USPS routing makes so much sense.

[SparkyJJO]

I'm in central Ohio. I shipped a package to Chicago, IL. USPS tracking information says:

Processed through Sort Facility, March 30, 2010, 2:55 pm, ELK GROVE VILLAGE, IL 60007
Processed through Sort Facility, March 30, 2010, 12:09 am, WARRENDALE, PA 15086
Electronic Shipping Info Received, March 28, 2010


Um, yeah, this makes a lot of sense. Go 150 miles EAST, just to go back 475 miles WEST.

And they wonder why USPS is having budget issues :hmm:

 

[IronWing]

Is today Shit on the Post Office Day? Ever watch Fedex tracking? Same crap. Box leaves Las Vegas >> Memphis, TN >> Phoenix >> here.

 

[LTC8K6]

Sorting facilities are where they are...the routing probably makes perfect sense.

People are always posting these things as if UPS/FDX/USPS don't know what they're doing whenever a package doesn't go the route they think it should go.

 

[Geocentricity]

Sometimes the quickest way from one place to another isn't a straight line.

 

[Train]

Is today Shit on the Post Office Day? Ever watch Fedex tracking? Same crap. Box leaves Las Vegas >> Memphis, TN >> Phoenix >> here.

Thats because Memphis is thier hub. Planes only go to and from there.

 

[TruePaige]

Sometimes the quickest way from one place to another isn't a straight line.

The most efficient, I think you mean.

 

[duragezic]

Where I used to live in Escanaba, MI, any mail sent from Escanaba to another Escanaba address would go through Kingsford, MI. Take a look on a map... Kingsford is 60 miles west.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

yeah this is fine, but I've seen my packages go (DOMESTIC ONES) to Hong Kong, then to Canada, and then back to the US. This was a disaster. I posted about this years ago, and it was my freshman year in college. I was pretty pissed that my book took so long to come....

 

[intogamer]

yeah this is fine, but I've seen my packages go (DOMESTIC ONES) to Hong Kong, then to Canada, and then back to the US. This was a disaster. I posted about this years ago, and it was my freshman year in college. I was pretty pissed that my book took so long to come....

link?

 

[Bignate603]

I'm in central Ohio. I shipped a package to Chicago, IL. USPS tracking information says:

Processed through Sort Facility, March 30, 2010, 2:55 pm, ELK GROVE VILLAGE, IL 60007
Processed through Sort Facility, March 30, 2010, 12:09 am, WARRENDALE, PA 15086
Electronic Shipping Info Received, March 28, 2010


Um, yeah, this makes a lot of sense. Go 150 miles EAST, just to go back 475 miles WEST.

And they wonder why USPS is having budget issues :hmm:

You do realize that it would be far more expensive to have mail go directly from all points to all others, right? It's far cheaper to have all the mail get sent to a regional sorting facility which then routes it from there.

 

[DesiPower]

USPS, Fedex, UPS all fails... cheap ass tracking software developed in cheap ass sweat shops...

 

[intogamer]

You do realize that it would be far more expensive to have mail go directly from all points to all others, right? It's far cheaper to have all the mail get sent to a regional sorting facility which then routes it from there.

Is it cheaper for USPS to let Fedex handle the actual transportation for Priority/Express mail?

 

[SparkyJJO]

You do realize that it would be far more expensive to have mail go directly from all points to all others, right? It's far cheaper to have all the mail get sent to a regional sorting facility which then routes it from there.

Yeah, but surely Ohio has a regional sorting facility! That's the part that doesn't seem to make sense.

 

[Bignate603]

Is it cheaper for USPS to let Fedex handle the actual transportation for Priority/Express mail?

I know they do the overnight and express delivery, I didn't think they did priority.

And yes, I'd expect it's cheaper. It would be more efficient to have one fleet of planes and one set of sorting facilities geared towards fast turn around on packages.

 

[Bignate603]

Yeah, but surely Ohio has a regional sorting facility! That's the part that doesn't seem to make sense.

I'm sure it does, but that doesn't mean it's within 150 miles. Your local post office isn't likely to have multiple trucks picking up mail going in multiple directions. It most likely has a truck swing by that stops at multiple post offices and then returns to the regional facility. You can get a truck large enough to easily carry all the mail from quite a few post offices and haul it all in. If you have multiple trucks come by each post office you'd drastically increase the number of trucks, drivers, and miles necessary to get your letter to its destination. While it's a less direct route for your letter it uses less people, equipment and gas overall.

Fedex and UPS do similar things, sending all the packages to central facilities which then route them from there. If you look at what Fedex does there are plenty of packages that travel for long distances in the opposite direction because they're getting sent to the centralized facility.

 

[destrekor]

You shipped a package from your personal possession, or ordered something to be shipped elsewhere?

Anyhow, shipping isn't done by means of a person reading the package and tossing it into the proper bin. Machines read the envelope, and if it can be scanned, it likely gets shipped with as little human investigation as possible.
Could have been an error that was caught later.

