Overnight shipping: FedEx vs. UPS vs. the Postal Service

Our ship-off puts deliverers to the test

There are times when you might need "next day" to mean exactly that. To check on timing and overnight shipping rates, we recently sent 48 packages from facilities near our Yonkers, N.Y., headquarters to 16 Consumer Reports shoppers in 12 states. Each recipient got three packages, one from each shipper, containing a paperback book ("The Consumer Reports Buying Guide").

Our destinations were as near as New York City and as far as Lake Oswego, Ore. We packed the books in a bag, box, or envelope based on the shipper’s recommendation; dropped off the packages midweek within hours of one another; and used regular next-day delivery. That’s Standard Overnight for FedEx, Express Mail for the Postal Service, and Next Day Air Saver for UPS.

Every package reached its destination the next day. But overnight shipping prices to the same place differed by as much as 281 percent. The Postal Service was the least expensive by far for local and long-distance deliveries. For letter-size envelopes, such as the ones it gave us for sending the books, it charges a flat rate of $16.50. (Flat rates for slower delivery are lower.)

The other shippers base prices on weight and distance traveled. UPS charged $62.87 to send our book next-day to Oregon and $29.55 to Manhattan. FedEx charged $54.57 and $27.48, respectively.

We also checked prices to send a 5-pound package from New York to California regular next-day, two-day, and slower ground. The Postal Service won again in the first two categories and more or less tied in the third (see 3 Shippers, 3 Time Frames). And unlike the other carriers, the Postal Service doesn’t add a fuel surcharge, which is adjusted monthly by the other carriers. In September it was about 10 percent for domestic ground shipments and 27 percent for those sent by air. The Postal Service also offers discounts of 3 percent to 11 percent to customers who arrange their shipping online.

Asked how the Postal Service, an independent part of the U.S. government’s executive branch, can deliver overnight shipping for less, a spokeswoman, Yvonne Yoerger, said: "We have an infrastructure in place and letter carriers everywhere. We’re simply adding package delivery to a network that already exists."

If you need a letter or package delivered faster than next-day, FedEx and UPS have the edge. Both offer same-day service and delivery first thing next morning. All the Postal Service can do is promise delivery by sometime the following business day, depending on destination and shipping time.

Bottom line

All three delivered next-day mail as promised, but the good old U.S. Postal Service is often cheapest by far.