Reliable? They mishandle or damage about 2-3% of their shipments.
FM, I don't know where you get those numbers. My company was one of the first customers of FedEx when Fred Smith started it in the 1970s and we have shipped hundreds of thousands of packages by FedEx. Over that same period we shipped UPS ground, and then by air when that became available.
We constantly make FedEx and UPS compete for our business; and we maintain a computer template of which carrier is the most cost effective for a given weight to a given address by a required delivery date. Only a customer specification of the carrier (billed to their account) will override our template decision on the carrier.
I can assure you that if your numbers above were accurate for "mishandle" (
e.g. delay or loss) or "damage" it would be a factor in our template.
I asked our shipping and accounting people about delay, loss, damage claim with both FedEx and UPS. They responded that Fedex had the most "delays - resulting in no charge to us"; and it had the most "delays - not the fault of FedEx". But we ship FAR more air by FedEx than UPS. And air is more prone to delay than ground.
As to your figures for "loss" or "damage", they said your numbers might be in the ballpark if there were a dot zero in front of them,
i.e. 0.02-0.03% of the shipments. At least that is our experience.
Eric, I seldom check bags. But as a 4MM Plt AA flyer I would love to have our FedEx/UPS percentage odds apply to my checked bag, rather than those I have personally experienced and have read about on the FT and other BB. I think HH on PBB only tabulates absolute figures from the complaints to the government.
Best wishes in your new job.