Here is why orders always get late.

[guybemis]

I always get a good laugh out of FedEx tracking. It never seems to take the most direct route. Here is an example, of my package from New York, that I've been waiting a week for. It's started out good, it took a straight shot right into Chicago. Then for some strange reason the driver decided to head north up to North Dakota, instead of continuing straight west through Nebraska and Wyoming. When he got to Montana, he got even more adventurous. He got completely off the Interstate, and took a scenic route across the Montana Hi-Line, and took a quick tour of Glacier National Park. Then I guess he had enough adventure so he decided to head to Portland to drop his load. Obviously now my order is going to be late, and that is how it happens.

[stuff4divas]

What city/state was it going to be delivered in?

[lja440]

That is LOGISTICS. Do you really want any carrier to have trucks in a row at every location waiting to fill up so they can be drove in a straight line directly to their destination? 

Carriers use a MORE EXPEDIANT system. Instead packages are instead shipped in the GENERAL direction to the next LOGISTICAL sorting center where they are consolidated with others going in the general direction.  Such as the truck that took the item from Keasbey to Kendallville probably also had items heading into Missouri and further south. These would have split off in another truck going in that direction where your truck would have picked up items shipped from Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. This will be repeated as needed all the way to Portland. It may seem convoluted but I have been a mail carrier since 2000 and my late husband was a truck driver and dispatcher. IT IS THE MOST expedient system for 'less than truck load' shipping which is what is happening when you order something on-line or by mail.

[postingid2017]

This: "Then for some strange reason the driver . . . " - it is traveling via air until it reaches a hub that is closest to its destination city.

[Anonymous]

I am not sure what is going on , I can't even get Priority mail packages in 6 days to Texas... Yet they are raising prices . For what Slower shipping?  I have a package due here 2 days ago.. Hasn't even hit the North Houston hub that takes about 3 days or more to get through there... This is so sad...

[guybemis]

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@stuff4divas wrote:

What city/state was it going to be delivered in?

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Oregon.

[guybemis]

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@lja440 wrote:

That is LOGISTICS. Do you really want any carrier to have trucks in a row at every location waiting to fill up so they can be drove in a straight line directly to their destination? 

Carriers use a MORE EXPEDIANT system. Instead packages are instead shipped in the GENERAL direction to the next LOGISTICAL sorting center where they are consolidated with others going in the general direction.  Such as the truck that took the item from Keasbey to Kendallville probably also had items heading into Missouri and further south. These would have split off in another truck going in that direction where your truck would have picked up items shipped from Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. This will be repeated as needed all the way to Portland. It may seem convoluted but I have been a mail carrier since 2000 and my late husband was a truck driver and dispatcher. IT IS THE MOST expedient system for 'less than truck load' shipping which is what is happening when you order something on-line or by mail.

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Thanks, but that was NOT the most expedient way to get it to me. If the truck had just stayed on the Interstate, I would have received my item on time. As it was, it got to Portland too late to be delivered to me on the scheduled date. I'm not buying that a shipment from New York to Portland had to travel the back roads of Montana. I'm not buying that that was even the planed route. The fact that it got to me late, shows that something didn't go as planed. When I saw the tracking that it was in North Dakota, I wasn't overly worried,  but as soon as I saw that the truck was traveling off the Interstate in Montana, I knew I was not going to get the item on time.

Normally cross country shipments stay on the Interstate highways, unless road closures force them to detour. I also checked the road conditions, and couldn't find any road closures that would have forced the truck to take that route. So I have no clue what the driver was doing.

Anyway this is a problem that seems to be unique to Fed Ex, where the truck takes a ridiculously long route. I have had it happen many times with FedEx shipments. I have never seen it happen to USPS or UPS. USPS has their own problems where items will get stuck in a loop, going back and fourth, but it usually stays on a pretty direct route.

The point I'm trying to make, is that all it takes is one rogue truck driver, taking the wrong route to make thousands shipments late.

[guybemis]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am not sure what is going on , I can't even get Priority mail packages in 6 days to Texas... Yet they are raising prices . For what Slower shipping?  I have a package due here 2 days ago.. Hasn't even hit the North Houston hub that takes about 3 days or more to get through there... This is so sad...

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That is another problem. The delays with the USPS are not with routing, but with volume.  They simple can not handle the volume of packages they are getting. The USPS until recently primarily delivered letters, now almost all of their business is packages.  They are simply not equipped  to handle that. Their trucks are not big enough. My mail lady has to unload all of her packages onto the sidewalk, just to get to the one she is looking for, and she has to repeat that over and over at each stop. UPS and FedEx have much bigger trucks with shelves to organize everything.

[lja440]

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@guybemis wrote:

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@lja440 wrote:

That is LOGISTICS. Do you really want any carrier to have trucks in a row at every location waiting to fill up so they can be drove in a straight line directly to their destination? 

Carriers use a MORE EXPEDIANT system. Instead packages are instead shipped in the GENERAL direction to the next LOGISTICAL sorting center where they are consolidated with others going in the general direction.  Such as the truck that took the item from Keasbey to Kendallville probably also had items heading into Missouri and further south. These would have split off in another truck going in that direction where your truck would have picked up items shipped from Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. This will be repeated as needed all the way to Portland. It may seem convoluted but I have been a mail carrier since 2000 and my late husband was a truck driver and dispatcher. IT IS THE MOST expedient system for 'less than truck load' shipping which is what is happening when you order something on-line or by mail.

---

Thanks, but that was NOT the most expedient way to get it to me. If the truck had just stayed on the Interstate, I would have received my item on time. As it was, it got to Portland too late to be delivered to me on the scheduled date. I'm not buying that a shipment from New York to Portland had to travel the back roads of Montana. I'm not buying that that was even the planed route. The fact that it got to me late, shows that something didn't go as planed. When I saw the tracking that it was in North Dakota, I wasn't overly worried,  but as soon as I saw that the truck was traveling off the Interstate in Montana, I knew I was not going to get the item on time.

