UPS And FedEx Buckled Under Holiday Load

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Is your Christmas gift still in another state? Or worse, lost altogether? Don't feel bad, you are not alone. Good luck trying to get a refund on your shipping, UPS and FedEx don't care. There is some good news though, companies like Amazon, Walmart and Groupon are handing out refunds and coupons.

While these companies insist that the vast majority of packages were delivered by their promised December 24th deadline, a small portion did not make it in time to be placed under the tree on Christmas morning. Both the delivery companies and retailers are working to repair the damage, but the writing may be on the wall for 2014. The deadline for Christmas orders will undoubtedly be earlier next year, but the more immediate problem will be making things right with consumers this year.
 
I ordered gifts WELL in advance of Christmas - 2 to 3 weeks. USPS lost one of them, and UPS took two gifts for tours of the continental United States and are still not delivered. I have not typically had issues.
 
Wife ordered me a gift through Amazon, although from what I understand because I am in a big shipping area mine got through no problem. If it didn't no problem, she didn't expedite the shipping or whatever and if I get it a couple days later it's not the end of the world.
 
My TrackIR is finally in town, but won't be delivered until Monday :-(
 
Hey, people need to lighten up a bit. If you absolutely need something before a certain date, then get it in person or order it well in advance. You always run the risk of the package being delayed, lost, re-routed, etc.

Anyway, Christmas is a religious holiday. It's not a greed fueled festival of commerce, well, Ok, it's become that, but come on. Shit happens, things get lost or delayed.

Disclaimer: All my stuff arrived on time. :D
 
I ordered a book and PC game from Amazon on 11/30. It didn't arrive until 12/16.
/anecdotal evidence
 
I ordered a headphone stand on the night of the 24th Prime got here the 26th by UPS.
 
All those job cuts and freezes screwing things up I take it?
There only so much a 'seasonal worker' can help before they are a burden too due to lack of training.
At least this headline mentioned FedEX, the absolute worse mail carrier by my experience.
 
Stores should consider extending sales for many more days before thanksgiving.. the black Friday crap is getting ridiculous, lets be real it should be the black 2 weeks before December or something, more 'sales' less rush.. its probably a lot of why FedEX UPS choked.
I am not bothered by sales, and ads and buy this or that, you know marketing pressure... it the rush that annoys me, actually makes me spend less.
 
I shipped my SS gift from upstate NY to WA, clear across the country, on 12/19 it arrived on 12/21.

Shipped via USPS priority mail.
 
I ordered my GTX 660 on Dec 20 with Prime 2 day shipping. It said I would receive it by Dec 24 so I ordered it. I received it on Dec 26. It came UPS. Tracking shows it sat in Lexington, KY for 3 days. How do I get the $20 gift card?
 
The shipping companies may not care right now, but what do you think all those massive retailers are going to do? They aren't going to eat the millions in shipping and freebies they give out, they're going to turn around and stick their hand into UPS/FedEx's pocket book to cover it.

UPS claims they had too many packages to handle. Their ONLY MAIN JOB is to deliver packages. Their name is United Parcel Service. If a company that specializes in shipping items (indeed, that is their name) cant ship normally, they're doing something wrong. USPS had less issues this year.

I'm tired of companies not being held liable. You cant ship stuff as a shipping company? There should be no customers left. But no, nobody is willing to put the effort needed to say "fuck you" to UPS and the like. Think about it - if Amazon were to switch shipping companies, how many millions per week do you think that would hurt? I promise you the company who lost them would quickly get their shit right when they lose an account like that - this isn't Bob's Computers, this is a customer who likely makes up entire percentage points of their customer base.
 
ITT: people who didn't bother reading the fine print.

Both UPS/FedEx have clauses stating that shipment's can be delayed between something like the 10th through the 26th without renumeration (or something to that effect).

You agreed to it when you shipped your package (and so did whatever online retailer you ordered from). You want your money back? Go talk to Amazon or whoever, but UPS/FedEx doesn't owe you jack.
 
I work at UPS and I know we kinda got screwed because Amazin under-forecasted their volume to us. Then they did that last minute deal of free next day shipping. All our next day stuff goes through Louisville so I'm sure they loved that :D :D
 
UPS claims they had too many packages to handle. Their ONLY MAIN JOB is to deliver packages. Their name is United Parcel Service. If a company that specializes in shipping items (indeed, that is their name) cant ship normally, they're doing something wrong. USPS had less issues this year.
.

