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Post by potet on May 24, 2021 20:48:08 GMT
On Sunday, the 16th of May 2021, I placed an order for my book Koxinga of Taiwan at the request of a retired professor of history at the University of the Philippines. The book costs 4.04€. As my colleague is very old, I thought it would have been cruel to send it by ordinary mail, that would have taken over two months. So I paid 36.03€ for express shipping from France, so that he should receive it by Monday the 24th.
Today (2021-05-24), checking where the parcel was, I discovered that it was still at Roissy airport (near Paris)!
The route of this parcel is rather funny. It was sent from France, and received by FedEx at Wellingborough, UK, on Friday the 21st. From there it was sent to Stansted, UK, on Saturday the 22nd. From Standsted, the parcel was immediately sent to Roissy (an international airport near Paris), where it is now waiting pending being shipped on a Manila-bound plane.
In other words, instead of sending the parcel straight from France to the Philippines, some FedEx employee sent it first to the UK.
The only explanation I can imagine is that, due to the Covid, FedEx is having a hard time finding a plane for the Philippines. If I were in their boots, I'd send the parcel from Paris (Roissy) to Japan by the North-Pole route, and from Japan to the Philippines.
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Post by BlueAndGold on May 25, 2021 1:11:08 GMT
FedEx is a disaster, from my perspective. On numerous occasions, a book is printed about 700 miles away. It takes about 2 or 3 days to arrive at a facility just 30 miles away from me. Then it goes to another facility about 50 miles away and sits there for 3 or 4 days, then it is finally delivered to me about 2 days after leaving there (a 90-minute drive, tops). THAT IS 4-DAY SHIPPING! It typically takes 10 days. EDIT: Woops! Sorry, that is 4-day shipping, not 2-day.
I could drive to the printer and be back here the 3rd day. Needless to say, 2-day shipping is not even 2 days shorter than the standard rate. It takes the same tortured path. EDITED AGAIN: See post below. Real problem seems to be USPO.
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2021 5:55:50 GMT
FedEx is a disaster, from my perspective. On numerous occasions, a book is printed about 700 miles away. It takes about 2 or 3 days to arrive at a facility just 30 miles away from me. Then it goes to another facility about 50 miles away and sits there for 3 or 4 days, then it is finally delivered to me about 2 days after leaving there (a 90-minute drive, tops). THAT IS 4-DAY SHIPPING! It typically takes 10 days. EDIT: Woops! Sorry, that is 4-day shipping, not 2-day.
I could drive to the printer and be back here the 3rd day. Needless to say, 2-day shipping is not even 2 days shorter than the standard rate. It takes the same tortured path. Still waiting for JesusNinja's book. That sounds fast to me.
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Post by potet on May 25, 2021 8:24:43 GMT
FedEx is a disaster, from my perspective. On numerous occasions, a book is printed about 700 miles away. It takes about 2 or 3 days to arrive at a facility just 30 miles away from me. Then it goes to another facility about 50 miles away and sits there for 3 or 4 days, then it is finally delivered to me about 2 days after leaving there (a 90-minute drive, tops). THAT IS 4-DAY SHIPPING! It typically takes 10 days. EDIT: Woops! Sorry, that is 4-day shipping, not 2-day.
I could drive to the printer and be back here the 3rd day. Needless to say, 2-day shipping is not even 2 days shorter than the standard rate. It takes the same tortured path. Still waiting for JesusNinja's book. That sounds fast to me. This is amazing. The fees are so stiff that one would expect FedEx to be fast and efficient.
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Post by Ken on May 25, 2021 9:58:23 GMT
I can’t comment on the routing from France to the Philippines. Although you be right with inference to Covid restrictions.
Since Brexit we are suffering severe delays and bureaucraticy for parcels shipped from the UK to Spain resulting in extra customs charges and Vat being levied.
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Post by BlueAndGold on May 25, 2021 11:45:43 GMT
I do suspect the Chinese Flu has something to do with the interruption in shipping services. The US Post Office is just as bad or worse.
