# Online package tracking is making me crazy **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 10, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-package-tracking-is-making-me-crazy/433015 "2008-01-10T19:34:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-package-tracking-is-making-me-crazy/433015/1 "2008-01-10T19:34:43Z")
I’m waiting for a Really Important Thing I Bought to get here to my parents house, outside of Philadelphia. FedEx says it was picked up on the 8th. So far so good. Expected delivery on the 10th. Also good. That’s today, in fact. I’d be thrilled if it got here today. At about 10 AM on the 8th it “Departed FedEx Location” in Sacramento, CA. And, apparently, has remained in transit since then, as that’s all the tracking information they have online. It’s a new computer in that box, a nice new laptop. My parents are paying half of it, but even still, it’s the largest amount of money I’ve ever spent on a concrete object (rather than the cumulative effect of rent, or the times my college randomly decides I owe then some random, large sum of money for the semester [which they inevitably realize I don’t actually owe them and refund at the end of the semester]). I like being able to track packages, because normally, it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. You can watch your parcel make its way across this big ol’ country, and generally have an idea of when it will arrive. Or, you know, in some cases, you can see that it’s not in a FedEx warehouse anymore but have no further information than that, and so you can stress compulsively about it. Guess which I’m doing? ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-package-tracking-is-making-me-crazy/433015/2 "2008-01-10T19:41:33Z")
Oh, yes, package tracking, instead of the convenience you would think it would be, is just another thing I end up worrying over. ---
**Author:** ![Octalcode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Octalcode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octalcode)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-package-tracking-is-making-me-crazy/433015/3 "2008-01-10T19:44:00Z")
NC, I just went through the same dance yesterday. Tracked a new computer for my son. It was showing “on truck for delivery” since 7:30 yesterday am. (delivery date was expected yesterday). Got home at 4:30 and waited. Checked the tracking every 15 minutes or so. At 6:30, I had given up. 6:50 the doorbell rings, and there is the driver with my packages. Just for the hell of it, I went back and tracked it at 8:30, and it still was showing “on truck”. Finally showed it was delivered to me at 9:55. Hang in there, I suspect you’ll be online with it tonight. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-package-tracking-is-making-me-crazy/433015/4 "2008-01-10T19:46:07Z")
Lately when I order from Amazon I just see “electronic shipping info received” and it stays that way until the day they deliver it. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-package-tracking-is-making-me-crazy/433015/5 "2008-01-10T19:50:07Z")
I’ve generally found that UPS tracking information is pretty detailed, and gives a good idea of the package’s progress. Here’s the tracking details for a package that was delivered to my place this morning: ```auto BALTIMORE, MD, US 01/10/2008 12:10 P.M. DELIVERY 01/10/2008 6:06 A.M. OUT FOR DELIVERY 01/10/2008 6:06 A.M. DESTINATION SCAN 01/10/2008 4:57 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN PHILADELPHIA, PA, US 01/10/2008 2:59 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN PHILADELPHIA, PA, US 01/09/2008 12:20 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN OAKLAND, CA, US 01/09/2008 4:28 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN 01/09/2008 12:38 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN SUNNYVALE, CA, US 01/08/2008 10:30 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN 01/08/2008 7:14 P.M. ORIGIN SCAN 01/08/2008 2:23 P.M. PICKUP SCAN US 01/08/2008 7:59 P.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED ``` ETA: Actually, i guess it technically arrived this afternoon, according to that list. But i got up late, so it seemed like morning to me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-package-tracking-is-making-me-crazy/433015/6 "2008-01-10T20:04:11Z")
[There’s an xkcd for everything](http://xkcd.com/281/). ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-package-tracking-is-making-me-crazy/433015/7 "2008-01-10T22:14:01Z")
I know the feeling. I just bought a motorcycle, and had to buy all new gear since I sold it with my last bike. I ended up ordering about half a dozen items, and had tracking info for each one. The F5 button probably thought I was playing Mafia. I’m still waiting for a pair of gloves and a set of frame sliders, but I’ve all but given up on checking the tracking info. Waiting for textbooks after school starts is the worst, though; which reminds me, I should go order them now, before school starts, for once. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-package-tracking-is-making-me-crazy/433015/8 "2008-01-10T22:20:38Z")
Online tracking is just a huge tease. Everytime I order something, it seems that will take 6 days to deliver.I can see that it makes it to the distribution center ,less than a mile from my house, in 36 hours. Then it sits there, a mile a way, taunting me as I wait 3.5 days for it to actually be delivered. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-package-tracking-is-making-me-crazy/433015/9 "2008-01-10T23:19:07Z")
You can call them, you know. I realize that takes some of the mystery out of it, but the people on the phone sometimes have significantly more information about the package than what shows up online. I know this because I’ve had to call them a number of times when they’ve lost a critical package. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-package-tracking-is-making-me-crazy/433015/10 "2008-01-10T23:26:49Z")
Ahem, ‘a watched pot never boils.’ ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-package-tracking-is-making-me-crazy/433015/11 "2008-01-11T00:20:52Z")
If it left Sacremento on a truck to Philadelphia, which I don’t think they do, I could see no update since the 8th. If it left on a plane, I’d say someone hasn’t updated the trace as they should- the plane should have landed somehwere and been unloaded by now, with tracking scan update. Hope its not MIA. And drivers are supposed to update as soon as a package is delivered, but sometimes update all delivered packages at the end of the day, hence the delivery scan hours after delivery on some. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-package-tracking-is-making-me-crazy/433015/12 "2008-01-11T01:58:02Z")
[QUOTE=wolfman] Online tracking is just a huge tease. Everytime I order something, it seems that will take 6 days to deliver.I can see that it makes it to the distribution center ,less than a mile from my house, in 36 hours. Then it sits there, a mile a way, taunting me as I wait 3.5 days for it to actually be delivered. :mad: [/QUOTE] Oh, I once had something kind of like that with a DVD. I had, as part of a larger order, purchased a DVD from Amazon. The package arrived - this is when I’m at school out in Santa Fe - and I collect it from the mail room. I needed a book from it for class, and didn’t have time to watch the DVD until the next day. When I get those couple free hours, I eagerly dig through the shrink wrapping, peel off the labels on all three edges, open the case…and there’s no DVD. To there credit there was no hassle with Amazon from that; they just told me to send the ‘faulty’ DVD and they’d send a new one next-day delivery. The order ships, and being myself, of course I track it online. It is beginning it’s journey in Phoenix, which is an easy day’s drive from Santa Fe. It is then sent to Ontario, California (about ten hours in the opposite direction), where it is put on a plane, flown to Albuquerque, and driven to Santa Fe. I understand that from a large-scale logistics POV it makes sense, but it truly does seem baffling sometimes. **kuboydal** , I have personally disproved that in the past (yes, I was bored). > [@Campion](#): > > ``` > You can call them, you know. I realize that takes some of the mystery out of it, but the people on the phone sometimes have significantly more information about the package than what shows up online. > > ``` > > I know this because I’ve had to call them a number of times when they’ve lost a critical package. I think I will if it doesn’t get here tomorrow. I want my new shiny toy.