You gotta realize the % in volume jump that occurs during this time of the year is utterly ridiculous. On a very small scale to give example, a 4 hour sort near St Louis will do about 150,000 packages. After Thanksgiving that number jumps up to 400,000.

Dallas was the big hub where most people got their stuff lost or delayed. I knew on the 23rd they were estimated to be 1.5 million packages behind. :eek: :eek:

Amazon forecasted like 180,000 per day and it ended up in reality being like 550-600k.

I dunno. I guess because I see the stuff every day I don't get flustered. I think people need to just calm down and know this time of the year sucks balls for us.
 
Bottom line: People just dont plan ahead.

Also, Ive found out, if a person dont work in that field, their less likely to understand what the heck is going on, and quick to judge.
 
I ordered a mobo from newegg with 2 day shop runner shipping techincally was the 26th cuz it was after midnight on christmas night. I got it friday the 27th. They used 2 day UPS, only had to go from NJ to MA but I was happy as I wanted to play BF4 this weekend and my other board decided to fuck me over randomly.
 
Oh no, people didn't get their shitty 720p Vizio or Hello Kitty warming blanket in time for Christmas.
 
You gotta realize the % in volume jump that occurs during this time of the year is utterly ridiculous. On a very small scale to give example, a 4 hour sort near St Louis will do about 150,000 packages. After Thanksgiving that number jumps up to 400,000.

Dallas was the big hub where most people got their stuff lost or delayed. I knew on the 23rd they were estimated to be 1.5 million packages behind. :eek: :eek:

Amazon forecasted like 180,000 per day and it ended up in reality being like 550-600k.

I dunno. I guess because I see the stuff every day I don't get flustered. I think people need to just calm down and know this time of the year sucks balls for us.

I am on this side really, sure they should have systems in place to deal with the increase in traffic, from years past they should be seeing the growth rates and have projections coming in all years round.

There should be little excuse for losing anything this day in digital, everything is tracked, age, but i guess it happens.

I ordered $4k in server hear and it arrived Dec 26th to Costa Rica via UPS...ordered Dec 10th...So i cant complain..
 
Ordered a number of smaller items this past Monday from Amazon that were guaranteed to arrive Christmas Eve and they did from FedEx. Honestly what these companies do and their on time rates from what I've experienced over the years is phenomenal. Stuff happens of course and they aren't perfect but I think some of this backlash is over the top.
 
i thought the economy was still recovering.. why are so many people still buying shit? :confused:
 
cuz this 'murica, where the 99% can still afford to run up massive debt on imported electronics.
 
The shipping companies may not care right now, but what do you think all those massive retailers are going to do? They aren't going to eat the millions in shipping and freebies they give out, they're going to turn around and stick their hand into UPS/FedEx's pocket book to cover it.

UPS claims they had too many packages to handle. Their ONLY MAIN JOB is to deliver packages. Their name is United Parcel Service. If a company that specializes in shipping items (indeed, that is their name) cant ship normally, they're doing something wrong. USPS had less issues this year.

I'm tired of companies not being held liable. You cant ship stuff as a shipping company? There should be no customers left. But no, nobody is willing to put the effort needed to say "fuck you" to UPS and the like. Think about it - if Amazon were to switch shipping companies, how many millions per week do you think that would hurt? I promise you the company who lost them would quickly get their shit right when they lose an account like that - this isn't Bob's Computers, this is a customer who likely makes up entire percentage points of their customer base.

Next time, read the fine print before you agree to use someone's services.

I would point out that the world will not end because your package is late. It is a shame that, I, as an atheist, have to remind so many people that Christmas is supposed to be about spending time with family and/or celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, not about getting material possessions or engaging in naked consumerism.

UPS and FedEx drivers both work 10-12 hour days 6-7 days a week from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Not to mention the fact that they rent out tons of rental trucks and hire tons of temps during the season. UPS and FedEx employees are not allowed to take any vacation time during this period which means that, unlike most people here, they do not have the luxury of visiting family during the holidays. They do this so that people can get their trinkets and other luxuries for Christmas.

Sometimes shit happens. They do not have a time machine or psychic abilities and they cannot help it if there is an unpredictable spike in traffic right before the holidays.
 
I would advise UPS/FEDEX that during the holidays, they may want to consider delivering on Saturdays to avoid getting crushed again.
 
