Perhaps FedEx Needs to Rethink Their System

[oldjudge]

Although this has nothing to do with cards, it could. I bought my wife an anniversary gift on line from a store in Los Angeles. I live in Pasadena, 15 miles away. The package tracking shows it going from Los Angeles to Memphis, TN and it will supposedly come back to SoCal tomorrow to be delivered. I called FedEx and they verified that this is the correct route. Seems crazy to me.

[MVSNYC]

Hi Jay- that's their headquarters/main hub. But yes, seems crazy.

Or you could drive 15 mins and pick it up?

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Seems crazy but they have been sort of successful. I was on their campus last week and the WGC St. Jude's Classic. The course is ringed by multi-million dollar homes.

Little Rock, Arkansas turned them down back in the 1970's, brilliant move.

[bnorth]

FedEx has been doing that for years. I refuse to buy anything if it is shipped by FedEx. Have had WAY TOO many problems with them.

[Sean]

I shipped a very expensive card from Northern California to Seattle, one day delivery. It got delayed by a snowstorm in Memphis. I couldn't believe it at the time. Northern California to Seattle by way of Memphis? But this is even worse.

[Leon]

USPS needs to rethink too....here is a package's current delivery so far.

It is supposed to (eventually) come to just north of Dallas TX....I am not too confident at this point. .I guess it started out in FL in reading bottom to top..


August 5, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
KENT, WA 98042
The customer has requested that the Postal Service redeliver this item in KENT, WA 98042.
August 2, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
REDWOOD CITY, CA 94062
August 1, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
CORONADO, CA 92118
August 1, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
CORONADO, CA 92118
July 30, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
CORONADO, CA 92118
July 30, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
OAKLAND GDNS, NY 11364
July 30, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
CORONADO, CA 92118
July 29, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
SAN ANTONIO, TX 78216
July 25, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
JOSHUA, TX 76058
July 23, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
VIRGINIA BCH, VA 23454
July 23, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
MISSION, TX 78572
July 18, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
LOS ANGELES, CA 90025
July 17, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
ROYAL PALM BEACH, FL 33411



.

[ocjack]

Post Office isn't much better. I had a letter that needed to be delivered (not postmarked by a certain date) (oh, and no it wasn't a bill lol ). The address was a P.O. Box at a postal station about 15 miles away. So I drove there and asked that they place the letter in the recipient's box at their station. They told me they had to send the letter to the main mail hub for routing first. And that when they got it back, they could put it in the appropriate box.

Now I know why the Post Office is not making any money.

[tschock]

Originally Posted by MVSNYC

Hi Jay- that's their headquarters/main hub. But yes, seems crazy.

Or you could drive 15 mins and pick it up?

Can you drive ANYWHERE in southern California in 15 minutes??? If the "NYC" in your name is for NYC, then you should know better.

[slidekellyslide]

If I want to send a letter to my next door neighbor it now has to go from Lincoln to Omaha and back to Lincoln. This was not like this until just recently. All in the name of cutting jobs.

[buymycards]

Originally Posted by Leon

USPS needs to rethink too....here is a package's current delivery so far.

It is supposed to (eventually) come to just north of Dallas TX....I am not too confident at this point. .I guess it started out in FL in reading bottom to top..


August 5, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
KENT, WA 98042
The customer has requested that the Postal Service redeliver this item in KENT, WA 98042.
August 2, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
REDWOOD CITY, CA 94062
August 1, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
CORONADO, CA 92118
August 1, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
CORONADO, CA 92118
July 30, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
CORONADO, CA 92118
July 30, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
OAKLAND GDNS, NY 11364
July 30, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
CORONADO, CA 92118
July 29, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
SAN ANTONIO, TX 78216
July 25, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
JOSHUA, TX 76058
July 23, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
VIRGINIA BCH, VA 23454
July 23, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
MISSION, TX 78572
July 18, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
LOS ANGELES, CA 90025
July 17, 2019
Redelivery Scheduled
ROYAL PALM BEACH, FL 33411



.

Leon, you should be charged extra for all of the extra travel for your package.
When I was a Postmaster, I ran into this sort of thing quite often. Many times it was because the sender was reusing a box, and the old shipping label was on the bottom of the box and the new shipping label was on top. Of course, when these packages are traveling down a belt at high speeds, the machines can't tell whether the package is upside down, so it scans the label that is showing, which may or may not be the correct label.

Your local Postmaster can easily find out if this is the case and he/she can have it pulled from the automated machinery and it can be manually processed.

[Just.Rachel]

Not sure what was going on here, lol. This one bounced around Miami on the 10th...checked back on the 11th to see it doing the same thing. It did eventually arrive though.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[egbeachley]

This is the FedEx business model that has made it $ Billions. Instead of creating direct routes between every major city to each other you just create one route to/from Memphis. Saves a ton of money.

There was a major company with building in NYCity that used Fedex to ship between floors. Their internal mail system would often take a couple days while Fedex got them there the next morning....via Memphis.

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Interesting story about FedEx. Their last pick up each night is at 10:30 at the famous Rendezvous BBQ restaurant. Apparently Fred Smith loved the place and the last pick up each night is for boxes of freshly prepared ribs that will be delivered worldwide before 10:00 the next morning. All the action in Memphis at FedEx takes place between 1-4 AM, they give tours during that time.

I don't know if that still happens but it is part of their lore.

[ramram]

As Eric mentioned, that is Fedex's business model. If I recall correctly, the founder of Fedex first came up with this concept while working on his master's thesis and received a "C" in the class because the professor deemed it unworkable.

Rob M

[pokerplyr80]

Originally Posted by tschock

Can you drive ANYWHERE in southern California in 15 minutes??? If the "NYC" in your name is for NYC, then you should know better.

Yes 15 miles and 15 min is a big difference out here in Socal. I would assume the same about NYC. Unless of course FedEx allows a pickup at 1 AM.

[autograf]

As a 34 year UPS employee and working in the group that plans stuff like this, it DOES happen. Sometimes it's just because of an operational issue but as airplanes fill up, we always work to retain that volume locally to free up space. I'm sure FedEx does as well. When we can bring volume to Louisville, it's a fully automated hub and you take advantage of all that. So, while not always the most efficient way, it sometimes does happen.............and not just by accident........