USPS/UPS/Fedex Terribleness

scarlin

So I recently ordered a jersey from MLB.com and shipped via UPS and USPS. Want to know the logistical perfection?

UPS
Date Description Location
Jun 20 2012 Package transferred to Post Office PITTSBURGH, PA
Jun 20 2012 Ready for post office entry Groveport, OH
Jun 19 2012 Package received by dest MI facility Groveport, OH
Jun 19 2012 Package transferred to dest MI facility Logan Township, NJ
Jun 18 2012 Package processed by Mail Innovations Logan Township, NJ
Jun 18 2012 Package received for processing Logan Township, NJ

USPS
Date/Time Event Name Location
23 Jun 2012 00:24 Package processed by local post office ROCHESTER, NY
20 Jun 2012 12:05 Shipment Info Received by Post Office PITTSBURGH, PA

This is supposed to be delivered right outside Pittsburgh... So share your experiences with shipping terribleness.

Lee.mcglynn

Lol it took USPS 5 days to ship some sticks from one town to another that are Only about 2hr drive away from each other!! Thank god they were ok but I hate long shipping times with some good sticks!

jlmarta

Lee.mcglynn:

Lol it took USPS 5 days to ship some sticks from one town to another that are Only about 2hr drive away from each other!! Thank god they were ok but I hate long shipping times with some good sticks!

And, on the other hand, my package was shipped from PA on Thursday and was in my hands on Saturday - 2 days - via USPS priority mail. Anything shipped from the same place on a Thursday arrives 8 days later - the following Friday - via UPS. Go figure, eh?? And it's that way constantly.

The3Stogies

Who are these Mail innovation people? They had it in NJ, which has a UPS dist center, then sent it to OH instead. Wonder if that was a mistake or how they always ship. Some of my packages have zig-zagged around, always trending to the final delivery area, but not in the opposite direction, that's odd. Those logistics are illogical.

seagarlover

We haveto much time on our hands, anyway. I hate when I order items and I pay for overnight and I receive my package two days later, this has happened twice. they say that they have NO controll over when the package arrives. If I pay for overnight, I should get it the next day. RIGHT?

josiahcol

A 5 pack of San Lotano Oval's that i ordered showed up at my door crushed and with tears in the boxe. Luckly the packaging inside the box saved 4 of the 5 cigars but one had the cap end crushed. Its currently sitting in my humidor waiting to be revived. I contacted the local post office in my area that handles all of the packages and asked about how this could happen and let them know that what was inside was important to me, effectivly i got no where not even an apology.

Jonnysmokes

Luckily I haven't had any shipping issues Knock on wood

bigfnsteve

One of my first bombs was sent to toombes and that was an experience. It bounced between a distribution center in Lexington and Charleston no less than 6 time. I ended up getting the number of the lexington location and having the supervisor intercept it . It finally arrived at toombes house 2 weeks later. I wish I still had the tracking info it was epic.

jsnake

Last year I had a package that made it to Kansas City only to be shipped back to the original city then forwarded on to 2 different cities on opposite sides of the country before returning to Kansas City to finally be delivered to my house. No wonder the USPS never makes a profit.

webmost

Umpty ump years ago, I drove van for a tropical fish distributor in Santa Clara. Once a week, I would drive up to SFO airport to pick up live feeder goldfish from Illinois. They'd put a plastic bag in a box, fill it half way with water, tossed in a thousand "feeder comets" as they called them, fill the rest of the bag with oxygen, and that's your package. It's a time bomb. Soon as the O2 runs out, fish die. We'd get twenty or thirty of these in a shipment.

Shipments delayed in Dallas, Denver, even Miami, boxes lost, crushed, shipments that arrived but no one knew they were there (I became adept at sneaking in their warehouse and finding them), boxes on the wrong plane heading to LAX or wherever... It was so consistently bad that I kept a notebook for a year, just to run the averages. Over a seventy percent screw up rate by my math, figuring by the box. So out of ten boxes shipped, seven would wind up dead fish in Dallas. The boss had a sheaf of claims against the airline yay high.

