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Author Topic: USPS/FedEx/UPS Horror Stories  (Read 15481 times)

David Pedd

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Re: USPS/FedEx/UPS Horror Stories
« Reply #30 on: February 16, 2018, 08:10:02 PM »

If you sent something next day air across town, it most likely gets flown the the regional hub and back again.  Then put on the truck again.

Shipping software (FedEx, UPS) shouldn't allow you to do that.
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GenePink

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Re: USPS/FedEx/UPS Horror Stories
« Reply #31 on: February 18, 2018, 11:08:23 PM »

A test.

Ship a GPS tracker... to yourself.

Enjoy following the path of where it had to travel, to go nowhere.

Gene
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Dave Garoutte

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Re: USPS/FedEx/UPS Horror Stories
« Reply #32 on: February 19, 2018, 02:57:01 PM »

Just sayin'. ::)
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Tim Weaver

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Re: USPS/FedEx/UPS Horror Stories
« Reply #33 on: February 19, 2018, 07:38:00 PM »

I bought a motorcycle gas tank on ebay a number of years ago. It was delivered by UPS, but when the guy rang my bell and handed me the package it was a gas tank that STILL HAD FUEL IN IT! To top it all off, the seller had wrapped it in a blanket and then shrinkwrapped it. Thats it. No box, no real packing, no nothing. By the time it got to me the tape was all falling off and it was a nasty, stinking, molotov cocktail looking for a spark!

So this is more about an idiot seller, but I still can't believe that UPS accepted this thing and shipped it across the country!
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Tom Burgess

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Re: USPS/FedEx/UPS Horror Stories
« Reply #34 on: February 22, 2018, 11:41:59 AM »

With the massive expansion of internet sales with bricks and mortar sellers now turning into fulfillment center too, I have seen some incredibly poor packing jobs. They have the benefit of shorter hops, but still some pack jobs are ridiculously inadequate.

Over the decades I have dealt with this as a manufacturer and large scale shipper. Even product design gets adjusted to  reduce shipping damage. Try shipping SKUs halfway around the world.  :o   Nothing like dropping a container full of old school heavy-iron power amps onto the dock from height, and then expecting the shipping pack to survive a few more shipments, to distributors, and then dealers.  ::)

JR
Back when I was selling P-brand MI stuff, your packaging was top notch.  Always well done with good cardboard, reinforced corners where needed, and an opportunity to add to our softball-size gorilla snot glue ball made from the sealant!

My biggest nightmare was receiving a transmission with a cracked case from UPS.  I'd specifically told the seller to have an actual UPS driver sign the high-value report and not a UPS Store employee.  I wasn't in a great hurry for the trans and a few days wait was no big deal.  Buuuuuttttt, he took it to the UPS store and of course UPS broke it.  To the seller's credit, he ponied up and replaced the trans while I, being the actual shipper of record, fought with UPS about the high value thing.  Moral of the story... if you have a high value shipment, make sure an actual UPS employee signs off on the HVR when shipping.

And to that end...

My funniest / strangest was being within 1 day of UPS cutting us a check for an $8000.00 bassoon of which they lost track.  As a last ditch effort to avoid payment the UPS adjuster called me to double-check every single iota of the situation, then made a final sweep of the UPS terminal where I had dropped off the instrument for shipping and obtained the correct signature on the HVR.  She calls me back 20 minutes later and had found it sitting on a shelf in the corner of the very same Customer Service Center where I dropped it off approximately 3 weeks earlier.  They ended up comping us air freight to and from the facility to which we were sending it for a tenon repair.
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Jonathan Johnson

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Re: USPS/FedEx/UPS Horror Stories
« Reply #35 on: February 23, 2018, 01:14:53 AM »

Did you hear about the new stamp the Post Office is about to introduce, for stuff that's not time sensitive? It will be called "forever and a day."
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Dave Garoutte

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Re: USPS/FedEx/UPS Horror Stories
« Reply #36 on: February 23, 2018, 12:57:46 PM »

I went to the PO one day and there was a sign that said 'Out of Forever stamps'.
I thought is said 'Out of stamps Forever'! :o
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Nothing can be made idiot-proof; only idiot resistant.

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Inventor.  And now, Streaming Video!

Matt Greiner

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Re: USPS/FedEx/UPS Horror Stories
« Reply #37 on: February 24, 2018, 02:32:42 AM »

So here's a new one (for me, at least).  FedEx apparently doesn't like to deliver anything ahead of schedule!  I've had a shipment sitting at the Daytona terminal for 3 days now because it's "not due for delivery".  Seriously?  So something gets through the shipping process quicker than expected and now is going to spend the weekend in a warehouse just because I paid for "standard shipping" instead of an expedited option?  At least they're not trying to charge me for storage!

