Rant on shipping

[California]

UPS is having a hard time. Some driver's rant:

im a UPS driver ...we are currently seeing volume that has never been seen before. Its worse than any christmas peak season

your packages might say 'out for delivery' and show the truck driving around with it because once the packages are processed in the morning, it automatically places the package in that state.

The problem is that about 1/4th of the load doesnt make it into the truck because we're going out with 400+ stops every single day and there isnt enough time OR space in the trucks to get everything in. and thats with waiting 2+ hours LATER than usual to leave the building in the morning.

not only that, but the packages that dont make it into the truck get loaded into semi trailers called 'retains' that are meant to be unloaded as volume for the next day. A lot of times, the packages in these retains dont get loaded on the truck the next day. or the next day. because we cant handle the previous days volume on top of the already staggering daily volume.

if you ordered anything big then you probably wont see it for a very long time because there is no room in the trucks.

... 70 hour weeks every week for months, with 1 day off, and now with the heat coming in, we are all pretty exhausted and beat down. so please be patient with us


[and]

They aren't running 2 drivers in a truck right now. They send out the big delivery truck with 1 driver and the 2nd driver uses their own car to grab packages from the main truck and drive them around and deliver them

UPS and Fedex have been seeing Holiday time demand if not greater. For about 3months now. Both will hire you in hours if not minutes. There is just not enough workers, trucks or fulfillment centers to handle the demand

 

[Ford850]

I ordered parts for my backpack sprayer on 6/10 and the website said orders are shipped within 2-3 days. On 6/16 I received an email saying my order was shipped. On 6/17 at 11:00pm the package was received by USPS to actually start shipment. Expected delivery is 6/22.

This little parts order fitting in a small envelope will be 12 days from order to delivery. But I have a positive story too. I ordered a metal brake kit from Swag Off Road on 6/16. I received notice that it was shipped via USPS on 6/17 with expected delivery on 6/22. That changed this morning, with delivery scheduled for today 6/19. Pretty impressive for a box full of steel shipped from Oregon to Ohio.

 

[Gem99ultra]

Darn, happened again, so I wrote them

It's Thursday afternoon.
I need a more succinct response I can send to these firms that "shipped" means label created.

I also strongly resent the practice of claiming 'Your item has shipped.' Clearly they do it so they can legally collect their money early. I recently went through the same bit with wwwonline, an eBay seller. When I finally received the small 1# package 11 days later, a 330 mile trip, I noticed that the label had a print date of 3 days after what the seller claimed. I reward that skimmer with a 1-star rating and a very nasty comment.

Online sales aren't utopia as much as we might like to think. There is still much merit to some of the brick & mortar stores. Some things - yes, but if you're in a hurry to receive your item, generally not.

 

[ultrarunner]

Placed another Tractor Supply Order for same item and transit time was 5 days vs weeks the first one took.

Out for delivery gets old after a couple of weeks...

 

[tallyho8]

My doctor sent my prescription for some medicine that I needed as soon as possible to a mail order supplier. I had to go to their web site to pay for it where I paid extra to have it delivered by USPS Priority Mail. This was over 10 days ago and I have not gotten it yet. I contacted them yesterday to ask what was the matter. They said it was sent out by standard mail because the Priority Mail option was a typo and I really just paid to have it sent by standard mail. And I usually get orders by regular mail within a week.

 

[PILOON]

OK, I'll add a few.

UPS registered showed 'out for delivery' for 8 days running.
I complained and next day the supervisor delivered personally.

UPS, (same driver) refused a pick up of an outboard motor claiming 'poorly packaged' (wrong!)
Took it to the depot 20 miles away) and they commented as to excellent crating.
(it was within weight limits)
Both incidents involved same driver and supervisor had him terminated.

FedX delivered a pkg and got stuck in my drive so I fired up my CUT and towed him free.
Next day I received a nice 'thank U gift' via FedX,

At Post Office I signed a waiver that allows the delivery person so sign for registered mail on my behalf thus saving a one hour trip and 2 days.

 

[California]

Hmmm.
Departed China 2 days after Ebay purchase. Very good!
Then - update just now:

SpeedPAK Tracking: #ES1........B0N

Expected delivery: August 10, 2020 [according to Ebay website]... WTH???

