Choosing the carrier from the list of companies is obviously a tedious process. Each carrier has its own set of strengths and weaknesses, it is important to understand what they are and how well they suit your business needs.
To help you get better informed while making that decision, here’s an in-depth comparison of the three private giants, DHL, FedEx, and UPS — who have been in business for decades and have transported billions of parcels.
Although competing in the same line of business, DHL, FedEx, and UPS have a lot of things unique, particularly in line with their services, pricing, etc. By understanding these distinctive features, you can pick an option that aligns with your business’ shipping goals.
DHL Vs. FedEx Vs. UPS: An Overview
As of today, DHL is the world’s leading logistics company, with close to 600,000 employees and a reach of over 200 countries. In 2023, DHL generated a revenue of € 81,8 billion, equivalent to $103.86 billion.
DHL has four primary divisions, namely
- DHL Express for fast and expedited shipments
- DHL Global Forwarding for cargo shipments worldwide
- DHL Supply Chain for a support system for both local and international business
- DHL Ecommerce for standard residential delivery
Apart from being the largest, DHL is also known as the pioneer of low-carbon logistics, who come with the most extensive solutions to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. DHL has 36,000+
Electric delivery vehicles in its fleet and hopes to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Starting with 186 deliveries on its launch, FedEx now makes more than 14 million deliveries in a single day.
Similar to DHL, FedEx also operates in over 220 countries and territories. Additionally, FedEx boasts a vast network of convenient locations worldwide, including FedEx Office, FedEx Ship Centers, and authorized drop-off points — making it possible to pick up, drop off, or ship at more than 50,000 FedEx locations.
FedEx is also known for its efforts to give back to the community via charitable giving, investing in communities and helping businesses reach new markets, sustainable choices on deliveries, facilities, and packaging, etc.
UPS is the oldest of the three behemoths, starting services in 1907 and growing to more than 500,000
employees, services across 200+ countries & territories, 22M+ daily delivered packages, and a revenue of $91B (in 2023).
Similar to DHL and FedEx, UPS also stands to deliver social impact and address environmental challenges while delivering customers’ packages, and charitable giving via UPSers’ volunteerism. Thereby sharing commitment towards being a good steward of the planet and communities.
DHL, FedEx, or UPS: What Works Best for Your Business
While DHL, FedEx, and UPS work in the same niche, businesses that choose their services often come from varied domains that require these carriers to improvise with their catering.
To see which of the three carriers works best for your business, it is important to know your goals first — fast shipping, cheaper options, international reach, range of services, access to technology, and efficient customer service. And that will be classification criteria to evaluate carrier performances and decide who works best for your business.
Services offered by DHL, FedEx, and UPS
DHL operates a gamut of services to cater to the shipping needs of its customers – Some of its domestic non-freight service types are DHL SameDay Sprintline, DHL Express 9:00 Domestic, DHL Express 10:30 Domestic, DHL Express 12:00 Domestic, DHL Express 18:00 Domestic, and DHL Express Easy. Its international non-freight offerings include DHL Sameday Jetline, DHL Sameday Sprintline, DHL Express 9:00, DHL Express 10:30, DHL Express 12:00, DHL Express Worldwide, DHL Express Envelope, DHL Express Easy, and DHL Globalmail Business.
FedEx offers the following service types for non-freight shipments within the US – FedEx SameDay, FedEx SameDay City, FedEx First Overnight, FedEx Priority Overnight, FedEx Standard Overnight, FedEx 2Day A.M., FedEx 2Day, FedEx Express Saver, FedEx Ground, FedEx Home Delivery, and FedEx SmartPost. For non-freight international parcels – FedEx International Next Flight, FedEx International First, FedEx International Priority, FedEx International Economy, FedEx International MailService, FedEx International Priority DirectDistribution, FedEx International Economy DirectDistribution, and FedEx International Ground. FedEx has recently launched Network 2.0, an initiative combining Ground and Express networks to streamline operations and offer customers a simplified delivery experience.
UPS offers non-freight shipping service types for both domestic and international shipments – Within the US: UPS Express Critical – Domestic, UPS Ground, UPS Next Day Air Early, UPS Next Day Air, UPS Next Day Air Saver, UPS 2nd Day Air A.M., UPS 2nd Day Air, and UPS 3 Day Select. International – UPS Express Critical – International, UPS Worldwide Express Plus, UPS Worldwide Express Shipping, UPS Worldwide Saver, UPS Next Day Air, UPS Worldwide Expedited, UPS 2nd Day Air, and UPS Standard.
Distinctive features from DHL, FedEx, and UPS
DHL, FedEx, and UPS – each of them has its unique pros and cons:
- FedEx is strong with overnight shipping, expedited 2-day, and 3-day deliveries, and offers advanced tracking and shipping solutions
- UPS is strong in the ground shipment game and offers comprehensive supply chain management services
- DHL has the broadest global presence among the three and is the most vocal about its environmental commitments
DHL, FedEx, or UPS: What to Choose
All three behemoths have their distinct advantages and disadvantages and it is quite unfair to pick the best one out of them.
Ultimately, the choice between the three carriers comes down to your specific business needs. A good ploy would be to use multiple carriers for different requirements so that you get the best out of each of them.
Apart from all these aspects, an important factor i.e. always overlooked while choosing a carrier is their delivery performance. Especially during times of high volume such as the holiday season or the pandemic period, shipping carriers have been known to have struggled to deliver on time amidst supply chain limitations.
Therefore, irrespective of shipping with DHL, FedEx, or UPS, start automatically auditing your parcel invoices with a tool like LateShipment.com to instantly save up to 20% of your shipping costs.
- Recover refunds for 50+ carrier service failures like Late Deliveries, Lost Shipments, and Billing Errors
- Gain delivery performance metrics to know where you’re seeing profits and review areas where you’re not
- Compare cross-carrier spending to identify those that require reevaluation.
- Not just DHL, UPS, and FedEx — supports all major global shipping carriers
