Having just finished building a new house, I've had well over 100 shipments in the last year from every carrier imaginable, from a few ounces to hundreds of pounds. My experience is that the 'last mile' carrier is the biggest variable. You may specify one carrier, only to have another actually deliver the package. Amazon may ship via their own logistics to a local hub then use USPS (weekend deliveries!), UPS, or FedEx for local delivery. Amazon, UPS, and FedEx may use independent local delivery contractors as well. Point being, any of them may be wonderful or terrible for any given delivery. Covid may be the latest 'dog ate my homework' excuse, but the fact is it has strained our entire logistics infrastructure to an unimaginable extent. It is a dancing bear - the miracle is not that it dances well, but that it dances at all.
Free Shipping - Be Careful!
I want to let our community know that we need to be careful when making purchases and accepting “free shipping”. Here is the story, I recently ordered a set of KT150s from TubeDepot. I was offered free shipping. I accepted it and wrongly assumed (mistake: never assume) that they would use a reliable shipping carrier to ship their expensive, fragile glass vacuum tubes. A reliable carrier to me, IMO and personal experience means either FedEx (my preference) OR UPS. Did TubeDepot do that? No! They shipped with USPS. The problem is that the tracking number isn’t working. Their is no documentation that USPS took possession of the package. While TubeDepot has a nicely written page describing USPS’ problems they still use them and this information is not readily available on their website. If I had this information at checkout I would have chosen FedEx and paid for it. I suggested to them that they should put a link to this information right on the checkout page where buyers are going to choose their shipping. I think this transparency would empower buyers to make an informed decision, take ownership of that decision, and save the vendor a lot of time with back and forth emails about where the product is and why the tracking isn’t working. Bottom line: free shipping may be bad shipping. Don’t blindly assume that the free shipping method is good. Ask the vendor who they use for free shipping before making your purchase and act accordingly.