I'm tired of companies not being held liable. You cant ship stuff as a shipping company? There should be no customers left. But no, nobody is willing to put the effort needed to say "fuck you" to UPS and the like. Think about it - if Amazon were to switch shipping companies, how many millions per week do you think that would hurt? I promise you the company who lost them would quickly get their shit right when they lose an account like that - this isn't Bob's Computers, this is a customer who likely makes up entire percentage points of their customer base.

I'm tired of the american population not being held accountable for their actions :p Seriously, if they would order their crap throughout the year they would probably end up with similar, if not better, savings than waiting for all the "last minute sales" and expecting the shipping companies to perform some magical feat of getting all their packages shipped within an unrealistic deadline.

As for packages getting lost, traveling all over the US just to get delivered in the same state they shipped from... that's where there isn't any excuse from the companies.
 
If they are going to exhibit such epic levels of suck they should work on their cover story's a bit. I ordered a Prime item on the 10th and it was delivered the 23rd. They kept telling me and updating with "conditions beyond UPS's control." Not even their own people could tell me what that meant.
 
I had one UPS package delayed a few days before Christmas. I had 1 FedEx Ground package delayed for a day also before Christmas. Most other packages were right on time except one that completely missed the mark.

This one was ordered from Amazon on 12/16 with 2-day Prime. It came from the DFW Warehouse which usually means next day to me. Instead it spent a week going to different local facilities before being delivered to the wrong town about 30 miles away on Christmas Eve. Called FedEx's toll free number several times but they could never get the driver to answer to figure out what happened. It was a present for my daughter that local stores didn't carry and Amazon had it on a lightning deal. So I was pretty mad. Amazon did overnight another but of course it didn't arrive until after Christmas.
 
Is your Christmas gift still in another state? Or worse, lost altogether? Don't feel bad, you are not alone. Millions of other shoppers foolishly waited until the last minute as well!

Fixed.
 
one of my packages did not arrive until the 26th even though I paid for 'expedited' shipping which was guaranteed to arrive before X-Mas...no biggie though as Amazon refunded the full shipping price
 
Just order your shit earlier on then FFS people.

If everyone did, then the surge and hence the problem will just occur earlier :p

Those additional parcels will still have to be delivered and if the companies aren't equip to handle additional loads, then they are going to run into trouble when the load increases.
 
The shipping companies may not care right now, but what do you think all those massive retailers are going to do? They aren't going to eat the millions in shipping and freebies they give out, they're going to turn around and stick their hand into UPS/FedEx's pocket book to cover it.

UPS claims they had too many packages to handle. Their ONLY MAIN JOB is to deliver packages. Their name is United Parcel Service. If a company that specializes in shipping items (indeed, that is their name) cant ship normally, they're doing something wrong. USPS had less issues this year.

I'm tired of companies not being held liable. You cant ship stuff as a shipping company? There should be no customers left. But no, nobody is willing to put the effort needed to say "fuck you" to UPS and the like. Think about it - if Amazon were to switch shipping companies, how many millions per week do you think that would hurt? I promise you the company who lost them would quickly get their shit right when they lose an account like that - this isn't Bob's Computers, this is a customer who likely makes up entire percentage points of their customer base.
UPS and fedex couldn't ship them half way then give them to USPS to finish the delivery quick enough apparently.
 
My brother a gift from amazon for my daughter on Dec 22 which was the last day for 2day prime. It still has not arrived.

I don't mind a day or two late, but now it's 4 days late and we went on vacation. This UPS delay is just unexcuseable
 
the jump in packages killed UPS this season plus the fact everything was help up in dallas due to a bad snow/ice storm. They tried to recover making drivers work around the clock to get stuff out. While i see people upset an understand them you have to think while your waiting with family to get these gifts people were still out trying to make it happen.
 
I didn't have any problems this year. We are now retired hehe, so we can't buy a lot of crap online.
 
I ordered a package for charity (child's play) via amazon, I ordered it a bit late because I didn't have the funds available at the time.

It shipped via fedex, going from Memphis TN to Nashville (that's about 3 hours to get to if you are driving there).

It has so far been 3 days and moved from Memphis fedex......to Memphis USPS for local "delivery" (why even bother shipping fedex in the first place???). Still hasn't been delivered or arrived at usps or anything yet.
 
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