Package gone postal?
I have written before about fun with the post office. This time it's FedEx.
One of the best parts about waiting for a package these days is the ability to track its progress online.
To do this, you really need either UPS or FedEx. The USPS offers some tracking, but it's far too behind the times. I can see my UPS or FedEx package status change during the course of the day. USPS updates once a day, maybe, if they feel like it.
I watched my Powerbook travel from Singapore, including watching it arrive in Alaska 8 hours before it left. I keep the bookmarks for my old package deliveries. Yeah, strange but true. I can remember some things about them sometimes. "Oh yeah, that was the package that took 4 days to appear after it said 'Departure Scan'..."
Ok, not my most endearing quality maybe, but it's who I am. Or at least part of who I am.
I currently have three packages in the air coming from three different companies. One sent me my tracking information several hours before it went into the UPS system. Another didn't even bother sending me the tracking information until a day later, which means I've lost valuable tracking time. The package is already in Ohio. Maumee, Ohio, to be precise. Where is Maumee, Ohio? I haven't a clue, but MapQuest tells me it is about 5 hours from here.
What's strange is that it left Maumee last night at 11:39 p.m. but hasn't arrived anywhere yet. That's almost 24 hours. Where has it been? Did it meet up with some buddies and go clubbing? Did it go to the Merle Haggard concert at the Kanauga Drive In? I have no idea. But I worry. That's my package, after all.
You can't worry too much, however, because you will come to find out that these tracking pages tend to.... well.... lie. Not so much lie as... well, no, they lie. They're not to be trusted. I wouldn't leave my wallet unattended around any of them, and definitely not my car keys.
For example, take my FedEx package with an estimated arrive date of Jul 19, 2004 by 4:30 pm. Imagine my surprise when I logged in on Friday and saw this:
8:11 am: HUNTINGTON WV: On FedEx vehicle for delivery
"On FedEx vehicle for delivery" is the last update you get before the FedEx guy comes knocking on your door. Friday was only the 16th. I was going to get my package 3 days early.
Except it never came.
I wondered if it was because they had tried to deliver it after everyone had gone from the office, but when I checked back again I saw this:
12:42 pm / Package status / HUNTINGTON WV / Package not due for delivery
Now "Package not due for delivery" usually means, "Yeah it got to the sorting facility but we're ignoring it because you didn't pay for faster shipping." Which would have been fine except that it didn't say this until long after 5 p.m. on Friday. So either it wasn't out for delivery or it wasn't due for delivery. You can't really have it both ways.
One of my UPS packages, on the other hand, has now reverted to saying basically "We've gotten the information, but we don't have the package yet." Yesterday it was telling me to expect it Monday.
Which is all part of the fun.
Comments
Yeah, I understand, I like also to keep tabs on where my package is. UPS tracking is done in real time (via satelite I assume), while USPS tracking info is updated once a day (I believe.) On the day of delivery, the postal clerk scans the package in the morning while sorting the parcel to the appropriate route, and the carrier scans the package at the time of delivery. When the clerk finishes sorting parcels, and when the carrier returns from his route, the information is downloaded from their scanners and entered into the USPS tracking system.
FYI:
What is the difference between tracking a package and confirming the delivery of a package?
What tracking / delivery status information is available on the United States Postal Service website?
Posted by: Tim Rivera | July 18, 2004 01:07 AM