Shipping Poll Statistics
From September 9, 2005 to October 9, 2005 I conducted an on-line poll asking quilters, "What shipping method do you use most frequently when you are shipping a quilt?" I wanted to compare the results with the statistics I've collected of quilts that have been reported lost by shipping companies.
My working theories were that if all shipping companies were equal, then:
- The percentage of quilts lost by a shipping company would be equal to the percentage of quilters who use that company.
- The percentage of recovered quilts would be the same for all companies.
There are obvious flaws with these statistics, but I hope these unscientific statistics may still be useful as they are. Some flaws are:
- The company usage is just reported use, not actual use.
- The reported losses and recoveries are only those reported to the Lost Quilt Come Home Page between July 1999 and October 2005. No doubt, many more losses have occured that have not been reported to this website.
- The sampling size is small from a statistical standpoint.
- The poll only allowed quilters to pick one company out of four choices, even though quilters may have used more than one company in the past and even though a company may have several methods of shipping (Priority, Express, One-Day, Two-Day, etc.).
- The poll is primarily focused toward US quilters.
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Shipping Company Most Frequently Used by Quilters
For the first week, I opened the poll to quilters on the QuiltArt list. For the remainder of the month, I opened the poll to any quilter.
(Note: USPS refers to the US Postal Service; UPS refers to United Parcel Service, FedEx refers to Federal Express, Other refers to any other shipping company.)
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Percent of reported users
QuiltArt List
9/9/05 to 9/15/05 (100 Votes) |
Percent of reported users
All quilters
9/16/05 to 10/9/05 (379 Votes) |
| USPS |
44% |
41% |
| UPS |
34% |
31% |
| FedEx |
22% |
23% |
| Other |
0% |
3% |
| No Vote |
0% |
2% |
| Total |
100% |
100% |
Numbers listed below only include quilts which were lost by shipping companies and not lost by any other means.
Recovery Rate
(My theory is that if all shipping companies were equal then the percentage of recovered quilts would be the same for all companies.)
Losses and Recoveries as Reported to
the Lost Quilt Come Home Page
Based on statistics collected from July 1999 to October 2005
|
| |
Number of quilts reported lost by this company |
Percentage of quilts lost during shipping which were reportedly lost by this company * |
Number of quilts reported recovered by this company |
Percentage of quilts lost by this company which were eventually recovered ** |
| USPS |
104 |
73% |
17 |
16% |
| UPS |
24 |
17% |
2 |
8% |
| FedEx |
2 |
1% |
1 |
50% |
| Other |
13 |
9% |
3 |
23% |
| Total |
143 |
100% |
23 |
16% |
* Out of total reported lost by shipping companies, the percent of the total for each shipping company.
** Loss divided by recovered for each shipping company and for total losses. |
| There was one report of USPS losing 60 quilts which had been shipped at the same time in several crates. Twelve of the quilts were recovered (one crate) and the remaining are still missing. While a valid loss, I was concerned this might skew the results. The following is the statistics without considering this loss.
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Losses and Recoveries as Reported to
the Lost Quilt Come Home Page
Based on statistics collected from July 1999 to October 2005
|
| |
Number of quilts reported lost by this company |
Percentage of total lost quilts which were reportedly lost by this company * |
Number of quilts reported recovered by this company |
Percentage of quilts lost by this company which were eventually recovered ** |
| USPS |
44 |
53% |
5 |
11% |
| UPS |
24 |
29% |
2 |
8% |
| FedEx |
2 |
2% |
1 |
50% |
| Other |
13 |
16% |
3 |
23% |
| Total |
83 |
100% |
8 |
10% |
* Out of total reported lost by shipping companies, the percent of the total for each shipping company.
** Loss divided by recovered for each shipping company and for total losses. |
Comparison of Losses and Reported Users
(My theory is that if all shipping companies were equal then the percentage of quilts lost by a shipping company would be equal to the percentage of quilters who use that company.)
| |
Percentage of quilts lost in shipping which were reportedly lost by this company |
Percentage of reported users of this company |
| USPS |
53% |
41% |
| UPS |
29% |
31% |
| FedEx |
2% |
23% |
| Other |
16% |
3% |
| Total |
100% |
98% |
Tables Summarized
US Postal Service (USPS)
- 41% of all quilters who responded to the shipping poll said they used USPS.
- 53% of the quilts lost by shipping companies were reported to have been lost by USPS.
- USPS recovered 11% of the quilts that they lost.
United Parcel Service (UPS)
- 31% of all quilters who responded to the shipping poll said they used UPS.
- 29% of the quilts lost by shipping companies were reported to have been lost by UPS.
- UPS recovered 8% of the quilts that they lost.
Federal Express (FedEx)
- 23% of all quilters who responded to the shipping poll said they used FedEx.
- 2% of the quilts lost by shipping companies were reported to have been lost by FedEx.
- FedEx recovered 50% of the quilts that they lost.
Other Shippers
- 3% of all quilters who responded to the shipping poll said they used other shippers.
- 16% of the quilts lost by shipping companies were reported to have been lost by other shippers.
- Other shippers recovered 23% of the quilts that they lost.
Disclaimer
I am not affiliated with any shipping company. The quality of each shipping company may vary based on location, employee, and many other variables. Individuals may have different experiences. No specific promises or claims are being made.
These statistics only reflect data that has been submitted to the Lost Quilt Come Home Page.
Special thanks to statisticans Nancy Cook and Kathy Applebaum for reviewing my statistical data.
