How can something travel intercontinentally faster than across a warehouse?

The BBQ Pit
1

4Q last year I bought something on Kickstarter (Yeah, I know, but it was only $60 or so). Then the emails started, over a period of months…the prototype didn’t work so they went back to the drawing board, then the new model didn’t stand up to the production test. At least if it’s a scam, they’re putting a lot of effort into keeping it going as there were numerous status update email.

Finally, a different batch of emails started:
[ul]
[li]SUCCESS!!![/li][li]First ones are being shipped[/li][li]Make sure we have your correct/updated address[/li][li]YOURS is being shipped, & then, finally 10 days ago[/li][li]Yours has shipped, here is the tracking # & estimated delivery date (this past Monday, 9/11).[/li][/ul]

In short, I’ve lost all spring & summer of using it, & the last festival of the year is this weekend!!! Oh, goodsygoodsygoo, I should have it in plenty of time!

It’s being shipped from the Netherlands. I have the tracking # from their parcel delivery service & can see the status online. It gives me the handoff (to USPS) tracking # & can see that online; it made it to NYC Sat. Earlier today I still don’t have it & it still hasn’t been updated. I call the USPS…extimated wait time is 40-50 mins, so I go over to the local Post Office. I get a supervisor & I explain the situation; the first thing he asks is if it’s an international package. When I confirm that it is, he tells me that it hasn’t cleared US Customs yet. I ask if he has a phone # to call, he tells me to search the internet as I need to call US CBP, not USPS. I spend about 30 seconds searching, find a number, only to get a recorded message that their hours are 8am-4pm, so they’re closed for the day, which means I can’t do anything to possibly get it cleared today so my friend can pick it up & bring it with her tomorrow when she comes to the event I want to use it at.

So I ask the US Customs & Boarder Partol: can one of you useless numbnuts explain how a package can make it ≈ 30% of the way around this planet in two days but can’t make it across your warehouse in six (& counting)?
(It literally is mostly styrofoam, with a couple of carbon fiber rods & a plastic cap. It’s nothing live, harmful, explosive, dangerous or contain anything that should delay it’s clearance or require quarantine.)

2

Sounds like the ideal thing to hide some illegal drugs inside. Styrofoam, easily hollowed out and smoothly covered over, similar weight/density to some drugs, and cheap enough to destroy when retreiving the concealed contraband.

Not that I’m saying you are doing this, but the Customs & Border Patrol has to think this way, and check out imported items for this. That takes time.

3

Yeah, they’re going to take however long they’re going to take. Sometimes stuff passes through within a day and sometimes it takes more than a week, and it’s seemingly just the luck of the draw. They’re probably not going to expedite processing of one of the many thousands of packages at their facility because of a nasty phone call, and I really doubt that they’d release it to some random passerby who isn’t a named addressee.

4

Fortunately, the movies have shown us exactly how to deal with this situation.

5

I just got a jacket from iTailor in Thailand. 5 days to get from Thailand to the UK. 10 days to make it the last 30 miles thanks to the Royal Mail.

6

It’s a staffing issue, you see. Most of the crew have been busy pursuing this Hispanic treasure galleon. Arrr!

7

To answer the OP, simple: A Jet plane moves at 75% the speed of sound; Customs inspections move at the speed of paperwork. Major difference in velocity.

8

There’s a science fiction story where a guy realizes that mail arrives quicker the further it’s traveling, and on a whim addresses a letter to the Postmaster General of alpha Centauri and drops it in a mailbox. Minutes later, he gets a reply, welcoming Earth into the galactic federation, membership in which is limited to those who have discovered the FTL mail system.

9

Next time you take an overseas vacation, you should try this approach when you re-enter the country. In my experience, this sort of attitude is excellent for speeding your progress through the immigration and customs lines at the airport. :slight_smile:

10

::Bump:: Update: (Sorry, I was away for the weekend) - I called US CBP on Friday morning; they told me the package wasn’t in Customs hold, that it was in First Class US Mail, which takes 15-30 days (WTF!) to arrive.

The package tracking was updated on Sat - it arrived in the USPS facility in SOMERSET, KY 42501. Ummm, I’m 100ish miles from JFK; it’s close enough that there are numerous companies than run shuttle vans to/from the airport. Why would USPS sit on it for a week before sending it 800 miles away, only to then route it back? While this might be a small, light package, the wasted resources to move thousands of packages hundreds of miles out of the way must be significant!

