• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

FedEx shipping quality down the toilet?

WebSlave

WebSlave

I believe I have made it safely ashore.
Staff member
Staff
Endowment
Resident Demon
Joined
Feb 3, 2002
Messages
20,299
Reaction score
824
Points
113
Location
Crawfordville, FL
I know I am not using their overnight express service, but if the headaches I am going through with their Ground and Home delivery service (and I use that word lightly) are any indication, I sure as heck am REAL glad I am not having to ship live animals through them any longer.

I had to file multiple Better Business Bureau complaints against them just to get the driver to stop believing it was perfectly OK to just drop off packages at the end of my driveway instead of delivering to the house. Now the end of my driveway is not visible from my house, but IS visible to passerbys on the road. All it would take is someone walking by or riding by to pick up the package and be gone in an instant. Then I have to go through all the headaches trying to get that problem resolved. Their tracking would show it as being "delivered", and that would likely put me behind the eightball. Thanks, but NO thanks. Oh, I had to even put a sign out at the end of the driveway requesting FedEx to please deliver all packages to the house. It is still out there now. For all the good it is doing. See below.

Now for the past two weeks I have been trying to get an order from Sam's Club delivered, and a package containing strawberry jam that Connie wants is apparently too much for them. The first shipment eventually showed "Pending" for a delivery date, and then a couple of days later claimed that the product was damaged and undeliverable. As best I can tell it is still somewhere in Tallahassee, and has been there since 08-10. So I contacted Sam's Club, and they sent out a replacement. OK, so now this second package claimed a delivery date at first of 08-18, then that changed to 08-19 ON 08-19. Tracking says it showed up at the local depot at 5:20 am on 08-19, which usually means that the next status is going to show "Out for delivery". Nope, not this time. Up until just a little while ago, is was still showing nothing beyond being delivered to Tallahassee on 05:20 am, with the delivery date showing as 08-19. Well now, guess what? Yeah, the tracking status is showing as "Pending". :face_palm_02:

Maybe everyone at FedEx who could find their own butt with both hands got the CCP Virus and is laid up in quarantine. Because whoever they have working there now really can't figure out the job, apparently. I am going to try to get Sam's Club to ship to me via UPS the next time. FedEx just isn't cutting the mustard lately.
 
All three of the shipping companies (UPS, USPS, FedEx) are having issues. Thanks to COVID enough people are shopping online regularly that they've basically been dealing with Christmas-rush level demand for months.

We haven't had to sign for packages in months, the drivers just drop them, ring the doorbell, and run. Nothing like coming home to a stack of guns on your front porch.
 
Lots of ongoing issues due to the virus with shipping companies. Lots of delays, the drivers don't even ring or knock like they usually do, just drop and run. Also noticed some new drivers, one which left my package at the back door of my neighbor for some reason. It was there a week before neighbor found it and brought it over, I had already ordered a replacement. Lots of shipments show delayed or pending and then they suddenly show up. Wish the drivers would at least knock. (edit to add, most of the stuff I've been getting has been through UPS)

Definitely not going to be doing any shipping of reptiles until this settles down.
 
I haven't been having any problems with UPS or USPS lately. Just FedEx.

FedEx has also disabled email contact with their customer service representatives, first foisting a lame brained virtual assistant that is virtually useless. Then it tells you to call them on the phone, but expect long delays. Their way of discouraging you from bothering them with your problems, I guess.

The latest shipment is still showing that it is stuck at the Tallahassee depot with "PENDING". I guess the employees there just enjoy the hell out of strawberry jam sandwiches. :rolleyes:

I contacted Sam's Club via email and requested that if they have to send yet another replacement package, to PLEASE use UPS instead of FedEx. Heck, UPS has even been delivering packages here ahead of schedule. I always suspected they had programmed-in delays to try to encourage people to use their higher priced express services. FedEx does this a LOT. There is a depot up in Georgia that seems to always have a 24 hour delay from the time it is received there to the time it leaves that facility. Before they implemented that, orders I would place with Summit Racing in Georgia would get here overnight using standard ground service.

