Weird shipping patterns of FEDEX

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

I got this internet gift certificate from LL Bean so I ordered a few things from them online. Now LL Bean is in Freeport, ME and I live 30 minutes away from there in Lewiston, ME. I just checked out the shipping history of this package. It was given to FEDEX in Portland, ME and then from there the package went to Hartford, CT to the FEDEX sorting facility. Then they shipped it to Augusta, ME (30 minutes north of where I live) because that is apparently some FEDEX headquarters in Maine. Anyhow, I think it is kind of numb that they don't just look at the send to address and keep the package in Maine rather than sending it off to Hartford, CT. Then on its way back to Maine the package completely bypasses the town I live in. Lewiston is the second largest city in Maine, so its not like I live in the middle of no where either. What a ridiculous waste of gasoline!

[Deja Q]

1. Doesn't Agent Jan work at that Hartford CT sorting facility?

She's envious that Agent Marcia works in Augusta...

Meanwhile, the location of Agent Mike is still hush-hush. But he's probably with Agent Carol in Agent Alice's bedroom.

[taterguy]

2. I'm not sure how but I'm guessing their way really is more efficient

FEDEX does what they do quite well. I'm sure they have very smart people figuring out how to get packages to their destinations using the least amount of fuel possible, since excessive fuel costs would shrink their profit margins.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

3. Why would all FEDEX packages shipped within ME have to go to

Hartford, CT first? Why can't it be shipped to the Maine HD in Augusta first?

[taterguy]

4. Probably to ensure that all their trucks are full

But I'm no expert

[DarkTirade]

5. Could be simple employee incompetence.

I just quit my job at a UPS hub in Orlando, we'd get packages coming from the Tampa trucks all the time that were going back to Tampa. And I checked... they weren't supposed to be coming to us. It was just sheer incompetence on the part of the people in the Tampa hub.

[TorchTheWitch]

6. It's more efficient and what actually makes the service work

Fred Smith, the founder of FedEx, devised the system because it was more efficient, saved time and money... and when your whole business concept is to get it there overnight, time saved is crutial. Tony Robbins discussed Smith's early venture with FedEx in the context of his not giving up even though most everyone thought he was nuts, and it would never work. Having all packages shipped to a central hub and then shipped out from the hub with your own planes and trucks allows control of departure times that wouldn't be possible otherwise. Smith discovered that the geographically shortest route was not the shortest time-wise for specific reasons... his concept of the shipping hub cut out the middle man and secured the control of the timeline of every package. Robbins discussed Smith's first trial run of attempting to ship seven packages from various places overnight and get them to their destination on time. Only one package made it, but instead of believing his system was a failure, Smith concentrated on the one package that did arrive on time and didn't give up. The rest is history.

[NewWaveChick1981]

7. Wow! I actually get to use my college degree here!

:P Well, one of the classes, at least. :) FedEx developed the hub-and-spoke system for package delivery. I thought it was pretty fucked up that if I wanted to ship a package to a town 25 miles away that it had to go hundreds of miles to get sorted. However, flying packages into a central sorting facility and then getting them to their destinations is actually very efficient and less costly than having thousands of sorting facilities locally. Memphis used to be THE hub, but there are regional hubs now and other facilities for things like ground shipping and large cargo shipping.