Why Doesn't Anything Arrive Perfect Anymore?

[Dougster]

So just how is one supposed to note damage since in my case they just drop the stuff at the door and ring the doorbell and run The guy is back in the truck and gone usually by the time I get to the door

This is something fairly new around here: the practice of turning off the engine... coasting down the street to my house... then quietly sneaking up to the house and leaving the busted-up package on the front steps... then running back to the truck... and when all is clear, they start the engine with a roar, shift into gear, screech the tires and head down the road like a drag racer trying to set a new track record!!!

Ring my doorbell??? Even with the front door open and them hearing me inside??? I have a better chance of winning the lottery!!!

Speaking of arriving perfect I find plenty of stuff in stores not perfect either...I usually won't buy something that appears to have been returned unless I really, really need it and inspect it in store before buying....

Oh yes... absolutely. My rant was not solely directed at UPS and Fed-Ex Ground. Hardly!!! This is a problem today on so many levels. You pay good money. You get something home. And then you open it up and find out it is defective. It just blows my mind.

Trusted brand names and trusted vendors/suppliers alike... there doesn't seem to be any way of 100% assuring you can get something right the first time anymore. Hence my crazed rant.

Dougster

 

[Dougster]

What going to a store and buying stuff has going for it is that you can look at it before you pay and walk out the door.

Amen... and yet in the world of tractors today, most everything of any consequence is ordered and drop-shipped... or ordered, shipped to the seller and then re-shipped by the seller (giving two separate chances for UPS or Fed-Ex to mess you up).

I don't plan on buying much of anything off ebay any more. Not worth it.

I hear you Brother! That car tire disaster may have done it for me. You save a few bucks here and there on several purchases... only to have it all wiped out and then some by one major disaster with an uncaring seller.

FWIW, I would rather use ANY delivery company other than Fed Ex ground. Lately, they cannot get anything right. Latest example was a piece of fairly heavy equipment that, when it was shipped, was bolted to runners on the floor of a base-and-sides crate. When it arrived, the crate had been penetrated with a forklift tine. When we took the top off, the item rolled off the base onto the floor, upside down, with the runners still attached but torn loose from the base.

I've got even better stories than that in regard to Fed-Ex Ground... but I think I've already told the very best ones before!

Dougster

 

[Dougster]

Only complaint is my feet are getting sore from walking the roads picking cans and bottles to pay for the repairs!

Now that's the one thing I haven't done yet since my lay-off last year. As always Egon... you remain one step ahead of me!

Dougster

 

[Dougster]

I have had much better luck with the US post office and have even shipped tires via my local post office.

Now this is amazing. I did not know of (or ever even think about) the possibility of shipping tires via USPS. My luck with the USPS has definitely been much better than with UPS or Fed-Ex Ground... but still far from perfect... mainly because what's shipped via USPS has tended to be smaller and lighter probably.

My only concern about shipping tires via USPS would be how they would stuff them into my mailbox... but let me tell you: Based on past experience, they absolutely WOULD figure out a way to do so!

Dougster

 

[Dougster]

And so far, I've never had a problem or complaint with FedEx at all.

For me UPS destroys everything they touch. Even an anvil. FedEx AIR works great everytime...costs a little more but at least it arrives fast and in one piece.

In my experience, there is a WORLD of difference between Fed-Ex Air and Fed-Ex Ground. I respect the former... a loathe the latter.

Wouldn't it be nice if I could afford to have everything sent Fed-Ex Air! I'm going to start doing that right after I win the Powerball Lottery!

Dougster

 

[Dougster]

Hey, I'm thinking about it a lot after this day

Oh Lordy Curly!!! What on earth have you been up to???

You buy that magnificent new monster tractor... and already you are ready to sell???

It must be to move up to an even bigger one... right???

Dougster

p.s., My cash offer is still good... assuming, of course, that you haven't already managed to destroy that fine new beast! -d

 

[Dougster]

I suspect a lot of folks come out just fine doing that, but it's not something I'd do. {snip!} But I wanted to buy locally where they mount, balance, repair any flats, rotate them every 6k miles, and re-balance on request at any time.

The funny thing is that the cost of stems, mounting, balancing, disposal, etc... had gone up a lot in recent years. I had always bought car and truck tires locally as a package deal, so I never realized how the installation-related costs had sky-rocketed. The bottom line (which I didn't know then, but I certainly know now) is that it would have been cheaper to locate and buy these silly Falken tires locally than to have ordered them in and just had them mounted locally... PLUS I would have had meaningful local warranty coverage instead of a shady eBay vendor laughing at me from 600 miles away.

Dougster

 

[AndyM]

I know of companies now who insist that the consumers actually WANT the item to be less than perfect... it's just part of the price to pay for getting something at a low cost.

The employees are told that the consumers would rather buy something at a lower cost than have a quality product, so letting things go that the employees used to consider as unacceptable is now allowable because "the consumer probably won't notice" and "that's just the price they pay for buying something at this price point".

 

[bluetc30]

by the way 150 pound packages dont go down the belts and chutes thay are handled seperately

 

[TBDonnelly]

UPS and the US Postal service now have an agreement to 'crossover' packages. So.....it may be sent out UPS ground and show up on your doorstep carried by a US Postal worker.

If you don't like one or the other, you still may encounter both services.

Hmmmmmmm...I wonder which one you'd call for a damaged delivery?

Don