Has UPS been drinking too much homebrew?

[knipknup]

So my shipment went around the world before getting the five hours from SLC to Boise...
Notice the origin, the short trip through the plains and back to the origin before making the short jaunt up north... WTF??

Package Progress
Location Date Local Time Description
BOISE,
ID, US 05/22/2007 8:00 A.M. OUT FOR DELIVERY
05/22/2007 5:15 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
SALT LAKE CITY,
UT, US 05/21/2007 8:52 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
05/21/2007 4:56 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
LOUISVILLE,
KY, US 05/21/2007 3:45 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
LOUISVILLE,
KY, US 05/20/2007 10:07 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
COMMERCE CITY,
CO, US 05/20/2007 5:44 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
05/20/2007 4:45 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
SALT LAKE CITY,
UT, US 05/20/2007 3:36 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
SALT LAKE CITY,
UT, US 05/19/2007 10:58 P.M. ORIGIN SCAN
US 05/19/2007 5:19 P.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

 

[ColoradoXJ13]

I shipped two packages overnight via FedEx from Boulder, CO to Reno, NV, I put one on top of the other in our pickup area, one went directly to Reno and got there the next day, the other went to somewhere in the mid-west before going to Reno, and didn't get there until the day after the first one...weird...

 

[knipknup]

I think they use a random number generator to route their packages.

 

[Melana]

UPS and FedEx both use giant hubs where most packages have to be routed through. I gues somehow it makes sense to them.

 

[olllllo]

I thought all UPS packages went to Louisville, even if you are shipping to your next door neighbor. That's how it works.

 

[Craig5_12]

Fed-Ex goes to Tennessee to their hub there. Unless you send it priority delivery, then it goes to the local hub and out for delivery from there.

 

[knipknup]

No matter how you slice it, it comes out stupid...

 

[fretman124]

No matter how you slice it, it comes out stupid...

And STUPID is something you just can't fix.

 

[knipknup]

The funniest thing about it is; the item I ordered was from a Boise company, shipping to me in Boise. For some reason, they ship out of SLC, not Boise. Took three days to get to me, though they make them right down the street. Too bad they don't offer walk-ins.

 

[david_42]

I had a package from Fremont, CA get routed Fremont -> Oakland, CA -> Seattle, WA -> Oakland, CA ->Sunnyvale, CA. Fremont and Sunnyvale are ten miles apart. Still made it in three days.

 

[kornkob]

I've seen some weird shipping information before and there were times where it is obvious when it is over that they had some wires crossed in the shipping data because there's no way the package was recieved in middle of nowhere New Mexico at 3am and on the truck for delivery in Wisconsin 2 hours later.


*shrug* sometimes I think they make that **** up anyway.

 

[zoebisch01]

I had a UPS package arrive last night at 7:30 PM. That was odd. I have never even had it that late during the holiday rush....

 

[z987k]

It probably just got sorted wrong. I've been working at FedEx for a few weeks now for the summer, and it happens. It's not 100% automated and even then, the automated process messes up and sends it the wrong place.

 

[pablo1337]

While it may seem weird to rout packages the way they do, it is cheaper to ship all packages(excluding perhaps one day deliveries) to a central hub. Think of it as the center of a bicycle wheel, the paths they travel along as the spokes, with this model they need less flights, less flights means cheaper shipping.

If they flew each package on a direct line between destinations, it would seem to be less efficient, but that is for only one package. However if you added up all of the flights it would take to move all of the packages around the country with direct line transport it would be much more expensive.

It is not about moving one package most efficiently, it is about moving all of the packages they transport in the most efficient manner.

That being said I would love to have my own dedicated UPS plane and deliveryman, who would get me my packages in less than one day after I order them.

Pablo

 

[SwampassJ]

5-23-2007 Do not want!