One interesting note about FedEx I have noticed lately is that often when I placed an order with some place like Home Depot, the tracking info would show some ridiculously optimistic delivery date such as the following day, even though the package hadn't even been picked up at the origination point yet. Then year day the delivery day would get pushed back a day. Not sure what is up with that, but I would think it would piss off someone if they were counting on the delivery date because of a project that needed that part they were waiting on. Heck, first time FedEx did that to me I was working on something and actually stupidly counted on that original delivery date to schedule things accordingly.

I wonder if people are having problems with their live animal shipments lately? Could be some sorely disappointed people if that is the case. Waiting on strawberry jelly stuck in limbo is no real big deal, but a box full of live reptiles is another matter entirely.
 
Well, I called FedEx on the phone, and after wading through their virtual phone assistant and asking for "REPRESENTATIVE" several times, I finally got to talk to a real person. She checked on the package and told me it was showing as being damaged in transit and therefore undeliverable. I'm thinking that perhaps the driver caught some hell from corporate about my BBB complaints about his dropping my packages off at the end of the driveway and may be purposely damaging these incoming packages. The jam is probably in glass jars and I doubt Sam's Club is packing them well enough to be bomb proof. Anyway, just seems very odd that in both instances the packages come through Memphis, TN, and then Ellenwood, GA before showing up as being damaged in Tallahassee. Or maybe the Tallahassee, FL FedEx depot is just having some employee issues with their entire team. Heck, I'm not going to be shy about filing yet another BBB complaint about them. Honestly, that is the ONLY way I can get any sort of response out of them these days.

I suppose the prudent thing to do is to request any carrier other than FedEx where ever that is an option for me. Unfortunately many places do not give you the option and they seem to select carriers in what seems like a random fashion.
 
The volume thing has already been mentioned.

Express (with such options as Priority Overnight which we use for animal shipment) and Ground/other operate as independent business units or did the last time I had to deal with a BU interoperability snafu (someone sent me an animal using non-Express, which is quite bad, to a local Express facility that I use for live animal receipt...during hot weather in 2018).

I have seen some delays with some (fewer than 10%) Express packages lately, but this was dependent on the destination and whether or not a hold-at-facility option is taken (which I recommend if feasible for live packages). I am still shipping live packages safely using Priority Overnight, but with the overall plan and the endpoint being considered strongly before doing so.

This does not help at all with the Ground/other situation, but I wanted to mention the independence of the two business units so that it is understood that the failings of one BU are not necessarily interlaced with the operations of the other BU, depending upon where the point of failure is occurring.
 
Well, three times wasn't the charm. I requested a refund from Sam's Club, since obviously FedEx cannot deliver the package to me. The latest one is showing as being stuck in Jacksonville, FL since early AM this past Saturday. Even with it showing as being last scanned in Jacksonville, they claimed it would be delivered on Saturday, and then when that day passed with no sign of it, again claimed today that I could expect it by COB. Which, of course, never happened. Right now, it is showing as "PENDING". Again. So they seem to be in complete chaos, in my opinion.

And now I have another order stuck up in Pennsylvania for some reason. Can't imagine that FedEx broke this item because it is a pair of air filters for my DeWalt battery powered vacuum. Well, I guess they could have crushed it. Ask me if I would be surprised?

Today I ordered some hedge trimmer blades and when I talked to the guy about shipping I specifically requested that he NOT use FedEx. He just chuckled and told me not to worry, they have been having their own problems with FedEx and only ship UPS now.

I guess FedEx is just not coping well with the current situation. YMMV, of course, but I sure as heck won't knowingly be shipping anything through them. I do hope their overnight service is better than how the rest of the company seems to be coping.
 
I've had problems with FedEx as well. I had a couple of outgoing animal shipments delayed- one overnight shipment took three days. Fortunately, the animal survived.
FedEx also lost some UVB bulbs that I ordered. I called FedEx to let them know the package had not arrived, and they said they'd find it. A few hours later, a neighbor brought it over. My neighbor saw the "Reptisun" labeling on the package, quickly realized what it was for, and was naturally curious about my collection. As I prefer to keep my hobby private locally, I was not thrilled with being "outed" by FedEx in this way. I guess that cat is out of the bag now.
The funny thing is though, that I am still waiting, after several weeks, for FedEx to follow up with me on the missing package.
 
All of my inbound Ground/other shipments in the last couple of weeks appear to have been on time if not ahead of time. I am getting stuff early, yes.
 
