Andover Norton Lead Times?

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Funny thing is, the shipment left NYC yesterday and today it's in Cincinnati, OH! It went the wrong direction. Gotta' love these courier services.
 
Dan1950 said:
Funny thing is, the shipment left NYC yesterday and today it's in Cincinnati, OH! It went the wrong direction. Gotta' love these courier services.
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There should be a college course in understanding DHL tracking - trust little of what it says about locations! Also, if you're religious, pray that Cincinnati is never involved! My last order was both at National Airport and in Equador at the same time! DHL explained that they reuse numbers and not to worry about it - disconcerting. Then, once the customs mess was fixed, it still said it was at the airport after it was delivered. It is shocking to me that DHL allows the US DHL to be such a screwup!
 
I would never use DHL, anything I plan to buy I ask if DHL is the courier, if it is then I buy elsewhere. Hermes were the same but a new local driver has started and he has been excellent so they are off the naughty list until they change driver.
 
Shipping companies use "hubs" so that means packages often travel backwards.

FedEx has its Superhub in Memphis. The majority of goods shipped with FedEx in USA will first go to the Fedex hub in Memphis, then out toward its destination. They have other hubs as well but Memphis still takes the majority for FedEx.
The founder, Fred Smith, while in University, wrote a paper describing the FedEx hub centred delivery system. He received a very poor mark on the paper and was told by his business Prof that the system he had described would never succeed. After finishing up at University, he decided to give his system a try. It did rather well!
Since then , many other companies have copied his system of delivery.

Fred still lives in Memphis and the FedEx fleet of freight aircraft is one the largest aircraft fleets in the world.
Memphis airport switches over to FedEx flights only at midnight. If you are ever unfortunate enough to spend a night in Memphis airport, ( I have!) you won't get much sleep. Those Fedex jets are taking off and landing every couple of minutes all night long.

Glen
 
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worntorn said:
Shipping companies use "hubs" so that means packages often travel backwards.

FedEx has its Superhub in Memphis. The majority of goods shipped with FedEx in USA will first go to the Fedex hub in Memphis, then out toward its destination. They have other hubs as well but Memphis still takes the majority for FedEx.
The founder, Fred Smith, while in University, wrote a paper describing the FedEx hub centred delivery system. He received a very poor mark on the paper and was told by his business Prof that the system he had described would never succeed. After finishing up at University, he decided to give his system a try. It did rather well!
Since then , many other companies have copied his system of delivery.

Fred still lives in Memphis and the FedEx fleet of freight aircraft is one the largest aircraft fleets in the world.
Memphis airport switches over to FedEx flights only at midnight. If you are ever unfortunate enough to spend a night in Memphis airport, ( I have!) you won't get much sleep. Those Fedex jets are taking off and landing every couple of minutes all night long.

Glen
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Of the 3 shipping methods that I have the most exposure to, Fed Ex is the worst. UPS is the best followed by USPS.
 
^^^^^^^What Dan said^^^^^^^
I cringe when I see FEDEX. UPS and even DHL have good Web sites to customize deliveries. With FEDEX your at their mercy, and the delivery’s drivers around here are some of the worst.
 
Deets55 said:
^^^^^^^What Dan said^^^^^^^
I cringe when I see FEDEX. UPS and even DHL have good Web sites to customize deliveries. With FEDEX your at their mercy, and the delivery’s drivers around here are some of the worst.
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As far as I am concerned; for domestic, only USPS is any good. UPS is slow and expensive and a PITA to ship from home. FEDEX drivers will throw a package from their truck, in the rain to the middle of the front yard and call it delivered. On those rare occasions when a letter carrier doesn't do their job correctly, it's easy to call the local PO and talk to their supervisor. From the UK, Parcel Force is good (but super expensive) and DHL is good if there are no customs issues. If there are, you cannot fix them without DHLs help and they are VERY difficult to work with. The first you know there is a problem is the text or email threating to send the package back if you don't pay in 5 days. They do no work at night or on weekends on customs and when they do work the issue the customs services person makes up their own requirements. DHL in the US is certainly not up to what I remember of German standards when I lived there.

From AU, DHL takes forever - like 10 days where the UK is two days, but I've never had a customs issue from there.

If DHL goes through any customs hub other than NY, you can bet there will be a problem if everything isn't perfect in the eyes of the customs worker.

I've never had a problem with Royal Mail/USPS other than no tracking and slow.
 
marshg246 said:
Some things I've learned:



3) A package sent via Royal and US Mail can take a LONG time and there is no tracking.

Since you didn't mention tracking, I bet you have one of those issues.
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last 2 orders I placed with them were sent via Royal/US mail. The E mail notification sent the day it was shipped had a Royal mail tracking number that tracked it all the way to my post office box. 7 days from dispatch till it was in my hands.
 
This guy went to some extreme lengths to show what DHL did to him. To be fair he was trying to send something to North Korea. But that a shipping company doesn't know or won't admit to where your package is makes you wonder some times. You would think that would be a core component of their business... but it's not.

 
I had a DHL parcel 'delivered' to me, according to their website, that is.
On chasing it up, the driver admitted to not being able to find my house (in this satnav day and age) so delivered it 'somewhere else!'
My phone number was also on the address panel..
Would I use them again???
 
MikeG said:
last 2 orders I placed with them were sent via Royal/US mail. The E mail notification sent the day it was shipped had a Royal mail tracking number that tracked it all the way to my post office box. 7 days from dispatch till it was in my hands.
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Interesting. I guess it's the level of service used. Just like here where First Class - no tracking, Priority - Free tracking. I've only received very small orders that way.
 
I imagine if Fred Smith reads this his ears will be burning.
Then again, his awful Hub type Delivery Service concept has given him a net worth of 14.4 billion USD, so he might not be too worried ....:)
 
worntorn said:
I imagine if Fred Smith reads this his ears will be burning.
Then again, his awful Hub type Delivery Service concept has given him a net worth of 14.4 billion USD, so he might not be too worried ....:)
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At the expense of those working for him. I saw a young Fed Ex Driver lug a propane griddle out of the truck by himself and carry it up a steep driveway. No way should that have been a one person lift. UPS and USPS drivers are well compensated and have regular routes. I know what to expect from them. Fed Ex is a whole different situation. Fed Ex is chaos.
 
My parts arrived today. I must say I'm impressed with the effort that was put into packing the order.
 
I ordered parts from RGM and AN last Thursday and both were sent with DHL. The RGM package arrived yesterday and the AN one today. Not bad for 12,000 miles at this time of year. Very expensive though, certainly a lot more than Royal Mail (which I've always found very good).
 
DHL has expanded in Canada, opening another big warehouse in Hamilton. I've only used them once and they emailed a 35% off voucher code for next time.
 
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