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Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums => The Basement => Topic started by: Steve Litcher on January 26, 2018, 03:21:50 PM
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In light of the "oil on electrical parts" thread and the USPS incident, I wondered if anyone had any truly cringe-worthy experiences with our dutiful couriers here in the States.
I've been fairly lucky... only two incidents come to mind:
1) I sold my first two items via eBay circa 1998 - a pair of Adcom GFA-555 amplifiers. I sold them to a guy on the east coast and prepared them for shipping (I live in Wisconsin). Each amplifier was shipped in its original box, and each original box was double-boxed, with the inner box surrounded by plenty of packing material. The outer boxes were 2-core, heavy duty boxes.
The guy called me when they arrived and said, "I hate to tell you this, but your amplifiers arrived today, and they are absolutely throttled. I didn't even accept them."
I was shocked and nervous. I had plenty of insurance on them, so I awaited their return. When they got back to me, I couldn't believe my eyes. The outer boxes were completely shredded, with packing material hanging out of them. One of the shipping labels had been re-applied with strips of duct tape, and the other had massive dark black "burn" marks all over it. There were gashes on the *original* boxes, and one of the GFA's had a huge dent right in the middle of the bottom of it. The other one wouldn't power up...
I filed a claim, and a driver came to pick-up the boxes. He gave me a receipt. After a few weeks, I called to inquire and UPS claimed they never received the amplifiers. We went around-and-around, and I faxed them the claim receipt. They eventually paid me for the amplifiers, but they were never to be seen again. I wonder what ever happened to them both times (the shipping out, and the warranty claim)... I sort of miss them...
2) My friend sent me some photos of a shipwreck he was restoring underwater (he restores shipwrecks in Lake Superior). The envelope arrived with blue footprints/boot prints all over it - like someone stepped in paint and then stomped the life out of the envelope. I took it to the post office because the photos were damaged as a result, and the clerk said, "There's nothing we can do."
I said, "Is it common policy for the USPS to stand in paint and then step on packages?" And the clerk said, "We don't have a policy against it."
HA!! I wish I was making this up....
Got any good ones?
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We shipped so "yeast samples in water"(nudge...nudge..) from Buffalo to S Carolina.
I packed the "samples" myself and used plenty of bubble wrap.
Most were cans.
The courier sent info back to us that the package was "un deliverable".
We have not seen the package and suspect someone opened it 'cause even if it were dropped from the back of a truck, I know it would have survived.
Claim made, awaiting payment.
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Anyone who has been in business for any duration has horror stories about shipping problems with all carriers. Over the decades they kind of blur together, but there is probably a special room in hell for postal workers while I expect some of it is institutional.
I have a (personal) problem with the PO (USPS) that is a little convoluted so try to follow along.
I live in a really small town so could just about get mail addressed to my first name, but the PO workers are sticklers for following rules. I live literally across the street from my local PO and when I bought my house I inherited my PO box. I get street delivery to my house of parcels from UPS/FEDEX/even LTL shipments.... but as far as the USPS is concerned my street address does not exist... In fact it didn't when I first moved here over 30 years ago. The 911(?) street address registry only issued me a formal 4 digit street address a couple decades ago (and I dutifully put house numbers on my house) but here comes the catch-22, gotcha. Shippers do not use the 911 database to verify street addresses but instead license the USPS address database to save cost,
I have some websites tell me my street address isn't real when I try to enter it, while simultaneously they decline to ship to PO boxes. I traced one such issue all the way back to UPS that admitted using the USPS database and suggesting I talk to them. Have you ever tried to get the PO to do something different???
I am not alone with a bunch of neighbors who have the same exact problem.
I have a couple fun examples of how this has bitten me.
Just a few weeks ago I got a termination notice that my house insurance was being cancelled for non payment. I didn't connect the dots at first because I have had this policy for some 30 years, so i cut a check and sent it off. I finally realized that the address of record used by the insurance company was my street address that the PO does not recognize, while it did for the last 30 friggin years, and did manage to give me my policy cancellation notice. OK that one I could fix, I called my insurance agent and got them to send paperwork to my PO box, but you have to realize you have problem before you can fix it, and I simultaneously get junk mail from that same insurance company addressed to my PO box so after 30 years I thought I was OK.????
