Another FedEx Package Journey thru the system.

X3 Skier

X3 Skier

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I ordered some Contact lenses from an outfit in Missouri.

Little did I know it would be shipped from Hamilton OH, about 30 minutes down I-75 from my house in Kettering (Dayton) OH.

Using the FedEX tracking system

24 Oct Shipped from Hamilton
Arrived Cincinnati 30 miles South in the opposite direction
Arrived Independence KY 10 miles further in the same opposite direction
25 Oct Arrived Indianapolis IN 100 miles West
26 Oct Arrived Olathe (Kansas City) 600 miles further West

Current estimate is delivery 29 Oct. I assume this is to allow a complete circumnavigation of my location via Memphis, Columbus and Toledo before finally arriving. I only hope it is not a Fibonacci spiral with my lenses ending in Anchorage.

Cheers
 
I live about 2 miles from an amazon distribution center so quite often I get same day delivery on stuff woohooo WHUDDUP!!!!!

200w.gif
 
Racerx said:
Oct 29 7:30am - out for delivery, before end of day

Oct 29 8:04pm- delivery exception

I avoid buying from any place that uses FedEx. Never on time.
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UPS isn’t any better. Even their name spells “oops.”
 
Racerx said:
Oct 29 7:30am - out for delivery, before end of day

Oct 29 8:04pm- delivery exception

I avoid buying from any place that uses FedEx. Never on time.
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To be honest, I’ve had similar experiences with UPS, Amazon, The Herman Dubell Aluminum Storm Door and Delivery Company and the best has been the USPS.

This one stuck out because of the circumnavigation aspect.

Cheers
 
Seems to be common. Last week I bought new struts and shocks for my old work truck. I bought them from the same place at the same time, but they were shipped separately. The struts seemed to go mostly direct, from Memphis, to Perrysburg Ohio, to Detroit, to my home nearby. The shocks on the other hand, left Memphis to Tracy California, Wells NV, Iowa somewhere, then Perrysburg, then Flint, then Detroit, then my home. The shocks took 9 days, the struts took 2.
I believe FedEx, UPS, USPS, all try to operate with only one concern in mind: to be as cheap as possible. Nothing else is a concern...no concern for customer care, competent employees, undamaged goods, etc. They are so concerned about cheapness, they'll spend a dollar to save a dime.
 
Half Fast said:
UPS isn’t any better. Even their name spells “oops.”
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Not here. UPS is 99% on time and intact. FedEx is 99% delayed, lost or destroyed. Our local last mile carriers may have a significant impact in those stats but I basically have to beg vendors not to use FedEx or I do my best to find an alternate vendor that doesn’t.

It is so bad that one very niche-y vendor that refuses, despite my pleading and offering to throw lots of extra $$$ at them, to use anyone but FedEx has blacklisted me as a customer because they sent me an item 3 times and none of them ever showed up.
 
They’re all hit and miss. I had FedEx overnight deliveries take two weeks and I had FexEx overnight deliveries take, well, one night all within the last 12 months. Unfortunately I can say the exact same thing about UPS, USPS and Canada Post.
 
I also am no stranger to "How did you get <there> when you're going <here>", and I've also had it with all shippers.

However, I got a new story this week. I got UPS updates for a package that I neither ordered nor was being delivered to my address.

Your package is arriving tomorrow.
From WARREN VALVES
Scheduled Delivery
Monday 10/24/2022
10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Track Your Package ›
Change Delivery
Ship To
280 ROCKY CREEK RD
GREENVILLE, SC 29615
US
UPS Ground
1Z8V0E560392008144
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My initial reaction was to make sure that no, I indeed hadn't ordered anything from Warren Valves and confirming it wasn't my address took all of .5sec. After that, it was more of an oddity.

But, to their credit, UPS kept me updated and let me know when it had been successfully delivered.
 
It almost feels like they make sure to re-route it so it takes at least 5 days to get to you.
 
We should consider that the union employees are increasing their work hours and annual wages by mis directing items.
They are not concerned with on time delivery, just volume through the terminals, which requires man hours to handle.
I worked for a short time for UPS, could not stand that process, and left.

