Logistics from the big A

Order magically appears

[dpd1]

Had an interesting thing happen over the weekend. Ordered an electronics item from the big A on Sat. Did the free shipping, which usually takes a while to go out. I was amazed to get the 'shipped' notice Sun. Then when I looked it up on UPS, it just magically appeared at the nearest UPS waypoint, which is typically the last stop before it comes to the neighborhood center. Is UPS somehow doing a logistics storage type thing for them or something? This was an item direct from A, not a third party seller.

[Lorel]

If you're talking about Amazon maybe they have beefed up shipping being as they are backing out of several states, California being the last.

[mattb]

Had the same thing happen to us. Ordered something with free shipping on a Saturday afternoon. It was delivered by UPS on Monday. I don't know if they are using UPS logistics for order fulfillment but it appears they are getting picked up from UPS on Saturday and Sunday.

[rocknbil]

I'll relate a story . . . 100% true . . . which is a testament to the lie that is "UPS tracking." I still have a copy of the tracking file somewhere as evidence.

I order some things off eBay from Texas (I was in Oregon at the time.) Many of you will recall the largest fire in Colorado history a while back. I get a call from the seller: UPS called them and said the shipment was lost in the fire at one of the warehouses.

Straight to the UPS tracking I go. I see tracking from Texas, to Colorado, but wait - it shows the package going to Utah, and last check was in Portland - it made it through!

I called UPS. The operator, bottom line, said (exact words) "Those are not physical scans, those are logical scans." The package indeed went MIA in Colorado.

UPS has done a lot of back pedaling over this issue, I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it. If anyone is to blame for shipping hinkiness, it would be UPS.

[dpd1]

I looked on the label. It originated from their new Goodyear AZ warehouse. I don't think I've had anything come from that one before. So for some reason the system skipped the pickup part and all that, and just posted the last hub. Still... Ship Sunday, in the city Monday. I suppose my customers will want this kind of service now.

[lucy24]

... and then there was the time when {another major vendor} listed my order as Waiting For Shipment for several days after I had physically received it. When the tracking finally did say Shipped, I was seriously afraid I would get-- and be billed for-- a second one. And it wasn't the kind of item that you don't mind having a spare of.

But yes, I too had that A experience recently. Checked tracking to see if they had an estimated ship date yet-- and found it On Truck For Delivery. It arrived just as I was closing my garage door after the morning's essential errands. This made the delivery guy happy because he didn't have to slog up a flight of stairs.

[jwolthuis]

UPS has done a lot of back pedaling over this issue...

I've always assumed that when UPS says "Arrived at Someplace", they didn't actually open the 18-wheeler and rescan everything right then.

My package goes into a container, which in turn goes into a series of trucks to it's final destination. It's probably only physically scanned when it's on a sorting belt or delivered.

I appreciate the additional non-scanned progress information. I wish the Post Office would provide that level of detail for Parcel Post.