The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Regarding FedEx Smartpost and UPS Surepost

If you have ever bought something on the internet that didn’t ship solely via USPS, then using either FedEx Smartpost or UPS Surepost was likely an option; they are both shipping options that use the United States Postal Service for the final leg. In other words, UPS or FedEx will deliver the packages to your local Post Office, and the Postal Service will handle the actual delivery.  The concept sounds good, but in practice it can be anything but.
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The Good

For the e-tailers, it’s a really good deal.  They setup the contract with UPS or FedEx, and they get shipping rates that are much more economical.  The Post Office gets a steady source of income from UPS and FedEx.  Customers will find that this option is usually is the basic shipping level, and it is usually free or has a very low cost.

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About the Author

Joel McLaughlin
Joel is a consultant in the IT field and is located in Columbus, OH. While he loves Linux and tends to use it more than anything else, he will stoop to running closed source if it is the best tool for the job. His techno passions are Linux, Android, netbooks, GPS, podcasting and Amateur Radio.

2 Comments on "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Regarding FedEx Smartpost and UPS Surepost"

  1. joe Gomes | March 7, 2019 at 7:47 pm |

    Fedex smartpost is a horrible service. They say they will deliver one day. The day comes and they convinently change the day. Very very bad service

  2. Tim Wochomurka | December 18, 2019 at 12:58 pm |

    This is the comment section that won’t die. I found your post to be accurate, and seriously do not understand why shippers would use these mashed-together “solutions” instead of literally just the post office/USPS since it offers cheap shipping with (in 2019, at least) excellent tracking solutions.

    In closing, I hate smart post.

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