fed ex was the best when i was at the height of my gear flippery in the mid-late 2000's. fastest, cheapest, and safest back then in my experiences. I used them A LOT in that era. several packages a week for years. maybe 1 mishap in there, and i can't even pinpoint it in my memory, but i'm sure there was. I'd even get the same driver most of the time, who didn't get pissy about bringing me giant boxes with speaker cabinets, heads, guitars, speakers, all the time. Then the last time i used them, i was left in the dark for like 5 days on a package (my boogie simul satellite inside) that was "delayed", and no one at fed ex knew what to tell you. it was bad week, but eventually i got it. that scared me enough to not use them again for a while.
Now i have a few pals/drinkin buddies who are drivers for ups, and they know people who can help me directly if i ever have a problem, so i am more incline to go with them these days.