UPS Lost Famous Footwear

['Lord Brown's bidding']

The other day when I attempted to make the pick-up at a Famous Footwear store, I was informed that they had dropped us for FedEx? Anyone hear about this?

I often feel like my lunch is being handed to me when I look at how much I pickup vs what FedEx picks up. I am picking up a dozen pieces while they are picking up pallets. I pick up from a Lowe's that also serves as a regional distribution center for Lowes.com, and while I may grab a dozen pieces from them they'll have 5-6 dozen for FedEx ground. I also puck up from some printers (printing advertising for Comcast or medical booklets, for example), and again it seems FedEx is killing us. I find myself wondering just where UPS is headed, and how do we have so greater a market share when everyone I am picking up from seems to prefer FedEx.

 

[superballs63]

You have to realize, that for every stop you go to where they ship out more fedex there are pickups on other routes that ship out exclusively UPS.

I pickup at a Nordstrom's at a mall and they send out anywhere from -150 to 500+pieces daily, whereas FedEx gets nothing from them

 

[dilligaf]

Don't worry about it, they'll change their underwear next month.

 

[UPSGUY72]

Companies change who they ship with all the time. It usually comes down to cost. There has been companies that have switch to Fed Ex only to come back to UPS.

 

[gman042]

Yes......they soon realize that though FEDEX may cost less, the service they get is just not the same as what they get with UPS. Despite what the competitors commercials say.

 

[Anonymous 10]

We will win because of our logistics. If you believe this you might also want to know that I'm drunk also.

 

[dilligaf]

We will win because of our logistics. If you believe this you might also want to know that I'm drunk also.

Must not be too drunk. You didn't have any typos. I didn't even hear any slurring.

 

[SpoolEmUp]

Dont worry, I heard when this happens UPS sends guys out with blank checks to uhhhhhh buy, I mean win back accounts.It's at that point you realize who the big boys are and who the clowns are.

 

[Anonymous 10]

I'm on my zifth beer and it's blue moon with the high alchole content oh yea Mrs. 407 has a tight leash on me lately so the tolerance is down so yea I drunk lightweight right now so also I'm going to bed because I'm tired fro rubbing her feet how romantic don't you thnnk she I snoring right now t had an8hortoday because t has an family movie bite pajama partia lot of hot mfffs I pajamas two. My kids loveved it and in the middle of it ( it was at a schools gym I snuck out and bought a sum beer shotgunedmwon and bid the rest under the car till we came hot from the movie ingot my beer and lit it in the car and hear we are. I love America & tbeN R A friend Obama cause he wants to take away my guns an d I'm not happy I'm mad about this very much

 

['Lord Brown's bidding']

Yes......they soon realize that though FEDEX may cost less, the service they get is just not the same as what they get with UPS. Despite what the competitors commercials say.

I often Google 'UPS vs FedEX', and get the impression many people, when it comes to home delivery, prefer FedEx (the TV throwing guy notwithstanding). Interestingly though, whenever the Lowe's on my route has a "customer issue" with a FedEx-shipped package, they'll resend it with UPS.

I admit i frequently monitor the FedEx portion of BC, with all its discontented FedEXers, and wonder when the other shoe will drop, with their employees doing more disruptive acts out of protest, driving some business back our way.

What do people like about UPS vs FedEx?

 

[Southwestern]

...and we picked-up several Amazon distribution centers. Many shippers -- large & small -- continually leverage UPS & FedEx against each other in order to extract the lowest rates possible. Ultimately, FedEx Ground's volume (actual volume, not estimated ground revenue) is still a fraction of UPS's despite the presence of several major accounts. In (a portion of) my state, there's two FedEx G buildings that cover an area housing about 18 UPS facilities. On FedEx G's busiest day last month, the manager of the larger building stated (on local news) their record volume -- which was only a third of ours, and we're not even UPS's largest facility!

In the near future, UPS has the tools to effectively compete with FedEx: stronger productivity, a large rail network, double-stacked 53s, integration of SurePost & air services, etc. Meanwhile, as FedEx G rapidly expands, some of its regional transit times (long a significant advantage) have slowed. Long-term UPS's higher labor-costs and aging facilities (FedEx has much more automation... heck, RPS invented Next Gen Small Sort -- absent from many large UPS buildings, including hubs) may hurt us. Perhaps most disturbingly, in many polls, Generation Y has shown a strong preference toward FedEx & FedEx G -- probably a derivative of the chic ads they grew up with and the mental images of delivering QVC packages to grandma.

