My Current UPS Saga

[Tozguy]

Some coffee we had ordered was 4 days overdue but it arrived 1 hour after we did absolutely nothing.

 

[ChrisAttebery]

I got a reply from UPS stating that the package had been found and re-delivered to Houston, TX. My son got a message from the buyer and they said that the address that they originally provided was correct. So now our package was delivered to the wrong address 2 states away.

I tried calling UPS but of course their call system is completely automated now. Good luck talking to a human being about your issue.

UPS is having problems. I've had 2-3 deliveries that said they were out for delivery only to get a notice later in the day that the package is still at a distribution center. I have a pair of tires that were supposed to be here Friday that now are supposed to be delivered tomorrow. All I can say is try to be patient. They're working as fast as they possibly can right now and mistakes do happen.

 

[RJSakowski]

To add another slant, yesterday, I sheared the nylon starter pawl (who knew the the plastic wasn't up to 95ºF ambient temperatures). At 1:14PM, I placed an order with Amazon for five replacement pawls. They said "next day delivery". "Yeah, right", I thought, "I'll be lucky to get them by next Tuesday". Well, 24 hours and 8 minutes later, our mailman deposited them in our mailbox. +1 for Amazon and USPS!

 

[Buffalo21]

To add another slant, yesterday, I sheared the nylon starter pawl (who knew the the plastic wasn't up to 95ºF ambient temperatures). At 1:14PM, I placed an order with Amazon for five replacement pawls. They said "next day delivery". "Yeah, right", I thought, "I'll be lucky to get them by next Tuesday". Well, 24 hours and 8 minutes later, our mailman deposited them in our mailbox. +1 for Amazon and USPS!

I ordered a machine part from Chicago on Tuesday morning, went with standard delivery, it arrived at my house/shop outside of Syracuse NY on Thursday.

 

[hman]

My own take, both from all these stories and from my own experience, is that the Wuhan virus, the increased level of online ordering, and very occasionally the "civil unrest," have not so much caused deliveries to be universally slowed down, as they have of throwing a large random factor into the equation. Luckily, none of the items I've ordered have been time critical. But I can appreciate how disruptive this must be to folks whose livelihood depends on reliable delivery.

Do we all remember how big an innovation JIT (Just In Time) logistics became not that many years ago?

 

[middle.road]

So last couple of months it's been taking about a week to get stuff from Prime.
Well last Friday I ordered two rubber bumper stops for my 2000 Silverado. They were delivered on Sunday!
(BTW the GM tailgate design of that era really, truly stinks....)

 

[NCjeeper]

My UPS and USPS delivery people are pretty good. The Fed Ex drivers are not. Just 2 weeks ago I watched the driver run over my house numbers sign at the corner of the driveway. I confronted him about it. At first he denied it. After I told him I saw him do it he finally fessed up. He will probably just throw the packages in the yard as he drives by now. Heck I would come out of retirement and take a part time job with one of them if they paid decent but they don't for new employees.

 

[Splat]

Oh yeah, Fedex misdelivered a few packages of mine and even claimed to have returned to the recipient's house to confirm correct delivery. Not! The UPS guys are definitely more professional and usually deliver correctly.

 

[Buffalo21]

I have a package due today, I checked the package tracing, its out for delivery, so anytime now and 9 pm, it can arrive. It use to be 5 pm, then went to 6 pm, then went to 7 pm and now its 9 pm. Pretty soon, they will deliver, while In sleeping.

I also do not understand the package delivery routing system, I have a package due today, so far they have driven by my shop/house 5 times, one would think, that with all of the computerized systems, they would have a program, that would figure out the quickest and most efficient route possible. But alas, I’m just a poor industrial boiler service tech, not a clairvoyant.

 

[projectnut]

My own take, both from all these stories and from my own experience, is that the Wuhan virus, the increased level of online ordering, and very occasionally the "civil unrest," have not so much caused deliveries to be universally slowed down, as they have of throwing a large random factor into the equation. Luckily, none of the items I've ordered have been time critical. But I can appreciate how disruptive this must be to folks whose livelihood depends on reliable delivery.

Do we all remember how big an innovation JIT (Just In Time) logistics became not that many years ago?

It was the greatest of ideas, sorta. It was supposed to lower inventory cost, minimize space needed for storage, insure all product in the pipeline was fresh, and allow more consistent production scheduling among other things. It does have it's good points, but there is also a dark side.

When everything along the supply chain like raw materials, transportation, power supply, and labor are where it needs to be all is well. However if one or more of the components is missing or interrupted it becomes a NOT QUITE IN TIME supply chain.

Early on in the transition from huge inventory to JIT our company experienced some serious supply chain interruptions that immediately translated to production downtime, excessive labor costs, and product loss due to the finished product itself being time sensitive. We had delays due to weather interrupting transportation schedules of raw product, and packaging materials. Break downs of suppliers equipment resulting in insufficient packaging materials in a timely manner, and excessive labor costs because we had to schedule additional production shifts at 1 1/2 time and double time pay rates.

Once the major supply chain interruptions were addressed the company decided to go back to a little more traditional model. The original model called for warehousing up to 90 days supply of all raw and packaging materials. The JIT model called for 5 to 7 days supplies. The modified original model called for a 30 day supply. The 5 to 7 day inventory was not enough to insure a smooth production schedule should any of the supply chain components be interrupted. A 30 day supply has smoothed out the bumps considerably.