Does the UPS hold packages because they might be delivered too early?

[Demon-Xanth]

I got a package coming via UPS, on sunday morning the status said that it was in transit from the north bay hub to the rocklin sort at 7:45AM (about 70 miles). This would make it one 30 mile hop in a delivery truck to my house...and 2 days early. I check this morning, it's now in transit from the north bay hub to the rocklin sort stating a time of 12:45AM.

Did the UPS hold the package to make it a 7 day delivery instead of 5? I've been noticing this quite a bit lately.

 

[LostHiWay]

Plain and simple..you'll NEVER get a package from UPS early.

FedEX delivers early but they are known to hold packages not due for delivery sometimes

 

[PowerMac4Ever]

Plain and simple..you'll NEVER get a package from UPS early

Plain and simple..you're wrong.

Demon, to get an idea as to how long it takes for a package to get to you via UPS, check out their transit time calculator. You just enter your zip code and the zip code of where the package is coming from and it'll give you an estimate of the number of business days it'll take to get to you. For example, it'll take UPS 2 business days to deliver a package from here in Chicagoland to a town in Kentucky. UPS won't hold the package for an extra 3 or 5 days. Also, UPS guarantees the transit time on that page if you're sending the package to a commercial address.

 

[PowerMac4Ever]

There's also a transit map too.

 

[jaeger66]

LostHiWay is right. UPS will never deliver a package if it happens to arrive in town early. They will hold it until the scheduled delivery date.

 

[iamwiz82]

UPS WILL NOT deliver early unless you are a business.

 

[Rob9874]

I'm in Logistics, and the reason they don't is prioritization. I'm not sure what UPS's on-time percentage is, but I guarantee it's not 100%. And I bet they get hit pretty hard for every delivery that's late. So they're gonna prioritize all the packages that are Day 1 (HAVE to get delivered that day), and get to the early deliveries if they have time, which I'm sure they never do.

But it's not as if they see your package sitting there, but ignore it and go out for a smoke because yours isn't due today.

 

[McPhreak]

Originally posted by: PowerMac4Ever

Plain and simple..you'll NEVER get a package from UPS early

Plain and simple..you're wrong.

Demon, to get an idea as to how long it takes for a package to get to you via UPS, check out their transit time calculator. You just enter your zip code and the zip code of where the package is coming from and it'll give you an estimate of the number of business days it'll take to get to you. For example, it'll take UPS 2 business days to deliver a package from here in Chicagoland to a town in Kentucky. UPS won't hold the package for an extra 3 or 5 days. Also, UPS guarantees the transit time on that page if you're sending the package to a commercial address.

I think you're missing the point of this thread. What they're asking is if you were to use the transit time calculator, or the tracking delivery estimation and it says that the package will arrive at your place in 5 days, what are the chances/has anyone ever had a package delivered to them in 3-4 days? In other words, has anyone ever received a package earlier than projected?

 

[Parrotheader]

I've received several packages earlier than expected from UPS, both here and at my office. We also had this happen a lot when I used to summer student work in the mail/shipping center for a big corporation here in Birmingham. And like somebody said above, UPS usually tries to be VERY accommodating to their business customers. We've had fantastic customer service from them in the past.

However, I've never received a package early from FedEx. Granted, the vast majority of FedEx stuff is overnight and for that service they simply can't be beat. They have an amazing track record. Out of hundreds of overnights I can only remember 2 that were late. However, on 2-day and their slower services on almost every occassion the package will arrive in town very quickly and then proceed to sit. I realize if you didn't pay for the quicker overnight service you therefore shouldn't expect quicker delivery. But with online tracking allowing you to see where your package is, it can be very frustrating sometimes since I know for a fact that some of those trucks go out with room to spare on some days. If I really need overnight service I gladly pay for it, but it's always nice whenever a business is able to give a customer a little added value. It keeps people coming back. That's why I now use FedEx for overnights only and UPS on everything else.

 

[PsychoAndy]

Originally posted by: McPhreak

Originally posted by: PowerMac4Ever

Plain and simple..you'll NEVER get a package from UPS early

Plain and simple..you're wrong.