Same problem (sort of) but a couple decades ago.... When I first moved here 30 years ago I paid my tax bill like clockwork every year, but since I was new here I didn't realize there was a different town and county tax bill. After several years of me not paying my county taxes, because I never received any bill, I did receive an auction notice that my house was up for sale due to nonpayment of taxes. WTF.... And why could I get the auction notice in my PO box, but no tax bills...... ?
I did my best imitation of a calm person and went to the county assessor's office with check in hand to prevent my house selling at auction. :o
But the USPS IMO "should" recognize box holders street address and give me my damn mail.
It gets kind of twisted when the USPS partners with FEDEX or UPS to make last mile (across the street) deliveries... The postal workers always give me crap for not using my po box on all addresses, while I had a vendor today refuse to accept a po box address on an order. It's also amusing when I get an email that my package has been delivered, when they dropped it off at the PO instead, so I need to know to go there to get it, or I'll find it the next morning with my regular mail. That used to happen with my running shoe orders all the time.
Catch-22.... Maybe I need to hire a lobbyist to beat on congress, to beat on USPS management... 8) I could stick a physical mailbox at the end of my driveway and force them to deliver mail to me (across the street from their driveway), but I like the PO box... Back while I was working at peavey I could get my daily newspaper from my PO box at 7:30AM and read the front page before driving to work (8 miles up the road). Of course now I am lucky to get the box mail by 10am.
JR
PS: I just googled my address for street view and they were close, only a couple houses up the road... In the past they have missed by several miles. Sometimes I get confused phone calls from new package delivery drivers who were vectored miles away by the bad database info.
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I had a demo amp from Butler Amplification (5K MSRP) that I needed to I needed to send back. Had an actual DHL rep in my office walking my secretary through their shipping process. I commented to the DHL rep, as I walked by, to be sure that this shipment was insured for $5000. Guess what got lost? The DHL rep didn't insure the shipment, like I told him to. Guess who got to pay for all but $200 (the standard coverage) to replace that amp. I'll never use DHL again, for that one.
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When it absolutely, positively had to be there yesterday. . . ;D ;D
SNL (http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/jiffy-express/n10315?snl=1)
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As much as we like to bash on the USPS, it is one of the fastest, most reliable governmental or quasi-governmental delivery services in the world.
I can send a letter across the country for $0.47 and be reasonably confident that it will be there in 2 or 3 days.
I can send it just across the border into Canada, and the recipient MIGHT get it next month.
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I sold a Evox 8 on eBay not long ago. My wife went the UPS store and told them the size and weight of the item to be shipped. They sold her all the packaging. The speaker was basically new, I used it maybe 4 times. I packaged and shipped from GA to AZ. The buyer contacted me when he received the package and said that it looked like it had been through a tornado. The packaging was torn all to hell and the speaker had cosmetic damage. He emailed pictures to me. He said when UPS dropped it off the driver acted like he could barely tote it. The buyer said he could make the repairs, but wanted a discount because of the damage. I contacted UPS, they sent a person to asses the damage, they told the buyer that they had to carry it back to the center and would be in touch. The next thing I know it is back at my shop, beat all to heck. UPS emailed me that they were denying the claim because the proper packaging was not used. I called the claims number and told the UPS rep that their retail store had provided all the packaging, so I got put on hold and then ask what will it cost to repair the speaker. They offered me $100. I painted the damage and still have the speaker and have learned I am not a shipper.