The last time I went thru customs (late afternoon EST, ie. rush hour), there were, as I recall, 27 lanes. Two were open. Why waste the space & cost resources to build if you’re going to use < 10% of them? I did mention something to the agent, but then I would have had to wait for a supervisor to really make a complaint about it; I wasn’t going to waste any more time as I was hoping to be reunited w/ my luggage before it went to the (probably different terminal) location for lost/unclaimed luggage.

11

Sometimes stuff gets mis-sorted. The bin for packages to the Kentucky sorting office was right next to the bin for packages to your sorting office, probably, and it got tossed in the wrong one. It’s an inefficiency, but it’s not like they’re going to have to run a special truck or plane back to New York just for your package.

I think those facilities are typically built by the airport. So they might have been hoping to get more staffing, but not actually promised it.

12

How do you know that this was rush hour? Rush hour at international arrivals at an airport does not always conform to our understanding of rush hour for traffic.

One of my most frequent international arrivals is in Sydney, Australia, when i fly home to visit friends and family. One of the busiest arrival times at Sydney’s international terminal is early in the morning, between about 6.00 and 8.00 am. A whole bunch of big jets—747s and 777s and A380s—arrive from places like London, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Tokyo. The lines are long, and every immigration and customs booth is open. And yet, if you fly international into Sydney and arrive during afternoon “rush hour,” it can be surprisingly quiet.

As for cost and resources, the problem is that you need to build for periods of high demand, even if there are significant time periods where your full capacity will not be utilized. The same principle applies to baseball stadiums and freeways and parking lots. If i drive home on the freeways at 9.30 at night, i don’t look around and wonder, “Why did they build all those lanes? There’s hardly any traffic!”

13

Forgot to add, the US CBP website states that their hours are 8-5; when you call, the phone message states 8-4. Of course, I called between 4 - 5.

Westbound trans-Atlantic flights typically arrive at East Coast airports at mid to late afternoon; I was referring to the airport’s int’l arrivals rush hour. One could literally watch the queue grow by hundreds of people at a time.

4, 5, or 6 lanes with 2 in use & I’d agree with you, but 27? That’s orders of magnitude off. Very poor planning & huge waste of space/$ if you’re correct.

14

I remember that story. It ends with the letter saying an ambassador will be arriving shortly then his secretary is on the squawk box to tell him a large carton with holes in it has just arrived.

15

I don’t think there is a rule of thumb that flights from Europe are busiest during that period. I think most travellers would prefer to leave in the morning (therefore arriving generally a little after lunch), or later in the day (therefore arriving after 7pm), as opposed to leaving at lunchtime to arrive around 5pm.

ETA: I just looked. JFK has 12 arrivals between 4pm-6pm today. They have about 30 between noon and 2pm.

So what is this thing that you bought?

16

Not necessarily.
That’s pretty much the basic idea that Fred Smith used to make FedEx into one of the biggest carriers in the country. And their major hub is in Tennessee, next door to Kentucky – both pretty well centrally located in the US.

17

Hey Wal-Mart in my locale has 30 or more lanes…I have been there at all different times…never, never have I seen all lanes open, except maybe black Friday…I don’t understand how that can be good business. People we should rise up in protest…ah I don’t know that seems like alot of trouble though. NM

18

UPS has a major hub in Louisville KY, USPS often uses other carriers to transport packages around because it is cheaper than they can do it. (something about unused space by those carriers purchased at a huge discount).

US Customs can and does hold packages before clearing. It may be that the shipper didn’t provide a US HTS classification or used one that caused a flag such as EPA, FDA etc. IF the broker had to email for the HTS and then for EPA or for antidumping protocols then that can take some time.

19

It’s your warm weather Spidey-suit, isn’t it? The one with Bermuda shorts and a tank top? And colored sock with sandals? Cool!

20

They may not have them all open, but they have more that two open, right? Between real estate, station hardware, computers, scanners, etc. it’s gotta be a couple thousand per station (remember, this is the federal gubmint we’re talking about). They were utilizing only 7.5% of the stations.

Damnit! You’re on to me…almost. It’s black socks with the sandals, not colored ones. :o

Latest update: Called earlier; they confirmed that KY was a mis-routing; he had no idea where it is or when it would make it to me. He suggested that I file a claim online @ USPS<dot>com; however…

(It is a First-Class mail package) :smack:

I called back, they told me I need to wait 10 days from the last touch before filing a “Find Missing Mail” request. :smack: :smack: