It can't get here from there.

Apparently, the people at FedEx cannot afford to buy a map, or teach their employees to read a map, or even to use Google Maps.  I live in El Paso, Texas, sort of in the middle of nowhere, but right on a major East/West Interstate highway, and where the Southern Pacific Railroad carries huge amounts of goods.   We even have an international airport (although, to be honest, I don't think any international flights, other than private aircraft, have come or gone for some years).  Today is Monday, Jan. 19, 2015.  A product that I ordered some nine days ago is apparently stuck in Dallas, Texas, where it arrived in the early morning of Saturday, the 17th.

Here's the sequence of events:  I ordered something from Best Buy online, because the local store had nothing in stock that comes even close to what I needed.  This was on Jan. 10, and that is when I paid for the item via PayPal.  I could not find out any information online about shipping status until three or four days later.  All I found when I searched was that the seller was processing the order.

Then, I got an email three days after placing my order, saying that the item had indeed shipped.  A tracking number was provided, but nothing to tell me if this was USPS, UPS, or Fedex (OK, I knew it wasn't UPS because there was no Z in front).

When I finally figured out that it was in the hands of Fedex, it turned out that all Fedex knew was that a shipping label had been created.  It was not until the 14th that the package actually was scanned at the Fedex Smartpost location in LA, a few miles from where the shipment originated, in Mira Loma, which is out near Riverside.  Yes, these locations are in California, some 700 miles west of me.

Well,  this was OK, at least progress was being made, right?  I waited a couple of days, and then learned on Saturday that the package had been scanned in Hurley, NM, which is actually pretty close to El Paso (less than 150 miles, but curiously, off the beaten track).  I figured another day or so, right?

Boy, did I have that wrong!  Next thing I knew, my package was scanned in Weatherford, Tx, nearly 600 miles EAST of El Paso!  That was Friday afternoon, just before 3:00.  Nearly twelve hours later, at 0104, on Saturday morning, the package was then scanned in Dallas, Tx, 60 miles further EAST!

Now, I don't do logistics, or shipping, or handling of shipping, but I can look at a map, and figure out that this particular package is destined to travel over 1,200 miles farther than it needs to travel!  More importantly, if you look at a map, it had to go right through El Paso to get to Weatherford!  That makes no sense to me at all.  And, don't tell me about hubs, and centers and such.  If a package can be scanned in the middle of nowhere (Hurley, NM) when it is only 143 miles from its destination, it should be very easy to just take it from that scanner, and put it onto another truck headed for the close destination, no?

In my not so humble opinion, somebody at FedEx really needs to wake up and smell the damn coffee!  It cannot possibly make any logistical or financial sense for them to pay for shipping an item more than 1,200 miles farther than it needs to go!  That's all I've got to say.

Here's the tracking information, in order, from FedEx's web site:

Origination:  Mira Loma, CA

Jan.  12, 2015 - Monday:  10:22 pm, shipment information sent to FedEx (Note:  more than 48 hours after item was paid for)

Jan. 14, 2015 - Wednesday:  Arrived at FedEx location (FedEx Smartpost, Los Angeles, CA)

Jan. 14, 2015 - Wednesday:  4:15 am, departed FedEx location (FedEx Smartpost, Los Angeles, CA)

Jan. 16, 2015 - Friday:  1:32 am, In transit, Hurley, NM

Jan. 16, 2015 - Friday:  2:42 pm, In transit, Weatherford, Tx

Jan. 17, 2015 - Saturday:  1:04 am, Arrived at FedEx location (FedEx Smartpost, Dallas, Tx)