This article originally appeared in the September/October issue of PARCEL.

Once again, we asked, and you answered. Thank you to those of you who took the time to fill out our carrier performance survey, in which we asked you to rate the carriers on a variety of issues like pricing, ease of negotiation, on-time delivery, and more. Your input allows us to benchmark these aspects year after year, giving us a convenient comparison tool to examine the top players in this space.

One point I found extremely interesting is that the usage of USPS jumped by eight percent compared to last year — from 76% to 84%. I’m always encouraged when I see more and more shippers including the USPS in their carrier mix, since for some shipments, the USPS can provide a distinct advantage. On the flip side, the number of shippers utilizing FedEx and UPS for their domestic parcel shipping went down slightly, from 85% and 81%, respectively, to 84% to 78%. I also enjoy seeing what our readers think about a variety of questions that are commonly asked in the parcel industry — things like whether there is enough competition to keep pricing fair, how important regional carriers are to a company’s shipping mix, and a shipper’s biggest reason for modifying their primary carrier. I think it’s helpful for shippers to be able to have an “at a glance” look at how their peers respond to these questions, since it’s likely that our readers are asking themselves these same questions regarding their shipping operation. So take a look and see where your opinion lies compared to those of your peers!