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On Fedex vehicle for delivery for 11 hours?!

jimc

jimc

Sep 17, 2002
902
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New Carsmell, CA
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#1
I was expecting a bass yesterday. Fedex tracking showed it as out for delivery at 7:30am. I arrange to work from home as I knew a signature was required.

So I stay at home all day, 5:30pm comes around, still no bass, and I have to meet up with some friends so I leave the house.

The driver attempted to deliver at 6:30pm and didn't leave the package of course.

So I've signed the form so they will deliver today but I'm curious. I know some people on TB work for Fedex and UPS etc. What happened to the bass between 7:30 am and 6:30pm? Did it ride around in the same van for an entire day? Did it get moved from one place to another? Why did it take 11 hours?

It's a bit much to expect someone to stay home for 11 hours to receive a shipment. Even Comcast give you a 4 hour window!
 
#2
jimc said:
I was expecting a bass yesterday. Fedex tracking showed it as out for delivery at 7:30am. I arrange to work from home as I knew a signature was required.

So I stay at home all day, 5:30pm comes around, still no bass, and I have to meet up with some friends so I leave the house.

The driver attempted to deliver at 6:30pm and didn't leave the package of course.

So I've signed the form so they will deliver today but I'm curious. I know some people on TB work for Fedex and UPS etc. What happened to the bass between 7:30 am and 6:30pm? Did it ride around in the same van for an entire day?
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Yep.

jimc said:
Why did it take 11 hours?
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Because you were at the end of the route, and he had a 11+ hour day of deliveries.

In talking with FedEx Ground (who are independent contractors, not FedEx employees), 12-14 hour delivery days are pretty normal.

100+ deliveries a day, for about $35k/year.

At 8:15 one morning last week, that was Vern Brumfield, a FedEx driver for three years, who found himself waiting for a missing package, two hours after he started work.

"When you're missing something, it's a nightmare, because you don't know where to look," says Brumfield, sitting on the back of his truck, gazing at a scanner listing one last tracking number he's supposed to find. "They want you to find that box. I waste a good hour every day. If everything was here in the morning, I could load the truck in 15 minutes. Instead, I get here at 6 in the morning and leave at 9 o'clock."
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I get paid by the day rather than the hour or by the stop, so no matter how long I work it is the same pay. Some days I get home around 5PM and some nights (around Christmas) it may be 10PM.
On my typical day at FedEx (Tuesday-Saturday) I get up at 4:30AM and get ready for work. I leave home shortly after 5 and gas up my van. When I get to the FedEx terminal around 5:45. My route is typically about 150-170 miles and a normal day has me doing 75-80 stops.
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A Day in the Life of a FedEx Driver


To get to the point I receive a little more than $400 a week to work 13-16 hours a day
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#4
Ok. So for a TBer who works a job and is expecting a package, they can either take a day off and be prepared to be home the entire day or the driver attempts delivery, leaves the form, the TBer signs the form and it gets delivered the next day.

That way the driver has to make the same trip twice. I'm not knocking the drivers, I know they work long hours and don't get paid much. I was just curious as to how it works (or doesn't!). Thanks for the info.
 
#6
@jimc - I always have my important packages sent to my work address. When I lived in apartments, I had it sent to the leasing office. I've even had things sent to friends I knew were available during the day.

It is your choice of where you need the package delivered, it does not always have to be your home.
 
#7
The key here is patience. Driving around doing deliveries in a Fed Ex truck for 12-14 hours a day is not easy work. Just have a little faith that they're doing the best they can.
 
#9
jimc said:
I was just interested in the process and seriously surprised to learn that the package was on the same vehicle for all of that time.
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Very possible to be on the truck for that long. The statuses on the site are directly driven by scans whether in the warehouse or by the driver. Therefore, the driver must scan it again in order for you to see a status change on the site.

Full disclosure, I'm in the IT department of a logistics firm. We're not a courier like FedEx or UPS, but our systems provide similar tracking tools.
 
#10
Fedex is starting to roll out self service lockers. So if they try to deliver and you're not home, they'll drop your package off at 24hr automated lockers so you can pick up your package whenever it's convenient for you. Invalid Link Removed

460248560-fedex-office-unveiled-its-ship-get-lockers-gettyimages.jpg
 
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#14
Don't take tracking updates too literally.
I've had Fedex delay me two days because of weather and then saw a Fedex truck in my neighborhood when I left the house. Sometimes they goof break down or have problems too.
 
#15
Hoochie Coochie Man said:
You can also have the package shipped to a retail location that contracts with FedEx.
There is a Kinko's copy center near my house that is open from 7:00 am, to 11:00 pm, to which I can direct a shipment, and it will be held safely, until I go pick it up.
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This is what I do for any delivery that needs to be signed for. I do this with Fedex and UPS and can usually pick up the morning it was supposed to be delivered.

I just closed a chapter with Toshiba, no doubt the most incompetent company I've ever had the pleasure of dealing with. They seem to screw up almost everything. The finale was a new laptop that was to be delivered by 8pm on Wednesday. As usual I didn't want to stay home home all day waiting on a delivery so I signed into my Fedex account only to find that holding it at a facility wasn't an option. I was told that three delivery attempts would be made and THEN they'd hold it at the facility. They said this was a restriction from the vendor. I called them and here's how that started; they asked for my name, address and what I was calling about. I told them I'm waiting on delivery of a new laptop and here's the next question:

"What is the serial number?"

I responded that this is a new laptop that I haven't received to which they again asked for the serial number. I explained that I can't have a serial number on something I've never received and they asked me the same question one more time. I asked them how would they get a serial number off of something they've never laid eyes on and I guess that clicked.

So, long story not as long as it could be, I was told by Toshiba that they had to not allow for holding at a location, WHICH REQUIRES MORE VERIFICATION THAN MY SIGNATURE, because I paid with Paypal. If I had used another method there'd be no hold. I do a lot of Paypal/Fedex transactions, this sounded like BS. So I called Paypal, they said not true. Called CS back, got the same person on the phone who said she never said what she said about Paypal or most of the rest of what she said. I requested that this be escalated, she refused several times then said she would. I requested that the recorded phone calls be included in that escalation. I doubt it'll go anywhere but customer service seems to be getting worse in general and Toshiba should change their logo to a monkey happily humping a football.

Occassionally I've had drivers lying about attempted deliveries. That's very annoying too.
 
#19
Hoochie Coochie Man said:
You can also have the package shipped to a retail location that contracts with FedEx.
There is a Kinko's copy center near my house that is open from 7:00 am, to 11:00 pm, to which I can direct a shipment, and it will be held safely, until I go pick it up.
Click to expand...
^ This. If there is any chance I won't be home when expecting a bass from FedEx, I always have it re-directed to one of their FedEx Office locations near my house. That way you don't suffer the angst about missing the delivery. Pick it up at your convenience.
 
#20
If you are talking about Ground then it could be any time within that day. It just depends on where you are on the driver's route. Express however has different delivery windows based on the service type picked by the shipper. Priority would be by 10:30 am, standard overnight is by 3 p.m. to a business or 7 p.m. to a residence, etc. I know with Express you can pay a little extra and specify evening delivery between 5-8 p.m. if you are not home during the day. Another option would be to have it shipped to your work address as anyone at that address can sign for it even if you are out of the office.
 

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