The opposite end of the spectrum is this: There's an outfit named McMaster-Carr sells every imaginable fastener, tube, valve, hose... I don't know, everything you can think of that's made out of that special unobtanium alloy. Located in North Jersey. A motorcycle riding buddy who works as a prototype machinist in the University of Dull-Aware engineering dept. turned me on to them one evening. I was making hand controls for my grand-daughter who has cerebral palsy so she could lean to drive. I ordered these ball socket linkages and left thread jam nuts at 9:30 one morning from work. The parts beat me home. I swear to God. I get home at 4:15, the package is on the doorstep. RedHead reports: "Sophie started barking around two. I didn't know what she was upset about." I promptly called my machinist buddy. He spots me on his caller ID and here's how he answers his phone: "You got your stuff already" I say yes. He says: "They do that all the time. I didn't tell you."

McMaster doesn't use FedEx, UPS, or U SPS.They use an outfit called Lightning Express. I wrote Lightning a letter, cc to McMaster, in which I quoted Mark Twain: "Thunder is fine. Thunder is impressive. But it is Lightning that does the work."

Toombes

bigfnsteve:

One of my first bombs was sent to toombes and that was an experience. It bounced between a distribution center in Lexington and Charleston no less than 6 time. I ended up getting the number of the lexington location and having the supervisor intercept it . It finally arrived at toombes house 2 weeks later. I wish I still had the tracking info it was epic.

Dude, I still have the box it came in! It's ragged as He11! Six trips between two states... Gnarly!! LMAO!

Toombes

bigfnsteve:

One of my first bombs was sent to toombes and that was an experience. It bounced between a distribution center in Lexington and Charleston no less than 6 time. I ended up getting the number of the lexington location and having the supervisor intercept it . It finally arrived at toombes house 2 weeks later. I wish I still had the tracking info it was epic.

Dude, I still have the box it came in! It's ragged as He11! Six trips between two states... Gnarly!! LMAO!

nickiam

Ordered from CI in Bethlehem, PA (special size 10ct box of Don Pepin My Father for $59) on the 18th. I'm at Fort Lewis, WA. Package shipped UPS on the 18th. Still waiting.....USPS gets things here in less than 48 hours. Guess there will be no more UPS shipping for me.

bigfnsteve

nickiam:

Ordered from CI in Bethlehem, PA (special size 10ct box of Don Pepin My Father for $59) on the 18th. I'm at Fort Lewis, WA. Package shipped UPS on the 18th. Still waiting.....USPS gets things here in less than 48 hours. Guess there will be no more UPS shipping for me.

PM to ya bro

Gaetano7890

My wife sent some cigars out to a buddy of mine in Charlotte on Saturday and they told her they would arrive on Wednesday but he got them today. Ups in my area must ahead of the curve.

Duke2

I usually have my shipments from CCom shipped Priority Mail with no problems. A shipment last month went from Pa to California and then to Albuquerque N.M. and then down to me in Hobbs N.M. Most shipments get here in three days.

Heavy

OK, second shipment in a row sent from C.com via UPS and this happens: It's goes out for delivery today but they deliver it to the fvcking USPS! So this is supposed to save UPS money on rural deliveries or something I guess. Well, I live on a cul-de-sac within the city limits and the UPS TRUCK JUST DROVE DOWN MY STREET! Meanwhile, my package is sitting 2 miles away at the post office. WTF

scarlin

Heavy:

OK, second shipment in a row sent from C.com via UPS and this happens: It's goes out for delivery today but they deliver it to the fvcking USPS! So this is supposed to save UPS money on rural deliveries or something I guess. Well, I live on a cul-de-sac within the city limits and the UPS TRUCK JUST DROVE DOWN MY STREET! Meanwhile, my package is sitting 2 miles away at the post office. WTF

Yea UPS goes through my neighborhood and there used to be a UPS warehouse like 2 miles away from my house which I don't know if they are there anymore.

The_Kid

I only ship UPS when Im gonna be on vacation for about 10 days, that way I know it wont arrive while Im away

jlmarta

Heavy:

OK, second shipment in a row sent from C.com via UPS and this happens: It's goes out for delivery today but they deliver it to the fvcking USPS! So this is supposed to save UPS money on rural deliveries or something I guess. Well, I live on a cul-de-sac within the city limits and the UPS TRUCK JUST DROVE DOWN MY STREET! Meanwhile, my package is sitting 2 miles away at the post office. WTF

Why don't you just tell C.Com to ship priority mail ONLY and have done with it? They'll do it. They do for me.....

phobicsquirrel

Heavy:

OK, second shipment in a row sent from C.com via UPS and this happens: It's goes out for delivery today but they deliver it to the fvcking USPS! So this is supposed to save UPS money on rural deliveries or something I guess. Well, I live on a cul-de-sac within the city limits and the UPS TRUCK JUST DROVE DOWN MY STREET! Meanwhile, my package is sitting 2 miles away at the post office. WTF

Yeah that is what they do. UPS uses the usps to go into areas they won't (because there isn't a profit). Another reason why usps is a great organization.

