…purely an ontological abstraction of the more mundane act of physical transport.
Only in the world of virtual storefronts could the term “your order has shipped!” be so ambiguous. I’m not knocking any particularly company – they all do it – but I’ve become increasingly frustrated with the practice. Around Christmastime “your order has shipped!” actually meant, “I’ve charged your account, but we don’t actually have that item in inventory” for one such company.
More often, “your order has shipped!” means that the item now belongs to you – convenient for cash flow purposes – and we’ll get around to sending it to you some time soon. Did you pay for 2nd day express delivery? Too bad; everyone knows it takes an additional two days for the conceptual shipment to manifest itself as an actual package in the hands of a delivery company. Calling to correct an error? Sucks for you, because you should have known that my company is just me, an i486, and a bit of HTML code. Yeah, yeah, maybe I should have known, but it looks for all the world like I’m dealing with Amazon, not one of their ‘partners’ who in turn has their own insalubrious list of virtual ‘partners’.
How many times have I tracked a ‘shipment’, only to find that it is in some relativistic state of non-tranisit, sometimes for days at a time, with euphemisms like “awaiting pickup” or “departing origin”? Departing origin? It’s like they tried to shoo the package off and on its merry way, but it’s belligerently loitering just outside the dock smoking cigarettes.
Fuck it all. I’m braving the cold and going to Macy’s, where I’ll pay exorbitant prices, plus tax, for items that aren’t quite what I’m looking for, from slack-jawed teens – and I’ll find the whole transaction refreshingly real.
I sympathize. I’m still waiting on a replacement power adapter. I’m pretty sure 4-5 days doesn’t mean a week.
Still, some on-line venders are nearly superhumanly efficient. B&H (a camera store) had a package on my doorstep practically before I logged off the computer. Well, it might have been two days. Not bad for standard shipping from NY to NE Mass.
One time, I bought a Sony digital camera which came with a coupon for a discount on an accessory order from their website. I ordered a telephoto lens and was only charged 1 cent for shipping (which was standard for all Sony web orders.) Later that day, the system told me the item had shipped. I checked the FedEx tracking number and it said it had shipped from the factory in Japan . Imagine my surprise when the package arrived the morning after next! Two-day express shipping from Japan – delivered at 8:30 am – as the standard shipping method! How can they possibly afford to do that for everyone?
Of course, since this is the Pit, I must include a negative shipping experience as well. I recently signed up for a checking account with Compass Bank, which offers free check orders for the lifetime of the account. They’re just the basic checks with no duplicate carbons and no fancy artwork, but who cares? You can still cash them, right? The problem is, they tell you it takes 7-10 days to get the checks. That’s not 7-10 days after the account is opened; it’s 7-10 days after the checks are shipped, because they use 3rd Class Mail. And it took a week after the account was opened before the order was shipped in the first place! So, remember – if you want free checks, you get what you pay for.
I agree 'bout Newegg. I just put together a computer from there, and I got all the parts that shipped from east of the Mississippi 48 hours after I placed the order (and three days ahead of schedule). The only things that took exactly as long as they said they would shipped from CA.
Just had a bad experience with drugstore.com - placed order on Sunday, got an e-mail Monday morning saying item has been “shipped,” and listing the tracking number. The tracking information remained “billing information received” for three days. :rolleyes:
I’m pretty sure UPS delivers overnight from NY to MA. I forget what the zone is, but the driver told me that it doesn’t matter what the package is shipped, second day, overnight, or ground… it will be there next day. So far, my experiences with McMaster Carr have borne this out.
Another positive note: last month I ordered 6 boxes of tea bags from Tetley online. The confirmation e-mail said it would take up to 7 days by UPS ground. When I got home from work the next day, the package was at my door. They hadn’t even sent me the e-mail to say the order had been shipped yet!
I got a replacement AC adapter from Dell in a day and a half, and I put in an order to chapters.indigo.ca on Tuesday night, took the free shipping option, and my books arrived yesterday. I am a happy camper!
Yes, I’ve had positive experiences as well. Sometimes both positive and negative experiences with the same company. My gripe isn’t so much about this or that shipment taking too long, but rather the practice of virtual storefronts ‘shipping’ a package by clicking a checkbox in their Oracle front-end software, and not by loading it onto a truck and bidding it bon voyage. Then they send me an email gleefully proclaiming that my gadget is tearing across the country on its way into my greedy hands, when in reality it’s sitting in the exact same location it was before it ‘shipped’. They weren’t forced to stretch the truth. I’m sure they do it piss me off.
Eh em.
Stuff your positive experiences, you craven Newegg shills! I don’t care if Dell got your part from the back streets of Taipei to your door within 6.5 hours! Until I get my new rollaboard, and am skipping down the jetway with it in tow, I’m inconsolable. Ditto for my new coat, for which I paid express delivery charges, and I know for a fact it got to DHL for standard delivery - 3 days after the shipping notice went out.
