Steeda/FedEx Shipping…can’t be just me?!?!

[Rapid Red]

Weeell, let’s look at a few items that maybe make me a little less dense;

Attached is a screen shot of part of the tracking itinerary. Now I suppose it’s possible FedEx (or someone) could/would fake this all up to make me think it came from there, but then I’d have to ask “all the trouble for what?”

The item ordered is a one-off, custom made piece.

This one off, custom made piece is from a small, single, mom & pop, brick and mortar store…IN TURKEY. I know this because I have personally patroned this little shop maybe 10-15 times over the past 25 years. I callles them directly to order said item.

So yes, I’m pretty much 100% certain it came from their store in Turkey and not “in country”.

Having the whole story helps sometimes, doesn’t it? Merry Christmas.

Same to ya & Happy New Year

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[Justpassingas]

FWIW I placed my order with Steeda on the Dec 21st before Christmas and both boxes arrived on schedule today with no damage. Maybe I was just lucky but I'm not complaining. Now to wait to week before I get my parts installed.

 

[galaxy]

Hahahha…still love’s FedEx. They literally sent me this update this morning, the 9th…

And no, it’s not here yet.

 

[mcky2011]

OK, just venting and checking on this one. I don’t necessarily blame Steeda, but it still gets annoying and I want to see if it’s only me.

Literally, and I do mean literally, EVERY order I do from Steeda goes FedEx and the shipment gets aggravated. I’m on four in a row now. I can predict exactly what’s going to happen.

I’ll get shipment/delivery confirmation for a given day. Later on that day, it’ll update to tomorrow. Then sometime late in the evening, it will update again to undetermined or unknown (or whatever term they use). From this point, it will be another ~5 days before another update and I finally get my box.

There is nothing worse than getting excited about a box of goodies about to show up and then this happens, and you wait an additional week.

I’ve approached Steeda to provide the feedback (vice just complaining just to complain), but it still gets old.

Do you guys get jacked up shipping from Steeda?

All economic factors aside fedex sucks.

I had packages make it to my regional hub just to see them move farther away and slowly work their way back to the same hub.

I am currently watching one crawl across the country from CA.

 

[noac]

fedex does suck. Companies use fedex for 1 reason…price Fedex drivers are not employees…they are subcontractors. This is by design to eliminate the threat of unionizing. Fedex drivers make peanuts for wages.

 

[Prodigal]

I placed an order with Steeda on 7/4 and it still says awaiting shipping. Obviously I didn’t expect them to ship it on the holiday but I am surprised it didn’t ship Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. The parts were all showing as in stock. I can’t blame FedEx if Steeda hasn’t gotten the parts boxed and ready for them to pick up. They better ship tomorrow of Tuesday. I need them in hand by next weekend.

 

[saleen367]

I'm not going to defend FedEx, UPS or the USPS, BUT, its far more complicated than it appears.

As a recently retired 39 year employee with one of these freight companies, I can assure you they don't go out of their way to make you wait.

Think of it like the airlines. You buy a ticket from Chicago to Tampa. But when you get the ticket it has you connecting flights in Denver and Charlotte. Makes no sense right? Well, sometimes that's the only way. They don't have sorting hubs in every town across America, nor are there shipping company locations. They don't purposely do things inefficiently just to piss people off.

One thing that I can verifiably tell you to be the truth ... companies almost always generate a shipping label upon receiving the order. To you that appears, that its waiting to be picked up by a shipping company. Not necessarily true. The picture from @galaxy above is an automated email/text based on the company generating a sale and making a shipping label. It has nothing to do with FedEx ... the company he purchased products from is sending him an automated msg that is guessing delivery times based on a shipping program.

Generating a label is just that. It could sit on the shipping or sales desk for days if the product is back ordered or any other number of reasons. Yet online, it still shows as pending to be picked up. Shipping companies pickup at these places daily, so whatever is ready, they take. If its not packaged and placed out for pickup, the driver would never know ... they don't leave freight behind. Companies like to play this game that they are not to blame for your package being late. Its common, but the good ones will tell you the truth, whatever that may be.

