This doesn't seem very strange if their goal is or was to pressure FedEx into better terms or stronger guarantees on delivery. Making an announcement and/or releasing these details to the press closer to an earnings report seems like a pretty high pressure tactic.

Fedex is the absolute worst. They're never on time and I can't even go to a Fedex location to pick up my own fedex packages. They more or less simply get returned to sender if they require any kind of signature.

I'm glad Amazon is finally putting a stop to it.

Fedex has gotten to the point that if I see a merchant that has an exclusive arrangement with them (mainly suppliers for material I need to buy for work) I try somewhere else.

Whenever I don't have a choice, they disappoint me.

Just last week, I had a Fedex shipment that was late. One of the reasons it was late was that it passed through almost two dozen Fedex locations.

Seven in three days.

My package spent three days traveling from Coal City, IL (9:11am 11-Dec) to Swatara Township, PA, (10:59pm 13-Dec) a distance of 741 miles, on an EPIC UNFORGETTABLE 12-day adventure on its route from California to Maryland.

61.75 hours to travel 741 miles is an average speed of 12 mph.

Just a taste of the epic journey: https://i.imgur.com/C0NlH9K.png

Anecdotes are nice but this happens so frequently I've given up on Fedex and will only use them as a last resort.

I live in an area where Amazon Prime delivery is so fast that I swear that sometimes they deliver the damned thing I order before I actually order it.

That's nothing - last week I had a package take 4 business days to travel a total of 10 miles, as part of a longer 14 day journey.

It was most likely just sitting at their sorting center, which I can see from my back window.

I don't know if there is something especially going wrong in my area, because there was a news story about how bad FedEx has been - people needing medical equipment and stuff that has been sitting for weeks.

When the notifications say 'In Transit' they aren't passing through a FedEx building, but rather are sending GPS ping notifications every 12 hours. Your package was most likely on a slower mode of transportation such as rail or a trailer. This is done to show progress on slower routes because sometimes there could be a couple days between a hub touch.

> Fedex is the absolute worst.

Here in Canada we have Purolator - the gov't (Canada Post) subsidiary that is a FedEx competitor. Their systems are ancient, their entire operation is pathetically slow and inefficient.

E.g. a recent undelivered shipment that was to arrive last Friday still had the 'expected delivery date' unchanged two days later. When it finally changed it also noted that the package hadn't even left the distribution hub yet.

Purolator? Wow - even the name is unbelievably bad - what imagery were they trying to invoke?

Purolator is an American company that manufactures oil and air filters. The name was taken from their oil filter process - "pure oil later".

In 1967, Purolator bought the Canadian courier company Trans Canada Couriers, which later took the Purolator name. The courier company was then later sold to Canada Post, but kept the Purolator name since it was commonly known in Canada.

Apparently, it's a holdover from being acquired by an oil filter company. Purolator = "pure oil later."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purolator_Filters

The delivery company by that name was, at one point, owned by the Purolator oil filter company. (The shipping company used to be named Trans-Canada Couriers.)

Purolator comes from the phrase "pure oil later," as in long-lasting oil filters for combustion engines.

I once ordered a Battery-backed UPS, that arrived via FedEx. It wouldn't work on small loads, so I arranged to return it. I put it in the original box it came in, and took it to the FedEx store.

The worker was very rude, and refused to let me send it, unless I double-boxed it. Company policy? He offered sell me a box and packing material.

FedEx has various levels of service depending on what is being paid for... everything from outsourcing their final-mile delivery to white-glove courier service, and more.

You can expect wildly different experiences shipping SmartPost vs Custom Critical.

I've had them call me on my cellphone and offer to come to me at my office when I wasn't at home for a particularly high-dollar package. This wasn't a FedEx ground shipment though.

Although I'm not sure why you can't pick up your packages at a FedEx location though. I've always been able to do that. Maybe for SmartPost you can't, but that logistically makes sense, as they might not be in possession of the package by the time it gets to your locality.

If you have a FedEx Office anywhere near you, you could ask to have the package delivered there and held. I know they did that a few years ago.

Worth mentioning that FedEx isn't horrible everywhere, in Canada they are pretty good and my preferred delivery method - really really good customer service. Purolator and UPS (most of the time) are terrible and even if you're home they won't even try and deliver to you instead just leaving a slip.

It's true in my experience as well. I am not a fan of Fedex as they have subjected me to a myriad of unintended adventures. However, once I had to mail a time-sensitive RFP to Canada and Fedex got it there well ahead of their specified time; I tried UPS and USPS and they both shrugged when asked about delivery guarantees for this shipment.

Quarterly reports come out every, surprise, three months. Pretty much any action is going to be on the cusp of a quarterly report.

Further FedEx did a big public hoopla announcing that they were dropping Amazon back in August (not the other way around). Maybe they really don't work for each other. Delivery is a pretty big pie.

In Canada FedEx has never been a part of the delivery options they use, beyond more than a minute percentage.

FedEx is also a parody of a service in the US. They are acknowledged to be strong in logistics in a cross-country way, but as far as "last mile" goes they leave plenty to be desired. Beat-up packages, wildly unsafe drivers, unreliable tracking, and totally inaccurate delivery estimates.

The only reason I'm ever glad to see one of their trucks on the road is as evidence UPS has at least some sort of competition. But if I see one pull up to my home I cringe, because invariably there will be some problem.

fedex was also caught looking the other way when it came to illegally shipping firearms across state lines. i think they just ended their NRA partnership earlier this year?

they're just a crap company. if you ship fedex, your best case scenario is receiving it on the last possible day of their window.