You thought Hermes was bad...

[Feek]

I ordered a small parcel from Manchester, New Hampshire for delivery to Laurel, Maryland using USPS for delivery

The green pin in the top right is the starting point, the red pin is where it was delivered.



It went from Manchester NH to Nashua NH and then on to Hyattsville, Maryland. That's closer than twenty miles from the final destination and about half an hours drive.

Awesome.

Except...



From Hyattsville, it went to Washington DC and then it was sent to Sacramento in California. From Sacramento, it was shipped back to the exact same location in Washington DC before going to Laurel.

What a waste of time and effort.

 

[Lysander]

Worst "I ordered something from America" thread ever.

 

[im4gine3]

i had a similar experience when i ordered a few watercooling parts in Germany. It was shipped using DHL i believe but rather than go from Germany to UK, it went From Germany to Netherland then back to Germany, then to Australia (for some unknown reason), back to Germany then towards UK.. adding over a weeks delay for no apparent reason

 

[peterwalkley]

We know yanks can't do geography ... Films always say stuff like London, England and Paris, France

 

[Bluecube]

Not quite on the same scale but I frequently order things from Amazon which are in their Dunfermline barely a mile away from me on a 40mph road. Everything goes via Dundee or Edinburgh.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

That’s the problem with shipping things across large countries or between distant countries. If someone puts your parcel in the wrong bin/on the wrong truck, it doesn’t end up 100 miles awry, it’s 1,000s of miles away from where it should be.

 

[dlockers]

iTs SuCh a WaStE i BeT tHeY rEnTeD aN eNtIrE pLaNe JuSt fOr mY pArCeL tHiNk oF tHe CaRbOn wHy DiDnT tHeY jUsT dRiVe iT oVeR iTs OnLy 20 MiNuTeS aWaY

p.s. gucci belts are available in the UK

 

[chrismscotland]

Not quite on the same scale but I frequently order things from Amazon which are in their Dunfermline barely a mile away from me on a 40mph road. Everything goes via Dundee or Edinburgh.

Yeah Amazon can be bad for this! I've ordered a few things from Amazon.De - they often actually ship out of Slovakia or the Czech Republic and then wind their merry way across most of Europe and the South of England before getting here!

 

[Lysander]

We know yanks can't do geography ... Films always say stuff like London, England and Paris, France

This is to do with those cities not being confused with London in Arkansas, Ontario, Ohio or Texas; or Paris in Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri or the other multiple towns and cities in the world called Paris.

 

[R-evans]

We are lucky in the UK with what we have, while we lived in the US everything took absolutely forever. From just setting up an ISP to opening a bank account, all took weeks.

When we got insurance to drive we didn't just go on compare the market and choose a supplier and sign up like we do here, we had to find a company that looked good, then legally had to go through a broker who then took about 2 weeks to give us the exact same info we already had. Then we had to send a cheque by post and jump through a ton more hoops just to get it sorted, it was a nightmare.

 

[Hades]

Did it end up on the roof though?

 

[Bluecube]

Then we had to send a cheque by post and jump through a ton more hoops just to get it sorted, it was a nightmare.

A cheque? Bless the Americans and their old fashioned ways!

 

[Sonea Fifer]

Not quite on the same scale but I frequently order things from Amazon which are in their Dunfermline barely a mile away from me on a 40mph road. Everything goes via Dundee or Edinburgh.

Their Dunfermline distribution centre is also very close to me however there have been many times they have shipped my purchases from central Europe instead.

 

[Tefal]

This is to do with those cities not being confused with London in Arkansas, Ontario, Ohio or Texas; or Paris in Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri or the other multiple towns and cities in the world called Paris.

Even my chappy Welsh town has a couple of places named the same in america

 

[R-evans]

A cheque? Bless the Americans and their old fashioned ways!

Actually it was a check

I had people in front of me at the supermarket paying by cheque a few times and on occasion some stores still use one of them credit card carbon copy machine thingies. I had never seen one of them before being a child of the 80s!

Blew peoples mind when I told them about contactless, some places over there do have it but it's rare.

 

[Lysander]

Actually it was a check

I had people in front of me at the supermarket paying by cheque a few times and on occasion some stores still use one of them credit card carbon copy machine thingies. I had never seen one of them before being a child of the 80s!

Blew peoples mind when I told them about contactless, some places over do have it but it's rare.

I have only written one cheque in my life, and that was for the undergrad boat party in my first year.

I'd totally forgotten they ever existed. It's kind of crazy to think they ever did, it's little more than a promise to pay.

 

[Feek]

It's kind of crazy to think they ever did, it's little more than a promise to pay.

With a cheque guarantee card number on the back, a cheque was as good as cash.

 

[Lysander]

With a cheque guarantee card number on the back, a cheque was as good as cash.

What if you wrote it on a cow?

 

[Feek]

What if you wrote it on a cow?

I believe that worked

 

[whitecrook]

That's a thing that's made me wonder recently. When/if I order something from amazon (e.g. I ordered a pair of pliers for £1.80 or something the other week).

£1.80.

And some guy drives here to my house and gives them to me. One parcel. £1.80.

How on EARTH can that be cost effective? I mean ignoring vast swathes of the supply chain, his time, petrol, etc must be costing that, it took him a minute to get out his van and to me door. another couple of minutes to get into the estate. goodness knows how long it took someone to find it in warehouse, box it up, put it in the van then he drives all the way to my estate

It must be effectively 'free' for Amazon to deliver these kind of products, I mean everybody's costs, whether he delivered that parcel to me or not, are essentially the same, no ? It's like if I spit in the ocean does it get deeper ? If amazon does or doesn't delivery my letter post does it make any difference to anything cost wise? (even in the snow. sorry)