Comments on: It’s Logistics

By: Lockestep

Lockestep — Thu, 19 May 2011 15:07:50 +0000

I believe leg nailed it - 5/7 is a Saturday, and the package was not sent with Saturday delivery. You point out the “bloated” package inventory, which is true, but do not discount the extra cost of the Saturday delivery - perhaps five minutes of the driver’s time at (potentially) a premium rate of pay instead of regular rate, and with fewer packages perhaps a longer driving leg. Multiply by the thousands and thousands of packages, and it makes more sense.

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 17 May 2011 22:33:09 +0000

Another possibility (which may or may not apply here–I agree that yours is probably just a timestamp error…)

The sender can (and Apple does) specify a “do not deliver until…” date.

Apple uses this when they want to deliver merchandise on day-of-release to everybody who pre-ordered it. For example, you pre-order your iPad 3 which comes out on 3/15/12, and Apple ships them out the week before, with a hold date to ensure that they get delivered to you on that date and no sooner, without their having to guesstimate the transit time.

By: MikeOnBike

MikeOnBike — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:52:44 +0000

There’s clearly a problem with the May 7 timestamps.

Here’s what I think happened. The package got scanned twice in Newark, first with a premature “at Brooklyn” tag, then with a correct “departed Newark” tag. The premature “at Brooklyn” tag triggered the “not due” message. But the package was actually still in Newark at the time.

The package arrived in Brooklyn later on Saturday, where it spent the weekend waiting for Monday delivery.

By: davep

davep — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:21:25 +0000

MAY 7, 2001 8:32 AM Brooklyn, NY
MAY 7, 2001 8:35 AM Newark, NJ

I think it might be more interesting to understand how FedEx managed to get from Brooklyn to Newark in 3 minutes!!

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 10 May 2011 12:17:20 +0000

Ugh! Can you believe that for only $10 (half to an hour of work for most people) someone will ship a package ACROSS THE OCEAN IN FIVE DAYS, yet they have the guts to let it sit in their warehouse and tempt you with their online shipping activity. Talk about first world problems!

By: Hendrik

Hendrik — Tue, 10 May 2011 08:06:43 +0000

In Holland the parcel company TNT (which I believe is also operating in the US), has recently added an option to select a post-office or postal-store (which is a regular store also dealing with packages) where you can pick-up your packages.

Which I found extremely useful. I used to hate it that you order something, they try to deliver it two or three times before they finally drop it of at the nearest pickup location (post-office or postal-store).

Mind you that you can select this option now during your ordering process at an online vender (like Apple).

By: clever-title

clever-title — Tue, 10 May 2011 01:50:06 +0000

Whether FedEx or USPS is doing something nefarious is a matter of opinion.
You can say FedEx is holding packages “hostage” by refusing to deliver them before the time specified in the contract, or you could say that the USPS is scamming their Express Mail customers because most of the time, the Express Mail is on the same trucks as the much cheaper first class.

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 09 May 2011 23:37:45 +0000

FEDEX has been holding packages hostage for higher expedited shipping charges for years. I had a parcel sit in my local FEDEX facility for three days until it went out for delivery. I went to the FEDEX facility to pick-up the item that I knew was at the facility by using FEDEX’s tracking tool. The clerk confirmed that the item was there but could not release it because I had only paid for “FEDEX ground”.

The much maligned Postal Service, however, will deliver the package as soon as possible. In may cases quicker than either FEDEX or UPS.

By: djangosChef

djangosChef — Mon, 09 May 2011 21:10:35 +0000

Random reinforcement is a very powerful incentive. I would think that it would be very important to deliver, consistently, exactly when you say you can deliver for a given level of service. Otherwise, customers will be playing the “maybe I’ll get it quicker” lottery instead of paying you for the guaranteed faster service.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 09 May 2011 19:33:21 +0000

The times don’t make sense” Arrived in Newark at 7:04am then in Brooklyn at 8:32am then back in Newark at 8:35am? Looks like the 8:35am departing Newark timestamp was delayed, i.e. no extra round trip.

What I think happened was it arrived in Brooklyn around 8:30 the morning of the 7th where they determined the shipper had not paid for Saturday delivery and decided for whatever reason to hold it in Brooklyn for delivery on the 9th.