Can we get packages by drone yet?

"Nick Has an Exocet" (nickallain) 12/23/2016 at 22:50 • Filed to: None

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UPS lost my package. The personalized photobooks from the vacation that I took with my relatives this summer. The drop-dead-awesome Christmas gift.

Shutterfly is awesome and will dispatch four new ones but they won’t arrive in time (obviously). According to my parents (and the neighbors, who I spent the evening talking to), it’s not uncommon for UPS and FedEx to lose packages in this part of the world. You know, the wild and barren wasteland of rural Massachusetts. Apparently, it’s so bad that people have stopped ordering online.

Frankly, I don’t quite understand how this entire process isn’t entirely automated by now. Scanner and truck have clocks and GPS. Package has barcode. Scanner has database of packages on truck. Package gets scanned and delivered. If GPS address does not match address in database, beep until the driver re-confirms. Database gets package delivery coordinates. Call center gets database connection. Lost package? Check the database. Tell me where it actually went. Hell, put GPS right into the website.

wiffleballtony > Nick Has an Exocet 12/23/2016 at 23:10

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Actual UPS footage

Dusty Ventures > Nick Has an Exocet 12/23/2016 at 23:20

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Regarding GPS, one of the issues I’ve encountered while delivering for [redacted] is that a lot of addresses aren’t at the coordinates the internet seems to think they are. Usually it’s a result of something like uneven spacing/numbering, but in my experience about one out of every three houses is actually a few lots (or sometimes a full block) away from where the coordinates place it. As for why they don’t put the delivery info (address/gps) on the website for the customer to see, they don’t want it possible for someone else to get their hands on the tracking info and use it to get peoples’ addresses and expected delivery times, making it even easier to steal packages.

pip bip - choose Corrour > Nick Has an Exocet 12/23/2016 at 23:20

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if it helps, Australia Post is no better.

Chasaboo > Nick Has an Exocet 12/23/2016 at 23:26

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UPS is villainous. Our UPS driver is a known drunk among the other drivers. Also, your package has to be able to fall something like 18' off of their conveyor belt system.

FedEx Ground is much better. Haven’t had a bad experience yet. UPS can up and die for all I care.

PS9 > Chasaboo 12/23/2016 at 23:51

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Letting a package fall 2 2/3 Lebron james’ in height sounds like something someone could get fired for at Fedex.

...uhh, so I heard from a friend.

PS9 > Nick Has an Exocet 12/23/2016 at 23:52

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People would shoot the drones out of the sky and just snatch up whatever it was they were carrying.

Nick Has an Exocet > Dusty Ventures 12/24/2016 at 00:14

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Okay, but shoudn’t it be fairly easy for a support person to call up those coordinates and go “hey, do you know the Johnsons down the street? It looks like he brought it there by accident.”

Dusty Ventures > Nick Has an Exocet 12/24/2016 at 00:17

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Again, that’s assuming the GPS coordinates and the actual house location are the same. I once had a delivery dispute where I was certain I’d delivered to the correct house but the GPS said I was off by about 900 feet. We double checked the GPS, and according to the system coordinates the correct location for the delivery was the middle of a pond.

Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura > Nick Has an Exocet 12/24/2016 at 02:27

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There’s always the full Posti (Finland) experience.