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I sold a Evox 8 on eBay not long ago. My wife went the UPS store and told them the size and weight of the item to be shipped. They sold her all the packaging. The speaker was basically new, I used it maybe 4 times. I packaged and shipped from GA to AZ. The buyer contacted me when he received the package and said that it looked like it had been through a tornado. The packaging was torn all to hell and the speaker had cosmetic damage. He emailed pictures to me. He said when UPS dropped it off the driver acted like he could barely tote it. The buyer said he could make the repairs, but wanted a discount because of the damage. I contacted UPS, they sent a person to asses the damage, they told the buyer that they had to carry it back to the center and would be in touch. The next thing I know it is back at my shop, beat all to heck. UPS emailed me that they were denying the claim because the proper packaging was not used. I called the claims number and told the UPS rep that their retail store had provided all the packaging, so I got put on hold and then ask what will it cost to repair the speaker. They offered me $100. I painted the damage and still have the speaker and have learned I am not a shipper.
The UPS stores area franchises. They have no clue how to pack heavy items, across the country I have had about a 10% success rate. The cool thing is they have to carry their own insurance. If it is not packed to UPS specs they pay very quickly. It's just hard to get the owners to start the process. A call to corporate and clear documentation that the standards are not met usually greases the wheels.
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I spent 5 years sorting packages for UPS many years ago-I understand the frustration when a package gets damaged-but I've also been on the other side trying to get stuff routed quickly and with proper care. We routinely corrected wrong zip codes/state abbreviations, etc-and routinely repaired poor packaging.
The blue paint scenario? Another shipper probably shipped paint incorrectly packaged-or maybe there was a malfunction/mistake? Now you have blue paint on the floor and in trying to deal with it you step on it and accidentally on a package (I tried to avoid it and we did our best-but it happens-anything over get out of control in audio land?). At this point,no matter how bad I feel what can I do? Ideally,you apologize to the recipient-but you probably never get to see them.
We handled over 120,000 packages in a 3 hour shift. At a "failure" rate of .01%, that's still 12 packages a shift -and thats one shift of several at one hub of dozens. I wish they were perfect....
Recently I had a next day air package that didn't make next day. We had a machine down and I paid almost as much for NDA as the part cost. It was frustrating-and it took a phone call or 2, but in the end I didn't pay for service I didn't receive.
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Not damage related, but a couple years ago my girlfriends son ordered something fairly expensive (for him) from Amazon, using his own money. Shipped to the house via USPS. Amazon sends tracking information, and my girlfriend and her son watch its progress. After a few days they see that it's in town awaiting delivery, and he's excited to get his new stuff. Then the tracking shows that it's going to a forwarding address, at the customers request, which we of course didn't request. But, get this, after contacting the post office, the forwarding address is the same address as our house, the original address. OK, fine, it'll come back around in a few days. Then the same thing happens again. It's just about to be delivered, but at the last minute it's forwarded to the same address. Again. So we talk to the post office, and they're sorry, they'll try to get it right next time. Then it happens for a third time! So we talk the the post office again, it's been 3 weeks and the package hasn't been delivered because for some reason it's being forwarded to the same address and no one can tell us why, other than that the delivery guy maybe isn't the best.
Eventually, after almost a month, one of the women who works at the post office delivers the package to us. After her shift. She's off the clock, and in her personal vehicle. She apologizes profusely, telling us that one of the guys that works there is an idiot, and this should have never happened, even though it happens all the time with that guy. Within a week he's off our route. I feel bad for whoever got him, but at least he's not delivering (and repeatedly not delivering) to our house anymore. I'm not sure he works for the post office anymore (at least I hope he doesn't).
But at least the package got here in good condition.
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UPS emailed me that they were denying the claim because the proper packaging was not used.
Obviously, if you had used the correct packaging, it wouldn't have been damaged. :o >:( ::)
That's their story, and they're sticking to it.
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Warning........... This is NOT new...
News Flash:
Fed-Ex and UPS have agreed in principal to form a low-cost, consumer oriented courier division.
A spokesman for the new company, to be called "Fed-UPS", says Full Service will be up and running for the upcoming Christmas Season.......
Chris.
In my area, UPS in the good'un. Puro-sooner-or-later is not horrible, and Dicom is, well, Dicom.
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A while back I shipped some speaker parts via Fed Ex that were going to New Jersey, after a couple days the tracking updates just stopped at a location in Tennessee and stayed there for going on close to a week. After a couple of phone calls I found out the truck carrying the package was in an accident and all packages were considered damaged.
