Please please get a Mediocre shipping service
1Not one that is so far below mediocre as to be at bar with a pile of dung that the flies are revolted by.
Latest FedEx stoopidity.
6/01/2016 - Wednesday, 3:10PM - Arrived at shipping site in Texas -
6/02/2016 - Thursday - 11:58 pm - scanned in Colton CA - about 10-12 miles PAST me
6/03/2016 - Friday - 5:38 pm Arrived at FedEx location - In Industry, about 45 miles fruther west
6/03/2016 - Friday - 8:26 pm Arrived at FedEx location - Chino smartpost (make that stoopidpost) location
6/04/2016 - Saturday - 8:08 am In transit In transit to U.S. Postal Service
Why not just ship smaller things USPS. It’s mediocre but gets here in about 1/3 the time (It would have been here Friday)
- 10 comments, 16 replies
- Comment
Where’s the fun in that?
@Ignorant
Reason: cost.
FedEx’s SmartPost and UPS’ SurePost are cheaper than USPS themselves for anything being shipped beyond a the local zone. And given the volume that Mediocre sends, the cost savings are probably even higher.
@narfcake not to mention it’s one unified system no matter how much or little you’re sending out… I bet they get a YUGE discount over regular people on the shipping rate…
@narfcake can residential blokes use smartpost, or just businesses? do you happen to know?
@sohmageek Yep. Also IIRC, @snapster/Woot helped FedEx build up their network, so they have a very favorable rate.
@DMlivezey If you have the volume, you can use it.
Most folks don’t ship things out by the tractor trailer load, however.
@narfcake i’ll take that as a know, but i do listen to music loudly if that counts?
/giphy high volume
@sohmageek I’d pay a premium for another shipping service that didn’t take a week to go back forth over 50 miles.
@Cerridwyn I’m not sure if this is a new norm or a temporary thing, but the extra time is because the packages got sent to a regular FedEx facility (Industry) instead of the SP facility (Chino). In the past, packages went straight to Chino and usually onto USPS within a business day.
FWIW, a 2# package from Carrollton to Colton is $9.09 via USPS parcel post.
@narfcake it’s not a new normal. it’s how it has been from the dawn of fedex and smart post.
a package sent UPS’s equivalent of the service will arrive 2-3 days sooner than fedex.
in fact, if you ship something UPS’s regular service, ground even and Fedex’s regular service, UPS will arrive 1-2 days sooner.
They are just totally inefficient.
@Cerridwyn I think I figured it out.
The stuff leaving Woot is departing from the Dallas, TX SmartPost facility. Since it’s already on the SP network, it’ll go direct to the next SP facility, which is Chino, CA. This trip usually takes 2-3 days, plus usually a day to transfer to USPS for the last mile delivery.
The stuff leaving meh has been departing from Hutchins, TX, a general FedEx facility. From there, it makes its way west to the Ground facility nearest the SP facility; as there are other Ground facilities along the way, the trip might not be direct one, as you can attest to. Distance wise, the City of Industry facility (at the 60/57) is closer to Chino (71/Euclid) than Bloomington is, hence why it’ll stop there before heading back east to Chino. This adds 1-3 days in the process.
UPS’ Surepost doesn’t operate a separate network, so those packages are handled as if they were Ground packages until the nearest distribution center. If there are UPS Ground packages on the same route, UPS will deliver these packages themselves, saving at least two days in the process. If there aren’t, the package gets transferred to USPS to do the last mile delivery.
No doubt, UPS is more efficient in this aspect – but Woot/Meh doesn’t get the break with UPS as they do with FedEx.
So this is what we have. Feel free to blame a goat for that if you want to.
@narfcake my guess is you are totally correct.
When I did a fair amount of shipping, I had the luxury of picking a shipper depending on location and box size. Fed-ex always lost. Back in they day, used to use Airborne (I think they were called, ancestor to DHL - best best best shipping service, I have ever used, bar none, RIP)
/giphy RIP
@Cerridwyn is that shipping scenario a pattern for you, or just a
/giphy fluke
btw, you joined Meh. the day after i did - random
serious pattern.
FedEx in any form in most of So Cal is so far below Mediocre as to be unfunny.
Company I used to work for sent checks fed-ex (back in the day) and they lost them regularly. They would turn up, but after the office closed, or on time but with lost tracking or sometimes not at all.
/giphy sad
Standard/ground and especially discount shipping routes are never going to follow the most direct route, it’s just not a realistic expectation, no matter who you use. Packages are going to be put on the truck/plane that gets them to the most efficient route to their destination cost-wise, not necessarily distance-wise. If Colton, CA was the most convenient plane to stick that package on, but Colton doesn’t have a truck headed to Chino’s smartpost facility but it does have one going to Industry and Industry does have one going to Chino, that’s where it’s going to be sent. It is frustrating to know your package is within a half hour’s drive and be stuck waiting for it, to be sure, but that’s what happens with low cost shipping options.
To be clear, this may have changed or be entirely fabricated, but it’s the explanation that was given to me when pressing the matter with our FedEx rep at my old job, and the UPS rep’s explanation was much the same.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If your company’s checks were showing up after close of business it sounds like someone cheaped out on the service choice opting for a saver service instead of paying for proper next or two day service.
@jbartus Actually no, it was overnight, guaranteed morning delivery. Fed-ex routinely misplaced them, couldn’t find the tracking numbers half the time.
Crappy customer service. We were actually happy when they started mailing them, we got them more regularly and on time. And is the Post Awful provides better service, you know . . .
@Pavlov
/giphy I understood that reference
not the image I was expecting, but I’m happy with it anyway. Thanks giphy!
Did someone say Friday?
/giphy Friday Friday
/giphy crazy cat
/giphy insane laugh
@Cerridwyn is that the same room from matrix reloaded?
@DaveInSoCal dunno
giphy did it
/giphy did it
I missed how you add these things in
/giphy I am so confused
@a13z I did it!!! Pretty funny