Did UPS intentionally delay my package?

Posted on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 11:43 AM by Chris Lentz

I just ordered a new external hard drive from an online store. My order shipped out with a UPS tracking number. When I received the email with the tracking number I went straight to UPS.com to see what the expected delivery date was. The item shipped on Thursday and was expected to arrive Monday. This was what I was expecting as a decent shipping time. Well, Friday afternoon I decided to check it again, and to my surprise, it was already at my UPS sorting center (DORAVILLE, GA) here in Atlanta, GA. I was thinking great, if it is there Friday, I will be out for delivery on Saturday, a few days earlier then expected.

Well, Saturday came, and no package so I decided to check the tracking again. What is this, it was sent to another sorting facility (ATLANTA, GA). This surprised me because most of my packages are delivered out of the Doraville sorting center which is closer to my house then the Atlanta one. I thought this was strange, but I was not to worried, I figured it would be delivered out of the Atlanta facility, no big deal.

I know UPS doesn’t deliver on Sundays, so I was like “oh well, it will be here Monday as schedules.” Well, I checked the tracking on Sunday when I was bored, and “WHAT THE F**K???” the package was shipped back to the sorting facility it had already been to (DORAVILLE, GA).

Was UPS delaying my shipment because I didn’t pay extra for the 2 day shipping? It took exactly 24 hours for my package to go from Illinois to Doraville, GA, but it took 4 days for my package to make it from Doraville, GA to my house in Atlanta, GA which is only 10 miles away? That is really strange!

I am guessing UPS is just to quick for themselves, so they intentionally delay packages that arrive early, to convinse people to purchase the quicker shipping next time they use UPS.

Has anyone ever had this happen?

WeaponII

Absolutely... I despise UPS, but in most situations I have no choice but to deal with them.

It actually just happened with my 4GB memory upgrade for my Mac. It took 4 days for it to go from Edison, NJ (shipping center) to Laurel, MD (15 miles PAST my house, and another shipping center). Then, it was held on Saturday for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Finally arrived at my house at 5:15 pm the following Monday.

What kind of crap is that, UPS?

Jacob Burke

From my understanding, UPS does not deliver to residential addresses on Saturdays with ground shipping. You have to pay for a more expensive option to get it on Saturdays.

Chris Lentz

Its good to know I am not the only one who finds this kind of annoying.

Dawn

oh look there is Lorain OHIO like 5 mins were i live from where i liver (near were it says cleveland) ya lol i just had to say that

Christina Warren

I've never seen it go from two different sorting facilities before, but I totally think they delay shipments on purpose. I hate UPS, but sometimes you have no choice. At least Fed-Ex is consistent.

One exception I have found with UPS is that if you happen to have a PO box at The UPS Store (formally Mailboxes Etc.), stuff mysteriously appears faster than if you get it delivered to your Dunwoody apartment 1.5 miles away...

Smith

I too have had that happen.
I think you nailed it, they dont want to to give you better service than you pay for.....I had tyhe exact same thing happen when i ordered some stuff from OWC this past spring. It's three days ground from them to ATL (I'm here in Lawrenceville) and they held it for a day at Doraville even thoough they could have put on a trunk in two...

BTW, i see C. Warren and you on Engadget quite a bit :)

Jacob Burke

I have found that UPS does not deliver on Saturdays either. A lot of my Amazon pre-orders have been handed off from UPS to the USPS to make sure that I get them on the day promised because of UPS delivery restrictions.

DJ

Sorry dude. UPS doesn't deliver on Saturdays or Sundays, hence why the package appeared to be held back.

E.

YES. I was wondering about this in the past, but now i'm pretty sure they delay on purpose. The tracking says that my package spent 4 days (including Sunday) in Indiana. Funny thing is, there's only two states separating my destination and their warehouse.

andrew

my packages have been sitting in Iowa for more than 48 hours, but I'm sure I'll recieve them tomorrow around 5pm, which is exactly the 3 days shipping that I paid for.

RR

YES! Only mine went from Houston, TX to Dallas, TX to Hapeville to Houston, TX (!?!) to Hapeville to Doraville. My two-day package took 7! And when it arrived, the package had been opened and the contents (a piece of electronic equipment) stolen, and the package re-sealed!

Today, I'm waiting for a package I paid extra for overnight delivery, and just got a message that it was delayed due to a storm. That means it sat at Hapeville for 2 hours after arrival, and is now languishing in Doraville. No telling when I'll see it.

Did UPS intentionally delay my package?

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