Anatomy of a Package Delivery
Last quarter I had a really difficult time getting through all the required reading for my classes, so I thought this time I would take advantage of the long Christmas break to get a jump start on my reading for the winter quarter. As usual, things didn’t quite work out as I had planned.
It shouldn’t really matter because, as it turned out, I wasn’t ever able to scrape together enough time to get any reading done anyways, but nontheless… UPS officially sucks.
As soon as I had my classes finalized and confirmed which texts I would need I went shopping online and did quite a bit of comparison and actually ended up saving about $150 on the cost of the books. I ordered the books on Dec. 10, they were supposed to be delivered Dec. 20, it is now Jan 5 and customer service has no idea whether or not the package will be delivered today. They can’t even verify the location of the package. I’ve called UPS a few times over the past week, and it turns out that they can’t even hold the box at their facility and let me come pick it up. I am completely at the mercy of whenever they get around to dropping it off, there is no re-routing and there is no hold for pick up.
Of course the first week of school is generally not the most critical for having the appropriate texts, but the syllabus for one of my classes lists a chapter one quiz for tomorrow. ouch. Talk about hitting the ground running.
Normally, reading through the tracking information for a delivery is quite dull, but every once in a while you can find some interesting tidbits. Take a look at the journey my textbooks have been on along with my notes.
| Location/Date/Local Time | Description |
| US
12/16/2008 5:50 P.M. |
BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED
I ordered the books on 12/10, but I’m willing to concede that the late start to delivery might pertain more to the company from whom I purchased the books than UPS |
| COLUMBIA, MO, US
12/16/2008 8:24 P.M. |
ORIGIN SCAN |
| COLUMBIA, MO, US
12/16/2008 10:10 P.M. |
DEPARTURE SCAN |
| LENEXA, KS, US
12/17/2008 12:50 A.M. |
ARRIVAL SCAN |
| LENEXA, KS, US
12/17/2008 7:09 A.M. |
DEPARTURE SCAN |
| SALINA, KS, US
12/17/2008 11:00 A.M. |
ARRIVAL SCAN |
| SALINA, KS, US
12/17/2008 11:51 A.M. |
DEPARTURE SCAN |
| COMMERCE CITY, CO, US
12/17/2008 7:37 P.M. |
ARRIVAL SCAN |
| COMMERCE CITY, CO, US
12/18/2008 1:32 A.M. |
DEPARTURE SCAN package seems to be zipping right along, no foreshadowing of trouble here |
| SALT LAKE CITY, UT, US
12/18/2008 10:27 A.M. |
ARRIVAL SCAN |
| SALT LAKE CITY, UT, US
12/18/2008 3:09 P.M. |
DEPARTURE SCAN |
| SEATTLE, WA, US
12/19/2008 8:23 P.M. |
ARRIVAL SCAN |
| SEATTLE, WA, US
12/19/2008 11:10 P.M. |
DEPARTURE SCAN I live in Seattle, this package may be delivered on time tomorrow. |
| REDMOND, WA, US
12/19/2008 11:53 P.M. |
ARRIVAL SCAN |
| REDMOND, WA, US
12/20/2008 12:57 A.M. |
DESTINATION SCAN Package is 12 miles away. It was supposed to be delivered to me on this date |
| REDMOND, WA, US
12/22/2008 4:14 P.M. |
DESTINATION SCAN |
| REDMOND, WA, US
12/22/2008 4:37 P.M. |
DESTINATION SCAN
Package has now been in Redmond for 4 days |
| REDMOND, WA, US
12/23/2008 11:26 A.M. |
EMERGENCY CONDITIONS BEYOND UPS’ CONTROL Ok, I don’t blame anyone for not driving this day, roads really were impassable |
| REDMOND, WA, US
1/2/2009 6:01 A.M. |
THE BUSINESS WAS CLOSED TODAY. A DELIVERY ATTEMPT WILL BE MADE ON THE NEXT BUSINESS DAY / PACKAGE WILL BE DELIVERED NEXT BUSINESS DAY-NO SATURDAY GUARANTEE Package has now been in Redmond 15 days. The “Business” was the office for our apartments and it was in fact open on 1/2/09, just not at 6:01 A.M. |
| REDMOND, WA, US
1/5/2009 11:58 A.M ———————————- |
THE PACKAGE WAS LEFT IN A UPS FACILITY / FORWARDED TO THE FACILITY IN THE DESTINATION CITY
!?! ———————————————————————————- |
Update:the package was finally delivered the next day. Luckily the shipper shrinkwrapped the books so they got here in decent shape evn though the box had been shredded in transit.
