So, the item that I purchased, which I was discussing in my last post, got delivered today, just before 11am. This occurred despite UPS telling me I would actually get the item before end of day on Thursday.
Now let me make something clear. I am not mad or disappointed that an item I purchased online on Monday morning arrived on Wednesday morning. That’s pretty awesome if you ask me. I will, however, direct you to the route that my package took to get to me. Have a look below (click to enlarge):
Ok, if you’re following along at home, this is how my package managed to get to me. It originated on Monday afternoon in Anaheim, California, then went south to San Diego during the night. On Tuesday morning it departed San Diego and flew to Louisville, Kentucky where UPS’ global hub is. Arriving at the global hub on Tuesday afternoon local time, it appears it didn’t stay very long and then was immediately flown out to Seattle. Now keep in mind at this point, my package has traveled thousands of miles out of the way in a very indirect manner. My item is now in Seattle on Tuesday afternoon and this is where it gets really weird. Sometime after 2:30pm local time Seattle, my package appears to have returned to Kentucky on another UPS flight. At this point, it has now been shipped out to the UPS global hub twice now, both from cities on the west coast, including Seattle, which is less than an hour by air to Vancouver. At 6am local time in Kentucky on Wednesday morning, it appears my package leaves the global hub at second time, this time finally landing at YVR in Vancouver. Approximately, three hours after landing, it is delivered to me from a UPS truck.
This whole routing for my package is a mystery. This cannot have been the most efficient route for UPS. How much fuel did they waste on getting my package to me? Now, I do realize there was a mechanical failure listed above. It’s not clear where that occurred though. Did the failure happen in Seattle? If so, then makes a little more sense. If the plane to Vancouver wasn’t available, then maybe going back to the global hub gave my package more options since so many UPS flights originate out of there. Who knows though.
This was a fascinating look into UPS logistics and operations.