It took a while but I did get my insurance claim check.
I have a Fed Ex shipping account and even with that I really wonder had I not started making phone calls if I would have ever been notified.
I also had a UPS freight shipment of some speakers that instead of being delivered to Ohio ended up in Arizona and vacationed there for about a week till they showed back up on the UPS radar.
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Obviously, if you had used the correct packaging, it wouldn't have been damaged. :o >:( ::)
That's their story, and they're sticking to it.
The ironic part is I thought I had done a pretty good job of wrapping, packing, taping, especially thinking back on some of the speakers I have received over time that were basically in a plastic bag placed in a single ply box. I have had new speakers come to me with the box beat up, one end open and think, “man this speaker is going to look rough”. Open it up and the speaker not have a scratch.
I have to admit we receive packages almost daily and almost all contents are always undamaged, so I can’t really complain.
Now freight lines are another story.
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The ironic part is I thought I had done a pretty good job of wrapping, packing, taping, especially thinking back on some of the speakers I have received over time that were basically in a plastic bag placed in a single ply box. I have had new speakers come to me with the box beat up, one end open and think, “man this speaker is going to look rough”. Open it up and the speaker not have a scratch.
I have to admit we receive packages almost daily and almost all contents are always undamaged, so I can’t really complain.
Now freight lines are another story.
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
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Not UPS related, but...
I used a local freight company to pick up a SD8 from a gig a couple of days ago. They managed to roll it off the ramp so now 8 faders in the master section doesn’t work....
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But the USPS IMO "should" recognize box holders street address and give me my damn mail.
Mine does -even badly mis-labelled or with the wrong PO box.
Sounds like it could be one of three issues:
1)your town isn't quite small enough for the common sense to kick-in
2)your postmaster has bad OCD and is incompetent on top of that
3)you postmaster hates *you*
I've seen examples of all 3 in my town over the years
Anyways the problem sounds more like your local USPS management and your regional director would be the one to talk with before wasting your time on federal level changes!
I'm actually happy with our USPS performance and prefer them over Fed-EX and UPS in our little corner of the frozen North.
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Mine does -even badly mis-labelled or with the wrong PO box.
Sounds like it could be one of three issues:
1)your town isn't quite small enough for the common sense to kick-in
Remember we are talking about the post office. My town is small enough that I don't expect the local post office to survive the eventual rounds of cost cutting. Then I will have to install a mailbox, to get mail.
2)your postmaster has bad OCD and is incompetent on top of that
Indeed the current post mistress is not the sharpest stick in the bunch... but she knows me and generally delivers all of my mail in my box while repeating the mantra that I need to correct the mailing address with the sender.
3)you postmaster hates *you*
Unfortunately I suspect she likes me a little too much, but since I have lived here I have seen multiple different postmasters come and go. Not to mention temporary postmasters for weeks at a time...
I fully expect the explanation for my house insurance bills arriving for 30 years and then not arriving last december was during a brief stint with a temporary postmistress who was a by the numbers kind of woman, who didn't know or care who I was. In fact I recall a conversation with her about the PO flag... it was supposed to be at half-staff or something like that... she wouldn't do anything unless she received special instructions from the mother ship. (I was a clerk in the army so understand the power that clerks can wield in a bureaucracy.) Maybe disappearing my insurance bill was a little passive-aggressive post office payback. ::)
I've seen examples of all 3 in my town over the years
Anyways the problem sounds more like your local USPS management and your regional director would be the one to talk with before wasting your time on federal level changes!
If it was just dealing with the regular local lady, there is no problem, I can tell she generally wants to make me happy... but the rules are pretty clear that they don't deliver street mail to the PO boxes.
The larger problem as I have shared is that UPS and others license the USPS street address database so my street address just does not exist as far as that computer database is concerned.
I'm actually happy with our USPS performance and prefer them over Fed-EX and UPS in our little corner of the frozen North.