 

[DS]

I'm on my zifth beer and it's blue moon with the high alchole content oh yea Mrs. 407 has a tight leash on me lately so the tolerance is down so yea I drunk lightweight right now so also I'm going to bed because I'm tired fro rubbing her feet how romantic don't you thnnk she I snoring right now t had an8hortoday because t has an family movie bite pajama partia lot of hot mfffs I pajamas two. My kids loveved it and in the middle of it ( it was at a schools gym I snuck out and bought a sum beer shotgunedmwon and bid the rest under the car till we came hot from the movie ingot my beer and lit it in the car and hear we are. I love America & tbeN R A friend Obama cause he wants to take away my guns an d I'm not happy I'm mad about this very much

That was beautiful

 

[Brownfrown]

Yeah. I have.....or had........a Famous Footwear p/u too. The gals at the store are already fed up with FedEx after 3 days. Seems the driver stopped the first two days and there were no packages. So he told them if there were no packages to go out the 3rd day he was done coming there. They were real impressed. But it is what it is. Companies play UPS off of FedEx and vice-versa. Seen it gobs of times over the years. FWIW....... a lot of the "flavor of the day" shippers come back to UPS when they see the color of the grass on the other side.

 

[bbsam]

Yeah. I have.....or had........a Famous Footwear p/u too. The gals at the store are already fed up with FedEx after 3 days. Seems the driver stopped the first two days and there were no packages. So he told them if there were no packages to go out the 3rd day he was done coming there. They were real impressed. But it is what it is. Companies play UPS off of FedEx and vice-versa. Seen it gobs of times over the years. FWIW....... a lot of the "flavor of the day" shippers come back to UPS when they see the color of the grass on the other side.

That's a refrain we hear over and over again. Shippers always come back. They don't. And until you start to see Fedex Ground market share decline year after year, you have reason to be concerned.

 

[AKX]

There is a local company that makes specialized foot inserts. They would ship a couple hundred pieces a day ground air and international. 2 years ago they told the driver who picked them up that they had been approached by FDX but wanted to stay with UPS and to have the account rep get in touch to see if we could compete. Our BD fought to keep it but in the end FDX was able to offer a large savings on the ground packages so we lost the account.

Came in Thursday night and saw a bunch of suits walking around the hub. Asked who they were and was told it was execs from the company above. They are ready to come back to brown after sacrificing service for cost for the past 2 years.

There is another local company that makes custom hearing aids. We lost them last year for a total of 3 weeks before they saw the light.

 

[Southwestern]

That's a refrain we hear over and over again. Shippers always come back. They don't. And until you start to see Fedex Ground market share decline year after year, you have reason to be concerned.

Yes they do. Shippers repeatedly change delivery companies; most will gravitate toward the best deal. For years I loaded bulk retail and dozens of shippers (Disney Store, PacSun, Sketchers, Hot Topic/Torrid, etc.) were big offenders in rotating between UPS and FedEx. Even enormous, blanket carriers make changes -- UPS made noise when it reacquired L.L. Bean, and -- more recently -- several Amazon distribution centers. Even new, dotcom companies such as NewEgg made the change to UPS when its long-term, low-balled contract with FedEx expired. (And yes, FedEx G has been notorious for offering such contracts.)

Recall that FedEx is just not competing with UPS, but also the USPS, LTL carriers, in-house options and regional carriers such as OnTrac. And the crux of FedEx Ground's volume growth has been driven by SmallPost... now that UPS has a competing product, and given the post office's woes, you can bet that SmallPost growth will heavily decline. Take out SmallPost, and FedEx G's growth over the past decade has been unimpressive, especially given the ~$1B spent on a brand-new distribution network.

As I mentioned, UPS has its long-term concerns, but so does FedEx. If FedEx G were the size of UPS, would its ISP model work? Would FedEx G be able to receive similar levels of productivity from employees earning low-wages?

 

[bbsam]

LOL. Ok. Rest on your laurels. But remember, RPS wasn't supposed to survive.

 

[Southwestern]

LOL. Ok. Rest on your laurels. But remember, RPS wasn't supposed to survive.

...and may not have had FedEx not acquired them and invested billions into their network. Remember the Holiday fiasco of 2000 when RPS/FedEx Ground took on more volume than what its network was capable of handling?

Not that it's relevant. RPS was born many years before the dotcom boom that exploded business-consumer volume and virtually guaranteed competition to UPS (whether it be RPS, FedEx, DLH, or whoever else). In 2012, the world is different that it was in 1985 .

 

[whenIgetthere]

In my job back in the 80's and 90's, I worked for a very small company that shipped about 200 pcs. a day. Towards the end of my time there, I also worked at Fedex Express at night. Part of my job was negotiating rates with UPS, Fedex and RPS (then fredx Ground when that sale went thru). Even though I worked for Fedex, I usually got the best rates from UPS, so they would get the business. I remember one Fedex saleman giving me a hard time about giving freight to the competition, so I told him when I'm off the clock, Fedex was the competition, too! My manager would have me play UPS and Fedex off each other to get the best discounts, and we were just a small company. Can only imagine the extent the large corporations do this, now! I will say one thing, after fred bought RPS, Ground NEVER got any business from us.

 

[barnyard]

My wife works for a business that ships 2-6 trailers per day. They have been with UPS for 10+ years and they get quotes from Fed Ex. Around here, Fed Ex has a habit of getting accounts to switch, based on lower prices. Then 2-3 months after the switch, they raise prices. Sometimes we get those back. Sometimes it might take a year or 2.

I do have to agree with bbsam. Until we see our growth exceed predictions for several quarters, while FE is either flat or loses volume, we should be concerned.