With all of the wheel dealing that happens these days, what is the most economical route to ship four P-car wheels & tires from coast to coast? In other words, what are the alternatives to UPS/FedEX? Speed is of no concern

Andreas

 

Purchased a set of RS Speedlines from a Rennlister in CA, using FedEx Ground to ship to me in AL. Nightmare from the start, all four packages missing for almost two weeks then, they find them somewhere in the LA terminal, point of origin. 2 are now headed my way but one of the others is headed to Mississippi and the other to Missouri due to typos with zip codes. None are here yet....

Total cost was about $240 which included $1K insurance on each package, this was cheaper than UPS. But you get what you pay for, I won't use FedEx Ground again....

 

Thanks. I had a nightmare recently with FedEx Ground and a large package from California. They made one attempt to deliver and left a poorly Xerox'd note on my door instructing me to call some local number. Which I did. The next day, someone was home all day, and they claimed that they made a second attempt.

On the third night, I happened to be on the phone with a regional FedEx customer service manager while I had the FedEx tracking info on my computer. As I spoke with the lady, the tracking info miraculously changed to "Delivery attempt made. Customer not home." The time cited was 6 pm - which was the same time that I was on the phone with FedEX. You can imagine how I went through the roof. It became very clear to this lady that the driver had not even come to my door for the last two evenings. I made it very clear that I expected the package to show up on my door step that evening. It took a great deal of patience on my part, but in the end she somehow arranged for a third-party delivery service to retrieve the package from their Baltimore center and bring it to my house. It arrived at 10 pm. In the rain.

Never again. FedEx Ground, from my understanding, is now a separate entity. Tracking a package real time is almost impossible.

So, something other than FedEx Ground please!


Andreas

 

Andreas,

You might want to check with DHL and I'm with you guys on FED EX expreriences....

 

I have had problems with Fedex ground, and have never had a problem with DHL, or UPS ground service.

 

Like any other delivery company, your service is only as good as your driver. Fedex Ground delivery is handled by local contractors, which makes them much less consistant. If you have a good, conscientious local delivery guy, Fedex Ground is great. It is often much cheaper than UPS, especially for larger/heavier items.

 

No shipper is infallible. I have had almost flawless service with UPS ground, except for the time they lost and then found four Toyota Sequoia rims. The Ebay seller (a dealer, no less) made good on the items and had them repainted. No paint issues to date.

FedEx ground is cheaper than UPS and much more convenient with the Kinko's locations. I have shipped many large items through them, such as wheels, tires, 1960's pedal car, etc. and have had zero issues.

 

greyhound is cheap.. but they only allow up to $350 insurance per shipment so I tend not to use them a lot...

 

I think it is a matter of luck.

I have used UPS across the US and their track-record is not bad. 2 out of 500 shippings arrived late.
Whereas Fedex, I had a problem with 3 out of 10 shippings, not arriving at all.

I then learnt that Fedex normal and fedex ground is not the same people.
In fact, fedex ground let their service to contractors. The people who deliver are not fedex employees.
All this is well written on their website.
I know their Houston Hub phone number by heart, ask me why?

 

FWIW: Fedex ground contracted drivers get paid 50 cents per tracking number delivery (not a lot IMHO)... so I've heard cursing from my local guy back when I wasn't working on tirerack tire delivery taking up a bunch of space in his truck.. blah blah blah

 

I have had two good experiences with UPS Ground with wheels, both coming and going. Have a third set on the way...keeping my fingers crossed.

 

Try USPS, Parcel Post.

 

I used DHL ground last month for 4 wheels with tires. I went directly to the terminal, and made sure for the warehouse it was properly packaged, and labeled. It was a lot easier than would have thought. In past also use Fedex, and they great too, and would use them again. Just used DHL this time as they are closer to my office. I purchased the shipping supplies from TireRack for about $10 delivered, which made it easier to protect the wheels.

 

Thanks for the replies.


Mo,
What does TireRack send - round cardboard discs?

Andreas

 

FWIW....I live about 60 miles north of Atlanta and UPS is the only service that consistently gets it right. Same guy comes to my door every time, deliveries are on time or early, and the packages are never damaged. FedEx has never damaged anything, but they are s-l-o-o-o-o-w and aren't always honest about their delivery attempts. DHL is pathetic. When I see that DHL is delivering a parcel I can bet that 50% of the time I am going to have to contact the vendor and have the item re-shipped. Someone mentioned USPS but I think they have weight and/or size limitations. I know several guys who ship a lot of automotive stuff as part of their businesses and they say UPS is all they use.