"Smart"??? LOL...hardly!!

So FedEx has a new product/service called "SmartPost" and I had the 'good fortune' of experiencing it recently. SmartPost is a joint venture between FedEx and the USPS. It's supposed to be 'new & improved'.

I ordered some stuff from CA back on the 9th. Vendor sent me a tracking number within an hour. I tracked the package. It finally arrived...on the 18th!!!!

We order stuff on-line all the time, and use all different shippers. When we order something from CA and use the USPS, the product takes about 1-2 days to get to CO. If we order a package and use FedEx Ground, the package takes about 1-2 days. Order something and use "Smart"Post and the package takes nearly TWO WEEKS!!

True to previous experience, the package actually showed up in CO in about 1.5 days. From there it bounced around in CO for NINE more days before being delivered...all within a 10 mile radius.

Words of wisdom...there's nothing "SMART" about FedEx SmartPost!!

Beware!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Maybe the smart feature is cover for all the extracurricular 'inspection' packages go through. What else could 'delay' shipment that long?

a reply to: intrptr

We order stuff all the time and they NEVER take this long! This order was nothing special, and wouldn't have been subjected to any 'extracurricular' inspection. It was a set of coffee cups.

Dangerous and illicit cargo there, right? LOL.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I did ask what else could delay an ordinary shipment. If they can otherwise deliver the same package via different means in a timely manner, what is different about this method? I know you're peeved, try and remain objective.

a reply to: intrptr

Understood your point initially. I'm not mad as much as amused at how un-"smart" this service is!

By looking at the tracking info it is clear the package was mis-handled numerous times between the two entities, hence my post.

I find it hard to believe anyone could find some "efficiency" between a goliath of a business and a bureaucratic government entity. It's almost comical in its very concept....SmartPost!

LOL

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I've seen the stupidity and outright corruption in the delivery "services". Had a UPS driver who just "happened" to lose about every 4th package when I ordered from Cigars International. Come to find out, he was delivering to an address with the same house number, just the wrong street. How he managed to get them here 3 out of 4 times, but that 1 got "misdirected" was a question he couldn't answer. CI always made good on those "lost packages" and shipped me another order over night and they never got "lost".
I complained to his bosses several times, questioned him myself several times and even followed the truck once and caught him putting it at the wrong address.
[ I had a sneaking suspicion, so, once, I went to blankblankblank WEST blank street and found my package on the front porch. Those people worked during the day, so I think he was going back to get them when his route was done or supplying a buddy with my cigars ]
This time, I walked up to him, took my package out of his hands and told him "If I have any say in this, you'll be looking for a new job very soon". It took several more months, but I called his bosses and complained LOUDLY each time.
Never saw him again.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

By looking at the tracking info it is clear the package was mis-handled numerous times between the two entities, hence my post. [/quote
I see. Sorry for alluding to gubment 'mis'handling. Its a new service, still got kinks then.

Or its just a catch phrase, like Smart phones and Smart bombs. How they sell us on stuff.

I feel your pain. I'm in CO too, way down south. We order on-line all the time and so do our rural neighbors.

Fed-Ex and UPS do a great job, delivery takes about 3-4 days in our neck of the woods. Back when I was ordering aquatic plants one company used "Smart Post," I couldn't afford rates for overnight etc.

As long as the plants were healthy/well packaged, they made it ok, during winter months a heat pack was included. I didn't mind waiting but it was getting ridiculous. My order kept getting hung up in Commerce City, it would sit there for days.

When it finally started moving again, it would stop at every post office/sorting facility along the way. Who knew, I live in a GD "geographic oddity," everything's two weeks away!

I stressed over my plants the whole time. They stayed warm sitting in all those post offices but I got tired of all the unnecessary delays, I found another vender, he uses FedEx without the "Smart Post" option.

It's something to be aware of especially for rural people. I avoid smart post whenever I can. I use them as a last resort, if I don't mind waiting forever or if I don't feel like driving to Springs/Denver.

UPS can be rough with packages, I prefer FedEx but they can keep their not-so-smart-post. Pony express would've been faster.

a reply to: Morningglory

My order kept getting hung up in Commerce City, it would sit there for days.

YEP!!! Henderson, CO. That's exactly where it happens!

It's like the Black Hole of shipping! If I see Henderson show up twice in a tracking report I KNOW my package is going to be hosed and delayed.

Two things you never want to see in the tracking info of a package your waiting for are:

1)FedEx SmartPost

2)UPS SurePost

I completely agree these two "services" are like a black hole for parcels. All these budget shipping services do is increase the chances that your parcel is lost/stolen/damaged and or late because it has more people handling it and it has to work it's way through two major shipping networks.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I try to avoid fedex in CO. I have been more and more satisfied with USPS though, and my opinion of UPS is the same as always (mostly good). Hopefully this joint venture doesn't contaminate the great service I have been getting with USPS the past year.

I get a lot of electronic parts from China, mostly. So, any little delays at individual stations can REALLY add up. Using USPS, recently at least, gets me products in about 10 days using standard shipping. Fedex tends to take around 18-21 due to.. shenanigans.

Now if Fed-Ex merged with UPS would they create a new company named FedUp.

One has to wonder.

a reply to: awareness10
that was mildly amusing.

The USPS is the hang up. We dropped a routine letter in a mailbox at an actual post office in Wyoming, sending it to Arizona. It took 10 days for it to get there.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I think you're right.

Just doesn't seem to make sense though.

P.S. Where abouts in WY? I grew up there.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

We were in Green River at the time.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Yep, that's right where I grew up Green River and Rock Springs!

Thriving metropolis, huh? LOL!

Hey, it's 'home' though.