Shipping Carrier Logistics

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1badfish67

1badfish67

FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
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Location
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Anyone ever wonder about costs of shipping and what some of the things may be that affect it, other than fuel prices, handling etc?? Well, here is a funny one. How about the logistics of the route some of your packages go through to get to you. I order a part from a FABO member that started from San Jose CA.

I live in south central Oklahoma and I believe one of FedEx's hubs is in McAlester Ok.

So we started in San Jose CA -->On to Tracy CA-->Williams Az__> Hutchins Tx. Logical so far. That's pretty much a straight shot eastward.

Now we go south to Hutchins which is south of Dallas Tx, from there it went through Oklahoma and overshot by about 329 miles (1-way), possibly through McAlester Ok on to Lenexa Ks! Might as well be Kansas City Mo. So hopefully their compass will get fixed and they realize they overshot the me by two states! Haha. Then turn around and come back south to Oklahoma and hopefully to my house.

So there it is. Hope someone finds some humor is the madness!!:steering::rofl:

Brake Parts Logistics-FedEx.gif
 
I have mail packages regularly go to the distribution center that my mail goes to, then to some other post office only to return back to the local DC, getting to me a day or two later
 
Yup. The PO continues to bleed. They just don't know any other way. I just ordered some flat rate boxes, as we use them for all sorts of things around the house, not just shipping. I ordered four different sizes. Each size a 25 pack, so 100 boxes in all. Boxes free. Shipping free. Free. Those boxes cost to make and have the printing put on them. But they send them for free. Makes zero sense. I'm with you on the shipping, too. Lots of times I'll ship something out west. Like way out west. From here in Georgia to say, California. Almost without fail, it goes from Gray, Georgia (about in the middle of the state) to Jacksonville, Florida?!?!?!? Then BACK THROUGH Georgia and finally on its way out west. I know the PO has its way, but from the outside looking in, there's tons of waste.
 
I have seen several items that got all clustered up WAY outta the way.... it's INSANE! a month to get bushings? To have them arrive in Tampa I need USPS tracker says they were on a truck and then they sent them back where they came from ! I had a few other ones similar to Rusty's, big ship them all over the place except to my (old) house!
 
Don't feel bad. Canada Post is right behind you. Total incompetence at times but they know how you charge for that incompetence
 
In '20 I ordered a set of tires. They were shipping from Georgia, and I live 100 miles due north of Green Bay, WI.
All was well until Chicago. That's when they made the left turn and headed toward Minneapolis. At this point, I intervened with both FedEx and the vendor. "No problem, we're on it!" The next tracking update had them in South Dakota... hmmm, I'd better check in again. "Yep, we're gonna head 'em off at the pass!" but no such thing happened. By the time they were in eastern Washington State, I'd about had it. Burned a few ears, once again at both FedEx and Discount Tire Direct. They should've been here Wednesday, this was the following Monday.
I finally gave up when they landed in Seattle. They then spent an entire week travelling back and forth between Seattle and Portland (often multiple times a day), before starting back my way: eastern WA, check. SD, check. Minneapolis--now we're talking. Then... Chicago again? That's the wrong direction. Oh, jeez, here we go. Luckily, they diverted north this time and I had them two days after Chicago, but sixteen days after their scheduled arrival.
FedEx and DTD's respective but separate resolutions for creating the longest tracking page in history and leaving me without tires for more than two weeks?
"F__k you, you got your tires."
 
Man I hear ya. I mis-spoke in the first post. Should have said Fedex "ill-Logistics". The package has now went from Lenexa KS, where it spent a couple of days (Porbably mis-placed), back once again to Hutchins Tx!!!!! They have went through Oklahoma twice, so far :BangHead:. Hopefully it doesn't go back to San Jose CA where it started before they come back to Oklahoma for the 3rd time. The package has come within probably 50 miles of my house (As the crow flies) twice! 75 miles or less by highway length.

You just can't make this stuff up. Bet the package is going to be in real good shape. Wouldn't surprise me if some of the loose parts are missing. Last package I had delivered a couple weeks ago looked like it had been drug behind the truck for part of the trip and had a large hole in the side of the box. The seller sent me a picture of the nice box prior to shipping. Luckily it was just an intake manifold with no loose parts.

:elmer::drama:

Brake Parts ilLogistics-FedEx.gif
 
From my limited understanding of these instances, what apparently happens is this: All the items on a particular freight trailer get their tracking number linked to that trailer. That way, they can just scan the trailer and all the onboard items' tracking is updated automatically.
Now, your/my/whomever's package has been forgotten on the trailer at its destrination. Since the item wasn't un-scanned from the trailer, its tracking number still updates the location via every scan of the trailer itself. At any further stops, the trailer is scanned and the packages destined for that location are found and removed (what should've happened with our misplaced parcel the first time). Everything else stays on the trailer. The item never appears on the manifest of any other stop, because that package shouldn't technically be on the truck anymore. The trailer either has to get back to the original destination and maybe our heroic shipment will register on the content manifest, or a curious employee says, "Jeez, that's the third time I've seen that package on this trailer..." and investigate why that is. Until that happens, everywhere the trailer goes is one more stop on the merry chase that the tracking page has become.
Tracking fiascos like this are why you can't find a phone number for a local UPS/FedEx depot easily. I got our local UPS digits while I was at the depot. Creating a ruse about a package I didn't have, I asked if I could use their phone for a local call. I called my cell phone (which I'd left in the truck). "Hmmm... no answer. Oh, well, I'll figure it out and come back." Every time I've used it, I've been asked how I got it. I lie and tell them one of the operators at the 800 number gave it to me.
 