Well, things seemed to get better, but suddenly took a turn for the worst, it seems.

Saturday I had a delivery, which did get completed on time, but when the driver left, he backed the truck over some of Connie's ornamental plants and bent up some metal stakes she had there to hold the plants up. I decided to just let it slide as I could likely bend them back into shape (more or less).

But today I had an order from Sam's Club with some food stuff in it that was supposed to be delivered. Shipped via FedEx's Home Delivery service, just like the above mentioned delivery. Usually they show up here by 11:00 am, but that came and went and by the afternoon I decided to check the shipping status.

Damn... Showing a delivery exception. Driver claims he attempted delivery but was unsuccessful. Yeah, right. There was NOTHING to prevent him from getting here. Not a drop of rain to scare him off from our dirt road. And Connie and I were here all day long. Matter of fact, outside watering plants much of the day. My guess is that the driver was just feeling lazy and didn't want to deliver here, for whatever reason.

So great. That food stuff will be sitting in a hot truck for an additional 24 hours. Assuming, of course, that the driver will feel like making the delivery tomorrow. You would think that supervisors would be all over a driver who came back to the depot with undelivered packages still in the truck.

There is still no way to contact FedEx via email, and I am not going to sit ON HOLD on the phone all day, so lately what I have been doing is just filing Better Business Bureau complaints against them. At least I get some sort of response that way, and with the tendency for crap to run downhill, I hope it lands right on the driver's head. My demands are rather simple, I believe. I just expect people to do their job. If they can't, then go elsewhere and try to do something else more to their capabilities.

:hot: :hot: :hot:
 
It's not just FedEx.
I have crickets delivered to my house quite regularly, purchased from various suppliers- I have yet to find that ideal cricket vendor.
On this particular day, a couple months ago, I was not home, so I asked my adult son to watch for the package. When I got the email notification from UPS that they had been delivered, I asked him to bring them in. Unfortunately, they were not at my house, meaning UPS had delivered my crickets to the wrong house. This has been happening more frequently these past few months, from all shippers.
My son checked with the other houses in the neighborhood- nothing.
I wasn't concerned that the cricket supplier (which shall remain nameless, so that this isn't taken as a BOI type post) would make good on the order; I was concerned that the crickets would die before I got my hands on them, and that it would be a week before I got replacements. So, I placed a call to the well known cricket supplier, and left a message on their voice mail, asking them to help track down my order. I also sent them a text.
Then, I placed a call to UPS, despite the fact that they usually tell you that only the shipper can intercede in cases like this. I simply asked the lady to have the driver please go back and retrieve the package from wherever it was left, and bring it to the proper address, before the driver left the area. Miraculously, she did exactly that, and I had my crickets a short time later.
I am still waiting for the well known cricket supplier to return my call or text.
 
Yeah, perhaps this is just one facet of that marvelous gem of a screwed up world we are now going through. But I haven't had a bit of trouble with UPS or USPS. At least not lately. They seem to all go through their patches of troubles now and again.

Here locally, FedEx seems to be really struggling. We have had their trucks break down in our driveway a couple of times, and even when they are running they sound like they are on their last legs. Matter of fact, when the package was delivered today, I talked to the driver and he said he wasn't the guy running this route yesterday. But he heard that the truck had broken down yesterday. Something about the rear bumper falling off. Several times we have had FedEx deliver via rental trucks, so I think they are having financial difficulties and are pushing those old trucks long past being due to be overhauled or replaced.

For a while FedEx was delivering using those same old trucks but painted white without any lettering. I was thinking that perhaps they had been bought out and in the process of having the trucks painted to show the name of the new owners. Of course, a new company name of Fed-UPS would certainly be fitting. :rofl:
 
I just had a UPS order 'delivered' but to some mysterious house (drove around a few blocks to see if it was at any neighbor but nope). Calling UPS the only options I was getting were 'wait 3 days and make a claim', same with Amazon. This was a sold out collector item so I didn't just want a refund. Luckily a very nice neighbor brought my package over 3 days later (unopened) and were looking for their own package that had also apparently been misdelivered.

My main gripe is I wish they would knock/ring the bell. Don't just drop and run. oh well.
 
I have noticed that a LOT of companies no longer have any way to contact them via email any longer. And when you call them via the phone, wait times can often be some ridiculously long period of time. Just seems to me that the whole darn world has gone customer hostile on us.