SpeedPAK still shows reasonable delivery

Estimated date of arrival at the post office
15 Jul 2020 - 18 Jul 2020, 5 - 8 days remaining

After that Ebay and SpeedPAK list the same history:

Shipment Acceptance at Post Office
Jul-08-20, 20:57 PM, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94188

Import customs clearance completed
Jul-06-20, 16:34 PM

Destination Port Arrival
Jul-05-20, 16:25 PM

...USPS must be having a heck of a bad time! I'm only an hour north of San Francisco. 34 days?

Or, the tracking checkpoints declared by this Ebay affiliate are bogus. I suspect this because that 'Acceptance at Post Office' should make the tracking number appear in USPS Tracking but it isn't there.

This is an inexpensive and non-critical item, a Mig welder's knurled feed roller. But I hope it arrives sometime. The flashlight I bought before, never made it beyond 'Accepted by airline May 23' then - nothing.

 

[Jstpssng]

On a different note... at about quarter of eight last night I was out in my field hooking up the bush hog. My "road" is merely strip up through the field where somebody leveled it, dumped load after load of gravel screenings and used it to haul wood from the adjacent piece of property; it's lined with firewood, a trailer load of lumber, the dog kennel which houses my chickens... it isn't much.
I heard a truck and looked down to see a UPS truck coming up through. WTF? My first thought was that he was somehow following his GPS, so I wlaked down to meet him so that I wouldn't have to pull him out of the field. It turns out he was looking for somebody at an address which doesn't exist, and most closely matches the old house across the road which my neighbor uses for storage and where their sawmill and skidder shed is.

All that he had was a first name... at that time of night I have to give him credit for even trying to find somebody when given such crappy information.
My road name is pretty unique... it's the only one I've been able to find while searching online.

 

[Frankenkubota]

Fed Ex says my ratchet rake scheduled delivery today.

Weedy trees, beware!

Legendary neighborhood tractor mechanic passed just before I bought my land.

Auction today, my first! $$$$$

He had more huge tools than I致e ever seen!

 

[Frankenkubota]

A ups gal delivered a box the other day. It was pouring down rain. It’s always pouring down rain here. Because of the rain, I don’t have a proper turn around yet so the poor delivery drivers have to back down a 2600 ft drive, with a couple good turns. ( not sure how they get the trusses in, had to lift truck the block for foundation, I’m off the road!)

I’m using online shopping more and more so lots of deliveries. (Side note....I read somewhere all these deliveries are tearing up the roads, we will get the bill for that soon)

I felt so bad for her. She was great, no problem.

I drove delivery truck in the 70s. People are people, most understand, a few dont care.

Hang in there

Got the box inside, wrong stuff. Now it’s on me to return it. Life is a double edged sword.

 

[California]

The mig knurled drive roller arrived from China in 12 days. I learned a couple of things:

SpeedPAK shipping is an affiliate of Ebay. Choose the vendor who uses them! They apparently fill an air cargo pod to send over every couple of days. Their tracking reports are real. I see my package arrived in San Francisco addressed to their US branch then was handed to USPS for 'final mile'.

Ebay seller chnsalescom seems to specialize in welding accessories and actually stocks what they sell. They have 100% positive feedback which is rare among China vendors. Recommended!

That is in contrast to other sellers, who drop-ship, ie accept your order then have another vendor send it to you. If your industrial stuff is listed among womens clothing and Christmas decorations (example!) that's likely a drop-shipper. A seller's feedback can reveal what else he's selling - and whether it ever arrived.

 

[Frankenkubota]

Beat this...ordered bayor bug killer. They shipped wrong product. 2 days to get permission to return it thank you which involved 3 hours printing and shipping, $40, I had to pay.

I was desperate, as soon as the wrong stuff was delivered I reordered the original bayor product from another amazon vender.

The 2nd vendor sent THE SAME WRONG STUFF.! An obvious problem on their end. Thank goodness I refused shipment the 2nd. Time.

Now they are fighting me re the $40 return postage that I was forced to pay. Classic Catch 22.