0patience

USPS from PA to Oregon. 3 days. $7.95
UPS from PA to Oregon 5-7 working days. $11.50
Tough decision to make.

phobicsquirrel

0patience:

USPS from PA to Oregon. 3 days. $7.95
UPS from PA to Oregon 5-7 working days. $11.50
Tough decision to make.

Seems like an easy one to me.

jlmarta

phobicsquirrel:

Yeah that is what they do. UPS uses the usps to go into areas they won't (because there isn't a profit). Another reason why usps is a great organization.

Yep! Based on my experience I'll drink to that. Of course, I'll drink to almost anything... LOL

Direwolf

jlmarta:

phobicsquirrel:

Yeah that is what they do. UPS uses the usps to go into areas they won't (because there isn't a profit). Another reason why usps is a great organization.

Yep! Based on my experience I'll drink to that. Of course, I'll drink to almost anything... LOL

It happens to me.. I get my stuff shipped to work. We have a daily UPS stop and they still transfer it to the USPS.

phobicsquirrel

jlmarta:

phobicsquirrel:

Yeah that is what they do. UPS uses the usps to go into areas they won't (because there isn't a profit). Another reason why usps is a great organization.

Yep! Based on my experience I'll drink to that. Of course, I'll drink to almost anything... LOL

lol, question is what to drink.

0patience

I had to revisit this thread.
Had a package sent out on Sept 27 using UPS. It went 100 miles in 4 days and then back tracked to the originating city. WTF???

For 2 days, sat in one place and on the tracking, it says this.........
An exception in the sorting process has occurred. UPS has taken corrective action.

Then scheduled for delivery on Oct 9.

Another package, scheduled to be delivered today, was transferred to USPS. So now I'm hoping it will be delivered tomorrow. And I have to wonder, if you have to make a claim on something that was transferred, how does that work?

It continues to amaze me that UPS is still in business.

scarlin

0patience:

I had to revisit this thread.
Had a package sent out on Sept 27 using UPS. It went 100 miles in 4 days and then back tracked to the originating city. WTF???

For 2 days, sat in one place and on the tracking, it says this.........
An exception in the sorting process has occurred. UPS has taken corrective action.

Then scheduled for delivery on Oct 9.

Another package, scheduled to be delivered today, was transferred to USPS. So now I'm hoping it will be delivered tomorrow. And I have to wonder, if you have to make a claim on something that was transferred, how does that work?

It continues to amaze me that UPS is still in business.

I lost all respect for UPS when they started doing the transfers to USPS. Slows down the process by 2-3 days for me.

Gray4lines

scarlin:

0patience:

I had to revisit this thread.
Had a package sent out on Sept 27 using UPS. It went 100 miles in 4 days and then back tracked to the originating city. WTF???

For 2 days, sat in one place and on the tracking, it says this.........
An exception in the sorting process has occurred. UPS has taken corrective action.

Then scheduled for delivery on Oct 9.

Another package, scheduled to be delivered today, was transferred to USPS. So now I'm hoping it will be delivered tomorrow. And I have to wonder, if you have to make a claim on something that was transferred, how does that work?

It continues to amaze me that UPS is still in business.

I lost all respect for UPS when they started doing the transfers to USPS. Slows down the process by 2-3 days for me.

The transfers do add a day for me too, but usps is more convenient since in goes in the special package mailbox here. Ups seems to come at a wildly different time everyday, so its impossible to catch your package

NectarCigar

lol, I recently had a cigar trade package arrive at the other end looking like someone took a Louisville slugger to it!! Luckily none of the cigars were damaged...guess bubble wrap is our only friend!

webmost

All just last month: Sent a bomb to Utah via Priority mail. Arrived in two days. Sent another bomb to Colorado via Priority. Arrived in two days. Sent a package to that same Utah address via UPS. Arrived in a week. Sent two to Idaho via UPS. Arrived twelve days later. The two Priority Mails cost under twelve bucks total to send. The three UPS packages seventy some. I am a mail fan now. Sent a bomb to TN arrived two days. Just yesterday I received a fuel pump from the Left Coast via Priority Mail. Two days. I think you could sent to Tierra del Fuego via Khatoum via Priority and it would get there in two days.