I worked for a company with a very good union, and excellent relations all across the levels. A national union convinced the members that a union with that cozy relations was selling us out. They were voted in, the company fought everything they tried to do, and our pay rate compared to the industry went from 3rd, to 7th in 3 years. We also paid much higher dues.

I quit and became a contract employee, and made much more money, with less than half as many hours.

Unions can be very good, or very bad. Fortunately, most are somewhere in between.

The package delivery ones seem top be fighting the automation that reduces their membership growth.
 
guest user said:
I also am no stranger to "How did you get <there> when you're going <here>", and I've also had it with all shippers.

However, I got a new story this week. I got UPS updates for a package that I neither ordered nor was being delivered to my address.



My initial reaction was to make sure that no, I indeed hadn't ordered anything from Warren Valves and confirming it wasn't my address took all of .5sec. After that, it was more of an oddity.

But, to their credit, UPS kept me updated and let me know when it had been successfully delivered.
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Make sure it’s not a phishing scam where you click on a link and have to fill out some info to verify it’s you. Pretty common scheme these days. I get “FedEx” or “UPS” delivery notices on a weekly basis but when looking deeper, none of these actually come from them.
 
RudyP said:
Not here. UPS is 99% on time and intact. FedEx is 99% delayed, lost or destroyed. Our local last mile carriers may have a significant impact in those stats but I basically have to beg vendors not to use FedEx or I do my best to find an alternate vendor that doesn’t.

It is so bad that one very niche-y vendor that refuses, despite my pleading and offering to throw lots of extra $$$ at them, to use anyone but FedEx has blacklisted me as a customer because they sent me an item 3 times and none of them ever showed up.
Click to expand...

Fun fact - in that instance, those 3 shipments of the same thing managed to screw it up in 3 entirely different ways. One was officially listed as damaged by Fedex (and then vanished from there), one was officially "delivered" but definitely not to my house and one was delayed a few times and eventually marked as lost.

I spent about an hour with customer service across these 3 delivery attempts and at no point in the ordeal did any of the Fedex CS people even pretend to give an ounce of caring... (and I'm not the type to lose my temper and treat them poorly)
 
FedEx: Yeah. They can never find my office and sometimes return things to the shipper before I can intercept them at the local facility. And they're so unreliable at home that we canceled our Home Chef subscription after the third box full of rancid, warm meat. :vomit:

But all this reminds me of another fun (but legal) scam in the trucking industry. Vendor sells a truckload of widgets to Customer. Vendor doesn't want Customer to know they come from Manufacturer who is much closer to Customer than Vendor. So they do a "double blind" shipment which is arranged with Carrier (or Broker)...

Basically, Vendor calls Manufacturer and places an order, to be shipped to Vendor. Carrier Driver picks up the shipment with a bill of lading that says they're taking it to Vendor.

Then, Driver proceeds to the nearest fax machine or printer as needed, where Carrier supplies them with a completely separate set of paperwork, showing that the widgets were picked up by Carrier at Vendor, *not* at Manufacturer, and delivers them to Customer.

Manufacturer doesn't know who Customer is, Customer doesn't know who Manufacturer is, neither knows that it was a (generally short) journey, Carrier (and also Broker if applicable) make out like gangbusters because they hauled "two loads" for hundreds or thousands of miles on paper, when in reality it was probably less than 200 miles.

Even though it's scammy, it's much more efficient than actually shipping the product to Vendor. It's really not much different than a drop shipment except for Manufacturer and Customer being hidden from each other. The one that really loses out is Customer, who just paid through the nose for shipping even though it didn't go very far.

Side note: This reminds me, I just heard Lufthansa is prohibiting AirTags in checked luggage because customers are embarrassing them by showing where their luggage is traveling without them.
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Make sure it’s not a phishing scam where you click on a link and have to fill out some info to verify it’s you. Pretty common scheme these days. I get “FedEx” or “UPS” delivery notices on a weekly basis but when looking deeper, none of these actually come from them.
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Interesting, but no, this is the first one I've received. So not a regular thing for me.

But, yes, I have seen some interesting phishing attempts, some very well crafted ones if I'm honest.

