In my past life as a logistics manager, we used the actual time-in-transit performance data as determined by the scanned ship date in conjunction with the delivery date provided by the carriers. Having accurate time-in-transit projections is vital to e-comm shippers to set delivery expectations for clients. Both carriers are making the case in contract RFPs that they are faster than the other. In the meantime, every day, our clients are asking which carrier is better in terms of actual time-in-transit. (The over/under is five hours – I have the under…) Is it due to a legitimate inability to deliver in published time frames, or is the decision driven by a more profit-centered motive, utilizing a crisis as cover? In either case, it is a safe bet that when either carrier reinstates MBG for Ground services, the other will follow suit within hours. We can speculate on the reason(s) for the selective reinstatement of guarantees. However, to date, neither carrier has reinstated MBG for the more widely-used Ground and 2-3 Day Air networks. Generally, this was seen as a very positive sign that COVID’s impact on expected time-in-transit was decreasing. In April, FedEx and UPS reinstated Money Back Guarantees (MBG) for on-time delivery on various express services, mainly Next Day Air and International Express packages.