I have had good and bad experiences with all carriers depending on specific good and/or bad local employees.
My problem with the USPS is systemic about their PO Box policy, and refusal to integrate 911 street addresses for box holders into their database. I complained to UPS customer service and they told me to take it up with the USPS. The classic tag somebody else it it, hand off...
USPS website only tells me how to buy (license) the address database, not how to fix it.
JR
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As much as we like to bash on the USPS, it is one of the fastest, most reliable governmental or quasi-governmental delivery services in the world.
I can send a letter across the country for $0.47 and be reasonably confident that it will be there in 2 or 3 days.
I can send it just across the border into Canada, and the recipient MIGHT get it next month.
My wife & I send several hundred large letters/small parcels containing craft items and marked as such to the US every year and have to inform the recipients that expected delivery time is somewhere between 2 and 4 weeks, based on previous experiences. Probably about 10% of these are high value (for us - $50+) and tracked - we can monitor the package locations online and every parcel leaves the UK the majority within 48 hours so I assume the others leave as quickly. So, why do they usually take well over 3 weeks to clear US Customs and reach their delivery point? I know for large or high value packages there can be delays in X-raying/inspecting them at busy times of the year but to wait for so long?
The good thing, however, is that after several years of this sort of activity, we have had only 2 or 3 parcels arrive damaged (all within the US - they don't leave the UK if damaged) or completely lost (usually by the airline carrier).
With UK packages of the same size, we normally drop them off along with our International packages at our local post office before 5pm and expect next day delivery for the vast majority (100% if we pay slightly more for guaranteed next day - before noon - delivery). In the UK with courier deliveries (not usually UPS/Fed-Ex - the small couriers are usually franchised or self employed sub-contractors) we order stuff before, say, 10pm and it arrives before lunch the next day. Pretty good stuff.
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Not damage related, but a couple years ago my girlfriends son ordered something fairly expensive (for him) from Amazon, using his own money. Shipped to the house via USPS. Amazon sends tracking information....
But at least the package got here in good condition.
This reminds me of my favorite USPS tracking memes:
USPS Tracking version "A":
1) Package has been received
2) We have no f-ing idea where your package is
3) Package delivered successfully
USPS Tracking version "B":
1) We're not sure if the package exists yet
2) Here you
:D :D :D
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Connected but no fault of carrier - just an Amazon mistake...
A little while back , I had to return a package to Amazon (defective product 1 of 2) and they sent me a pre paid UPS label. I shipped it back and watched the tracking. It was picked up, travelled to Greensboro and then was picked up for the next leg of the journey to Washington (or somewhere west coast) ..
Then a couple days later I received 2 of 2 (same product) and it was also defective so I had to get another pre paid label to return to Amazon. I shipped it back the next day.
However, it became obvious to me when I checked tracking, that that they had sent me the same label and tracking # twice ( I didn't think to look) because apparently my original package went from Raleigh to Greensboro, travelled from Greensboro to halfway to Washington or wherever- yet on day 3 was back in Raleigh which of course couldn't happen.
I called Amazon - they realized what they had done and noted my account to expect 2 packages with same tracking #. It all worked out.
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This reminds me of my favorite USPS tracking memes:
USPS Tracking version "A":
1) Package has been received
2) We have no f-ing idea where your package is
3) Package delivered successfully
USPS Tracking version "B":
1) We're not sure if the package exists yet
2) Here you
:D :D :D
Then there's Amazon Logistics, which has exactly two possible statuses:
- In transit (no location noted)
- Delivered
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Then there's Amazon Logistics, which has exactly two possible statuses:
- In transit (no location noted)
- Delivered
Well, i have 3 shipments that are still "in transit" that I received LAST YEAR.....
3 deliveries out of 10 or 12.
Hope they aren't using my account to calculate efficiency......
Chris.
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I ordered 3 books for my Gifting Holidays self-gift. All shipped from different Amazon Merchants using the USPS book rate.
The 3rd Edition of Bob McCarthy's book took a long journey, arriving in Wichita rather quickly, then sat at a USPS facility for a couple of days, then took an inexplicable trip to Kansas City for 3 days, then was sent back to Wichita for delivery.
