Efficiency in Shipping

[Bailey Guns]

How do shipping companies ever make money? Here's the tracking info for an order I placed last week. It's a very large item...impossible to miss among other boxes:

[Erni]

Is ZZ Zimbabwe?

[FoxtArt]

I always love when you see a package get redirected somewhere like NYC and then it shows "out for delivery".

Usually it means you'll eventually get it about 6-8 weeks later. When that NYC truck eventually completes its nation-wide route, apparently.

My favorite was a critical overnight package, their plane broke down at the destination terminal (Fedex IIRC)... they kept all cargo on it locked away until they finished repairing it many days later. It was like....tf? It is there. Don't you know it's possible to unload it either while they are repairing it... or even better, before? It was important enough I was willing to drive to the airport to pick it up... nope, policy.

I don't think I've ever got a refund for any of the 5-10% of overnights that missed either. USPS is the worst for issuing refunds in that regards imho, they have perfected a run-around system. "We're sorry, you cannot request a refund online for this label. You need to request a refund at your local post office" Go to your local post office "Oh, this label was printed online, you can only obtain a refund online". Not once, have I ever seen a refund for the probably 8-10 times USPS has jacked that up - and yes, I used to do a loooot of overnights.

PS: Life hack - if you have critical time sensitive documents that don't need the original-in-ink signature (e.g. copy is fine), use a courier instead of overnight. It's often cheaper, and more reliable.

...

[ray1970]

USPS tracking is still the best.

I've had packages that showed Ohio to Kansas to Denver to Salt Lake City then back to Denver and out for delivery. Why they made a stop in Denver and then took it to Salt Lake City and then brought it back to Denver for delivery is a mystery to me.

[Bailey Guns]

I still hate FedEx. If it can possibly be f'd up, FedEx will do it. They are the worst. Name change: F'dEx

[newracer]

I had a UPS guy admit to me that a lot of the time the tracking is what they call "virtual tracking." It's where the package should be not where it actually is.

[brutal]

USPS =

We got the tracking number for the shit you bought
We don't have a clue WTF your shit is or when it will get there
We delivered your shit

Amazon Logistics is running a close second. They lose so much stuff it's unbelievable.

[Jeff350]

In that same vein, why does amazon put small items in such big boxes? I got literally 2 coin cell batteries in a 12”x8”x6” box! They would have fit in a small envelope.

[Irving]

We should be able to return Amazon boxes directly to the distribution facility so that they can be reused.

[fright88]

In that same vein, why does amazon put small items in such big boxes? I got literally 2 coin cell batteries in a 12”x8”x6” box! They would have fit in a small envelope.

+1 I just got a 9mm bore laser inside a 5"x6"x8" box