In my area (Midwest), it seems to depends on the time of year and the size of the package.  Close to holiday time or potential bad weather, they tend to deliver everything they have in their local possession, that way they can stay ahead of the deliveries as possible in case of weather delays or higher volume than they projected.  It also seems that smaller packages also have a better chance of making the flight a day early.
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Steve Litcher

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Re: USPS/FedEx/UPS Horror Stories
« Reply #38 on: February 28, 2018, 04:08:41 PM »

Well, I guess that's what I get for starting this thread... ugh!

Ordered our new dLive system and A&H could drop-ship it to me much faster than if they sent it freight to our local distributor and all of that jazz. The cost for the drop shipping was $20 and the time improvement was 3-days delivery vs 13-14 days. So, we did the drop ship option.

My local vendor suggested we have A&H ship it to a local FedEx facility rather than my house/workplace, so that I could be guaranteed that it wouldn't get misplaced or returned due to lack of signature, etc. I thought this was a good idea and agreed to it.

I went online and found the address for the local FedEx hub that I use for shipping and pick-ups (for missed deliveries). I provided the address and got a tracking number the next day.

It was due to be delivered today, so I started watching the tracking info. It goes like this:

4:48am - package arrived at facility
6:01am - package on vehicle for delivery
6:02am - Delivery exception - recipient refused delivery

Here's the kicker... the facility that I had this shipped to is *the main hub/shipping center* for my city. It should never have gotten on a truck (even for a minute), nor should it have been refused for delivery, as it was already on the premises.

After much round-and-round with FedEx phone reps I was told the mixer needed to be shipped to a Walgreens FedEx site, because the FedEx shipping center couldn't receive FedEx Ground packages.

I told them that I regularly ship *all* of my FedEx (freight, ground, express) from that facility. They said they couldn't receive the Ground package because it had my name on it, and not the FedEx facility name.

More calls to FedEx and I eventually found out that even though the location is indeed *the hub* for my city, they can't receive Ground Packages. They can receive Express and Freight, but no Ground... Ground Packages must be sent to the FedEx Ground facility in my city.

Which is... wait for it... across the street from the hub. Thankfully, the phone rep connected me to the ground facility and rather than having it returned to A&H for non-delivery or having it dropped at a Walgreens, I can pick it up at the Ground facility today.

Holy cats. It shouldn't be this difficult.
« Last Edit: February 28, 2018, 04:20:02 PM by Steve Litscher »
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Tim McCulloch

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Re: USPS/FedEx/UPS Horror Stories
« Reply #39 on: February 28, 2018, 04:48:56 PM »

Well, I guess that's what I get for starting this thread... ugh!

Ordered our new dLive system and A&H could drop-ship it to me much faster than if they sent it freight to our local distributor and all of that jazz. The cost for the drop shipping was $20 and the time improvement was 3-days delivery vs 13-14 days. So, we did the drop ship option.

My local vendor suggested we have A&H ship it to a local FedEx facility rather than my house/workplace, so that I could be guaranteed that it wouldn't get misplaced or returned due to lack of signature, etc. I thought this was a good idea and agreed to it.

I went online and found the address for the local FedEx hub that I use for shipping and pick-ups (for missed deliveries). I provided the address and got a tracking number the next day.

It was due to be delivered today, so I started watching the tracking info. It goes like this:

4:48am - package arrived at facility
6:01am - package on vehicle for delivery
6:02am - Delivery exception - recipient refused delivery

Here's the kicker... the facility that I had this shipped to is *the main hub/shipping center* for my city. It should never have gotten on a truck (even for a minute), nor should it have been refused for delivery, as it was already on the premises.

After much round-and-round with FedEx phone reps I was told the mixer needed to be shipped to a Walgreens FedEx site, because the FedEx shipping center couldn't receive FedEx Ground packages.

I told them that I regularly ship *all* of my FedEx (freight, ground, express) from that facility. They said they couldn't receive the Ground package because it had my name on it, and not the FedEx facility name.

More calls to FedEx and I eventually found out that even though the location is indeed *the hub* for my city, they can't receive Ground Packages. They can receive Express and Freight, but no Ground... Ground Packages must be sent to the FedEx Ground facility in my city.

Which is... wait for it... across the street from the hub. Thankfully, the phone rep connected me to the ground facility and rather than having it returned to A&H for non-delivery or having it dropped at a Walgreens, I can pick it up at the Ground facility today.

Holy cats. It shouldn't be this difficult.

Express, Ground, and Freight are all separate services with separate facilities, trucks & drivers, terms of service.  The only thing they genuinely have in common is the FredEx logo and tracking system.  As you discoverd they practice the biblical "do not let the right hand know what the left hand is doing" and they practice that to the nth degree.  UPS Freight has the same kind of relationship with USP as FredEx does with FX Freight... they've got the name & tracking system but under the hood they're different companies
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ProSoundWeb Community

Re: USPS/FedEx/UPS Horror Stories
« Reply #39 on: February 28, 2018, 04:48:56 PM »


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