Originally Posted by chiaraquilts
Originally Posted by redmadder
Here's what is funny. I ordered fabric from Joanns, it was shipped by FedEx and I could track it. It took 12 days from order to delivery. BY THE US POST OFFICE MAIL CARRIER!
Yes, both Fedex and UPS do this as an "economy" service- they deliver a bunch of packages to the post office, instead of doing the individual deliveries, then the local post office takes over. I have found it takes a looooooong time.....
This partnership is called "SmartPost". Our FedEx salesperson has been trying to sell us on it. But Chiaraquilts is right, it takes a LOT longer to do it that way! Were we sending packages cross-country, instead of 2-3 days (Priority Mail) it would take 7-8 days. And I think that is a step backwards in terms of serving our customers. So I told them no thanks... I will stick with the Post Office for most things... and regular FedEx for heavy/valuable items where complete package tracking is important.
SmartPost is a bit less expensive than regular FedEx shipping, and of course package tracking is available, and FedEx insures the packages... right up until the point where the package changes hands to USPS. And it is on the final mile of the journey where 95% of the losses will occur. (Misdelivered, stolen ...) So in my opinion there's no advantage to SmartPost for a little business like ours.