posted on January 25, 2001 08:57:57 AM
What are your experiences with using the Post Office's Express Mail for domestic overnight delivery? I've used them about 8 times in the past year (mostly for weekend deliveries when FedEx charges alot more or if the recipient has a PO Box which FedEx won't deliver to) and on literally half of them they did not deliver the goods by the guaranteed time. None of the items were lost as they were all delivered usually a day late, and I did receive refunds in all of the cases where they delivered late but I still think that a 50% on-time rate is pretty lousy - by the same token I have sent over 100 items in the past year via my overnight carrier of choice, FedEx, and only ONE of their items was delivered late (it was only 30 minutes late for a promised 1030AM delivery and I still got a refund). Have I had unusually bad luck with Express Mail or is this business as usual for the USPS?
posted on January 25, 2001 09:06:21 AM
Express Mail doesn't really offer a guarantee of overnight service like UPS or FedX do. If you are mailing something across country, in most cases, it will not arrive for atleast two days. For the price, if you really need something to get there overnight, UPS or FedX are your best bets.
posted on January 25, 2001 11:50:21 AM
Sharkbaby you are correct in that the USPS doesn't guarantee OVERNIGHT delivery for all of their Express Mail shipments, however they DO have a money back guarantee for a specific no-later-than delivery for all Express Mail shipments, sometimes it's the next day, sometimes it's the 2nd day depending on drop off time, shipping destination etc. Case in point - I sent an Express Mail shipment last Fri that was guaranteed to be delivered to its destination of Carlbad NM by 3PM the next day Sat (FedEx charges about $10 extra for Sat delivery to the select locations where Sat delivery is offered but Carlsbad is so far off the beaten path FedEx doesn't even offer Sat delivery there). The package wasn't delivered Sat as guaranteed (it got there Sun morning) so my $12.25 Express Mail shipping fee was promptly refunded to me when I brought my receipt back to my Post Office as soon as the Post Office guy went online and verified the actual delivery time. Since half of my 8 Express Mail shipments have not been delivered by their guaranteed no-later-than times I don't know whether I've been extremely unlucky or if it's just that the Express Mail folks are extremely inefficient and that all Express Mail shippers are having equally lousy results.