Well before the pandemic I could get things shipped from the USA to my door in sydney Australia in a week to ten days. But when I get things shipped from queensland to sydney it takes up to two weeks? Since the pandemic but all parcels take longer but I don't know why!
 
Have had limited experience with shipping. I did order some Dart Parts from Jegs in Ohio, emailed my order with my pay as you go visa # and 4 days later a FedEx truck pulled up my rural driveway me and the wife were having a beer on the deck we were amazed. I asked him how he found this place he said you put your rural address on the package. Still blown away by that.
 
Package finally arrived yesterday. Looks a little worse for wear with a few holes in it. Hope all of the parts are there. Fedex guy had to just lay it on porch. Too heavy for the misses to move around.:usflag:
 
Ordered a new guitar and took a week to get here.. Illinois to Ohio to Montana to Texas to Texas again to Oklahoma back to Texas New Mexico to Utah and to here... Scanned 20 times...
 
I've worked in the transportation industry for a good part of my life, but it still boggles my mind how incredibly convoluted things can be.
Example: the transport company I currently work for partners with several other transport companies both here in Canada and the U.S. but for some completely illogical reason will send a shipment from here in Alberta, 800 miles east to Winnipeg Manitoba, then south into North Dakota, and back west to Salt Lake City Utah. Interstate 15, which runs directly through Salt Lake City, originates less than 1 hour from where I live, at the Montana/Alberta border and I have literally driven from Salt Lake to home in one day. without exceeding my legal (CDL) driving hours! The shipment that I'm talking about here is a full 53' trailer, one shipper, one consignee, from one of our biggest accounts here. :BangHead:
Another example, this one from the pandemic: My brother had a fairly large shipment of parts at a clearing house on the Montana border, he and I both use this particular location, as do hundreds of other Albertans for shipments originating in America. The savings on shipping charges, customs brokerage fees, and import duties are significant compared to having Fedex, UPS, etc deliver to the door here. He was unable to pick up his shipment of parts for a restoration he was working on due the closure of the border during the pandemic, and after waiting several months with no end in sight, elected to have the shipment forwarded via Fedex to his home in Calgary Alberta, about 3 hours drive from the border.
The shipment went from Sweetgrass Mt. to Great Falls Mt. to Helena Mt. to Boise Id. Then it travelled to New Mexico, (forget which city) before moving on to Omaha Ne. and further to Minneapolis Mn. then to Columbus Oh. before crossing the border and landing in Toronto Ont. From there it went to Winnipeg Man. up to Edmonton Ab. before finally reaching Calgary some 2 weeks later and at a ridiculous cost.
It's no wonder shipping costs have gotten so incredibly expensive, I delivered a small crate today, maybe 150 pounds, 12x12x18 inches that originated in Illinois to a town about 30 miles from home. Attached on the outside of the crate was an invoice showing the breakdown of all the charges, including $743.00 USD in freight costs. Wow
 
NoCar340 said:
In '20 I ordered a set of tires. They were shipping from Georgia, and I live 100 miles due north of Green Bay, WI.
All was well until Chicago. That's when they made the left turn and headed toward Minneapolis. At this point, I intervened with both FedEx and the vendor. "No problem, we're on it!" The next tracking update had them in South Dakota... hmmm, I'd better check in again. "Yep, we're gonna head 'em off at the pass!" but no such thing happened. By the time they were in eastern Washington State, I'd about had it. Burned a few ears, once again at both FedEx and Discount Tire Direct. They should've been here Wednesday, this was the following Monday.
I finally gave up when they landed in Seattle. They then spent an entire week travelling back and forth between Seattle and Portland (often multiple times a day), before starting back my way: eastern WA, check. SD, check. Minneapolis--now we're talking. Then... Chicago again? That's the wrong direction. Oh, jeez, here we go. Luckily, they diverted north this time and I had them two days after Chicago, but sixteen days after their scheduled arrival.
FedEx and DTD's respective but separate resolutions for creating the longest tracking page in history and leaving me without tires for more than two weeks?
"F__k you, you got your tires."
Click to expand...
F'N SCUMBAGS
 
Whoever the folks are that are probably writing/running computer algorithms to determine the truck routes here need to consult with some actual "Boots on the ground" drivers in order to determine fastest/shortest, hopefully less expensive routes.

Someone wiser than I am once told me "The office is a dangerouse place from which to view the world".
 
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