Normally cross country shipments stay on the Interstate highways, unless road closures force them to detour. I also checked the road conditions, and couldn't find any road closures that would have forced the truck to take that route. So I have no clue what the driver was doing.

Anyway this is a problem that seems to be unique to Fed Ex, where the truck takes a ridiculously long route. I have had it happen many times with FedEx shipments. I have never seen it happen to USPS or UPS. USPS has their own problems where items will get stuck in a loop, going back and fourth, but it usually stays on a pretty direct route.

The point I'm trying to make, is that all it takes is one rogue truck driver, taking the wrong route to make thousands shipments late.

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Yes staying on the interstate would be more expedient IF HE WAS ONLY DELIVERING YOUR PACKAGE.  I'm not a fan of FedEx in any way shape or form. But this is the way things work in the shipping industry and the way it always has. Your next package could come from the same location and take a trip through the sunny south if that is what is most expedient for the load as a whole.

Even if the package comes by air it may not come on a direct flight but have to take a few connecting flights.

[lja440]

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@guybemis wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am not sure what is going on , I can't even get Priority mail packages in 6 days to Texas... Yet they are raising prices . For what Slower shipping?  I have a package due here 2 days ago.. Hasn't even hit the North Houston hub that takes about 3 days or more to get through there... This is so sad...

---

That is another problem. The delays with the USPS are not with routing, but with volume.  They simple can not handle the volume of packages they are getting. The USPS until recently primarily delivered letters, now almost all of their business is packages.  They are simply not equipped  to handle that. Their trucks are not big enough. My mail lady has to unload all of her packages onto the sidewalk, just to get to the one she is looking for, and she has to repeat that over and over at each stop. UPS and FedEx have much bigger trucks with shelves to organize everything.

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LOL, were you watching me? I had a 30# package the other day that would only fit diagonally above the wheel wells going to an address about 4 hours into the route. It had to come out at everyplace I had a package for. 

Yesterday I had several road blocks but at least they were lighter and half of them delivered at about a hour and a half into the route (all at the same house). Leaving only a case of paper towels and two Huge boxes of diapers.

I can't wait till my 2010 4 door Wrangler is done (new tranny), I love my little 2005 2 door Wrangler but it has no way the cargo room. I have to return to the PO for more packages  2 or 3 times a week.

[johnrj1226]

We ship to Houston area via Priority and haven't  had any issues going thru the North Houston hub or any other hubs in the US or US protectorates (like Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, US Virgin Islands, etc.).  Maybe we are just lucky. Can't say any delays in delivery  have been more that 1 or 2 days adn msot of those where  during the  Christmas rush period.

[johnrj1226]

Have  driven  thru N & S Dakota, Montana to  visit family in Bowan/Scranton N. Dakota and in Lewiston, MT and one thing for certain their ain't a whole lot of people there (750K N.Dakota, 870K S, Dakota & 1.06 M in Montana)  and the ones that  do all don't live  just off the interstates.   FYI both  N & S Dakota  are about 420 miles  from east to west via Interstates I90 & I94.  You will find a lot of people  in Wall S.Dakota at Wall Drugs having a  nickle cup of coffee - but they are  just passing thru. I would  suspect the drivers  in these  "wide open" spaces with open ranges do not  have regular daily "milk routes" to follow each day. 

Just remember one thing about  delivery  dates  they are ESTIMATED at best not Guaranteed unless you want to  pay big bucks. 

Would think that highway  or road travel  through these states  is a bit iffy  this time of year due to snow fall - especially in the mountains.

[repairelectronics · Accepted solution]

That looks like the Amtrak route I take when visiting my son.

https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/Maps/Amtrak-System-Map-1...

[repairelectronics]

I overlaid your route in blue just below the Amtrak route in red; looks like a train trip to me, was it a big package?

[guybemis]

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@lja440 wrote:

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@guybemis wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am not sure what is going on , I can't even get Priority mail packages in 6 days to Texas... Yet they are raising prices . For what Slower shipping?  I have a package due here 2 days ago.. Hasn't even hit the North Houston hub that takes about 3 days or more to get through there... This is so sad...

---

That is another problem. The delays with the USPS are not with routing, but with volume.  They simple can not handle the volume of packages they are getting. The USPS until recently primarily delivered letters, now almost all of their business is packages.  They are simply not equipped  to handle that. Their trucks are not big enough. My mail lady has to unload all of her packages onto the sidewalk, just to get to the one she is looking for, and she has to repeat that over and over at each stop. UPS and FedEx have much bigger trucks with shelves to organize everything.

---

LOL, were you watching me? I had a 30# package the other day that would only fit diagonally above the wheel wells going to an address about 4 hours into the route. It had to come out at everyplace I had a package for. 

Yesterday I had several road blocks but at least they were lighter and half of them delivered at about a hour and a half into the route (all at the same house). Leaving only a case of paper towels and two Huge boxes of diapers.

I can't wait till my 2010 4 door Wrangler is done (new tranny), I love my little 2005 2 door Wrangler but it has no way the cargo room. I have to return to the PO for more packages  2 or 3 times a week.

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LOL. At least you have the option to get a bigger vehicle. The woman I was talking about is just my city mail carrier. About a month ago, I got a notice that my item had been delivered to my mail box, about 30 minutes before. So I got dressed and walked to the box. When I got there, she was still there trying to jam packages back unto her USPS truck. There was no room and she still had about five more packages on the sidewalk that she was trying to find room for. This is a small town, I'm sure she probably makes a lot of return trips, but she still struggles with the volume. USPS needs big vans like what UPS uses.