Dear FedEx: I Live Here
March 8th, 2012
FedEx has had some issues in my area. There for awhile, they kept returning packages as undeliverable, saying the address was bad. It wasn’t. Just because their GPS can’t find it or their driver doesn’t know it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. A map, a real map, would have done it. I had this kind of conversation with them once.
Me: So you’re returning my package to the sender.
FedEx: Yes sir, the address was wrong.
Me: No, it wasn’t.
[ we confirm we're talking about the same address. ]
FedEx: Our driver says it doesn’t exist.
Me: I’ve lived here for [x] years. I do know my address.
FedEx: Maybe it’s just new.
Me: Someone has lived at this spot since the 1890s.
FedEx: Hmm. I don’t know then.
Me: How about I give you directions?
FedEx: Well, OK, I guess I could send directions. But they probably won’t see them for three days.
Me: Where will my package be by then?
FedEx: Hard to say.
Me: Do you people have cell phones maybe?
FedEx: No.
Me: Well, OK then…
Lately we have been noticing that the driver throws the package from the truck without stopping. We find them all over the yard. Unless it’s big, in which case he puts it on the porch, puts a completely useless sticker on the door saying “We delivered your package to… right here!”, and doesn’t ring the doorbell. And panics due to the muddy road.
The FedEx driver once told Terah, “I almost got stuck on that muddy road! What’s the good one?”
Terah: Well, which one did you take?
[ he describes ]
Terah: [ serious ] That IS the good road.
FedEx: [ turning pale ] Oh my. I don’t know if I can make it back to the highway.
Terah: Well, I suppose I could get the boys in the car and drive you into town…
FedEx: [ embarrassed and more pale ] Uhm… that’s OK… uhm… I think…
A *month* later, we got another FedEx package. The driver called me at work, saying, “I just don’t know how I’m going to get down those roads. Can I deliver the package to you here?” (10 miles away). I said yes, and managed to suppress a significant snicker at his obvious relief.
FedEx drivers seem to come and go. The UPS driver, on the other hand, knows the names of our boys, our cat, and puts anything small behind the storm door so it won’t blow away if we’re not home. And he gets a great big laugh when I tell him that the FedEx drivers are afraid of our roads. “Haha, he thinks THAT’S mud? Obviously he never drives in Butler County.”
Categories: Uncategorized
I’ve had the same problems with both UPS and FedEx. As far as I can tell, they figure that if they make it look like “best effort”, they can get through a larger volume in less time, and look more productive.
This seems like the same mindset that causes technical support people to repeatedly close tickets that they haven’t actually fixed, because it makes their stats look better.
Be careful what you measure; you just might get it.
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Same issue here; And I don’t even live in the countryside, but in a small town with no local agents present.
One particular courier kept updating their system with a “delivery delayed” message because they didn’t know where to find me and the shipping label didn’t have a phone number on it to contact me. In one case, the package got sent back, and in another I manage to salvage it in the last minute from the “to return” pile.
Since then, I specifically ask for my number to be put on the label and incidents like this don’t happen, but they still manage to take their time: A UPS package from the West Coast (US) arrived at Athens, Greece in less than 36 hours and when that particular courier that shall remain nameless got hold of the package for local delivery, they kept it for 4 days before managing to send it 350 miles over the Aegean to be delivered to me.
Wee…
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FedEx’s drivers are independent contractors, not actual employees of FedEx. That may explain a bit.
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Mike Reply:
March 9th, 2012 at 8:31 pm
Partially true — Ground & Home drivers are independent contractors.
Air drivers aren’t
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Lol, good read!
I’ve occaisonally seen parcels just left in the lean-on at my parents home in the UK, but not so often. That’s down a track with no sign on the end of the drive, but funnily enough quite easy to find via GPS.
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Even having my number on the label doesn’t seem to help here.
I’ve seen FedEx sit on a package for a few days before. Probably not as many as 4. Ouch.
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My most recent package was delivered while I was away, and I later learned that the FedEx driver got 2/3 of the way up my (mile long) driveway and paniced where it gets a little muddy. My compact car manages this mud just fine, but perhaps I do know just the right speed to do it at. :) He backed out and was noticed by a neighbor who hopped in and guided him the rest of the way up into the woods to my cabin.
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