Community Chat

[handygal2]

So, l ordered a pair of embroidered jeans from Lord and Taylor on Wednesday evening. Only a few hours later, l received an email that the item had shipped. By Thursday evening, it was already at a FedEx facility 19 miles from my house. I assumed l would be receiving my jeans on Friday.

This is where the "journey of the jeans" takes a circuitous turn. Yesterday (Friday) evening, the package arrived at a FedEx facility in PENNSYLVANIA, 128 miles from my house!! Can someone explain the logic of this?? I can't!!

I know there are many more serious things going on in the world to complain about, but l can't understand how a delivery company can operate this way...

Have any of you had this experience with FedEx? I think UPS and USPS have them beaten by a mile (no pun intended, lol).

[luvmyjewelry]

Had the same with UPS and or USPS, multiple times. Just can't remember which cause now UPS hands off to USPS. Just the other day, an item was at the post office here in Va, then went back to NJ, and then back to Va. Crazy!

[puttypiesmom]

I did have an odd experience like this with Fedex and I phoned them to find out when my item would arrive.  I was not given any explanation just that a trace would be placed on the package.  Didn't hear anything back and then it landed on my doorstep a few days later.  Fortunately it only happened once.  

[TwiliteBeach]

IMO shipping in the US is weird. Tho I suspect some of it is some strange way of saving money.Am tracking a small package right now that apparently is making a tour of the East coast. Which means it passed my home at some point. I've gotten stuff from Australia faster than stuff shipped within the U.S.

That said, kudos to Amazon, Target, and HSN who over the past 2 months shipped stuff with blinding speed. I figure HSN won't ship as fast now since the QVC  buyout tho.

[Sooner]

Packages are routed to large sorting centers.  Post Office does the same thing and that's why zip codes were invented.  They routed mail to larger sorting centers thereby economizing and usually speeding up long distance shipping.

Often carriers will send a package now to keep it moving.  So if the mileage is longer and the route has more places you may actually get the pkg sooner because it is always on the move and not sitting somewhere waiting for a particular plane or truck. 

[sarahjaney]

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@Soonerwrote:

Packages are routed to large sorting centers.  Post Office does the same thing and that's why zip codes were invented.  They routed mail to larger sorting centers thereby economizing and usually speeding up long distance shipping.

Often carriers will send a package now to keep it moving.  So if the mileage is longer and the route has more places you may actually get the pkg sooner because it is always on the move and not sitting somewhere waiting for a particular plane or truck. 

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Thanks for the explanation!  

[shoekitty]

Yes, it happens.  I have paricular trouble with a couple of ice cream companies.  I have gone round and round, because they have had to replace orders a couple times.  It started when they expanded, and started using a different delivery system.  Not company, just the way they are shipped.

okay, I live in california, in the Santa Clara Valley.  The company is in downtown Santa Barbara, Ca.  My order goes to 

Goleta, Ca. Then

Sacramento, and an outer city I forget.   Then it goes to

Tennessee or 

Georgia, then to 

Winnemucca, nv

back to Sacramento

then to Oakland

san jose

then my house

4 days

it used to go to Goleta

oakland

my house

2 days

This longer route costs 4 dollars less😂😳

[Cats3000]

I use both FedEx and UPS.  I really don't care how they route my packages, as long as they get where I send them, or they get to me from where they're being sent, and they get there on the date they're supposed to get there.  They are extremely successful businesses.  I'll leave their business model and how they pursue it to them.

[juperier]

@handygal2 From what you wrote, it doesn't sound particularly unusual to me. One missing piece is where Lord & Taylor shipped the package from.

As @Sooner mentioned, all the delivery companies use some type of hub system. The "main" FedEx hub is in Memphis, so many, many packages make the trip through there. Philadelphia is a regional hub. I would expect that any package mailed in the region that hub covers with a destination that is also in that region would go through there. For example, I frequently receive packages that are mailed from, literally 1 1/2 miles away. They still travel to the nearest hub, which is 30+ miles away, then get routed back...except when they end up on a truck to a hub around 75 miles away, then have to make their way back through the nearer hub. Of course, when you're dealing with millions of packages, there are bound to be errors now and then, but it sounds to me like your package just followed the normal routing.

USPS wins my delivery screw up prize for the week. First issue, Amazon package with confirmed delivery for last Sunday. Package apparently made it to my address, where they put a slip in my box that package was too large to fit (definitely was, normal practice is to leave package at apartment doorway). Ok, I re-scheduled online and received email confirmation for Monday delivery. Later I check "informed delivery" and it shows Tuesday. Package finally shows up on Friday....after I've filed an online complaint with USPS and communicated a couple of times with Amazon (which has declared the package lost and sent a replacement FedEx overnight which shipped Friday and arrived on Saturday). Issue two, small package estimated to arrive on Friday. On Friday it's in Anchorage, AK. Hopefully it will make its way back to California and be delivered Tuesday (Monday is a holiday). Another customer of the same company posted on their FB Group page that her package had gone to Puerto Rico. Both of us are in California and pacakges are coming from Iowa.

[viva923]

cannot explain logic is anything anymore.

I have had orders drive thru my state 3 times before it was delivered. Why have no clue.

have had orders sit in a warehouse for weeks and not move one inch till the shipping company decided they were ready to move it. even after called the company where i purchased the item that company couldn't get the delivery company to move it along. it sat about 150 miles from my house for over 3 weeks.