I'm sure the map above is a bit confusing - believe me, it was confusing to me to draw the delivery route lines! But maybe it will help if I explain the situation then the map:
I ordered some airbrush accessories from Amazon.com on about September the 18th - it wasn't a large package and everything was to come from Amazon's own distribution center warehouse and shipping was free. I realize that I don't have much right to complain when I'm not directly paying for shipping but the FedEx Smartpost that Amazon uses for shipping is ridiculous. They ought to rename it FedEx Stupidpost or FedEx Slowpost! The order shipped on September 20th and was in Charlotte that same day. Charlotte is only a couple of hours away from us, btw.
OK, see the green line leaving Charlotte? That's my package going north up to Kernersville after being in Charlotte for 3 days. OK, it arrived in Kernersville on the 24th at about 2 AM then at 3AM went right back to Charlotte (that's the purplish colored line). From that return trip to Charlotte, the package again went north but this time went to Winston-Salem!
From Winston-Salem, the tracking record says the package arrived at our town (which isn't a town but simply a large postal route) at a "carrier facility". I have no idea what carrier facility as our local post office (where it should have gone) swears up and down that they didn't get the package on that day.
OK, from our home town, the package went to Raleigh on September the 25th then was again sent north only to Greensboro this time! It finally left Greensboro on September the 26th and was delivered by our local postal carrier that day.
Honestly, I could have driven to Charlotte the first day it showed up there and had my package nearly a week sooner plus we could have had a nice visit with the grandkids to boot!
I had another such episode with an order that involved UPS's version of Smartpost which I detailed in a post on my Pets to Posies blog. I don't know who came up with the idea that this method of shipping is smart but it sure appears that the shipper (in this case FedEx) is going to a lot of extra stops to get to a destination that should be a lot more direct and definitely quicker!
I guess they really feel it's saving them money as there have been bitter complaints about this system for years and companies are still using it. I wonder if Amazon and other companies who use this shipping system realize how much money they ultimately lose by losing customers such as myself?
Goodbye Amazon.com - it was nice knowing you but not so nice doing business with your idea of smart shipping.
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