eB*y and FedEx...

It happens with shipping. I know a little about the way fedex or other shippers work, and the logistics aren't all that straight. Depending on how it was sent, their routing algorithm can send low priority stuff via a very circuitous route depending on how much is being shipped where. So when it was three or 4 hours from you, they may not have had open truck space due to higher priority items taking up space from there to your area, so if it is bulk/package level, you basically get routed wherever there is open space.  Course could also be a screw up, too.

Might be worth a try to contact FedEx and ask a live person that same question.

I've had stuff tour the country with all the shipping services, FedEx included.  I just got a package that made two round trips to Albany, NY.  It should have taken two days to get here, it was eight days in transit.

FedEx packages both to me and from me do that often.  Many times I have to call them to get the parcel moving again.  I rarely use FedEx anymore.  
With that said my daughter who lives near uses FedEx often without issues.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I've had stuff tour the country with all the shipping services, FedEx included.  I just got a package that made two round trips to Albany, NY.  It should have taken two days to get here, it was eight days in transit.

This happens with USPS all the time

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I've had stuff tour the country with all the shipping services, FedEx included.  I just got a package that made two round trips to Albany, NY.  It should have taken two days to get here, it was eight days in transit.

Funny, I live in Albany and it seems a lot of the stuff I order never gets here on time.

Here's my ranking of the 3 main shippers regarding my eBay items, which are mostly trains:

1. USPS Priority Mail

2. UPS

3. Fed Ex Ground

USPS Priority Mail has been the best, with items arrived or received within 2 business days. This includes packages I've sent and received to and from the East Coast, including engine repairs for gunrunnerjohn in PA. For me, it's been the best and when sending, the mailman will pick up right off your front porch when he delivers your mail at no extra charge. I don't mind paying the little extra for Priority Mail (Expedited Shipping) just for the reliability and efficiency.

UPS is a close second and Fed Ex Ground is the absolute worst. I've had Fed Ex Ground take up to 12 days on several occasions just to get a package to me.

We live in Oregon and had a package spend time in Guam via USPS. Go figure

@Strummer posted:

What do you suppose is the reason for this rather unusual route? 🤔 🙂

Mark in Oregon

You might get plenty of sympathy and supposition by asking here, but to get an answer you should be asking FedEx.

Well, I'm in Utah and when I'd purchased a powered F7B unit from laidoffsick (Doug) in Albuquerque, NM, he dropped it off at UPS in late afternoon, it left Albuquerque the following morning around 4:00 am, then was delivered to me the next day, at 1:15 in the afternoon. So I received it less than 48 hours after he'd sent it. Not bad for UPS.

We live 1/4 mile from Town (Pop. 1400).

We have no problem with UPS!  Same driver every day ( Ben ).  If we are not home , he sets the Package inside !!

FEDX is the S _ _ t s.  They deliver our packages to 3 of our neighbors!  Different Driver every time !  I have reported it so many times I am on a First Name Basis with the Manager!  Twice when packages from Lionel Service were delivered requiring signatures, when we were not here, the Driver signed the tags himself !   One of those Drivers doesn’t work for FEDX anymore!!

Amen

What a bunch of pikers!  A little over two years ago we sent a USPS package to our son in China.  It arrived there just about the time China decided to refuse all packages with origins outside of China so it was returned.  We received an update that the package had returned to O'Hare airport.  We waited - no package.  We put in a request for a trace.  They found it - in Israel! OK, no problem we asked for a return.  We were told it was on its way back.  We waited - no package.  Again a request for a trace - it was in Tanzania but it was on its way back.  More waiting - another request for a trace - package not found.  This past June our postman rings our doorbell and presents us with a USPS package that looked like the FedEx package in the Tom Hanks movie Castaway.

   We open the box - everything we sent was still inside and intact.  The front of the box had the most unbelievable collection of rubber stamps, taped on rejection notices, scribbling in two or three different languages, and other ephemera you have ever seen.  I made it a point to carefully cut the front off of the box and save it.  My wife and I are thinking about sending our son another package but we're a bit uneasy.

Funny. I recently purchased scenery items from Scenic Express and a shop in Scotland.  The package from Scotland arrived before the one from Scenic Express.  Both showed shipped on the same date.   

