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Shipping efficientcy in action

#3
I ordered a Squier from a mom and pop in the LA area, and they nicely Fedex'd it (2-day shipping) that afternoon.

Watched the tracker, it came from LA to their World Hub in Memphis, and then here to Nashville at their terminal across town.

Then it goes back to the World Hub, then back to the original shipping point.

What?

I called FedEx, they said 'oops, our fault, you'll have it tomorrow on us'. Great.

Shows up the next day. Rough looking box, no real packing, just the translucent plastic bag and some Styrofoam corners. Open it with the guy standing there, it's perfect. THANK YOU.

Shipping . . . . is a whole 'nother world from this one we live in.
 
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#7
I received a picture of a USPS receipt with the tracking number at 8:15am on Wed, Dec 31. The item was in USPS possession on Wed morning.

I checked today and it had just departed the originating facility on Jan 3 (today). I guess they decided to take Wed-Friday off?

Way to go, USPS.
 
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#9
4Mal said:
Ordered a pickup from Serek in NC.
They ship USPS priority.
Friday Jan 2 expected delivery date
USPS tracking shows it went from NC to Guam (I'm not kidding)
Sat Jan 3 - Honolulu, HI

I wonder what paradise my pickup will be routed through next ?
Click to expand...
You might want to spray it with disinfectant. Seriously.
 
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#10
fdeck said:
On-time package delivery rates for USPS hover around 95 percent:

Invalid Link Removed
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I've had pretty good luck with all the carriers to be honest. Rarely do they get it too far wrong. A couple of days delay, eh we ain't saving lives with pickups. I thought the Guam, Honolulu routing was unusual enough to get a chuckle or two though.
 
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#11
Sometimes packages arrive in 2 days Sometimes 10 or more and then sometimes never at all.
Do not really have a preference, Since they all seem just as good and bad. Random roll of the dice as they say for me.
Have heard countless horror stories from Ex Employees which have worked at distribution centers during holidays.
At that point just be happy if you get your package having heard how bad it gets.
 
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#14
I was stationed on Guam for a tour. Beautiful tropical island much like Hawaii. But that's one hell of a flight. It'll cost them to get that back. EVERYTHING has a fee associated with it. If you're not from the island, your fee is more. And people of authority often require a "TIP" to ensure prompt and courteous service (wink, wink).
 
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#16
Ordered a pickup for a 70’s P from new york about 6 years ago. It went to Nebraska, texas, California, back to new york, then to where I live in Kansas…

When I order things now I just tell the seller I’m willing to pay more for UPS. Usps in my area is just so unbelievably useless. Sometimes my bills show up late or not at all thanks to them, and since most Missouri and Kansas electric and water service websites are 1995 vintage I have to make the journey to the physical locations of said services. Sigh
 
#17
Do you live in Georgia by any chance?

Decades ago, when such things were done on paper, a friend in college failed to receive a grad school application from a particular school. He shrugged and applied to the places that did send them.

Months later he go the packet, and it turns out USPS confused the MA in the address with Madagascar. It appeared to have been frolicking with the lemurs.
 
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#18
USPS had massive changes recently in terms of how/when things are scanned and considered 'accepted' and 'on time', which has a lot of potentially negative consequences attached to this change. Part of a continuing effort to strangle it and decrease its efficiency in pursuit of privatization. They've also reduced the number of sorting hubs and staffing within those hubs. Especially here in North Carolina. Not that this has any direct connection to a package getting this badly misrouted, but it's part and parcel of major shifts in how USPS is being forced to operate in this day and age.

USPS Changes in 2026
 
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#19
Unfortunately, there are a lot of incompetent people doing jobs they don't know how to do. The world tour seems to be common on both USPS and FedEx. Not so much from UPS. It's not just with the shipping companies. For instance, I ordered some gaskets for my Ram pickup from a large online retailer. They were sent via FedEx and took over a week to get here. Upon opening the extremely oversized box, I pulled out the flat plastic wrapped cardboard with the gaskets attached and notice a large cut over halfway across the cardboard. Someone used a box cutter and cut through the package AND both gaskets. This was so obvious that a blind person could see it, but they shipped it anyway. Dealing with the company as I post this. They had the gall to say I need to pay return shipping for their F**k up. Incompetence!
 
#20
I had something I bought on Ebay leave the seller's post office in Glendale, AZ, ~30 miles from me in Chandler, end up in frigging St. Louis before heading to Dallas and back to AZ, and finally, to me. It took 8 days, IIRC. I has it shipped because it was cheaper than driving back and forth. USPS has been doing that a lot lately.
 

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