My point of view on this.....you've been treated badly by your local UPS dist. point, no doubt about that.
As for FedEx being better that UPS.....depends upon where you live. Larger urban areas, maybe, rural areas that use contracted FedEx drivers....not a chance. The contracted FedEx drivers get to choose when they will quit for the day, no matter what's left in their truck. They get paid by the package delivered and when they've had enough, they can quit delivering. I've had way too many packages end up not being overnight like I paid for but instead being 4-day deliveries because the damned FedEx driver just hates taking an extra 20 minutes to get out to my little neck of the woods.
Never had UPS ever pull stunts like that, and that's after hundreds of packages delivered over the last decade.
I do ship a bit, too. Finally got one broken bit of china from a UPS delivery I sent.....thankfully I had a spare coffee mug that replaced the one that had its handle broken off. But after a few hundred packages sent out, one isn't bad. Of course, I double box when I need to and pack so securely, you could almost drop a 20# weight on my packages and they'll absorb the shock with no ill effects.
I sell a LOT of china and porcelain on ebay and elsewhere......and have had only one broken piece to date.....all via UPS.
Double box, and peanuts are NOT a good packing medium for anything fragile. No matter how tightly you pack with peanuts, they shift, they mash, they do not hold the item securely at all. With some things, peanuts are alright....a video card, a cpu, but anything with weight.....never!
With fragile items, like china, I wrap in foam sheets, then bubble wrap, and bubble wrap, then bubble wrap another layer. Then I may use peanuts if I need to flesh out the inner box. But I never depend upon peanuts to do anything, especially with a 50# item......peanuts is just asking for trouble.