-Greg

I had a clear bodied Williams F7 AA come from Canada to Texas, sit around for a few days, travel back to Canada and then finally back to Texas where it eventually got delivered.

@Fredstrains posted:

FEDX is the S _ _ t s.  They deliver our packages to 3 of our neighbors!  Different Driver every time !  I have reported it so many times I am on a First Name Basis with the Manager!  Twice when packages from Lionel Service were delivered requiring signatures, when we were not here, the Driver signed the tags himself !   One of those Drivers doesn’t work for FEDX anymore!!

Amen

Is your house properly marked with the number visable on the outside?  I work for USPS and I can tell you there are plenty of houses that are not, the mailboxes are on the opposite side of the street, and it is not easy for a new person to determine which house belongs to which mailbox.  I never understood why people don't have their houses easily identifiable.  What if they need emergency services?

I had two first class mail items, simple birthday cards, returned to the senders in Pittsburgh.  The reason stated on the cards was that it was a bad number (address).  The senders took pictures of the mail and the return stamp, and I showed them to my mail carrier (she's been delivering our mail for over 10 years).  The letters were obviously addressed correctly and readable.  She looked at the pictures, and she could see they weren't properly initialed by PO people to be returned to sender (not sure why).  She then surmised that the letters showed up late at the local PO, perhaps because of mishandling, after mail had been given to the carrier for delivery, and a supervisor/inspector was coming.  She said if he/she saw first class postage sitting around for delivery the next day, there would be a real problem.  She said if it was sent with a tracking number, a supervisor would have taken it to the carrier for subsequent delivery.  For them, since it was first class mail with no tracking, they could simply say the number was bad and put them in the return bin.

Sorry, that's the best I can relate the story.  She used a whole bunch of acronyms I didn't understand.

Perhaps this is simply an issue with the local PO, I don't know.  However, I've had many problems with the USPS.  That is why I never, ever, send anything of consequence via USPS.

I rest my case.

Several years ago I sold a Williams brass PRR B6 locomotive to a fella in Anaheim CA. He didn't want to pay extra and said 'just send it Parcel Post'. I mailed it from here at a small local PO on Monday afternoon and he received it at his residence in Anaheim on Wed morning.  Amazing. Don't know how they accomplished that. I'm just west of Asheville, NC

Just this week I bought a MTH steamer from CT that was shipped UPS ground on Monday and it arrived here in Western NC about 50 miles from me on Wed about 0400 and was on the truck at 0430. I got it just after noon. Two days from up there is pretty good in my book!

With reference to unintelligible address numbers, l used to order from AllNation when it sold former Walther's kits somewhere out of Chicago area.  A couple of times my mail came back as no such address.  If l was king, l would decree that all businesses would have their street number posted on the building in three foot high letters.  I have been in some GPS corn mazes trying to find businesses that claimed to want your business, but hide their address .

@Strummer posted:

I'm posting this here, since the item in question is a Williams steam engine.

I won this auction right after Thanksgiving; it arrived in eastern Oregon on December 1, and on the 2nd it was in Troutdale, just outside of Portland, about 3-4 hours from here.

It sat in Troutdale for 4 days, and was shipped north to Kent, Washington, where it's been for 3 days.

What do you suppose is the reason for this rather unusual route? 🤔 🙂

Mark in Oregon

And now you know why the USPS is broke. If I send a letter to someone in Seymour it goes all the way to Indianapolis where it's post marked then back to Seymour. About a 100 mile trip.

@c.sam posted:

Just this week I bought a MTH steamer from CT that was shipped UPS ground on Monday and it arrived here in Western NC about 50 miles from me on Wed about 0400 and was on the truck at 0430. I got it just after noon. Two days from up there is pretty good in my book!

Selling off a lot of our collection I have been shipping from CT the past 6 months. Using PirateShip.com - free discounted shipping labels - everything I have shipped east of the Mississippi with UPS Ground was quick (2-3 days) and heavily discounted. Because of the discount I have been able to add in $1-2 to the shipping cost to account for shipping supplies (boxes, tape, bubble wrap - all expensive these days), get people the purchases as quickly as USPS Priority and at a lower cost. Same site has good discounts on USPS services as well. Anyone going to the post office or paying counter rates for any of the shippers is overpaying. Pretty sure I and others have brought this up before, so hopefully not new news to many.