However, at the end of the day, I just don't get excited about them anymore. Kinda like spam phone calls, some I answer out of boredom, some I just ignore because I don't have the time to bother. I've actually gotten pretty good at getting the spammers to hang up on me at this point. I do feel cheated, though, if I don't keep them on the line at least 60 seconds.

But yes, good point about the phishing potential.
 
RudyP said:
Not here. UPS is 99% on time and intact. FedEx is 99% delayed, lost or destroyed. Our local last mile carriers may have a significant impact in those stats but I basically have to beg vendors not to use FedEx or I do my best to find an alternate vendor that doesn’t.
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Same here. Our local FedEx sort center has become known as a black hole of missing shipments. Basically if it's something I 'need' in a timely manner (can't wait for 2-3 replacement shipments hoping one of them gets through), I will contact the seller and tell them "Either ship via anything other than FedEx or I'm going to a competitor". Sometimes they switch, and sometimes they don't, but I make sure to tell them that I'm not just anti-FedEx, it's my local sort center that is garbage.

UPS and USPS are generally very consistent around here, though I have seen some very wonky USPS routing in the past year.
 
Update

The circumnavigation is almost complete. After leaving the Kansas City area 700 miles WEST on the rescheduled delivery date, the package bypassed me on the way to Grove City OH, 70 miles EAST of my location.

Cheers
 
Reminds me of an old joke whose punchline is "Can't get there from here."
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Make sure it’s not a phishing scam where you click on a link and have to fill out some info to verify it’s you. Pretty common scheme these days. I get “FedEx” or “UPS” delivery notices on a weekly basis but when looking deeper, none of these actually come from them.
Click to expand...

Lotta scams out there now. I get the ones like you've described and others saying they are locking down my bank account at a bank I've never done business with. Lately the scam is that they need to verify some shipping or billing information and that until they have that the items won't be sent ... that I didn't order from a vendor I don't use ... :dunno:
 
Out of all carriers I have the worst luck w fed ex
 
To quote

“Delivery exceptionDamaged, unable to deliver shipment - Please contact shipper/merchant for details“

:rolleyes:
 
I'm sure it has nothing to do with the drop kick the guy used to get it from the back of the truck into the passenger seat. ;)

One time, the Fedex guy was parked outside my house, staging the packages he was going to deliver next and every time he'd toss the package, it would hit the seat, fall off, and fall out of the truck. I hope none of them were fragile...
 
SkyChaser said:
I'm sure it has nothing to do with the drop kick the guy used to get it from the back of the truck into the passenger seat. ;)

One time, the Fedex guy was parked outside my house, staging the packages he was going to deliver next and every time he'd toss the package, it would hit the seat, fall off, and fall out of the truck. I hope none of them were fragile...
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I have multiple cameras at my house. Once, tracking said FedEx was delivering a package on a certain date. Late in the day, I got a notice that the package was delayed because they couldn't find my address. I looked on my cameras and saw the FedEx truck earlier in the day in my driveway for about 5 minutes. I called to complain, and the supervisor said the shipper had filled out my address wrong and it wasn't their fault, blah blah blah. I told them I had cameras and could see the driver sitting in my driveway that day. The supervisor was like, "Oh, I was looking at the wrong case....blah blah blah." They then changed their story to "the driver couldn't find the package in his truck". When the package finally arrived, the address was filled out correctly, but the box was crushed/items damaged.
 
Oh boy, New plasma cutter for the cnc table is just being shipped via fedex. Says it's on the truck out for delivery...we'll see how it goes
 
I was away on Saturday, when my Fedex "Signature Required" delivery was attempted. I got the text message and door sticker.

The web site and door sticker says they will attempt delivery on the next business day. That would have ben yesterday.

The only status I have is "Delivery Exception," We'll see how it goes today...

I don't know why the business insisted on signature required. I guess they are concerned for their intellectual property if the item is stolen...
 
I had a package that recently shipped from another town about 80 miles away in Iowa. I figured it would get here quick, since it was near the Fedex Distribution center there. Nope, checked the shipping the next day and the package was in Memphis. Took 3 days to move what amounted to an envelope 80 miles.