I continue to receive these computer generated e mails from amazon that you can’t respond to. They just gave me permission, again, to return the product I returned 10 days ago.....Artificial Intelligence?.....Artificial Stupidity!

All the time I’ve heard about the amazing amazon customer service. Not as far as I’m concerned.

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^^^

You must be buying quite a bit of it, to make it worth paying $40 to return the stuff. The worst return that I ever did was a portable battery operated hot shower from Cabelas it had a bad pump so I sent it back using their return label. That took almost all of my refund, for an item which was defective. I didn't do business with them for a long time after that, but started again when my employer started giving us Cabela's gift certificates for Christmas.

 

[Arthur Douglas]

My rant on shipping concerns tax on shipping. Never heard of such a thing. Apparently some recent federal case, now it's on a state-by-state basis. And plenty do. When you're talking about an attachment that's pretty expensive (and heavy!), and then you're charged tax on shipping to boot, feels like a boot in the pants. :shocked:IMO, fwiw, etc.

 

[Jstpssng]

My rant on shipping concerns tax on shipping. Never heard of such a thing. Apparently some recent federal case, now it's on a state-by-state basis. And plenty do. When you're talking about an attachment that's pretty expensive (and heavy!), and then you're charged tax on shipping to boot, feels like a boot in the pants. :shocked:IMO, fwiw, etc.

We don't have tax on shipping yet, but when I ordered my wheel weights they gave me a price "plus shipping" which turned out to be around $150. When they wrote the slip up they rolled it all together, so I had to pay an extra $8.25 in sales tax.

 

[Doofy]

Cabelas went in the crapper the minute they merged with Bass Pro Shops. I will no longer support them after they totally screwed up a $250 Gift Certificate that I had given to my Father-in-Law for Christmas. It took four tries to find a jacket they would mail to AK, only to receive one that didn't fit. Returns were a total nightmare too. For a span of about 30 years, I was spending about 1K a year with not one problem. Sad when a Great company fades to mediocrity.

 

[California]

I just prepared an Amazon return today for my daughter. A dress that looked ok on a skinny little model was like a tent, so back it went. No argument. Free return if you take it to a UPS shipping center within 30 days but we paid $6 (subtracted from the refund) for UPS to come pick it up here. Assuming UPS arrives tomorrow as scheduled, [update - they did], a painless process.


And - the $5 LED flashlight from Hong Kong finally arrived on 64th day after I paid. The bar code had a caption 'Delivery scan not required'. They must have chosen China Post's cheapest option. Online tracking still says this is in Singapore and never went through outbound Customs or the next step, 'hand to airline'.

Next time I'll choose a vendor that uses SpeedPAK shipping. They got the mig wire roller here in 12 days.

 

[ultrarunner]

I've never warmed to online shipping without a nearby return location...

Years ago I did buy a lot from Sears and returns were as easy as dropping off at any Sears store... Grainger is excellent too.

Ordering things from Tractor Supply, Northern Tool and any of another dozen places and it is crap shoot... either goes amazingly well or one problem after another.

Recently bought some Jackson Perkins Roses for Mom's garden... she is in California and the Rose stock shipped from California... 10 days underway and I called concerned about plant damage... 3 of the 4 Roses to my surprise are doing well... one, the large one is a Zero... been 30 days and no sign of life... although I was told it takes time...

 

[ultrarunner]

One more thing...

The clinic at the Hospital has been getting after hour deliveries, signature required... medical drugs and devices, just left at the front door on weekends...

I guess the big delivery companies figure lost drug claims are just a cost of doing business?

Signature Required doesn't mean much today and the same for Certified Mail Return Receipt.

There was a time when real ID was needed to accept delivery for Drugs.

 

[dragoneggs]

I've maybe said this before but I have had pretty much zero issues with Amazon shipping/returning and I do a bunch of online purchasing for business and personal needs/wants. The few times there was an issue, the return or exchange was painless. I should probably look for some wood to knock on I guess, listening to some stories here.

One thing I don't buy online are clothes unless I have physically seen/tried them... sizes vary. I alway try something on first, if buying locally sometimes my wife will 'outfit' me but she fully expects to return the item if it doesn't fit or I don't like it. Online clothing seems a crap shoot.