On Friday, May 16, 2014 2:59:09 PM UTC-7, Bob La Londe wrote:
"Tim Wescott" wrote in message

...

On Fri, 16 May 2014 12:41:15 -0700, Bob La Londe wrote:



"Jon Elson" wrote in message

...

Bob La Londe wrote:



It Might Ship As Early as Today



Ok, does anybody in the machinery business ever really mean it when

they say that? If they do mean it are the ever successful?



I've purchased four pieces of equipment in the last month that needed

to be sent by truck. Not one item shipped when they said, and not one

item was delivered by the estimated delivery date even after it was

shipped.



Shipping companies in the LTL (less than a full truck-load) business

save HUGE amounts of money by scheduling shipments to minimize travel,

and avoid empty or partially-empty trucks. They pass a little bit of

that savings on to their customers. (As little as they can get away

with, of course!) So, your shipment has to wait for another big hunk

of something going approximately the same way. My lathe came on a

truck with printing presses and something that was dropped off earlier.

They devote a HUGE effort to this scheduling problem, the(ir) savings

are huge. Assuming you are shipping these LTL, the machinery dealers

are at the mercy of the LTL shippers to tell them WHEN the truck will

get there to pick up the shipment. And, they generally won't give you

a schedule until AFTER you commit to the shipment.





Interestingly in the communications hardware business

(alarm/telephone/vdeo/etc) my vendors ship on time 99.5% of the time,

and it arrives on time just as often. On the occasions when there is

a delay they let me know right away.



Obviously the "Just In Time" model doesn't work for some industries.

LOL.

The shipment of big machines is a totally different business from

FedEx, UPS, etc. shipping thousands of small boxes on one truck. If

you MUST have it in short order, you can hire the whole truck, but

you'll pay a LOT more for that service.



Oh, I know how it works. Its just irritating as hell when tracking from

the actual trucking company shows estimated delivery time three days

ago.



So, doesn't that have a lot more to do with the trucking company that you

aren't complaining about than the vendor that you are?



Dropping a note to the vendor that you'd at least like accurate tracking

information may help in that regard.



I think if I were the vendor and I read this, I would word the email

"it's all packed up, the trucking company has been called, and now we

wait".



Actually the vendor did call for a pickup a couple days after they said in

the case that set me off, but the freight expediter just plane lied about

how long it would take. They said 5-7 days. Its been ten and the latest

estimate now is 13 days (Monday). The thing is these companies have been

trucking across country for decades, and they KNOW how long it takes, but I

have NEVER had an estimated delivery date from a trucking company or a

freight expediter be accurate from more than one state away. Most arrive a

day or two after, but this will be a full week after their latest delivery

estimate IF it arrives then.



I think if I were the vendor and I read this, I would word the email

"it's all packed up, the trucking company has been called, and now we

wait".



And even though they called for a freight pickup appointment a few days

later than they originally said that is about what they said when they

finally did.



I guess my real peeve is that it seems to be the norm in freight to lie

about it.



My point is that it NEVER ships today when they say "it might ship as early

as today."

You would be wrong. You're often wrong.