Demon, to get an idea as to how long it takes for a package to get to you via UPS, check out their transit time calculator. You just enter your zip code and the zip code of where the package is coming from and it'll give you an estimate of the number of business days it'll take to get to you. For example, it'll take UPS 2 business days to deliver a package from here in Chicagoland to a town in Kentucky. UPS won't hold the package for an extra 3 or 5 days. Also, UPS guarantees the transit time on that page if you're sending the package to a commercial address.

I think you're missing the point of this thread. What they're asking is if you were to use the transit time calculator, or the tracking delivery estimation and it says that the package will arrive at your place in 5 days, what are the chances/has anyone ever had a package delivered to them in 3-4 days? In other words, has anyone ever received a package earlier than projected?

you cant get a package "early" just because of their feeder system. scheduled trucks/trains/etc... all bring packaged on regular routes to your local centers. for you to get a package a day ahead of time, there would have to be an accident loading and it wound up on a plane instead of a truck, or someone drove really really fast and got their load there a day ahead of time (highly unlikely)

 

[PowerMac4Ever]

Originally posted by: McPhreak

Originally posted by: PowerMac4Ever

Plain and simple..you'll NEVER get a package from UPS early

Plain and simple..you're wrong.

Demon, to get an idea as to how long it takes for a package to get to you via UPS, check out their transit time calculator. You just enter your zip code and the zip code of where the package is coming from and it'll give you an estimate of the number of business days it'll take to get to you. For example, it'll take UPS 2 business days to deliver a package from here in Chicagoland to a town in Kentucky. UPS won't hold the package for an extra 3 or 5 days. Also, UPS guarantees the transit time on that page if you're sending the package to a commercial address.

I think you're missing the point of this thread. What they're asking is if you were to use the transit time calculator, or the tracking delivery estimation and it says that the package will arrive at your place in 5 days, what are the chances/has anyone ever had a package delivered to them in 3-4 days? In other words, has anyone ever received a package earlier than projected?

Well, a lot of stores on the internet say that a package via UPS Ground will probably take 4-7 days. However, if the place is really close to you, then the delivery time will obviously be less than 4-7 days. The point I was trying to make is that you should check out UPS's transit time page to get a delivery time that is more accurate than the vendors'. Anyway, yeah, I *highly* doubt you'll get a ground package earlier than the projected time on UPS's page. However, if you pay for a 3 Day Select package and it only takes 2 days to get there... you're going to get it on the 2nd day unless it's really swamped.

 

[jaeger66]

However, if you pay for a 3 Day Select package and it only takes 2 days to get there... you're going to get it on the 2nd day unless it's really swamped.

No, you will not. It will sit in the warehouse until the scheduled date.

 

[Angrymarshmello]

I've received packages from all the way across the US early as well as packages delivered from Ingram Micro (10 minutes from my house, ground) the next day, so yes it could be delivered early. What circumstances it is delivered early I do not know. And having worked for UPS loading/unloading packages, everything is unloaded, scanned, and sent to the right area of the hub to be sorted and put into trucks. I have never seen a holding area in UPS, and with as many packages as they get there would be no place to hold them

 

[misle]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
UPS WILL NOT deliver early unless you are a business.

I'm not a business, but I order things all the time from Musicians Friend (located in KC, Mo) and receive them the next day here in Columbia, MO. I alway have them shipped ground as well.

I've had Fedex hold packages for 2 days before delivering. That is very annoying.

 

[PowerMac4Ever]

Originally posted by: jaeger66

However, if you pay for a 3 Day Select package and it only takes 2 days to get there... you're going to get it on the 2nd day unless it's really swamped.

No, you will not. It will sit in the warehouse until the scheduled date.

You sir are mistaken in your theory. If you pay for 3 Day Select and it takes UPS Ground 2 days to deliver the package, you're gonna get it in 2 days. UPS isn't going to hold your package for an extra day because you paid more.

 

[ScottyB]

I always get mine in 3 business days, never more. Remeber they do not deliver on weekends so if your order gets to your city after a certain time on Friday you won't get it till Monday.