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Post by BlueAndGold on May 25, 2021 12:16:46 GMT
Out of curiosity, I just checked on the last order I got from Lulu. It was sent via a system called "SmartPost" which seems to be a combination of FedEx and USPO services: 9 March: Printed and shipment information send to FedEx. 9 March: Picked up by FedEx. 10 March: Delivered to FedEx facility 700 miles away from origin. 11 March: Moved to another Fedex facility a bit further from me. 12 March: Departed FedEx facility (Apparently picked up by USPO) 13 March: "Shipment information sent to USPO" 18 March: Arrived at my location. So it appears that the real problem is with USPO:
FedEx picked up and transported the shipment some 700 miles to a place just 30 miles from me in a day or so.
It took USPO 6 days to move it 50 miles.
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Post by markcbrown on May 25, 2021 13:14:00 GMT
Idk how they choose their printing press. I live on the east coast of America and my books are printed on the west coast (even though lulu headquarters are two states away from me). It takes forever to get here, a little longer than it did before the famous 'upgrade'. The sad thing is almost every delivery I've had is damaged in some way. not good.
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Post by Ken on May 25, 2021 13:27:18 GMT
Idk how they choose their printing press. I live on the east coast of America and my books are printed on the west coast (even though lulu headquarters are two states away from me). It takes forever to get here, a little longer than it did before the famous 'upgrade'. The sad thing is almost every delivery I've had is damaged in some way. not good. But Lulu do not print anything themselves, so it doesn’t matter where they are. Even more so their servers are not in Raleigh.
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Post by markcbrown on May 25, 2021 13:31:28 GMT
Idk how they choose their printing press. I live on the east coast of America and my books are printed on the west coast (even though lulu headquarters are two states away from me). It takes forever to get here, a little longer than it did before the famous 'upgrade'. The sad thing is almost every delivery I've had is damaged in some way. not good. But Lulu do not print anything themselves, so it doesn’t matter where they are. Even more so their servers are not in Raleigh. I know, but it used to be printed much closer before. Also I liked when you could change country and print from said country and have it delivered to an address in said country.
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Post by potet on May 25, 2021 19:04:00 GMT
My parcel has reached Canton (Guangzhou), China, via New-Delhi, India.
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2021 19:10:15 GMT
My parcel has reached Canton (Guangzhou), China, via New-Delhi, India. Wow. That almost sounds funny. I'm having postal issues myself. I now send all my incoming mail to the local supermarket just to make sure I get it.
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2021 19:12:15 GMT
Still waiting for JesusNinja's book. That sounds fast to me. This is amazing. The fees are so stiff that one would expect FedEx to be fast and efficient. There are at least half a dozen couriers here. They wave and honk when they see me. Some deliver using their own car. Others their taxi and a few the company van.
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2021 19:19:27 GMT
Out of curiosity, I just checked on the last order I got from Lulu. It was sent via a system called "SmartPost" which seems to be a combination of FedEx and USPO services: 9 March: Printed and shipment information send to FedEx. 9 March: Picked up by FedEx. 10 March: Delivered to FedEx facility 700 miles away from origin. 11 March: Moved to another Fedex facility a bit further from me. 12 March: Departed FedEx facility (Apparently picked up by USPO) 13 March: "Shipment information sent to USPO" 18 March: Arrived at my location. So it appears that the real problem is with USPO:
FedEx picked up and transported the shipment some 700 miles to a place just 30 miles from me in a day or so.
It took USPO 6 days to move it 50 miles. Holy smokes. Bureaucracy. I would prefer a horse and carriage.
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Post by potet on May 25, 2021 19:21:47 GMT
My Lulu books are printed in France when ordered by a client in France or in several other Continental countries. The printing and binding are perfect, and the parcel is wrapped in the famous Colissimo cardboard box. If there is a problem, it is generally due to the printer. One of my first books ordered by a businessman in the Philippines was faulty. I was surprised because my proof was perfect. He e-mailed me photos of pages from his copy, printed in the US. Indeed, the words written in the Philippine syllabic alphabet called Baybáyin were missing, the scripts being replaced by square bullets, although the Baybáyin font was embedded in my PDF file. I complained to Lulu. They corrected their print-ready file, and sent a free replacement copy to my client. This was a new proof that Lulu was professional to an L.
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