# Another odd package route **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 3, 2026, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304 "2026-01-03T14:14:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304/1 "2026-01-03T14:14:09Z")
Yes, I understand hub and spoke, but this one baffles me: I ship a package via USPS from SE Minnesota to NE Wisconsin (ground advantage) It first heads to MSP (ok, slightly wrong direction, but is nearby processing facility – perfectly valid) then to Oshkosh, WI (great, if I were to drive to destination, Oshkosh could be a place I’d drive near) then it goes to ATLANTA (???) - I know FedEx goes through Atlanta, but why would a USPS ground package go there? That is ~900 miles the wrong direction! Brian ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304/2 "2026-01-03T14:31:56Z")
A couple of years ago, I was the recipient of a package that started out in Springvale, UT, and was sent to Sacramento, CA - by way of Denver, CO, Amarillo, TX, Oklahoma City, OK, and Memphis, TN (over 1500 miles from the point of origin and clear across North America from the destination). ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304/3 "2026-01-03T14:48:34Z")
Lots of US mail, both first class and parcels, is carried by passenger airlines. So Atlanta might’ve been FedEx or might’ve been Delta. Given that MSP & ATL are both Delta hubs, the former a legacy from Northwest, I’d be that’s how that portion of your route came to be. Why a ground package is going by air I cannot say. Although I suspect that in the modern world “air” versus “ground” shipping are really euphemisms for “guaranteed fast” versus “will probably be slow” shipping. If you now see your package slowly wending its way via the interstates back towards WI, I’ll be doubly baffled. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304/4 "2026-01-03T16:40:25Z")
As someone who has shipped tens of thousands of packages a year since 2003, I can confirm that shipments just get put on the wrong truck/plane all the time. When a journey makes no sense to you, it’s almost never because there is some logistical jiu jitsu going on. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304/5 "2026-01-03T18:02:45Z")
I’m sure everyone has stories like this. I once ordered something from Amazon and it was shipped from somewhere in Arizona to my house near San Francisco. After a couple of days it was at a distribution center in South San Francisco about 30 miles from my house, so I expected it would arrive the next day. However, the next day it was inexplicably in Tacoma Washington. There’s no way that was due to logistical planning; it must have just been a mistake. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304/6 "2026-01-03T18:10:27Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > There’s no way that was due to logistical planning; it must have just been a mistake. No doubt, but with the tens of millions of packages shipped daily in the U.S., it is not surprising that some end up on the wrong truck or plane. So the misdirected packages simply get scanned when they arrive at the incorrect waypoint, and are pointed back in the right direction. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304/7 "2026-01-03T18:16:14Z")
I wanted to send a local chili crisp brand to my siblings for xmas. It’s stocked in a few specialty stores in the area but I needed a quantity and didn’t want to hunt all over town for it given that the stores may not have all I need on their shelf. So I placed an online order at their warehouse. It’s about 15 miles from where I live. It shipped promptly but it first went through Detroit about a 100 miles away. I’m sure there are valid reasons but I thought it funny. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2026, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304/8 "2026-01-03T18:39:21Z")
I once had a package shipped from California to Ottawa, Canada. I tracked it from the California location through the shipper’s US center for Canadian deliveries, then to their Ottawa depot. Between the depot and my house it travelled via Australia, South Korea, Alaska, and back through the US center for Canadian deliveries. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304/9 "2026-01-04T04:52:32Z")
I have seen some really bizarre routing – like from NYC to LA, then back to me in Wisconsin. I think some of those can be explained by Just Plain Stupid Errors. But ones that seem wrong may be due to shipper convenience, and not wrong at all. Things have changed drastically since Fedex began, but for a while, if you shipped a Fedex package from LA to LA, it went thru Memphis. It was quicker, simpler and cheaper (for Fedex) to throw everything on the same plane, then sort it at their main, streamlined hub for the outbound plane to the final destination. The extra transportation cost was cancelled by the highly efficient sorting and routing process. No one had to look at the address _at all_ until Memphis. A few minutes saved where it counted. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304/10 "2026-01-04T12:04:38Z")
