Huels use of smartpost has not only caused shipping delays but also very inaccurate delivery dates. For those of you who don’t know what smartpost is, FedEx hands the package over to USPS once it is close to the destination for the final leg of the delivery. USPS in my area is sloppy, they leave packages at the edge of the porch in the rain, deliver to the wrong addresses and just generally do not care. Now that our government has scaled back the postal service, packages may be delayed 1 or 2 days or 3 to 10 days. There is no longer ANY accuracy to the tracking on my Huel shipments. This has caused me to seek alternative products. Good luck with this choice Huel, love your products but the shipping is a NO go.
I’m afraid Huel is a victim of our current situation as much as you are. Huel, like many other shippers, is struggling to find reliable means of delivery. In our area, FedEx shipments routinely were delayed at the Macon, Georgia facilities sometimes for a week and a half. Just sitting, sitting, waiting for the few remaining employees to catch up. FedEx probably got hit harder than the other major delivery services for some reason. As you know, the USPS continues to give us less and less service for more and more money, a business model that works only for government monopolies. I don’t know which delivery service you’d rather Huel use, but I’m pretty sure Huel is even more concerned about this than you.
I order many items online, occasionally I do see delays but not consistently like what is occurring with Huel using smartpost. Using smartpost is a money saving option for Huel and I get that, especially in these difficult times. I have no issues what so ever with the amount of time it takes my package to arrive, however the inaccurate tracking and guessing game of when it will arrive is not something that is going to work out in my situation. If it takes 10 days I can plan for that, I can not plan for somewhere in-between 4 to 12 days. I would rather pay part of or all of the shipping cost to get accurate shipping that comes with most of the other items I buy online.
Here’s an idea. Give your customers the option like many other vendors do. Free shipping or Pay for FedEx ground shipping or expeditated. That way the customer makes the choice, to take the free inaccurate shipping or pay extra for FedEx to bring it the whole way. Sometimes I can wait and some weeks I have to get right back on the road.
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I certainly won’t pretend to have a solution to everybody’s shipping woes. Huel was taking at minimum an extra week to be delivered over the summer for me, but recently seems to have gotten a bit better. I usually prefer to order just what I need, timed to arrive when I’m finishing the very last of my previous order. However, I’ve found it helpful to have an extra bag (or two) handy to act as a “buffer” when shipping delays occur. The extra cost is minimal, and definitely less expensive than eating out every day at lunch for a week while I wait on the next shipment to arrive. It has worked for me.
I just placed an order for 10 bags, delivered to my office. People that read the post I dont think they understand that my issue is not the extra time it takes to get my delivery, it is that FedEx will post a delivery day, then change it 5 to 10 times and once it does get delivered USPS never puts the package on my porch, they put it on the sidewalk and leave it in the rain and out where someone walking by can easily pick it up. I order constantly from the internet. FedEx is not great but ok, USPS is not great. Both are ok by themselves but when you combine them with smart post it is the worst service there is. This is a money saving option used by Huel. They could very easily do like Amazon and offer free shipping, paid shipping where fedex makes the delivery and even fast shipping for a price. Like I said if they continue with the only shipping option is to use smartpost it will be their undoing.
Interesting that no one has mentioned UPS yet. Or any of the other carriers. FedEx is not the only game in town and I actually prefer UPS over FedEx. I don’t know what Huel’s commitment to FedEx is but they must have a long-term contract of some type otherwise you would think they would switch to another carrier. Doesn’t matter much to me anyway I’m not using Huel anymore but I am sorry to hear you guys are having issues. You should try Ka’Chava. 
Yes UPS is awesome but customers don’t get a choice. Some of the Huel distribution points do use UPS, I noticed when my order comes from Texas it comes UPS. They are also the most expensive delivery service (probably why they are the best). FedEx is not the problem it is the transfer to USPS, not only do you lose tracking and they are slower than a sloth. Do a google search on smartpost and you will see just how many people hate this marriage between FedEx and USPS. PS I have tried KaChava and like Huel MUCH better.
absolutely agee, bang on
My first package was suppose to arrive Saturday. But now its is on a tour of the United States. First order too so I was really disappointed. I live in KY and it was as close as Indiana but now its hanging out in Mississippi. Maybe one day it will arrive.