Customer service has certainly been a notable victim of this plandemic going on. And I am pretty sure that a lot of businesses are just using it as an excuse to cut corners from their customer service expenses, too.

Of course, I was talking to a guy the other day who said he is having severe difficulties hiring people. Apparently people are making so much money being unemployed, that people have no incentive to work. That, coupled with a severe shortage of materials he needs to run his business is making things look pretty grim for him. The guy does roofing and porch enclosures. He has orders on the books for 52 screen enclosures and only has materials and people to do 2 of them for the foreseeable future.

Man, for a number of reasons, I am GLAD that Connie and I retired 10 years ago. I sure as heck would hate to have to be trying to take care of thousands of animals right now. So many things could go wrong that would mean a lot of animals dying.
 
I'm lucky to have a good FedEx Ship Center here (knock on wood) -- one of the counter workers keeps reptiles, and has been really helpful in sorting out issues.

USPS (well, one person there) isn't on my good list lately. Week before last I had a box of day-old guineas come in mostly dead. It had frozen here overnight -- we were in the middle of a pretty cold stretch -- so I figured even the ride in the truck was too much for them to tolerate (shipping standards for poultry are much lower than those for herps, stupidly -- three days in transit, no supplemental heat).

Anyway, I picked up some feeder insects there this morning and I could hear a bunch of chicks in the back room. I mentioned the chirping, and the counter worker told me that two weeks ago he had some guineas that were so loud he put them out on the back dock so he didn't have to listen to them. Probably were mine. :(
 
Socratic Monologue said:
I'm lucky to have a good FedEx Ship Center here (knock on wood) -- one of the counter workers keeps reptiles, and has been really helpful in sorting out issues.

USPS (well, one person there) isn't on my good list lately. Week before last I had a box of day-old guineas come in mostly dead. It had frozen here overnight -- we were in the middle of a pretty cold stretch -- so I figured even the ride in the truck was too much for them to tolerate (shipping standards for poultry are much lower than those for herps, stupidly -- three days in transit, no supplemental heat).

Anyway, I picked up some feeder insects there this morning and I could hear a bunch of chicks in the back room. I mentioned the chirping, and the counter worker told me that two weeks ago he had some guineas that were so loud he put them out on the back dock so he didn't have to listen to them. Probably were mine. :(
Click to expand...

I know some people will say that stupidity is it's own punishment, but sometimes it just is not enough. Karma needs to be instantaneous.
 
$1500 drone shipped USPS back to manufacturer for firmware upgrade. This is a higher-end model used for business. Claim filed and reported theft to FAA since it was registered.

USPS claim denied. Appealed. Denied.

Sent report to USPS OIG's office. USPS investigator called and said delivery scan was four miles from address on the package, and to file another appeal referencing his name, phone #, email, and the tracking info.

Appealed again as directed. Denied.

:dammit_01:
 
bcr229 said:
$1500 drone shipped USPS back to manufacturer for firmware upgrade. This is a higher-end model used for business. Claim filed and reported theft to FAA since it was registered.

USPS claim denied. Appealed. Denied.

Sent report to USPS OIG's office. USPS investigator called and said delivery scan was four miles from address on the package, and to file another appeal referencing his name, phone #, email, and the tracking info.

Appealed again as directed. Denied.

:dammit_01:
Click to expand...

Well, THAT sucks! Guess that shows you just how much paying for insurance through USPS is worth.

Doesn't USPS investigate their own people for theft? Did anyone look up the address of the delivery and contact whoever lived or worked there?

Any way to escalate the complaint up the chain of command at USPS?

Small claims court against USPS? Or is that just a fool's errand?

Yeah, probably all a waste of time. No one in law enforcement gives a crap about us little people in situations like this.

I would be fit to be tied in your shoes. :kaboom:
 
So, should I be holding my breath waiting for that delivery today?

:face_palm_02: :face_palm_02: :face_palm_02:
 

Attachments

  • fedex_screwup_062721_01.JPG
    fedex_screwup_062721_01.JPG
    17.4 KB · Views: 172
  • fedex_screwup_062721_02.JPG
    fedex_screwup_062721_02.JPG
    28.1 KB · Views: 169
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top