Stupid company shipping policies.

[kushiel]

@Dewey_Finn

Perhaps Amazon works differently in Canada, because when I order stuff from Amazon in the US, I get an email message when the item ships saying, for example, "We thought you’d like to know that we shipped your items, and that this completes your order. Your order is being shipped and cannot be changed by you or by our customer service department.

Your estimated delivery date is:
[Date]
Track your package at http://www.amazon.com .

Your shipment was sent to:
[Recipient address]

Your package is being shipped by USPS and the tracking number is [USPS tracking number]"

I even get a similar email from Amazon.co.uk when I order from them. So they make it very clear up front how the items is being shipped and when you can expect it (and how you can track it). Also, I’m surprised that you said that Amazon switched to UPS for shipping; in my experience they use all three services (Fedex, UPS and USPS) seemingly at random.

And unlike others in this thread, I like Smartpost. The post office is convenient to visit and it’s open later than the UPS depot.

Oh yeah, I get the shipping emails, I just don’t read beyond ‘your order has shipped!’. You know how it goes, you’re so used to them shipping a certain way so you don’t think about it until it changes. Previously I had always gotten it through Canada Post, which does things differently from the package delivery companies.

[kaylasdad99]

@Patty_O_Furniture

Does anybody remember the days when everything took six to eight weeks for delivery?

Oh, yeah. I sent a dime to some mail order place back in 1964 for a kit to build a scale model replica of the Gemini space capsule, and eight weeks later, when it arrived, I didn’t even want to be an astronaut any more.

[Skald_the_Rhymer]

@Kimballkid

I placed an order with Figi’s last Friday and received an email saying it had been shipped via UPS with a tracking number. After looking at the tracking today, I see that it has been turned over to the local post office for delivery at the request of the shipper. So now I won’t get the item until tomorrow at the earliest instead of today. WTF! I know UPS delivers in my town, I’ve seen them do it. Hell, I’ve even had packages delivered to my house by UPS. The post office is only a block and a half from my house and it’s a very small town! Bunch of morons!

Does it actually say request of the shipper? Because in industry lingo, the shipper is the person who is paying for the service – that is, the business you bought the item from. UPS, FedEx, and their competitors are carriers.

I ask because, if the note you got actually says “shipper,” it makes me worry that someone may be trying to steal it.

[pbbth]

FedEx is on my list of companies I will never use again thanks to their bungling of our holiday stuff this year. First they sent a package we received to the post office for pick up without telling us so it wasn’t until we dug up the tracking information from the seller that we even knew they had delivered something. Then they didn’t give us all of the information that we needed to pick up the package so I spent 45 minutes at the post office on the phone tracking down the numbers necessary to get our package. Then they delivered another package to someone and had them sign for it but never told us they delivered it, so once we tracked the package online we found that someone by the last name of Milagros signed for our package. There is no one in our apartment building by the last name of Milagros as best as we can tell, so either they took it to the wrong building or someone here made up a name and stole the gift we ordered for a family member.

Fuck FedEx.

[Kimballkid]

@Skald_the_Rhymer

Does it actually say request of the shipper? Because in industry lingo, the shipper is the person who is paying for the service – that is, the business you bought the item from. UPS, FedEx, and their competitors are carriers.

I ask because, if the note you got actually says “shipper,” it makes me worry that someone may be trying to steal it.

I got the package on Friday, just like it said, so I deleted the email but I’m pretty sure it said ‘shipper’.

[flight]

I hate this damn smartpost deal. It really annoys me when you base your plans on the item arriving when they say it will. If it was just Fedex, the item would have arrived exactly when they said, but the addition of the post office adds another two days to delivery.

The damn thing is they do not take into account the post office time when they tell you the delivery date. They know it is going to take another couple days, so why don’t they tell you that?

[Tom_Tildrum]

Dammit, if my pacemaker battery doesn’t get delivered today, I’m totally going to call that company and

[Kimballkid]

@flight

I hate this damn smartpost deal. It really annoys me when you base your plans on the item arriving when they say it will. If it was just Fedex, the item would have arrived exactly when they said, but the addition of the post office adds another two days to delivery.

The damn thing is they do not take into account the post office time when they tell you the delivery date. They know it is going to take another couple days, so why don’t they tell you that?

FedEx has smart post too and it’s just as annoying.

@Tom_Tildrum

Dammit, if my pacemaker battery doesn’t get delivered today, I’m totally going to call that company and

RIP Tom.

[Moonlitherial]

Lately every time I’ve had something delivered via UPS or Fedex it’s actually arrived faster than I contracted for. Canada Post continues to be dead on and I am strong in my refusal to use DHL ever for anything.

I’m not sure what gods I’ve pleased to have this situation but I’m going to enjoy it while it exists.

[VinylTurnip]

@Kimballkid

FedEx has smart post too and it’s just as annoying.

I’m waiting on an Amazon Prime delivery that was shipped, for some reason, using FedEx "Smart"post. Not sure which Amazon math wizard calculated [FedEx delivery time] + [USPS 2-day delivery time] = [2-day shipping], but it’s now day three.

Yeah, first world problem, but when I’m paying $80/year for Amazon Prime 2-day shipping, it’d be nice to actually get 2-day shipping. Tossing it over the wall to the USPS, particularly near Christmas, seems like a shithead move.

[flight]

The two day shipping that they advertise with Prime becomes five day. I spoke with Fedex and they say that to use SmartPost, the customer has to specifically request it. That means you are in no danger of it if you use Fedex yourself, but that Amazon must be asking for it to save money.

Fedex advertises Smartpost as taking between 2 and 7 days. How they hell is that a reasonable time frame when you have sold people two day shipping? I understand that sometimes, on rare occasions, two day shipping takes an extra day or two. That is reasonable. These bastards have intentionally given you something cheaper than they sold you though. If one of the companies Amazon works with shipped out cheap knockoffs of the shit they sold people they would get booted immediately, but Amazon themselves are doing it.

On the plus side, you get action when you complain. I had an online chat session inquiring as to why my package was being sent via Smartpost and was three days late already. They, right from the beginning, tried to give me the item for free and send me another one via overnight shipping or whatever method I chose. I actually took a while to convince them I did not need a refund (they gave it to me anyway), but just wanted to know why they were doing this and if I was going to get screwed on shipping again in the future.

Of course I could get no answer from them, nor a commitment not to use that method in the future. They did “guarantee” that from now on my packages would arrive right on time. Yeah, I wonder how they were able to do that.