Guess what I didn't get for Christmas... - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2013, 05:58:56 am
content: Rant time! The magic of USPS...I know ordering stuff from China is probably cheaper and probably going to take a long time. So, I paid a little extra ordering from someone close to home. Well, someone near by, in Flushing (part of New York City). 2 hours away and he has it in stock.He dropped it off by next morning. The package started of30-40 miles from me. 5 days to go till Christmas. Ok, so may be I can get this for Christmas Holiday to play with...4 days later, Christmas eve, it was 180 miles away from me in Albany, Capital of New York State.6 days later, it is now 230 miles away in Springfield Massachusetts.I amjust across the bloody riveron this side of New York City not even 30 miles away from the city limit; just a little south-west. Why on earth does it need to head farther and farther north! I wish I didn't check again before I go to bed. I was fully expecting it may be somewhere in New Jersey by now, you know, a bit closer to home instead of farther, and farther north... Why? I've been good. My empty socks still dangling empty waiting for the gift so it can be filled...God give us a brain so we can think. I think I got it. I think it needs to stop by North Pole first so Santa can give it an appropriate inspection even though it is a self-giving gift. I sure hope he works overtime...Geeze...

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2013, 06:31:44 am
content: Quote from: Rick Law on December 27, 2013, 05:58:56 amSubstitute USPS with any bloody postal service or carrier. They are all shit, every single one of them. Just different kinds of shit, but shit non the less.Maybe the Canadians are doing it right. Giving up on the bloody postal service, because they finally figured out they are just not capable of doing it.

author: adnewhouse
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2013, 04:39:17 pm
content: Quote from: Bored@Work on December 27, 2013, 06:31:44 am^ The sad but very true truth. Every single one sucks. Each carrier finds their own way to screw it up.

author: mariush
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2013, 05:15:03 pm
content: It's an efficiency issue for them.The packages are routed to larger shipping centers where they're sorted automatically by machines and queued on trucks/trains/planes in such a way as to minimize their costs (full and man hours).

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2013, 08:49:59 pm
content: Quote from: mariush on December 27, 2013, 05:15:03 pmI would have guess that had it not been Albany NY. Right by Flushing, they have a large sorting center in Queens. My China orders often stop by there after arriving JFK airport. Then there is another large sorting center in Kearny NJ near Newark Intl Airport. Most of my stuff ends up stopping by either one of the two or both.I think the Albany stop was a mistake. Probably someone was in a hurry to go home or something.Interestingly, I get my mail very early whenever it is a holiday weekend - well before noon verses 3-4pm on normal days. Goes to show, when they want to get home early or on-time, they can work fast.

author: Zbig
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2013, 10:04:53 pm
content: Quote from: Rick Law on December 27, 2013, 05:58:56 amD'oh!Sorry. Couldn't help myself.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 28, 2013, 03:31:12 am
content: I have to put in a good word for TNT. They really do seem to have their shit together. When I'm sending stuff from the USA to Sydney Australia via the reshipper shipito.com, I usually find that TNT quotes are both cheapest AND fastest. They advertise 2 to 3 working days from pickup at shipito's warehouse (about one mile from LA international airport) to my door in Sydney. And of about 10 parcels so far, every single one was on time and undamaged. Even one that was poorly packed, and would easily have been broken if impacted at all. The TNT final leg delivery driver in Sth Sydney is a nice guy too, and very careful with the boxes.The only time something funny happened was when Shipito sent two boxes that were marked 'box 1 of 2' and 'box 2 of 2' on different days. One on Friday, the other next Monday. TNT's cargo routing software had a fit, and routed them to an intermediate site (Singapore) I guess to get them together before arrival in Sydney Customs. Which is quite clever really.Fedex on the other hand... ha ha ha. With one large heavy box, for some reason FedEx economy quote was considerably cheaper. So I gave them a go. Never again. They picked it up from the Los Angeles warehouse (one mile from LA International), then trucked it overnight to San Francisco, about what, 200 miles North? It sat there for a few days, then got flown to... Hawaii. Where it sat a few more days. Then on to Sydney. Once it got through customs and to the Fedex depot near the airport, did they truck it sensibly to me, about 20 mins drive South of the airport? Nope. They trucked it FURTHER in the opposite direction, North to another Fedex depot. Then another day sitting. With the tracking page saying 'not due for delivery', ha ha. FINALLY, they got it on a truck going in the right direction. I'd been freaking out about all the stupidly unnecessary handling and road travel, but the thing (Tek TLA 721 logic analyzer) wasn't damaged. No thanks to FedEx.My guess is Fedex want to make sure their economy service doesn't make their fast service look overpriced. So they deliberately route economy parcels badly.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 28, 2013, 03:44:14 am
content: Quote from: TerraHertz on December 28, 2013, 03:31:12 amI agree with you with FedEx. Fedex is not what it used to be. With the many acquisitions one of which became FedEx Ground, they are no longer the laser focus quality (on time) shipment company they used to be.On a positive note, my package arrived Kearney NJ today. So, next stop should be either another near by larger post office (15 miles or so), or directly to my local post office. So, it may make it here this year.

author: Fsck
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 28, 2013, 03:49:24 am
content: Quote from: mariush on December 27, 2013, 05:15:03 pmsometimes it can get really odd though.I had a package bounce across the US, then over the border to Canada, back down to the US then back over to Canada.

author: sacherjj
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 28, 2013, 04:06:14 am
content: I once has a UPS Ground coming to Indiana from Vermont. Via California. By truck. It was bicycle panniers, so I know they were well traveled before I took them out. 14 days in route for UPS ground.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 28, 2013, 05:05:07 am
content: Then there's this, about UPS.http://www.fourwinds10.net/siterun_data/government/fraud/us_government/news.php?q=1388171728

author: casinada
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 28, 2013, 05:22:43 am
content: I had a scary experience with USPS last month. Item shipped from Tennesee to Arizona made it to Colorado and then went to Connecticut. Eventually I got the package and the USPS employees were very professional addressing the problem. The package made it to my door but not before I had a bit of stress as it was an expensive bit of kit.

author: peter.mitchell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 28, 2013, 06:10:54 am
content: For postage within Australia, aus post is pretty damn good, as far as i have seen.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 28, 2013, 06:35:52 am
content: Quote from: TerraHertz on December 28, 2013, 03:31:12 amDon't worry, it won't last.

author: dexters_lab
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 28, 2013, 11:08:24 am
content: a year or so back i had a shipment from Ningbo, China to Manchester, UK. It was probably a couple of m2 and about 240kg shipped by UPS... its route went something like this...China -> UAE -> Netherlands -> USA -> Germany -> UK

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 28, 2013, 11:39:17 am
content: Quote from: dexters_lab on December 28, 2013, 11:08:24 amUAE almost makes sense. The Netherlands means someone knew the general direction towards Western Europe. Hey, and everyone knows Manchester is in New Hampshirehttp://maps.google.com/maps?ll=42.990833,-71.463611&z=11&t=m&q=42.990833,-71.463611