Who delivers cheaper, faster?

The winter/spring issue of Puget Sound Consumers' Checkbook magazine includes a thorough guide to choosing a delivery service for packages and other mail. This is excerpted from that article.

While e-mail and fax machines have made sending letters and documents almost instantaneous — and cheap — there are still times when you'll need to ship something via a delivery service, especially over the holidays.

Puget Sound Consumers' Checkbook surveyed consumers in seven metropolitan areas and asked them to rate the four nationwide delivery services: DHL, FedEx, UPS and the U.S. Postal Service.

Of the four, FedEx consistently rated highest, with 92 percent of those surveyed rating the company superior or adequate. It was followed closely by UPS, with 91 percent rating the company superior or adequate. The Postal Service received a superior or adequate rating from 88 percent of customers, followed by DHL with 71 percent.

Interestingly, the Postal Service was rated substantially higher (relative to the other carriers) in the Puget Sound area than in other cities where the magazine surveyed customers.

All four services offer overnight service to most areas, although the guaranteed delivery time varies by company, level of service, and destination. The earliest overnight guarantees come from FedEx's First Overnight and UPS' Next Day Air Early A.M. services, which promise delivery in most areas by 8 a.m. But the premium for these services is high; a simple letter usually costs more than $45.

Services from FedEx and UPS that offer guaranteed delivery times of 10:30 a.m. the next business day to most addresses are more affordable. The price drops further for a guaranteed delivery of 3 p.m.

All of the firms have slower services available, usually for less money.

DHL, FedEx, and UPS also offer ground services at a fraction of the cost of their air services, and these ground services often deliver to many destinations just as fast as higher-cost services.

Compare FedEx's $20.21 fee for a five-pound item sent Standard Overnight to an address in "Zone 2" (Portland, for example) to the $4.20 price for the same item sent via FedEx's Ground service. Or compare UPS' $20.53 price for that item sent Next Day Air Saver to a "Zone 2" address to the $5.90 fee to send the same item to the same destination via UPS' Ground service. In each of these examples, the package is guaranteed to arrive the next business day.

In some cases, the slower services move the parcels through a different system — for example, trucks versus air or a completely different hub-and-spoke system. But in other cases the items shipped by the slower services go through the same system, simply getting lower priority if, for example, a plane or truck is full.

With a slower service, you won't get a late-delivery refund unless your parcel actually arrives after the slower service's guaranteed delivery time.

There are only small price differences among DHL, FedEx, and UPS when comparing similar services. For example, DHL charges $99.71 to ship a 20-pound package through its Next Day 10:30 a.m. service to an address in Zone 8 (the East Coast); to ship the same package with a similar delivery guarantee, FedEx charges $100.49 (for its Priority Overnight service) and UPS charges $99.56 (for its Next Day Air service).

For overnight deliveries, all of the companies except the Postal Service use a zone system, where distance and weight combined determine the charge for a shipment. The Postal Service uses a flat-rate system for its Express Mail service — rates are based on weight (the distance a package has to travel does not factor into shipping costs) so its rates for long-distance overnight shipments stack up much better compared to DHL, FedEx, and UPS.

But rates change (and change often), so be sure to check by calling the firms or checking their Web sites.

Reprinted by permission from Puget Sound Consumers' Checkbook.

For information on Consumers' Checkbook, call 206-332-9696 or visit www.checkbook.org