June 03, 2005
About Right
I think this is about right.
I was always amazed that UPS and USPS charge for insurance to guarantee the delivery of the thing you're paying them to deliver. Now you have to pay FedEx just to get the assurance they gave you that they'd done their job. FedEx is turning into the Post Office.Posted by Peter at June 3, 2005 11:17 PM
Comments
This is clearly a stupid idea, but it is one indication that FEDEX is getting 3-way squeezed (by fuel prices, by increased competition from DHL and UPS, and by decreased usage - more and more things that used to be delivered by next-day courier are going instantly via e-mail).
In other FEDEX news, there was a front page Wall Street Journal article last week that gave the company high marks for street-level cooperation with the federal government on homeland security issues. It is a case of senior executives clearly getting it right and setting a company policy that mattered. Couldn't possibly be the same braintrust that came up with the aforementioned new fees as a way to bring in revenue.
Posted by: dan at June 4, 2005 12:46 PM