I purchase a lot of train related items from that large eBay seller in Atlanta Ga. The best I can tell is they use FEDEX exclusively and last week for the third time in a year once the item reached the FEDEX terminal in Bessemer Alabama, about twenty miles from my house, it was put on the truck which delivers to my house. And for the third time the package was marked DELIVERED on FEDEX tracking when it had not been delivered. Being retired I can make sure to be home when tracking says the package is out for delivery.  I live on a cul-de-sac the last house before a delivery vehicle leaves my street.  I can hear when a delivery truck comes on to my street and be in my driveway by the time it comes out of the turnaround.  UPS came down my street the day FEDEX stated my package was out for delivery but no FEDEX vehicle came on to my street that day. Yet my package had been marked DELIVERED. This is most disconcerting, what do you do?  I called FEDEX each time but had no proof that my package had not been delivered.  They did deliver my package the next day. However it makes for a long 24 hours wondering if you will ever see your item.  Of the three main package delivery services UPS is by far the best at my house they still leave packages at my garage door as they have for over thirty years where both FEDEX and USPS started leaving my packages at the edge of my yard next to the road about three years ago and I feel that I have to meet them or my packages can be stolen by the next car coming down the street.  After some persuasion I convinced my regular mail carrier to leave packages in the trunk of a car I park near the end of my driveway. FEDEX has such a rapid turnover that I have never been able to develop a relation with any of it's drivers so they continue to leave packages a foot or two from the edge of the road. I have lived at this location since 1986 and till three years ago everyone left packages at my garage door then something happened and both USPS and FEDEX stopped doing so.          j

@Strummer posted:

I'm posting this here, since the item in question is a Williams steam engine.

I won this auction right after Thanksgiving; it arrived in eastern Oregon on December 1, and on the 2nd it was in Troutdale, just outside of Portland, about 3-4 hours from here.

It sat in Troutdale for 4 days, and was shipped north to Kent, Washington, where it's been for 3 days.

What do you suppose is the reason for this rather unusual route? 🤔 🙂

Mark in Oregon

Mark, I lived in the Warrenton/Astoria area for 20 years before moving back home to Ohio. I will tell you, that Fedex station in Troutdale absolutely SUCKS! I had ordered a RV Trailer cover, got the tracking number and watched it make it's way to Oregon, no problem. Once it got to Troutdale, it sat there for 2+ weeks. When I called the company I ordered the cover from, and said I wanted to cancel it due to non-delivery. It then finally was delivered 3 days later, Go figure. My guess is...They are either waiting on a full load before delivering, (which they were in the area everyday) or they were too full to deliever a non-priority residential package. Businesses come first for Fedex. Sorry for your heartburn, but that's Fedex. Hopefully it'll show up soon.

@Strummer posted:

I'm posting this here, since the item in question is a Williams steam engine.

I won this auction right after Thanksgiving; it arrived in eastern Oregon on December 1, and on the 2nd it was in Troutdale, just outside of Portland, about 3-4 hours from here.

It sat in Troutdale for 4 days, and was shipped north to Kent, Washington, where it's been for 3 days.

What do you suppose is the reason for this rather unusual route? 🤔 🙂

Mark in Oregon

Volume! Fedex and UPS have a tough time this year in delivering packages due to the shear volume of them. From regular volume now add the Christmas shopping spree and it gets tough... not to mention a reduced staff because a lot of young people dont want to work in jobs like this today.

If I remember correctly, most of the actual delivery people for Fedex and UPS are "contract workers," not employees.  Thus, to some extent, they have no set schedule and work when they choose.  So, items that are priority delivery are going out with the first workers to show up, while all other items will only go out if enough workers show up that day.  This explains why you often see multiple trucks working the same neighborhoods in more urban areas.

Further, I believe their pay is also affected by how many packages they deliver (or attempt to deliver), so faster delivery (leaving at property edge or signing receipts themselves) means more deliveries and means higher incomes.

