Rant on shipping

[ultrarunner]

Those decisions are no longer mine...

After 25 years as salaried director of engineering the new organization eliminated that position and made me hourly Chief Engineer...

Old habits die hard and I will occasionally have the need to overstep like last month when a large hot water let go and I had a new one in later that Saturday putting it on my personal credit card.... get it done.

Not willing to cable etc... to replace phone system especially with future uncertain...

 

[Jstpssng]

The other side of my last question should be "How old is the system?"... planned obsolescence is very real, and completely counter to the recycling discussion going on in another thread.
I bought my first new color TV ever in 2005... not realizing that everything was going digital and I would no longer be able to get a signal here. That set has been down in my shed for almost 15 years... what are the chances it would even work if I wanted it to.

 

[ultrarunner]

Yep... you could call me old school... heck, the first car I bought is a 1929 Model A Ford... still watch TV on a 1980 Zenith Color Console TV with rabbit ears and convertor box and my Apple //e computer and Daisey Wheel Printer work just fine... thank you. Kenmore Avacado Green Washer Dryer date from late 60's...

The CSU Nortel System is 1995 and cost a pretty penny or a lot of pennies back then and it still serves 120 desksets thereabouts...

 

[goeduck]

I bought something on ebay and I got an email saying it is estimated to arrive on Monday but no attached tracking link and nothing on line in myebay. Strange how we get used to having a tracking link as additional information. When activities are scheduled that need the part, it sure is nice to be able to double check that it was actually shipped. Then it is just the shipping company you worry about.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Seems to me that either you get your stuff quickly and don't need a tracking number, or your stuff doesn't show up on time and the tracking information is useless. So really, what's the point?

 

[ultrarunner]

Monday morning at 5 am I will be on phone with seller based in Florida... part was to ship from LosAngeles warehouse.

No attempted delivery tags or visits from UPS Saturday or this morning at Hospital...

 

[fried1765]

Monday morning at 5 am I will be on phone with seller based in Florida... part was to ship from LosAngeles warehouse.

No attempted delivery tags or visits from UPS Saturday or this morning at Hospital...

Yeah ...... the seller will be there at 5 AM EST, but the warehouse won't be awake at 5 AM PST.
FedEx just delivered a 34 lb. bag of dog food at 11:00AM EST .....today is SUNDAY !!!

 

[goeduck]

Seems to me that either you get your stuff quickly and don't need a tracking number, or your stuff doesn't show up on time and the tracking information is useless. So really, what's the point?

If you have something that depends on receiving the part before you can do the next step, the tracking is huge.

At work we have emergency repair calls and I will schedule a crew around a delivery date if the tracking history and sender information matches and looks solid. If the sender says they shipped an item but the tracking says it has not even been picked up I will not schedule around the senders estimated delivery date.


Similar thing can happen home projects.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Stuff seems to get here inversely proportional to how badly I needed it. If time isn't an issue, it's here (out in the boonies) in a short time I simply can't believe. If it's critical, it's missing in action and tracking information is of no use whatever. Maybe, that's just MY reality in this Earth School! Lady friend ordered a purse in Sept, (Amazon maybe???) that never showed up. Tracking info of no use. So, it's stalled at a certain point. They sent another, that she got. Four + months later, original arrives! lol

Reminds me so much of the great state of the art. interactive, utility power outage system. In severe situations, your outage will simply sit for days at "Pending Investigation" Of what wordly use is that? Better to hop in your vehicle, find a crew, thank them for their great service and ask if they can tell you anything. Old school always works best!

I see George Carlin as being more accurate all the time. It's all about providing illusion.

 

[ultrarunner]

Either 1 of 2 things happened is my guess... package not properly shipped OR UPS decided not to deliver on Saturday as receiving is closed weekends... has happened even when paying for Saturday!

 

[JethroB]

Back in the early 90's I requested Same Day high priority delivery (by midnight) from Purolator for a 200 mile distance. (Anyone remember them?).
Computer techs waiting for a copy of our system's backup tapes at our home office. Purolator dropped the ball and treated it as next day. Bad enough but then they hounded me for years to pay same day rate of several hundred dollars. A lot of bucks back then.

 

[Jstpssng]

20 years ago I was working away, coming home about once per month. I placed an order for supplies I needed, paying extra so that I could pick it up during the short time that I'd be home. Of course it didn't show up on time, so I put a waterproof Rubbermaid box on my doorstep, with a sign saying "Please leave package in box". When I got home 3 weeks later my package was setting right on top of the sign I had left. And just as others have stated, of course I didn't get a refund on the extra I paid for shipping. It's a good thing we don't have "porch pirates", it was out in plain sight on good old State Highway #6.

 

[Oaktree]

Very true, but once very expensive. VOIP systems are the rage, which meant new CAT5 cable to every phone set, and new phone sets plus the system itself. I couldn't imagine what a hospital system would cost.

I guess it would depend on the infrastructure of the building. I helped a client install a VOIP phone system a couple years ago, and we just used existing CAT5 runs to office computers. The system we installed (forget the brand) just looped the ethernet thru the phone and into wherever it went before.

 

[Popgadget]

This is where FedEx left this box. It is probably 200 feet from the house.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Maybe someone tried to steal it, got spooked and ran off.

As for VOIP. Can't think of how many telemarketers call me and I can't understand them forlack of call quality and tell them to call me back when they get a real phone line . . . click.

 

[Peter 315]

This is where FedEx left this box. It is probably 200 feet from the house.
View attachment 684287

Maybe the wind..

 

[Popgadget]

It was pretty windy, but the box was shelving and pretty heavy.
My lane is a quarter mile long, there is no visibility from the road so if someone was taking it, there’s no where for them to go. That area is in a camera’s view, I’ll have to look now.

 

[kenmbz]

This is where FedEx left this box. It is probably 200 feet from the house.

I think we have the same Fedex guy! Find Fedex boxes in various unexpected places all the time. Once in the drainage ditch by the road(not near it, in it).
Found behind my garbage cans, by my garage. in the snow by my neighbors a few thousand feet away from my place (found a week later).
It's like a scavenger hunt.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Maybe dropped off by drones flying in a strong wind. .

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Maybe we need to start a pillow thread?

To have a pillow fight?