Gotta love package delivery services!

[thewayne]

I'll tell ya.

So every four weeks my meds get shipped from El Paso to Cloudcroft, 108 miles according to Google Maps. Now, I happen to know that UPS, in it's infinite wisdom, actually sends it El Paso -> Albuquerque -> Alamogordo -> Cloudcroft.

OK. Stupid, a truck could get it here faster, but that's OK.

My package didn't arrive today, so I called and got the tracking number.

It has traveled nearly 2,000 miles.

El Paso -> Albuquerque -> Phoenix, AZ -> Ontario, CA -> Albuquerque -> Alamogordo.

Hopefully it'll arrive Monday.

Still, they beat FedEx. FedEx won't deliver when it snows, and it dropped a bit less than 2" last night, and they won't give their drivers chains because "they're dangerous". Direct quote from a dept manager. UPS will get it to me when it snows.

Comments

[kylejcrb.livejournal.com]

Every time any package is delivered to me, it ends up passing me in Riverside and going to LA first before finally backtracking to me. That's not as bad as going 2,000 miles away, but still.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

This specific time is an aberration, but both FedEx and UPS are guilty of such ritual idiocy. In FedEx's case, all packages (seemingly) go through Memphis before getting routed to their final delivery hub. You'd think they'd have enough intelligence to say "hey! this package is going overnight express 100 miles north, where we have a hub. put it on Truck 3!"

But seemingly they do not.

[moiraj.livejournal.com]

I find it hilarious that they crossed an international border.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

You Canucks and your North-centric biases! ;-)

There's an Ontario, CAlifornia, they're sort of a international shipping hub. Phoenix to Ontario, CA is only 340ish miles.

Google Maps shows the route to be something like this:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=el+paso,+tx&daddr=albuquerque,+nm+to:phoenix,+az+to:ontario,+ca+to:Albuquerque,+NM+to:Alamogordo,+NM+to:Cloudcroft,+NM&hl=en&geocode=FYCZ5AEdbSOn-SlpO_7Fiz_nhjEiAp2r44SR4w%3BFctYFwId_6Gk-Sl7gwnT3QoihzH99tm4zvjTwA%3BFblh_gEdy-JR-SnLeaFQ7RIrhzGsG0o1-MdpjA%3BFfDDBwIdOMr8-Cl7Yt3q2zTDgDGQMVj5WuMDBw%3BFctYFwId_6Gk-Sl7gwnT3QoihzH99tm4zvjTwA%3BFcwB9gEdtyyv-SlR1HMiY1DghjG9YAuYjwUHeQ%3BFYHj9gEdan-y-SmDTWp1yxvhhjGH8utOEzSm0A&mra=ls&sll=33.64666,-112.068955&sspn=9.724085,18.720703&ie=UTF8&ll=33.651208,-111.687012&spn=9.724085,18.720703&z=6

If their routing software were halfway intelligent, they could throw my box on a truck and have it here next day at much lower fuel costs, and this would be the route:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=el+paso,+tx&daddr=Alamogordo,+NM+to:Cloudcroft,+NM&hl=en&geocode=FYCZ5AEdbSOn-SlpO_7Fiz_nhjEiAp2r44SR4w%3BFcwB9gEdtyyv-SlR1HMiY1DghjG9YAuYjwUHeQ%3BFYHj9gEdan-y-SmDTWp1yxvhhjGH8utOEzSm0A&mra=pr&sll=33.651208,-111.687012&sspn=9.724085,18.720703&ie=UTF8&ll=32.468061,-106.419067&spn=2.465458,4.680176&z=8

[moiraj.livejournal.com]

Oops. Now I'm embarrassed. :D

But, in my defence, CA is usually how I shorten Canada. It wouldn't occur to me that somewhere else would use the same abbreviation.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Just out of high school, one of my early jobs was entering a mailing list in to a computer for a game company. I quickly learned how international addresses work. I've always thought that Canada had the most sensible postal code system that I'd seen, the higher the letter the further west and the higher the number the further north.

My wife wanted me to point out that according to some, New Mexico is a foreign country. I've had this happen to me where I'm talking on the phone to someone about shipping, give them my address, and have them say "We don't ship out of the US." WE'RE THE 47TH FREAKIN' STATE, SWEETHEART! Just look between Texas and Arizona! You'd think that an American would have at least a passing familiarity with American geography.

I really mourn for the death of public education. I pray things are somewhat better up there in the north.

My knowledge of geography isn't as good as it should be when it comes to knowing things like state capitols, but I have been to 80%+ of the US states in my travels. Unfortunately I haven't been deeper in to Canada than Niagra Falls back in the 70's.