All of this explains, in my opinion, why the USPS is often the best service.  Most, if not all, of their actual delivery people are "employees" with decent salaries and benefits.  The have a valued interest in seeing that their employer thrives.

Chuck

Per 911 regulations, all the rural mailboxes in our county are marked clearly with our numbers.  A least once/week, every week, either we get someone else's mail, or someone else gets ours.  I believe that enforced haste is the problem.  All the companies promise unrealistic delivery times and then flog employees to make it happen.  The inevitable result is sloppiness.  It is exacerbated by employees who don't care.

Disclaimer:  i worked for UPS, once upon a time, and it was a nightmare of goals, deadlines, and union red tape.

@PRR1950 posted:

If I remember correctly, most of the actual delivery people for Fedex and UPS are "contract workers," not employees.  Thus, to some extent, they have no set schedule and work when they choose.  So, items that are priority delivery are going out with the first workers to show up, while all other items will only go out if enough workers show up that day.  This explains why you often see multiple trucks working the same neighborhoods in more urban areas.

Further, I believe their pay is also affected by how many packages they deliver (or attempt to deliver), so faster delivery (leaving at property edge or signing receipts themselves) means more deliveries and means higher incomes.

All of this explains, in my opinion, why the USPS is often the best service.  Most, if not all, of their actual delivery people are "employees" with decent salaries and benefits.  The have a valued interest in seeing that their employer thrives.

Chuck

I dont think that is correct

Well... this has gotten more responses than I imagined.

If an item takes a while to arrive, that's fine; after all, these are just toys to me. I will say that this is not the first time I've had a "late" delivery through FedEx; UPS and USPS are pretty quick.

I mentioned "eB*y" simply because I wish sellers there would disclose in advance what shipper they plan to use. I had a purchase cancelled a while back because "seller doesn't ship to post office addresses". I would gladly have given my physical address if asked.

Anyway, I'm sure this locomotive will arrive someday; then I can ask you all about it!

Mark in Oregon

@Strummer posted:

Well... this has gotten more responses than I imagined.

If an item takes a while to arrive, that's fine; after all, these are just toys to me. I will say that this is not the first time I've had a "late" delivery through FedEx; UPS and USPS are pretty quick.

I mentioned "eB*y" simply because I wish sellers there would disclose in advance what shipper they plan to use. I had a purchase cancelled a while back because "seller doesn't ship to post office addresses". I would gladly have given my physical address if asked.

Anyway, I'm sure this locomotive will arrive someday; then I can ask you all about it!

Mark in Oregon

Mark, are you among forum members who think there is some rule that says you can’t say “eBay” here? There is no such rule. There never was such a rule. The only substantive rule is that you can’t post links to eBay auctions. So if you mean eBay, say eBay.

@Jim R. posted:

Mark, are you among forum members who think there is some rule that says you can’t say “eBay” here? There is no such rule. There never was such a rule. The only substantive rule is that you can’t post links to eBay auctions. So if you mean eBay, say eBay.

Okay Jim R:

I guess I must have been mistaken.

"...eBay, eBay, eBay..."

There. Feel better? I know I do.  

Mark in Oregon

@Strummer posted:

Okay Jim R:

I guess I must have been mistaken.

"...eBay, eBay, eBay..."

There. Feel better? I know I do.  

Mark in Oregon

Geez Mark, that photo makes me shiver just looking at it. 😳 Brrr . . .

@PRR1950 posted:

If I remember correctly, most of the actual delivery people for Fedex and UPS are "contract workers," not employees.  Thus, to some extent, they have no set schedule and work when they choose.  So, items that are priority delivery are going out with the first workers to show up, while all other items will only go out if enough workers show up that day.  This explains why you often see multiple trucks working the same neighborhoods in more urban areas.

Further, I believe their pay is also affected by how many packages they deliver (or attempt to deliver), so faster delivery (leaving at property edge or signing receipts themselves) means more deliveries and means higher incomes.

All of this explains, in my opinion, why the USPS is often the best service.  Most, if not all, of their actual delivery people are "employees" with decent salaries and benefits.  The have a valued interest in seeing that their employer thrives.

