What is the FedEx or UPS method for routing shipments?
 

Seems like when you track packages they go all over the place. Is there a general rule of thumb or is it more scientific than that?

Both use hub/sorting centers rather than point to point.

It's an amazing system. The legend goes that the guy who came up with the concept for Fed Ex submitted it as his thesis in graduate business school. The professor said it would never work. Or so the story goes.

Not only do they calculate the routing, they also calculate the delivery. The drivers take routes that avoid left turns.

http://www.mpdailyfix.com/2008/01/algorithms_all_around_us.html

Absolutely correct.

And the smaller hub sort times are calculated so that the furthermost plane at it's origin can get to the main hub (Memphis for FedEx) along with the others by 11PM.

It's an incredible operation! I've been to the Memphis hub and watched hundreds of planes arrive in perfect sequence and dump their loads, witnessed the flurry of activity inside the hub as the various personnel manipulate packages and get then back into the planes, sending them all on their way by 1AM, so that the express deliveries can arrive at one's doorstep by 10AM!

All I can say from my experience watching my package crossing the country by UPS is that they seem to always find a way for the box to sit for a whole weekend in some lot/warehouse/sorting center. You can see its arrival scan and its departure scan 2-3 days later. Drives me nuts. I try to spec Fedex or USPS when shipping. When I worked for the Post Office in a bulk mail center, we had a rule that any package that came thru the gate, left a maximum of 20 hours later and we worked weekends. It comes in Saturday at midnight, it better be gone by Sunday noon.

In grad school we FedExed a package from the 2nd floor to the third floor, it went through Memphis.

LOL!!! Gotta get your money's worth...your class paid for the round-trip plane ride!! :D

Today I called my Fedex guy and met him to pick up my package. They screwed up on the other end and shipped it ground signature required. Naturally I wasn't home yesterday to receive it.

amusing

Trunk Monkeys
 

UPS is Golden in my book...
I can't tell you of all the successful efforts they've made over the last 30 years!

FedEx...Trunk Monkeys who are P.O.ed 'Cause someone at the union made a
bad agreement (having something to do with Exotic Bananas)...
And they take all their frustrations out on your packages.

EXAMPLE: Last December I sent a Letter FedEx (Because of time constraints)
to a street address in Texas.They couldn't find the receiver's location.
They also couldn't be bothered to call me and tell me ..so I could assist them.
(My 'Phone # and instructions were written on the Air-Bill and label.)
If you plugged the Address into Google Earth you see the location as if from
500Ft. up in the air.

There is/will be nothing further I can do for FedEx.

For every bad story you have of Fedex, someone else has one for UPS.

That said I stick with UPS.

I've found that both services have their good points and fewer bad points...

With FedEx, it's usually been (bad point) their price compared to UPS...but sometimes the ol' addage of "You get what you pay for" is usually true...

With UPS, my hangup with them is the weekend delivery scenarios...you have to pay a premium for the service and you have to hound them to get the package before the weekend runs out on you...Saturday afternoon at 4pm sucks - to be WAITING ALL DAY to have it show up at 4pm just bites...I go with FedEx for the weekends now...all the time.

Both services have fairly good tracking sites...so you know if it's worth sitting on your arse all day Saturday to get the package or not...many times, I'll head over to the FedEx center before they open, stick my head in the packing area doors and explain that I need the package that should have been marked "Hold For Pickup" (and wasn't) and they gladly will have me wait while they dig it out..."HFP" on the package saves me a whole day waiting while my package just rides around the town...I want to fix what needs to be fixed and move on...

I guess you have to look at the benefits each service offers you and pick the best fit for you...

USPS? They're OK, but unless I buy all the extras, I'm not sending any more Christmas packages through them anymore...they f***ed up, big time, with a package going to New Mexico and a relative...we had a "confirm delivery" tag (or something on that order), but it was intended to have the relative sign and return to confirm they got it...when nothing arrived and we found out the relative never got the item...we called the Post Master in the town and we were informed that the tag was removed and put into the PO Box, but "...it must have been the wrong box..." and the package was released to the wrong individual...all we got was a "Sorry!" and nothing else...

If the clowns behide the boxes can't read properly and use that as an excuse, I'm not wasting any more of my money on such sloppy service...BTW, we later found out that that particular office had "numerous incidents" concerning mis-directed and non-delivered packages...not unusual considering the area...hell, even in Onalaska, our local PO had not one, but two employees arrested and fired for pilfering mail...one employee got nailed for something as stupid as removing the scented "scratch & sniff cards" from magazines...during the investigation of that weirdness, they found a few hundred pounds of cards and related minutia at her home...I wonder how the therapy sessions went on that one! :rolleyes:

Stick with what works best for ya'...you'll be a whole lot happier. And remember, the folks working at those places are only human...and as such, all bets are off... ;)

The last time I checked, I found FedEx to be very competitive with UPS for ground shipping.

Ask Chadd.