Once it gets picked up, it is rescanned anytime it changes locations, trucks, containers, etc. These compaines always know where said package is or is enroute to, unless it didn't get scanned correctly and that can happen. The percentage of lost or misloaded packages are
extremely small, but it can happen.

Employee shortages, lack of trucking, DOT driving regulations, accidents, road closures, natural disaster all can have an effect when shipping across the country. Think of the airline scenario again ... miss your flight, what happens? Same with trucking freight ... it happens and delays are inevitable occasionally.

Like I said ... not defending, but hoping I brought a little clarity to help understand it not always the shipping company sucking.


@mcky2011 .... I understand it seems like a crawl when you're waiting for something, but how long did you think it would take?? Both Fedex and UPS have the same estimated delivery time for the zip codes you posted above.

@noac ... true for the most part. FedEx Ground driver are employees of contractors for FedEx Corp. The contractors buy routes, hire drivers and the drivers deliver your goods. Employees of contractors often times have no benefits with the contractor and definitely not with FedEx Corp. Its an exceedingly cheap business model for FedEx and it shields them from the threat of unionizing.

 

[mcky2011]

@mcky2011 .... I understand it seems like a crawl when you're waiting for something, but how long did you think it would take?? Both Fedex and UPS have the same estimated delivery time for the zip codes you posted above.

Shipments actually leaving locations aside.

I have zero expectations when it comes to FedEx. Especially ground.

In my experience, from the time things are scanned by the carrier, UPS is consistently on time or early to me from both coasts. Granted Louisville is the UPS mothership, but I get more ground than air.

FedEx is consistently late, mis-routed or rescheduled even when shipped through Memphis. I've had packages go through Memphis to Indepence then to Chicago or some other nonsensical place only to return to Independence 2 - 4 days later.
In my experience they suck.

USPS is OK for a government bureaucracy, they meet expectations.

DHL, you're not going to see it for weeks.

Things always happen, with FedEx they happen too consistently for it to be happenstance.

 

[CR151S]

We are at the mercy of the shipping companies - there are additional shipping options we offer on our site if you choose to go a different route.

we create the label, schedule the shipment and it's on our partners to fulfill from there.

Trust me when I say - it benefits no one when shipments are delayed.

TJ

TJ - I feel your pain. I’ve used FedEx to ship a LARGE portion of product. In my experience, things hit a mystery zone at that memphis facility.

 

[CR151S]

I'm not going to defend FedEx, UPS or the USPS, BUT, its far more complicated than it appears.

As a recently retired 39 year employee with one of these freight companies, I can assure you they don't go out of their way to make you wait.

Think of it like the airlines. You buy a ticket from Chicago to Tampa. But when you get the ticket it has you connecting flights in Denver and Charlotte. Makes no sense right? Well, sometimes that's the only way. They don't have sorting hubs in every town across America, nor are there shipping company locations. They don't purposely do things inefficiently just to piss people off.

One thing that I can verifiably tell you to be the truth ... companies almost always generate a shipping label upon receiving the order. To you that appears, that its waiting to be picked up by a shipping company. Not necessarily true. The picture from @galaxy above is an automated email/text based on the company generating a sale and making a shipping label. It has nothing to do with FedEx ... the company he purchased products from is sending him an automated msg that is guessing delivery times based on a shipping program.

Generating a label is just that. It could sit on the shipping or sales desk for days if the product is back ordered or any other number of reasons. Yet online, it still shows as pending to be picked up. Shipping companies pickup at these places daily, so whatever is ready, they take. If its not packaged and placed out for pickup, the driver would never know ... they don't leave freight behind. Companies like to play this game that they are not to blame for your package being late. Its common, but the good ones will tell you the truth, whatever that may be.

Once it gets picked up, it is rescanned anytime it changes locations, trucks, containers, etc. These compaines always know where said package is or is enroute to, unless it didn't get scanned correctly and that can happen. The percentage of lost or misloaded packages are
extremely small, but it can happen.

Employee shortages, lack of trucking, DOT driving regulations, accidents, road closures, natural disaster all can have an effect when shipping across the country. Think of the airline scenario again ... miss your flight, what happens? Same with trucking freight ... it happens and delays are inevitable occasionally.