Chuck

Chuck,

FedEx uses contract employees who either own the truck or are a fleet driver for someone  who may own one or several trucks.  UPS owns their equipment and their drivers are teamsters.  Some rural mail routes are delivered by contractors who own their vehicles.  John

@PRR1950 posted:

If I remember correctly, most of the actual delivery people for Fedex and UPS are "contract workers," not employees.  Thus, to some extent, they have no set schedule and work when they choose.  So, items that are priority delivery are going out with the first workers to show up, while all other items will only go out if enough workers show up that day.  This explains why you often see multiple trucks working the same neighborhoods in more urban areas.

Further, I believe their pay is also affected by how many packages they deliver (or attempt to deliver), so faster delivery (leaving at property edge or signing receipts themselves) means more deliveries and means higher incomes.

All of this explains, in my opinion, why the USPS is often the best service.  Most, if not all, of their actual delivery people are "employees" with decent salaries and benefits.  The have a valued interest in seeing that their employer thrives.

Chuck

They aren't. Fed Ex and UPS people are employees of the company, not contractors (they may use temp workers at high volume times of the year, like now, but that is not contractors), and the idea that a logistics company like UPS and Fedex would allow having no set schedule and showing up when they wanted is quite frankly mind boggling. Both of them are known for their logistics (both companies have as far as I  know a service division that sells their supply chain logistics to outside companies, act as consultants, etc).  The way delivery systems work that would be sheer chaos, when they have to coordinate stuff flying in from someplace, getting offloaded, possibly flown or trucked another place. There is a whole branch of math called path theory that governs getting things from point A to point B, that governs delivery of packages and messages on a computer network. I know Fedex does hire contracting firms in some cases for final delivery, or they use USPS, but again that is a very different thing, those involve contracts with a firm that has SLA's with it and so forth.

I suspect what this refers to is that Amazon has its own delivery service, but it also hires outside delivery firms to deliver for them (as well as UPS, Fedex or USPS), lot of those 'white vans' are outside services. Again, though, it isn't having people working for them who come in when they want, do what they want when they want to.

@Greg Houser posted:

Funny. I recently purchased scenery items from Scenic Express and a shop in Scotland.  The package from Scotland arrived before the one from Scenic Express.  Both showed shipped on the same date.   

-Greg

Yep, I’ve had that happen. I’ve ordered stuff from Germany and it has gotten here ahead of stuff bought from California. German items were shipped the same day or one day later. Go figure.

FedEx - where’s my soapbox . . . 😊

Steve

@Yellowstone Special posted:

Geez Mark, that photo makes me shiver just looking at it. 😳 Brrr . . .

Global Cooling.  That is what happens if your camera does not automatically switch between daylight and tungsten light sources.   Hmm, perhaps we've found a solution to all the CO2.  Just set all the cameras on Tungsten lighting.          j

Remember the old FedEx slogan,

"When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight"

I do a lot of shipping and receiving having worked in businesses that did significant amounts of importing over the years. For domestic service, both USPS & UPS do very well with very few glitches. FedEx not so much. To and from Europe DHL is the best! My wife ordered me a jacket from the UK on a Sunday night and it was delivered on Wednesday of the same week. I have received similar service from DHL to and from Italy.

As another poster said earlier, for domestic shipping use Pirate Ship; great prices and you can easily compare both UPS and USPS rates; give your USPS packages to the mailman or take to the local post office. With UPS packages I usually give them to any UPS driver I happen to see.

I know for an observed fact that there are people claiming to be UPS workers delivering packages from personal vehicles and not wear the uniform.   Got a delivery the other day and talked to him.

As for Path Theory, like all statistical models, it fails to deal with individual cases.

Moreover, if it is the model which suggested to the USPS that a letter sent from the post office of the town 3 miles from me and whose name is my address will be sent to a city 100 miles away, and then come back to the *same* town and *same* post office in order to be put on a truck for delivery to my address, I don't think much of it's ability to deal with statistical universes, either.

As an update: the item which is the focus of this thread (purchased on November 26), is, as far as I can tell, still in Washington state.

I bought two other items (on December 3rd and 5th) and they are waiting at the post office for me to pick up this afternoon. 👍🙂

Mark in Oregon