Our biggest problem has been the delivery drivers at the end. We used to have the same drivers that had been here for many years, and knew names and faces and how to find the right person to deliver to at the airport. All of those drivers have left in the last year or so, and every day we see a new driver. Some take the time to ask around and find the right office, some have just dumped the package at the first door they come to.
 
The FedEx drivers are all subcontractors that FedEx hires in different areas. Probably lots of difference between the service they provide depending on how good the subcontractor is.

UPS drivers all work for UPS. UPS likes to have more control so they keep things in house.
 
Honestly, the service from any of the Big 3 carriers has been good in my area. I have received a ton of packages large and small via FedEx (most popular), UPS, and USPS. Stuff arrives generally when they say it will (within a day of original estimated time), and generally in good condition.
 
Fedex cant get enough drivers to fulfill the mission.
So, they have to choose who gets poorer service.
Living in BFE, it’s apparent they have chosen to short the places involving the longest drives & fewest packages.
So, our drivers tell us often we won’t get deliveries every day any more.
Alternate days, til this problem is solved.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Fedex cant get enough drivers to fulfill the mission.
So, they have to choose who gets poorer service.
Living in BFE, it’s apparent they have chosen to short the places involving the longest drives & fewest packages.
So, our drivers tell us often we won’t get deliveries every day any more.
Alternate days, til this problem is solved.
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Maybe, but they sucked in Portland and now they suck in the SF Bay Area.

I had them deliver a brand new dell laptop to some random business across town. (amusingly a security company) "Signature Requested" was ignored -- after going through the CSR runaround and seeing who could out-suck the other, FedEx or Dell (Dell won, by a nose), it was basically "well here's where we delivered it, good luck". Luckily the business was a good sport and coughed it up without fuss.

They dutifully parked a box outside the door of our secure mailroom, then did not mark it delivered, ensuring its theft by the Oakland light-fingered squad. Like, they have a KEY to this room, but the box clown couldn't be bothered.

I can't think of the last FedEx item I received on-time as estimated. Usually it's 2 days extra after a dead period on the tracking.

Not a fan, but not to the point where I'll notice and reject delivery options featuring them -- honestly I don't really encounter them as a shipping option/default all that often anymore.
 
Busflyer said:
The FedEx drivers are all subcontractors that FedEx hires in different areas. Probably lots of difference between the service they provide depending on how good the subcontractor is.

UPS drivers all work for UPS. UPS likes to have more control so they keep things in house.
Click to expand...

Ahhh. That explains why sometimes they show up in rental vans/box trucks. Always make me nervous when an unmarked box truck backs up to my shed.

The one I found interesting is when I had a FedEx ground and a FedEx Air shipment both show up on the same day.... in different trucks a couple hours apart. Apparently they run as completely independent companies, which seems pretty inefficient when they're delivering out here in the sticks.
 
Continuing the saga…….

The Lens company shipped a replacement set and…….

Again left a location 30 minutes south of my house and so far has repeated the exact same route and now has “progressed” as far as Indianapolis……again. Next stop, Kansas City???

Cheers
 
Years ago I worked for a shipping scale manufacturer. Put a box on the scale, push a few buttons, and a shipping label gets printed. Each Feb was “rate change”. UPS, Fed Ex, and other carriers published their new rates a few weeks in advance so we’d have to generate the new rate tables for all their different shipping categories. They were all stored on an EPROM we’d have to ship to customers and dealers. Swap out the old chip with the new in the ZIF socket and you have the new rates. We’d send out hundreds of UPS and Fed Ex overnight envelopes at a time. Usually one of the service guys would load them into a van and drive them to MCI and drop them off at the carrier directly. Usually 7pm was the cutoff for making the flight. Since we were also a dealer, there were almost alway packages for us that we weren’t able to catch before they ended up in the pile. They’d fly to the main hub, get sorted, get back in a plane, fly back to MCI, get sorted, get to the local hub, get sorted and onto a truck, then get delivered by 10:30am right back where they started. I was always impressed.

They deal with such a large volume anymore, and all those packages have to pass through so many hands that I’m surprised they do as well as they do. But one bad facility or location anywhere along the way can probably mess things up very badly.
 
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