Slower than claimed

It has come a full circle. The documents that I had sent earlier by FedEx to a friend in Budapest to have them signed are now returned to me. I received the package yesterday from DHL Express, a mere four days after it was handed over to their office in the Hungarian capital. 

Has DHL Express been any faster or slower than FedEx? From the tracking of the two packages, the two courier companies were equally efficient. Four days from one corner of the world to another. 

But of course, they took different routes. My package to Hungary went the way of Guangzhou in China and then Paris in France. My friend's package from Hungary went through Leipzig in Germany and then Singapore.

The only delay as I could see was at the Penang end. Initially from the DHL Express tracking website, the package was estimated to reach me a day earlier. When I first looked at it, the thought coming to me was that it would be impossible. Three days for the package to travel from Budapest to Bukit Mertajam? Impossible.

Yet, I was hoping that it would still happen. Not that I wanted DHL Express to trump FedEx in the efficiency race. Nope. I only wanted to see whether they could deliver according to their estimate.

At the end, no. The package arrived at their distribution point in Penang at about 11.45am of the third day but it stayed there overnight. I received it at about 1pm the next day. DHL Express could have impressed me if they had delivered on time and not the fourth day.

But never mind, I did receive back the documents after all. They are now in my safe hands and awaiting my further actions.