If it went directly from MSP to Atlanta it could make sense hub-and-spoke wise, it is the Oshkosh → Atlanta move that baffles me. FYI the latest (Jan 3) update is: > Your package is moving within the USPS network and is on track to be delivered by the expected delivery date. It is currently in transit to the next facility. Brian ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304/11 "2026-01-04T12:48:16Z")
I “like” how the USPS has changed their display of mid-trip parcel status to that bland detail-free assertion. “Everything is going fine. We know where your package is. You don’t need to know. Just trust us that nothing has gone wrong.” Soo reassuring. And avoids all those pesky questions of why your package is someplace unexpected. At least around here, once the package gets to the USPS regional sort center, the detail picks back up again and I get several updates on the ~18 hour journey from the regional center to my local PO to on their delivery truck to at my house. But the preceding 2 or 4 or 6 days while it wended its way across the country? “… moving through the network …” ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304/12 "2026-01-04T13:06:32Z")
Some years back, I mailed a package to my sister. I live in southern Merrylande, she’s closer to the Pennsylvania border - just over 100 miles between the two. Her package traveled via North Carolina! Luckily it wasn’t a time-critical delivery and we both had a laugh over it. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304/13 "2026-01-04T13:17:10Z")
It probably changed planes in Charlotte. Allegheny → USAir → US Airways → American has had a major base or later hub there continuously since the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2026, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304/14 "2026-01-04T13:29:12Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I “like” how the USPS has changed their display of mid-trip parcel status to that bland detail-free assertion. “Everything is going fine. We know where your package is. You don’t need to know. Just trust us that nothing has gone wrong.” Soo reassuring. And avoids all those pesky questions of why your package is someplace unexpected. About a month and a half ago, I ordered some specialty tea for my wife. I got regular updates as it made its way from Darjeeling to customs in NY. Then a variety of steps between locations in NY, then “Everything is going fine” for awhile, then “there was insufficient postage; we’re not delivering it”. My local Post Office was able to tell me that happened in Philadelphia, but couldn’t tell me anything else, like why they’d ever accepted it in the first place. The vendor in Darjeeling arranged for Amazon to deliver a replacement a couple of days later and apologized that they’d been having trouble with their Indian shipper. About a week later, I was clearing browser tabs and noticed that USPS now said that the original package was on its way from Columbus, OH. It arrived in DC a couple of days later, with no further explanation. I let the vendor know that their Indian shipper was blameless in this case and they told me to keep both packages. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304/15 "2026-01-05T03:27:18Z")
The package is back in Oshkosh – I hope it enjoyed its vacation in Atlanta. Brian ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304/16 "2026-01-05T13:38:20Z")
After Oshkosh it went to Green Bay, and then to destination post office. So route was: (my city)-\>MSP-\>Oshkosh-\>Atlanta-\>Oshkosh-\>Green Bay-\>(destination city) Green Bay makes sense, and actually if you remove Atlanta the whole route makes sense. Brian ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304/17 "2026-01-05T13:59:15Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > Green Bay makes sense, and actually if you remove Atlanta the whole route makes sense. It didn’t work for **[General Sherman](https://www.georgiahistory.com/marker-monday-the-burning-and-destruction-of-atlanta/)**. I just thought it needed to be said. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304/18 "2026-01-05T14:53:58Z")
Sounds a lot like it got on the plane to Atlanta by mistake. Such fun. AT least it wasn’t a plane to Singapore. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304/19 "2026-01-06T02:54:37Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Things have changed drastically since Fedex began, but for a while, if you shipped a Fedex package from LA to LA, it went thru Memphis. It was quicker, simpler and cheaper (for Fedex) to throw everything on the same plane, then sort it at their main, streamlined hub for the outbound plane to the final destination. The extra transportation cost was cancelled by the highly efficient sorting and routing process. No one had to look at the address _at all_ until Memphis. A few minutes saved where it counted. When I mail something in my little town to someone else in my little town, it goes to the mail sorting center an hour away, then comes back here. So clearly no one looks at any of the addresses at our post office either - all of it gets on the truck, gets sorted, and then whatever needs to come back gets a ride home. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304/20 "2026-01-06T03:42:07Z")
I feel like these things will get exponentially worse in coming months. Not sure why I think this. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-odd-package-route/1026304.md?page=2)