Or, could have been the fastest route. Nothing is "go here from here, straightest line is best", otherwise, a lot of deliveries would actually take longer. Where the bulk can travel fastest, it goes. Looks like the PA facility was probably a major facility that moves a lot of mail together to large/popular destinations by air. More cost effective and keeps everyone happy by making delivery as fast as possible for as many parcels as possible.

Effective transit for bulk delivery doesn't always appear logical when analyzed, but take into account how much mail moves from place to place, how much comes from any particular place and how much goes to specific places. Place of origin can be anywhere, place of destination can be very common. Collect all parcels from their origins in as few nearby facilities as possible, make as few trips as possible.

Actually makes sense.

From a driving perspective, it seems like a terrible idea to go hundreds of miles east to turn around and drive hundreds of miles west from the origin, YET... parcel delivery serves people spanning 50 states, and your package moved 1 state east to deliver to essentially one state west.
What, you want personal delivery, taking your package, and maybe a handful of others from that day, destined for Chicago or nearby areas to make the shortest transit possible?
Welcome to incredibly expensive, and often slower, service.
What can Brown do for you? (and even they are guilty, but often to a lesser extent in reality)
USPS is as efficient as it possibly can be. Their services are insanely complicated if analyzed but it just works.
Package took what... 2, 3 days?
Unless you paid for 1, or paid for 2 and got 4... I see nothing to complain about. Cheapest service available and almost always faster than every other service, but they aren't always the best choice, or even possible, depending on the specifics of the shipment.

 

[cgramer]

You do realize that it would be far more expensive to have mail go directly from all points to all others, right? It's far cheaper to have all the mail get sent to a regional sorting facility which then routes it from there.

I'm with you on the regional sorting facility thing. I don't expect my packages to come directly from the origin city to mine. However, how about this one (currently waiting on this package):

Electronic Shipping Info Received
August 15, 2013

Acceptance
August 16, 2013, 3:28 pm
PALMYRA, PA 17078

Dispatched to Sort Facility
August 16, 2013, 4:18 pm
PALMYRA, PA 17078

Processed through USPS Sort Facility
August 19, 2013, 11:03 pm
SEATTLE, WA 98168

Depart USPS Sort Facility
August 19, 2013
SEATTLE, WA 98168

Scheduled Delivery Day:
August 19, 2013
USPS Tracking / Delivery Confirmation™

Note, this is the latest update as of August 20, 2013. Destination? Calverton, MD, a roughly 2.5-hour drive from Palmyra, PA. Not sure why my package needed to take a trip across the U.S. to Seattle. There are regional sorting centers in much closer cities.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Necro.

and lurker

 

[natto fire]

Yeah, but surely Ohio has a regional sorting facility! That's the part that doesn't seem to make sense.

Same here. I was going to jump on the bandwagon but the USPS complex on Twin Rivers drive in Columbus has to be a regional facility. Although while trying to find that out I stumbled upon this article, so maybe that is mainly administrative. It is a massive facility for sure.

 

[notposting]

Necro.

and lurker

Holy hell lurker

where's Ernie?

 

[Train]

I'm with you on the regional sorting facility thing. I don't expect my packages to come directly from the origin city to mine. However, how about this one (currently waiting on this package):

Electronic Shipping Info Received
August 15, 2013

Acceptance
August 16, 2013, 3:28 pm
PALMYRA, PA 17078

Dispatched to Sort Facility
August 16, 2013, 4:18 pm
PALMYRA, PA 17078

Processed through USPS Sort Facility
August 19, 2013, 11:03 pm
SEATTLE, WA 98168

Depart USPS Sort Facility
August 19, 2013
SEATTLE, WA 98168

Scheduled Delivery Day:
August 19, 2013
USPS Tracking / Delivery Confirmation™

Note, this is the latest update as of August 20, 2013. Destination? Calverton, MD, a roughly 2.5-hour drive from Palmyra, PA. Not sure why my package needed to take a trip across the U.S. to Seattle. There are regional sorting centers in much closer cities.

That was likely a mistake. Sorter at the regional facility was probably supposed to throw it on a truck destined to a station near you. Instead he/she put it on a plane to the west coast.

 

[cgramer]

Necro.

and lurker

Haha... I'm having a routing nightmare, so I searched for weird routing stories and found this forum. Seems I did resurrect a dead thread, though!

 

[LTC8K6]

There could be several reasons for a package ending up at a different sorting facility, besides a mistake.

Planes get delayed for weather or maintenance. Airports get closed for weather. Traffic accidents can close off routes. Heavy package volume can force packages into roundabout routes.

 

[TfWsFiRe]

USPS, Fedex, UPS all fails... cheap ass tracking software developed in cheap ass sweat shops...

And you are a cheap ass peace of shit that needs to keep its cheap ass mouth shut


And you need make no more posts if that is what you intend to bring to our forums.
admin allisolm

 

[Fenixgoon]

And you are a cheap ass peace of shit that needs to keep its cheap ass mouth shut

WWYBYWB?

and who pissed in your cheerios this morning?


OP, sometimes the faster route is to go through a major routing center. perhaps that's what happened to your package.

as far as USPS failing, it's because it has to fund retirement decades in advance, unlike well....everyone else. congress has literally setup USPS to fail. if they gave control to the postmaster general, USPS would be doing just fine.