When you’re running a business, it’s crucial to work with the best delivery service so that your customers get their parcels on time. This also has to be balanced against how much shipping will cost you as a business and your customers.
Sometimes, finding a middle ground can be difficult, especially when it comes to the big names in parcel shipping and freight: DHL, UPS, USPS, and FedEx. These are generally considered as the best shipping companies – but are they really? Let’s look at them in closer detail.
FedEx vs UPS vs DHL vs USPS – The Best Shipping Option for Your Business
Imagine, for a moment, that you’re a customer who has just ordered from a business online. You want to know that your parcel will be prioritized and treated with respect. You also want to know that your parcel will arrive in good time, but you don’t want to have to pay ridiculous prices at checkout.
As a business owner, the carrier that you use can make or break your business. If too many of your parcels go missing or spend too long in transit, your customers will complain and this can affect your reputation and future revenue.
But at the same time, you also don’t want to pay too much for shipping because this means you’ll have to pass on those extra costs to your customers. So, you’ll need to find the balance between good shipping rates with a short delivery time, and affordability.
The Giants of Shipping
DHL, UPS, USPS, and FedEx are the most used carriers around the country. DHL, FedEx, and UPS are privately owned and have been operating for decades, but all three have track records that are pretty impressive overall. Despite this, each service has advantages and disadvantages, but picking them apart can be tricky.
The truth is that your customers just want the goods that they’ve paid for and they want them in good time. What you choose as a business will impact on the customer experience, so it’s important to get it right.
Why Choose DHL?
DHL is a big company with significant resources in terms of international shipping. The German brand are worldwide, and they’re a good option in the US, the UK and all through Europe.
If you’re shipping internationally, DHL should typically be your very first choice. They have excellent international shipping rates, which makes them a very good choice for anything you need to send overseas.
DHL Express is one of the best ways to send internationally if you’re concerned about a quick delivery time. But how do they really stack up to the others? Here are the pros & cons.
Pros
Cons
Why Choose USPS?
USPS is not a privately held company and is probably one of the most well known. They tend to have a longer time on average than the others, so they may not be a good choice if your delivery is time sensitive and it needs to be there the next day.
In terms of price though, they can often prove to be the safest choice. Here are the pros & cons of using USPS.
Pros
Cons
What About Using UPS?
If you’re wanting to use a service with a great track record and has consistently won admiration from international companies, UPS is well worth a look. Well known in the US, this brand can be perfect if you want one service to deal with both domestic and international shipping.
Here are some pros & cons of the brand, which has a mixed reputation depending on the country you’re based.
Pros
Cons
What About FedEx?
FedEx has been around for decades and pioneered real-time parcel tracking. They are another American brand that are mainly used for global shipping, with the Fedex internal shipping service being quite popular.
Here are some of the advantages of using FedEx for your parcel delivery, as well as some of the drawbacks too.
Pros
Cons
Which Service Should You Use?
The carrier you choose can make a difference to your bottom line and your reputation, so it’s important to get it right. Every service has strengths and weaknesses, but here are some conclusions that you can come to.
- UPS is great for on-ground delivery
- DHL has the best international reach, but not a great presence in the US
- FedEx has great tracking, negotiable pricing for bulk deliveries, but higher pricing
- USPS has plenty of experience, inexpensive rates, and a great US presence, but has limited international delivery options
In some scenarios, the best option is to use a mix of all of them for your parcel delivery and offer your customers some choices. It can be a good idea to use DHL for international shipping, and perhaps look to using a different service for all of your local deliveries.
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