Like I said ... not defending, but hoping I brought a little clarity to help understand it not always the shipping company sucking.


@mcky2011 .... I understand it seems like a crawl when you're waiting for something, but how long did you think it would take?? Both Fedex and UPS have the same estimated delivery time for the zip codes you posted above.

@noac

I don’t envy the headache that is their logistics systems!

 

[Towerism]

Sometimes this can happen because Steeda orders the label from FedEx. And FedEx seems to expect them to drop it off immediately. But Steeda isn’t doing that for one reason or another. Maybe Steeda is waiting to do a bulk drop off or something like that.

 

[saleen367]

I don’t envy the headache that is their logistics systems!

Its a nightmare to put it mildly. Its doesn't help that they have separate operating systems for air and ground. Complete confusion for customers and employees to be honest.

 

[saleen367]

FedEx did pick ups everyday at our facility - they would tend to come between 4-6 pm.

If there are too many packages one day - then some of the packages are moved to the next day.

TJ

Soooo ... they are leaving freight behind??? Do they have an excuse for this and if so contact your account rep and tell them to remedy this.

 

[Prodigal]

Soooo ... they are leaving freight behind??? Do they have an excuse for this and if so contact your account rep and tell them to remedy this.

Yeah, that’s pretty nuts. What if there’s a bunch the next day as well? Things get bumped again? Way back when, I worked LTL freight and for bigger accounts we dropped a pup at their location and they loaded it and away it went to our hub in atlana for distribution across the country. I don’t know if steeda could fill a pup each day but I bet they ship a bunch.

 

[noac]

I'm not going to defend FedEx, UPS or the USPS, BUT, its far more complicated than it appears.

As a recently retired 39 year employee with one of these freight companies, I can assure you they don't go out of their way to make you wait.

Think of it like the airlines. You buy a ticket from Chicago to Tampa. But when you get the ticket it has you connecting flights in Denver and Charlotte. Makes no sense right? Well, sometimes that's the only way. They don't have sorting hubs in every town across America, nor are there shipping company locations. They don't purposely do things inefficiently just to piss people off.

One thing that I can verifiably tell you to be the truth ... companies almost always generate a shipping label upon receiving the order. To you that appears, that its waiting to be picked up by a shipping company. Not necessarily true. The picture from @galaxy above is an automated email/text based on the company generating a sale and making a shipping label. It has nothing to do with FedEx ... the company he purchased products from is sending him an automated msg that is guessing delivery times based on a shipping program.

Generating a label is just that. It could sit on the shipping or sales desk for days if the product is back ordered or any other number of reasons. Yet online, it still shows as pending to be picked up. Shipping companies pickup at these places daily, so whatever is ready, they take. If its not packaged and placed out for pickup, the driver would never know ... they don't leave freight behind. Companies like to play this game that they are not to blame for your package being late. Its common, but the good ones will tell you the truth, whatever that may be.

Once it gets picked up, it is rescanned anytime it changes locations, trucks, containers, etc. These compaines always know where said package is or is enroute to, unless it didn't get scanned correctly and that can happen. The percentage of lost or misloaded packages are
extremely small, but it can happen.

Employee shortages, lack of trucking, DOT driving regulations, accidents, road closures, natural disaster all can have an effect when shipping across the country. Think of the airline scenario again ... miss your flight, what happens? Same with trucking freight ... it happens and delays are inevitable occasionally.

Like I said ... not defending, but hoping I brought a little clarity to help understand it not always the shipping company sucking.


@mcky2011 .... I understand it seems like a crawl when you're waiting for something, but how long did you think it would take?? Both Fedex and UPS have the same estimated delivery time for the zip codes you posted above.

@noac ... true for the most part. FedEx Ground driver are employees of contractors for FedEx Corp. The contractors buy routes, hire drivers and the drivers deliver your goods. Employees of contractors often times have no benefits with the contractor and definitely not with FedEx Corp. Its an exceedingly cheap business model for FedEx and it shields them from the threat of unionizing.

good post….I’m still with a shipping company….been there 4 decades

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