eB*y and FedEx...

It happens with shipping. I know a little about the way fedex or other shippers work, and the logistics aren't all that straight. Depending on how it was sent, their routing algorithm can send low priority stuff via a very circuitous route depending on how much is being shipped where. So when it was three or 4 hours from you, they may not have had open truck space due to higher priority items taking up space from there to your area, so if it is bulk/package level, you basically get routed wherever there is open space.  Course could also be a screw up, too.

Might be worth a try to contact FedEx and ask a live person that same question.

I've had stuff tour the country with all the shipping services, FedEx included.  I just got a package that made two round trips to Albany, NY.  It should have taken two days to get here, it was eight days in transit.

FedEx packages both to me and from me do that often.  Many times I have to call them to get the parcel moving again.  I rarely use FedEx anymore.  
With that said my daughter who lives near uses FedEx often without issues.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I've had stuff tour the country with all the shipping services, FedEx included.  I just got a package that made two round trips to Albany, NY.  It should have taken two days to get here, it was eight days in transit.

This happens with USPS all the time

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I've had stuff tour the country with all the shipping services, FedEx included.  I just got a package that made two round trips to Albany, NY.  It should have taken two days to get here, it was eight days in transit.

Funny, I live in Albany and it seems a lot of the stuff I order never gets here on time.

Here's my ranking of the 3 main shippers regarding my eBay items, which are mostly trains:

1. USPS Priority Mail

2. UPS

3. Fed Ex Ground

USPS Priority Mail has been the best, with items arrived or received within 2 business days. This includes packages I've sent and received to and from the East Coast, including engine repairs for gunrunnerjohn in PA. For me, it's been the best and when sending, the mailman will pick up right off your front porch when he delivers your mail at no extra charge. I don't mind paying the little extra for Priority Mail (Expedited Shipping) just for the reliability and efficiency.

UPS is a close second and Fed Ex Ground is the absolute worst. I've had Fed Ex Ground take up to 12 days on several occasions just to get a package to me.

We live in Oregon and had a package spend time in Guam via USPS. Go figure

@Strummer posted:

What do you suppose is the reason for this rather unusual route? 🤔 🙂

Mark in Oregon

You might get plenty of sympathy and supposition by asking here, but to get an answer you should be asking FedEx.

Well, I'm in Utah and when I'd purchased a powered F7B unit from laidoffsick (Doug) in Albuquerque, NM, he dropped it off at UPS in late afternoon, it left Albuquerque the following morning around 4:00 am, then was delivered to me the next day, at 1:15 in the afternoon. So I received it less than 48 hours after he'd sent it. Not bad for UPS.

We live 1/4 mile from Town (Pop. 1400).

We have no problem with UPS!  Same driver every day ( Ben ).  If we are not home , he sets the Package inside !!

FEDX is the S _ _ t s.  They deliver our packages to 3 of our neighbors!  Different Driver every time !  I have reported it so many times I am on a First Name Basis with the Manager!  Twice when packages from Lionel Service were delivered requiring signatures, when we were not here, the Driver signed the tags himself !   One of those Drivers doesn’t work for FEDX anymore!!

Amen

What a bunch of pikers!  A little over two years ago we sent a USPS package to our son in China.  It arrived there just about the time China decided to refuse all packages with origins outside of China so it was returned.  We received an update that the package had returned to O'Hare airport.  We waited - no package.  We put in a request for a trace.  They found it - in Israel! OK, no problem we asked for a return.  We were told it was on its way back.  We waited - no package.  Again a request for a trace - it was in Tanzania but it was on its way back.  More waiting - another request for a trace - package not found.  This past June our postman rings our doorbell and presents us with a USPS package that looked like the FedEx package in the Tom Hanks movie Castaway.

   We open the box - everything we sent was still inside and intact.  The front of the box had the most unbelievable collection of rubber stamps, taped on rejection notices, scribbling in two or three different languages, and other ephemera you have ever seen.  I made it a point to carefully cut the front off of the box and save it.  My wife and I are thinking about sending our son another package but we're a bit uneasy.

Funny. I recently purchased scenery items from Scenic Express and a shop in Scotland.  The package from Scotland arrived before the one from Scenic Express.  Both showed shipped on the same date.   

-Greg

I had a clear bodied Williams F7 AA come from Canada to Texas, sit around for a few days, travel back to Canada and then finally back to Texas where it eventually got delivered.

@Fredstrains posted:

FEDX is the S _ _ t s.  They deliver our packages to 3 of our neighbors!  Different Driver every time !  I have reported it so many times I am on a First Name Basis with the Manager!  Twice when packages from Lionel Service were delivered requiring signatures, when we were not here, the Driver signed the tags himself !   One of those Drivers doesn’t work for FEDX anymore!!

Amen

Is your house properly marked with the number visable on the outside?  I work for USPS and I can tell you there are plenty of houses that are not, the mailboxes are on the opposite side of the street, and it is not easy for a new person to determine which house belongs to which mailbox.  I never understood why people don't have their houses easily identifiable.  What if they need emergency services?

I had two first class mail items, simple birthday cards, returned to the senders in Pittsburgh.  The reason stated on the cards was that it was a bad number (address).  The senders took pictures of the mail and the return stamp, and I showed them to my mail carrier (she's been delivering our mail for over 10 years).  The letters were obviously addressed correctly and readable.  She looked at the pictures, and she could see they weren't properly initialed by PO people to be returned to sender (not sure why).  She then surmised that the letters showed up late at the local PO, perhaps because of mishandling, after mail had been given to the carrier for delivery, and a supervisor/inspector was coming.  She said if he/she saw first class postage sitting around for delivery the next day, there would be a real problem.  She said if it was sent with a tracking number, a supervisor would have taken it to the carrier for subsequent delivery.  For them, since it was first class mail with no tracking, they could simply say the number was bad and put them in the return bin.

Sorry, that's the best I can relate the story.  She used a whole bunch of acronyms I didn't understand.

Perhaps this is simply an issue with the local PO, I don't know.  However, I've had many problems with the USPS.  That is why I never, ever, send anything of consequence via USPS.

I rest my case.

Several years ago I sold a Williams brass PRR B6 locomotive to a fella in Anaheim CA. He didn't want to pay extra and said 'just send it Parcel Post'. I mailed it from here at a small local PO on Monday afternoon and he received it at his residence in Anaheim on Wed morning.  Amazing. Don't know how they accomplished that. I'm just west of Asheville, NC

Just this week I bought a MTH steamer from CT that was shipped UPS ground on Monday and it arrived here in Western NC about 50 miles from me on Wed about 0400 and was on the truck at 0430. I got it just after noon. Two days from up there is pretty good in my book!

With reference to unintelligible address numbers, l used to order from AllNation when it sold former Walther's kits somewhere out of Chicago area.  A couple of times my mail came back as no such address.  If l was king, l would decree that all businesses would have their street number posted on the building in three foot high letters.  I have been in some GPS corn mazes trying to find businesses that claimed to want your business, but hide their address .