My letter carrier is top notch. She's on my block between 930 and 10am most every day. My P.O. box is at the downtown station (has 24 hour access), I've had the same box 30 years and have seen the front counter staff turn over at least 3 times but they consistently have had very good folks there.
At my previous residence (a walk up "merchant's flat") it was hit or miss with FedEx. I called the 800 number and told them I wanted somebody in Memphis that could fire district managers. They gave me an ombudswoman in Atlanta, a direct number to her desk, and I don't know if she could fire people but she got my delivery problems fixed :)
DHL just throws stuff at my porch; UPS deliveries are re-routed to their CSF so I can pick them up in the morning rather than the typical 4p-7p delivery (when I'm not at home).
Delivery companies are a bit like cell phone providers - they all suck to some degree and in your locale the ones that really suck are the "good guys" somewhere else.
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I think you'll find the city of Transit in northern Iceland ;)
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I think you'll find the city of Transit in northern Iceland ;)
LOL ;D
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I bought some subs from some nice folk in Detroit. I sent them a company check via USPS the week before Thanksgiving. After the holiday when I was expecting the check to have cleared I find out it never got there.
Sigh...
So, this time I get a bank check and send it UPS 2 day. Never makes it to the local hub.
Third try works. I put it in a USPS Priority fixed price box. Took 5 days but arrived.
Nice folk in Detroit put the subs on a pallet with a small accessory box on top and shrink wrapped the whole thing. Freight company picks it up. Bill of lading says not to stack. Makes it to Cleveland then Erie gets 4 ft of snow.
Ten days later it gets here. Plastic is cut and small box is missing from under strapping. Sigh...
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
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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!
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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.
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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.
I'm confused why anyone would send something "Next Day Air" when it's going across town.... I mean, I know what my UPS/Fedex "1 day ground shipping" radius is. If I buy from Audiopile, and it goes out on Tuesday, I'll have it on Wednesday. But only if I do Fedex. UPS would be two days...
-Ray
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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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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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Just sayin'. ::)
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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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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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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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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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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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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.
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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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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
Totally understood... I just found it remarkable that I can (and do) drop OFF packages/freight at the main hub all of the time, no questions asked. Never in a million years would I have thought that a Ground package that arrives to the hub can't be held at the hub. :)
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Totally understood... I just found it remarkable that I can (and do) drop OFF packages/freight at the main hub all of the time, no questions asked. Never in a million years would I have thought that a Ground package that arrives to the hub can't be held at the hub. :)
Freight and ground can dispatch from the same customer service location but when it comes to "delivery" they don't recognize each other as they're actually different companies (under the same holding company).
Express and Ground operate separate terminals, semi trucks and delivery vehicles/drivers (Ground delivery is by contract drivers/vehicles no matter what logo is on the vehicle). What you experienced is the Express service not recognizing the Ground service counter as a valid address FOR YOU.
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Just yesterday I returned home to find my driveway littered with packages, all delivered by USPS. It looked like a crime scene, but lo and behold all packages were there and contents intact. Why the delivery person didn't leave them on my front porch is a mystery to me, but quite common. I have a surveillance camera on the front door, and I've watched countless delivery people try all sorts of things on my front gate (up to and including trying to rip it off its hinges, but never simply pushing it open) before stacking my parcels outside the gate, tossing them over the gate etc. Amazingly I've never had any breakage with all that.
One shipment that did arrive severely damaged was, of all things, a road case. The shipping box didn't look too terribly bad, but when I opened it up, I found that the road case inside had been spindled by something with enough force to make a 2" hole all the way through the broad side of the case. In addition, one of the metal ribs had been bent into a Z shape, and numerous rivet heads had been sheared off. In the 40 years that I've been using road cases, I've never seen such extreme damage to any single case. It was a good reminder that the sub-$1000 cases that look as strong as the well-known brands...well, you get what you pay for.
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Not sure the expensive cases would have survived that rhino attack.