIOR DELIVERY COMPANY, BOTH DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL. WE HAVE BEEN USING UPS FOR OVER 18 YEARS AND THROW THE FEDEX SALES PERSON OUT EVERY TIME THEY COME IN WITH A PRICE OFFER. FEDEX WILL NEVER COMPARE TO UPS....FEDEX IS WAY TO EXPENSIVE WITH TO MANY SHIPPING RESTRICTIONS....THANKS UPS, KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK...

All said, I would suggest the author ask those at UPS about the packages they contract with the United States Postal Service to deliver on their behalf! Thats right, that premium you pay for UPS is to pay the USPS to deliver that package you should have taken to or been picked up by the USPS and you just paid more for the same service, imagine that!

The big difference between the two carriers is thatFed Ex employs "independent contractors" to deliver their packages. These "contractors" avoid any extra effort that will cost them time and/or money. Fed Ex cannot hold them accountable so the service suffers. Fed Ex pay less to these drivers thereby lowering their cost to serve.

Hi Keith,

You made a hard-hitting point, but author was not intending an exhaustive or critical analysis. It is true USPS is used to handle UPS ground packages, I am unsure if this includes air packages: But you may be correct. Of course, as you may expect, there does exist a UPS corporate rationality for justification. However as taxpayers and/or employees of UPS competitor, we should be concerned with UPS and USPS arrangement which amounts to corporate welfarism

regards, john debba

There are way to many factors to compare and certainly the article highlights some of the majors. However one factor that is rarely revealed is that UPS runs at 98 percent on time as compared to Fedex in the mid to upper 60's. In other words if UPS says it will be there overnight, 2 days,3 whatever, it will be. And they gaurantee it.

UPS gets my vote every time. I haven't ever heard of a UPS center that's chaotic and out of control. My impression of the local FedEx depot, when I was trying to get a package that had vanished into some sort of depot limbo, was that the inmates were running the asylum. I have never seen so many clueless individuals shuffling about aimlessly. I'm not the only one--my colleague at work has similar problems with FedEx delivery, and neither of us live in remote or difficult-to-find areas.

When my package was finally located and I went to collect it, all of the security measures at the place were overridden. I was able to just walk in after hours, had to shout to get someone to come and acknowledge that I was collecting my package (sitting on a chair in the middle of an office area with the delivery log on top), and could very easily have just roamed the depot collecting parcels at will, typing at random on the computers and generally been up to no good at all. This is not good management practice.

The article misrepresents FedEx commitment times. Priority Overnight is due by 10:30am and standard overnight is due by 3:00pm. There is also confusion as to which branch of FedEx is being referred to. FedEx Express does not employ independant contractors. Those people work for the actual corp. located in Memphis. FedEx Ground and Home Delivery employs independent contractors. The comparision is mostly denoting FedEx Express services, so you can't say the pricing is lower due to this. FedEx is also moving mail for the USPS in their airplanes. Have you ever noticed there is a FedEx dropbox near most post offices, but never DHL or UPS? It is part of an agreement the USPS has with FedEx Express to move their priority freight for them. FedEx Express does not have a 60% ontime rate as c phillippi suggests. It is absurd to think that FedEx would still be in business with that type of ontime rate. The actual rate of the FedEx station in Las Vegas, Nevada (LASA) is 99.86%. Not a bad number for moving 12,000 boxes per day around Christmas. That would be about 16.8 packages arriving late per day. I agree that some FedEx facilities can be chaotic, but I believe it depends on the time of day you arrive. If you come during the day its not bad at all. When you arrive 30 minutes before the deadline cutoff and have to fight your way through the other 100 people who have arrived at the same time as you and want their package delivered tomorrow morning to meet the deadline or there boss will be mad, well I guess that would be chaotic now wouldn't it? If you were allowed to roam the facilities after hours, however that WOULD be an issue. I've noticed a security guard at the Las Vegas station several times when I have gone. I would hope that you brought up the fact that you were roaming around the station to a manager!

UPS IS A PROVEN SUCCESS FOR 100 YEARS. FEDX USING INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS THAT ARE ALREADY IN LITIGATION WITH FEDX IN 37 STATES. POINT IS THAT THESE DRIVERS SHOULD BE EMPLOYEES . THE COURTS HAVE ALREADY AGREED. THE TEAMSTERS ARE ALSO INVOLVED IN TRYING TO GET FEDX INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS TO BECOME EMPLOYEES SO THAT THEY CAN GET THEM ON THE BOARD AS UNION PEOPLE.
FEDX IS NOT PAYING ANYWHERE NEAR THE DIVIDENDS.NOR THE WAGES THAT U.P.S. HAS PAID.
BOTH COMPANIES DO A GOOD JOB. THEY SHOULD TAKE OVER THE POST OFFICE !

Hi Greg,

Certainly agree with you on the questionable on-time figure for FedEx and the industry leader in air packages does not maintain that position by being untimely: But this does not mean I agree your figures accurately represent actual on-time; e.g. in the FedEx system late exceptions may be considered on-time as far as SOP is concerned. Nonetheless, going back to an earlier post about UPS rationality to use USPS, one has to look no further than your post. The fact a quasi-government agency is FedEx largest customer with no-bid agreement worth one billion dollars a year, also should not sit well with taxpayers, postal service users and competitors.

regards, john debba

TGFARR and John, please lose the caps, posting in caps is considered rude. Readers equate them with shouting and disquieting as fingernails across the chalkboard

regards, john debba